Joe and Jon make equally good points. But can greenwashing be
identified? I think it can. Examine the discourse of the organisation
over time - if there are inconsistencies in one area then there are
inconsistencies in others.
For example:
I remember working with a client that was unable to document procedures
due to top management disinterest in written procedures. It was said
that the CEO and all top management attend weekly Christian prayer
meetings.
When an explosion in one of their operations killed an employee the
organisation claimed that workers breached safety procedures and then
proceeded to find a skapegoat.
The skapegoat proved that the organisation had no written procedures.
The CEO was then seen publically on national news admitting they had
lied about procedures ever existing.
Now I would suggest that same organisation is now greenwashing.
That chain of discursive data would blow the wind out of some comments
about specific organisations mentioned on this list.
If you want to learn more about discursive data and how this can be used
to identify greenwashing see:
http://intergon.net/tsw or
http://intergon.net/phd or my book chapter in Harre & Moghaddam (2003)
The Self and Others
Harre and two others also wrote Greenspeak in 1999 - sadly this has not
been widely read (it is in my PhD bibliography)
Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
Research Fellow -
lionel.boxer@rmit.edu.au
Centre for Management Quality Research
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