The Use of Duty, Virtue and Utilitarian Ethics in Environmental - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

The Use of Duty, Virtue and Utilitarian Ethics in Environmental Communication

• Based on an example from a Danish energy company

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

The context

• Part of the work in an innovation consortium called CEMIP (Danish

abbreviation for ”Centre for Effective Environmental Communication in Product Chains)

• The companies in CEMIP: Brdr. Hartmann, Coloplast, Elsam (now DONG

energy), Junckers Industries and Vestas Wind Systems

• Other participants: Aalborg University, Copenhagen Business School and

FORCE Technology (project manager)

• Further information on: www.cemip.dk (But in Danish)

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Purpose of the investigation

The purpose of the investigation is to clarify the weighting of different company-related arguments used in environmental communication The arguments are divided into 3 categories:

• Duty,
• virtue and
• utilitarian ethics

Furthermore the arguments are categorized according to:

• The weighting of the arguments and
• The reactions associated with the absence of the arguments

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Description of the categories investigated (The company values)

Duty Virtue Utilitarian ethics Goal

• Compliance with

environmental regulation

• Compliance with demands in

ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001

• Sustainability
• Openness/ honesty
• Credibility
• Responsibility for

environmental impacts

• employee satisfaction
• Positive influence on

environmental image

• Give stakeholders information

about environmental issues

• Economic feasibility in

environmental improvements Mean

• Visibility of environmental

policy and environmental goals

• Have control with the

environmental management system

• Continuous improvements

relating to ISO and OHSAS

• Visibility of environmental

impacts

• Focus on reducing

environmental and health and safety impacts

• Demonstrate development
• Employee involvement
• Environmental cost

management

• Meet expectations from

environmentally conscious employees

• Meet demands from external

stakeholders (e.g. authorities) Action

• Environmental

communication reflects above- mentioned duty goals and means

• The environmental reports

and green accounts are only published as demanded in the regulation

• Environmental

communication reflects above-mentioned virtue goals and means

• The environmental reports

and green accounts are published accessible to everyone

• Environmental

communication reflects above- mentioned Utilitarian goals and means

• The environmental reports

and green accounts are only published on the internet

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Elements in the questionnaire

Element in questionnaire Applied scale Clarification of groups of employees. The different groups of employees Semi-closed questions that clarify the main goal, mean and actions that the respondent associates with environmental reports and green accounts. 0 to 4 within the categories duty, value and utilitarian ethics Arguments that clarify the knowledge related to environmental reports and green accounts. Arguments that clarify the attitudes towards duty, value and utilitarian issues (The elements in the presented table). Ordinal scale from 0 (Strongly disagree) to 4 (Strongly agree) Situations representing absence of duty, value and utilitarian issues. The respondent is asked how he reacts to the situation. Ordinal scale from 0 (Will not notice it) to 4 (Will try to change it)

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Knowledge about green accounts and environmental reports

0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 Central environmental department Decentral environmental departments Central purchasing department Project department Mineral products, sales department Research and development H/R Affects the development af green accounts and environmental reports Knowledge about green accounts and environmental reports

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Results

Individual results Average

1 2 3 4 Virtue Duty Utilitarian ethics Absence of virtue Absence of duty Absence of utilitarian ethics 1 2 3 4 Virtue Duty Utilitarian ethics Absence of virtue Absence of duty Absence of utilitarian ethics

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Example - central environmental department

1 2 3 4 Virtue Duty Utilitarian ethics Absence of virtue Absence of duty Absence of utilitarian ethics

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Results - average for each group of employees

0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 Virtue Duty Utilitarian ethics Absence of virtue Absence of duty Absence of utilitarian ethics Central environmental department Decentral environmental departments Project department Mineral products, sales department Research and development H/R

Mette Mosgaard, www.plan.aau.dk/~mette Department of Development and Planning, The Division of Technology, Environment & Society

Main Conclusions

• The employees that react most strongly to the absence of specific issues

are those responsible for preparing the environmental communication

• The groups of employees included in the investigation were surprisingly

well informed about the environmental issues of the company

• Large differences can be found between the actions of different groups of

employees to the absence of specific issues

• The company now considers how to implement / distribute the company

environmental values among the employees

• The next step is to match the internal and external stakeholders