Environmental Management in Developed Countries

Abstract

Effective environmental management has two basic components. One is the objective, impersonal use of data and the other is the ability to manage personal factors during the decision making process. Since most environmental managers have a background in science or technology, they are generally effective in the implementation of component number one. In fact, their handling of many issues is usually couched in objective terms. The importance of the more personal factors may not be fully recognized or, in some cases, not handled competently, reflecting their lack of training in this area. For example, there are many managers in government who are active environmentalists and let their proenvironment bias influence a balanced approach to problem solving. Similarly, the need to appoint a new Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1983 indicates that bias in the opposite direction also occurs at higher management levels. It is interesting to note that business managers generally place emphasis on personality factors rather than technical matters. Numerous courses and other forms of training are available to improve skills in this area and performance is often assessed on the personal issues.