Introduction
The most pressing
problem in today's society is ensuring a sustainable workplace. If employees
are happy and healthy, they can be their most productive; therefore, companies
must create a culture where employees may thrive and be at their best (Rasool, Wang, Zhang, & Samma, 2020). There is a
greater focus on working conditions in Western nations compared to
underdeveloped ones. Some governments in underdeveloped nations have created
long-term development plans that contain sustainable development objectives,
increasing public awareness of the need for having a sustainable workplace (Omisore, Babarinde, Bakare, &
Asekun-Olarinmoye, 2017). As one of the
few developing nations that have successfully integrated sustainability
concerns into long-term planning and a commitment to raising awareness of the
Sustainable Development Goals, Bangladesh stands out. This has been made
possible thanks to national campaigns (UN, 2019). Bangladesh's administration has a strong commitment to the
long-term sustainability of its operational and infrastructural successes.
However, for the survival of the country, business and government institutions
must work together (Pradhan, Costa, Rybski, Lucht, & Kropp, 2017).
GHRM
has a significant effect on organizational sustainability (Mahmood, Sandhu, Kanwal, & Iqbal, 2016).
The GHRM implementation is a tremendous challenge in reality (Guerci & Carollo, 2016). For example, the expense of
implementing the GHRM method was the main barrier in the Indian automobile
industry
(Jafri, 2012). Senior expert assistance
is also one of the main barriers to implementing GHRM practically (Paille, Chen, Boiral, & Jin, 2013).�
The clear GHRM strategy, organizational leadership support, and awareness of
GHRM were the
significant barrier in Iran's oil sector. The solution to this barrier was
detailed planning as per (Fayyazi, Shahbazmoradi, Afshar, &
Shahbazmoradi, 2015) recommendation.
Financial
limitations and the risk of GHRM operations harming the organization's economic
and social success are also barriers (Ren, Tang, & Jackson, 2018). While
several research has been carried out in the West from a variety of angles,
Bangladesh has only produced a handful of studies of a comparable kind. As a
consequence, no two studies in Bangladesh may have the same findings. As a
result,
Bangladeshi businesses need research on sustainable workplaces and the adoption
of GHRM. In order to fill the void left by a prior study, this form of research
is needed. The Bangladesh RMG industry employs about 4 million people (Mostafa & Klepper, 2017), hence
this research focuses on the application of GHRM and sustainability in this
sector. RMG exports make up about 80 percent of the Bangladeshi economy (Mostafa & Klepper, 2017).
Bangladesh is currently the world's second-largest major exporter of RMG (Uddin, 2018). Bangladesh
is a prominent garment and textiles manufacturing centre, and the industry
contributes to the country's economic growth (Akter, 2022). �Therefore, the
objectives of this study are to find out the challenges of adopting
GHRM practice techniques in Bangladesh's RMG sector and find out the solution
for overcoming these challenges.
This
study was completed with two main questions as
a. What is the barrier to
adopt GHRM practice in Bangladesh's RMG industry?
b. What are the solutions
to overcome adopting GHRM practice in Bangladesh's RMG sector?
Method
This is a
survey-based, quantitative investigation using a well-structured questionnaire
and interview. Dhaka, Gazipur, and the Savar region of Bangladesh were the
focus of the research. Throughout the investigation, researchers used a random
sample strategy that was both methodical and non-biased. The data were gathered
via one-on-one face-to-face interviews. Fifty managers from the production, Human
Resource (HR), finance, marketing, and merchandising divisions of ten RMG sites
were interviewed using pre-planned questions. The interview transcripts were
entered into a notebook for this study's data compilation. Excel and SPSS
software were used to analyze all of the data obtained from various sources.
�
Results And Discussion
A. Results
This section includes the data presentation
and analysis. The findings and studies have been divided into two key areas.
The difficulties and solutions encountered while implementing the GHRP in RMG
organizations about the study's objectives and primary questions. The
demographic characteristics of respondents are presented in Table 1. Firstly
the obstacles to adopting GHRM principles in Bangladesh's RMG industry were
discussed.
High
costs of GHRM were cited as
the most significant barrier to the adoption of GHRP by a total of 10% of HR
managers, 20% of Merchandising Managers, 20% of Marketing Managers, and 20% of
Finance Managers as shown in Figure 1. Only those in charge of
manufacturing facilities remained unbiased in this matter. Figure 2 shows that
14 percent of respondents admitted that the high expenses
of GHR practice were a major barrier.
Employee
turnover was also mentioned as a major problem in Bangladesh's RMG business.
Higher staff turnover was cited as a major barrier to GHR implementation by 20
percent of HR managers, 20 percent of manufacturing managers, and 10 percent of
finance managers in Figure 1. This was met with a lack of enthusiasm by both
the Merchandising Managers and the Marketing Managers. Figure 2 shows that 10%
of those polled, with a standard deviation of 0.009, agreed with this statement.
Then
the solution to this problem was found by this question. What are the answers
to the difficulties of adopting GHRM standards in Bangladesh's RMG sector?
The
interviews revealed five significant issues that may be considered solutions
for implementing the GHRP in Bangladesh's RMG sector. Additionally,
participants justified their different answers.
In
this survey, all participants agreed that tight rules and regulations would be
a great way to implement GHRM. Figure 3 shows that 50% of HR Managers, 40%
of Merchandising Managers, 40% of Manufacturing Managers, 30% of Marketing
Managers, and 50% of Finance Managers believe that imposing strict rules and
regulations would be the best way to implement GHRP in Bangladesh's RMG
industries. There is 42 percent of respondents with a standard deviation of
0.008 endorses this assertion, according to Figure 4.
Participants
agreed that the government should monitor organizations to ensure that GHR best
practices are being followed when new rules and regulations are put in place.
Figure 3 shows that 30% of HR Managers, 40% of Merchandising Managers, 30% of
Manufacturing Managers, 40% of Marketing Managers, and 30% of Finance Managers
believe that the introduction of monitoring would be the answer to adopting
GHRP in Bangladesh's RMG sectors. Figure 4 shows that 34% of those polled, with
a standard deviation of 0.005, agree with this assertion.
As
part of adopting GHRM principles in the workplace, participants acknowledged that
training programs are essential. 10% of HR managers, 20% of Merchandising
managers, 20% of manufacturing managers, and ten percent of Finance managers believed
that more and more training programs should be organized to apply the GHRP in
Bangladesh RMG sectors, according to Figure 3.
B. Discussion
According to the findings, there are several obstacles and
solutions to adopting GHRM in the RMG sector of Bangladesh. The RMG
industry in Bangladesh has significant impediments to applying GHRM principles,
as revealed in this research. Second, the research looked at participants' responses that were
deemed reasonable. To apply GHR standards in Bangladesh's RMG industry, we
found that strict laws and policies, monitoring, training, economic incentives,
and university studies were the best solutions.
According to the research findings, the absence of
rules controlling GHRM in Bangladesh's RMG sector is one of the
major obstacles to adopting GHR standards in this country. One of the study's
major contributions to the current body of knowledge on GHRP is the recognition
of the lack of standards and rules regulating GHRM operations. On the
other hand, the research finds that the biggest obstacles to adopting GHRM practices in
businesses include a lack of organizational support and management interest, as
well as increasing expenditures connected with GHRM practice.
According to the results of this survey, the majority of
participants recognised that the
greatest obstacle to implementing the practice was the lack of government
regulations. GHRM adoption in Bangladesh's RMG sector is hindered,
according to the participant, by a lack of institutional support and expensive
GHR expenditures. The lack of management interest and increased staff turnover,
according to this research, are further hurdles to the adoption of GHRM practice in
Bangladesh's RMG industry. The research also showed that the obstacle to
integrating Green Human Resource Practice will be removed by the government's
strict rules and policy execution, monitoring, training programs, financial
incentives, and mandatory courses in the educational system.
These findings support Islam, Hunt, Jantan, Hashim, & Chong (2019)
who
stated that the absence
of government law and regulations for practicing GHRM, lack of organizational
support, lack of administrative interest, higher expenses of practicing, and
higher worker turnover are the main barriers to practicing GHR. These findings
are also supported by Fayyazi et al., (2015); Guerci & Carollo, (2016); Jafri (2012); and Ren et al. (2018).
Additionally, this study's findings also expand on the current difficulties
associated with implementing GHRM standards in the RMG sector by highlighting
increased worker turnover as a significant barrier (Fayyazi et al., 2015; Guerci & Carollo, 2016; Ren et al., 2018). The study
identified options for implementing GHRM practices in
Bangladesh's RMG sector. For instance, enforcing stringent rules and
regulations may be an effective way to implement GHRM practices in the RMG
sector. This, however, was not documented in the prior literature on the GHRM and its
implementation. Teixeira, Jabbour, & Jabbour (2012) and Bombiak & Marciniuk Kluska (2018)
recognized training as a strategy for implementing GHRM. This study also
discovered financial incentives to promote green behaviors inside
organizations, similar to the findings Teixeira et al. (2012). This study
discovered that supervising green practices once they are implemented in
organizations is an efficient way to ensure ongoing progress toward
implementing GHRM practices in the RMG sector. Finally, the study confirms
previously published results that obligatory university courses on
sustainability and GHRM practices are successful in overcoming
barriers to implementing GHRM.
In addition, our findings have practical implications. GHRM practices in
the RMG sector may help managers better grasp the challenges and solutions
involved with adopting them. The study's findings may also be useful for the company
and government planners in their efforts to identify and overcome obstacles to
the creation of long-term workplace culture. In addition, the research helps
university administrators implement a curriculum on sustainability and GHRM practices to
better prepare bachelor's students for the workforce with their attitudes,
knowledge, and interests.
Conclusion
The findings
of this study were the lack of knowledge, practice standards, management
interest, organizational support, high practice expenses, and significant
employee turnover were identified as significant barriers to implementing GHRM
practices in RMG companies in Bangladesh. Additionally, this
study findings also expanded on the current difficulties associated with
implementing GHRP standards in the RMG sector by highlighting increased worker
turnover as a significant barrier. The study identified options for
implementing GHRM practices in Bangladesh's RMG sector. For instance,
enforcing stringent rules and regulations may be an effective way to implement
GHRM practices in
the RMG sector. This, however, was not documented in the prior literature on
the GHRM and its
implementation.
This study also made important recommendations for resolving the difficulties
of implementing GHRP standards in Bangladesh's RMG sectors. These include
strict policy and rule, monitoring, university courses, education programs, and
financial incentives.
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GREEN HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN BANGLADESH READYMADE
GARMENTS INDUSTRIES
