Environmental Sustainability - Research Paper Example

Environmental Sustainability in Information Systems Environmental Sustainability in Information Systems Environmental sustainability (ES) is one of the most important challenges the world faces today. The term “environmental” gives an impression that the concept has everything to do plants, animals, landscapes, climates, and other environmental concerns. This stereotype is not entirely false but the truth is that environmental sustainability is not just about those things. It is about the usage of man power, information and other resources to attain development with less or without the risk of depletion of natural resources.

It is directly related to how the totality of how the world works and how society is built which involves business, trade, politics, law and order and other sectors. In the article “Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability”, the author Nigel Melville (2010) discusses the relationship of information systems to environmental sustainability and how the relationship, in turn, affects society.According to the online business dictionary, Information systems (IS) are “combined hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organized to facilitate planning, control, coordination, and decision making in an organization”, simply an overall information and resource management that make an organization function.

In the aforementioned article the innovation in information systems showed direct effect for environmental sustainability wherein it plays a role in contributing change for shaping a better environment, for a better tomorrow. The article tackles about pioneering practices and processes in IS that improve environmental and economic performance. The article also discussed three types of relations included in the analysis provided namely macro-level variables such as social structure affect the psychic states (beliefs, desires, opportunities, etc.) of individuals; psychic states affect individual action and combined individual action affects macro-level variables such as the behaviour of the social system.

All these belong to the social system construct which refers to both social and natural systems. These levels lead to the usage of Coleman’s model, which has been widely used in the sociological and organizational structures of analysis. This model fits the belief- action- outcome (BAO) framework which, after data gathering and analysis, research results intersecting information systems and environmental sustainability in organizations (Melville, 2010).The recent decline of international trade which started in 2009, paved the way for the return of protectionism after a three- decade reign of trade liberalization (Erixon &Sally, 2010).

Protectionism is defined in the online business dictionary as “government policy aimed at shielding a fragile economy or a weak critical sector” in this case, the environment, and in turn providing cheaper, better, quality regulations. It is applied in different forms and levels in all countries all over the world. New protectionism is concentrated in sectors that have long been protected such as textiles, clothing, footwear, iron, steel, consumer electronics and agriculture. Information systems are one of these sectors encapsulated in the concept of protectionism (Erixon &Sally, 2010).

As discussed in the article, IS promotes societal and organizational factors that influence beliefs, attitudes, and desires held by individuals about the environment. Examples of shaping influences with respect to society are that of organizational factors, recycling campaigns, corporate visions statements and environmental management systems. The core role of IS in ES is attitude formation among individuals information dissemination about critical issues enclose in the broad environmental crisis the world faces today.

The article help frame issues that IS researchers could investigate to conduct further studies about issues concerning information about the environment and its sustainability. (Melville, 2010)ReferencesBusiness Dictionary. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/Erixon, F. & Sally, R. (2010). Trade, Globalization and Emerging Protectionism since the Crisis. ECIPE Working Paper No. 2.Melville, N. (2010). Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability. MIS Quarterly Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 1-21.