Evaluating waste minimisation projects: the contribution of organizational learning and organizational knowledge theories

Millard, Debbie, Hooper, Paul and Stubbs, Mark A. (2005) Evaluating waste minimisation projects: the contribution of organizational learning and organizational knowledge theories. [Conference or Workshop Item] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

There is considerable debate about ways to stimulate and enable environmental improvement in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). In recent years, part of the solution has been to engage firms by making the case that pollution prevention or waste minimization makes good business sense since it produces cost savings with relatively little effort. This has been the approach followed by waste minimization clubs in the UK. However, it is unclear whether firms, particularly SMEs, move from small ad hoc changes towards more significant and systemic change. As yet little evaluation of waste minimization clubs has taken place, which seeks to understand the extent to which participation in a waste minimisation initiatives leads to a broader programme of change. Organizational learning concepts of lower and higher level learning have to some extent been employed to understand the nature of environmental improvement in firms, but so far such concepts have not been used to evaluate waste minimization clubs. This research considers the nature of organizational learning based on a study of a number of SMEs participating in waste minimization clubs in the UK. The paper develops a preliminary model to assess the extent and nature of organizational learning which occurs within the context of these waste minimization clubs.