Is there a role for not‐for‐profit or for‐purpose organizations in supporting governance professionals to engage with climate‐related opportunities and risks?

Climate change in Australia has become a political risk (for political parties) and a physical, transitional, and regulatory risk for businesses. Not‐for‐profits (NFPs) and for‐purpose (FPs) organisations, for example, Climate Alliance Limited, have acted in the absence of national climate risk policy, to support businesses to become better informed to manage their exposure to this risk, and helping them to set their own commitments and pathways to low and net zero carbon businesses. The objective of this article is to demonstrate, through the case study method, how one Australian NFP/FP has influenced the business sector and regulation. Climate Alliance Limited has done this through its interventions of (1) sharing case studies (best practices) on successful transitions to a low carbon business model and linking climate risk to business risk; (2) bringing thought leaders (advocacy) from the Bank of England and UK Prudential Regulator into the Australian finance and business sector; and (3) by offering a program (reward and recognition), showcasing how business leaders have and are adapting to climate risks and capturing business value.     

Relation between senior managers’ safety leadership and safety behavior in the Chinese petrochemical industry

Senior managers in organizations are authorized and obliged to maintain organizational safety. However, to date, little research has considered the relation of senior managers' safety leadership to safety behavior. This study addresses this gap by using path analysis to confirm the validity of a hypothetical model that relates six dimensions of senior managers' safety leadership to two safety behaviors through the safety climate in the petrochemical industry. A questionnaire survey was sent randomly to workers (other than senior managers) in two petrochemical companies in China, and data from 155 usable responses were compiled for the path analysis. Results indicate that in the petrochemical industry, senior managers' safety leadership has a positive impact on safety behavior, and the safety climate plays an intermediary role between them. From the perspective of the dimensions of senior managers' safety leadership and safety behavior, safety concern has the greatest positive effect on safety compliance. Moreover, safety vision has the greatest positive impact on safety participation, whereas safety inspiration and safety awards and punishment have negative effects on safety compliance. Personal character does not directly influence any dimension of safety behavior but indirectly does so by influencing the safety climate. On the basis of these results, measures of improving senior managers' safety leadership in the petrochemical industry are presented to help improve the overall safety performance of the industry. A new view is provided for the petrochemical industry in China to suggest that senior managers’ safety leadership can be treated earnestly.     

国有企业安全生产中发挥党组织作用的思考

剖析了国企安全生产中发挥党组织作用的现实差距,提出了安全生产中发挥党组织作用的路径措施:深化政治建设提升引领力,抓好有效覆盖提升组织力,促进深度融合提升推动力,加强群团作用提升凝聚力,强化监督考评提升驱动力。充分发挥党组织作用,使"根"从基层扎牢、"魂"从堡垒筑强,就能本固基稳,扛起安全生产"泰山之重"的责任,引领保障企业高质量发展和建设世界一流企业行稳致远。     

Inspired to perform: A multilevel investigation of antecedents and consequences of thriving at work

Emerging research evidence across multiple industries suggests that thriving at work is critically important for creating sustainable organizational performance. However, we possess little understanding of how factors across different organizational levels stimulate thriving at work. To address this gap, the current study proposes a multilevel model that simultaneously examines contextual and individual factors that facilitate thriving at work and how thriving relates to positive health and overall unit performance. Analysis of data collected from 275 employees, at multiple time periods, and their immediate supervisors, representing 94 work units, revealed that servant leadership and core self‐evaluations are 2 important contextual and individual factors that significantly relate to thriving at work. The results further indicated that thriving positively relates to positive health at the individual level, with this relationship partially mediated by affective commitment. Our results also showed that collective thriving at work positively relates to collective affective commitment, which in turn, positively relates to overall unit performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that work context and individual characteristics play significant roles in facilitating thriving at work and that thriving is an important means by which managers and their organizations can improve employees' positive health and unit performance.     

The UN climate change negotiations and the role of the United States: assessing American leadership from Copenhagen to Paris

The role of American leadership in the UN climate negotiations that produced the 2015 Paris Agreement is examined. First, United States (US) climate goals are identified. Then, utilizing unique survey data collected at eight UN climate summits between 2008 and 2015, the extent to which the US was recognized as a leader by potential followers is investigated. Finally, the extent to which US goals are reflected in negotiation outcomes is evaluated. Recognition of the US as a leader varied over time, peaking at the UN climate meetings in Copenhagen and Paris, reflecting US leadership in shaping the outcomes of both meetings. Although the results reveal a divided leadership landscape in which the US must compete for leadership with other actors, such as the European Union and China, US leadership was crucial to the successful adoption of the Paris Agreement.     

Change in frontline supervisors’ safety leadership practices after participating in a leadership training program: Does company size matter?

Introduction: The majority of construction companies are small businesses and small business often lack the resources needed to ensure that their supervisors have the safety leadership skills to build and maintain a strong jobsite safety climate. The Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) training program was designed to provide frontline leaders in all sized companies with safety leadership skills. This paper examines the impact of the FSL training by size of business. Methods: Leaders, defined as foremen or other frontline supervisors, from small, medium, and large construction companies were recruited to participate in a study to evaluate the degree to which the FSL changed their understanding and use of the leadership skills, safety practices and crew reporting of safety-related conditions. We used linear mixed modeling methods to analyze pre-post training survey data. Results: Prior to the training, leaders from small and medium sized companies reported using safety leadership skills less frequently than those from large ones. After the training, regardless of business size, we observed that the FSL training improved leaders understanding of safety leadership skills from immediately before to immediately after the training. Additionally, leaders reported greater use of safety leadership skills, safety practices, and crew reporting of safety-related conditions from before to two-weeks after the training. However, those from small and medium sized companies reported the greatest improvement in their use of safety leadership skills. Conclusions: The FSL training improves safety leadership outcomes regardless of the size company for which the leader worked. However, the FSL may be even more effective at improving the safety leadership skills of leaders working for smaller sized construction companies or those with lower baseline levels of safety leadership skills. Practical applications: The majority of construction companies employ a small number of employees and therefore may not have the resources to provide their frontline leaders with the leadership training they need to be effective leaders who can create a strong jobsite safety climate. The Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) training can help fill this gap.     

The oil and gas sector: from climate laggard to climate leader?

ABSTRACT

The oil and gas industry has traditionally been reticent to engage with the issues surrounding climate change, typically being cast as a laggard. Yet, over recent years, the sector has begun taking on a more active role in climate governance, doing so in a variety of capacities – as initiators, catalysts and participants in industry-led or multi-stakeholder efforts. The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative is reviewed, as a case study to illustrate emerging climate leadership within the global oil and gas industry. In 2015, its members committed to a two-degree pathway. The paucity of research on the nascent role of oil and gas firms in climate governance is addressed.     

The European Council,the Council and the Member States: changing environmental leadership dynamics in the European Union

ABSTRACT

The leadership dynamics between the European Council, the Council and the Member States in European Union (EU) environmental policy since the 1970s are analysed. The puzzle is that, although the EU was set up as a ‘leaderless Europe’, it is widely seen as an environmental leader, albeit sometimes as a one-eyed leader amongst the blind. While differentiating between leadership types, it is argued that the European Council has the largest structural, the Council the most significant entrepreneurial, and the Member States the most important cognitive and exemplary leadership capacities. Most day-to-day environmental policy measures are negotiated by the Environment Council (in collaboration with the European Parliament). The European Council’s increased interest in high politics climate change issues is largely due to the EU’s global leadership ambitions. Member States have traditionally formed environmental leadership alliances on an ad hoc basis although this may be changing.