The Realisation of Green Ideals into Management Practice: The Use of Management Control System in a Hospitality Setting

ABSTRACT The hospitality sector has been under pressure to ensure that its operations are environmentally sustainable. The effective implementation of green practices requires a link between environmental strategies, management accounting and control. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explain how management control systems support the internalisation of green ideals within an organisation. A case study is undertaken of a hotel that promoted its green image, using Dambrin, Lambert and Sponem’s (2007) framework to understand the use of Management Control Systems in the internalisation process of the green philosophy of the hotel. The internalisation of the hotel’s Environmental Management Practices (EMPs) started with the introduction of the ideal of becoming a green hotel, which was translated and communicated through the notion of a business case. The adaption and integration of green practices have been internalised, mainly with the support of the hotel’s informal control techniques. Keywords: Management control systems; green hotel; environmental management practices; green ideals; hospitality ABSTRAK Sektor hospitaliti menerima tekanan untuk memastikan kelestarian persekitaran operasi mereka. Amalan persekitaran yang efektif memerlukan strategi persekitaran dikaitkan dengan pengurusan perakaunan dan kawalan. Kertas kerja ini menjelaskan bagaimana sistem kawalan pengurusan menyokong penghayatan cita-cita hijau di organisasi. Kajian kes sebuah hotel yang mempromosikan imej hijau dengan kerangka analisa Dambrin, Lambert dan Sponem (2007) digunapakai bagi menjelaskan penggunaan Sistem Kawalan Pengurusan dalam menyokong proses penghayatan falsafah kelestarian di organisasi tersebut. Penghayatan Amalan Pengurusan Persekitaran (EMP) bermula dengan pengenalan ideal untuk menjadi hotel hijau yang diterjemahkan melalui idea perniagaan. Adaptasi dan integrasi penghayatan amalan hijau dilaksanakan, terutamanya dengan sokongan teknik kawalan tidak rasmi. Kata kunci: Sistem pengurusan dan kawalan; hotel hijau, amalan pengurusan persekitaran; cita-cita hijau; hospitaliti