• Introduction
• What is this book about?
• Challenging the GDP
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Currently used indicators
• The chosen components
• The Index of Sustainability
• Challenging the GDP - Conclusion
• Waste management - an important issue of modern life
• Abstract
• Waste Management - An Introduction
• Waste Management and Sustainable Development
• Waste Management Policies - Developed and developing countries
• Electronic Waste
• Conclusion on waste management governance & policies
• TheCityFarm - Prototype of a real green and sustainable business
• Abstract
• Company Creation
• History of Aquaponics
• Product Description
• Green Product Portfolio
• Marketing of CityFarm
• CityFarm Complex
• Human Resources
• Distribution Channels
• Suppliers
• Conclusion
• Freiburg and Dontang - Eco-city approaches
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Example of Dongtan, China
• Example of Freiburg, Germany
• Creating ecological cities vs. adapting existing ones
• Ecological Cities Conclusion
• Course Description
• Short Course Description
• Schedule
• Assessment
• Participants
• References
• Book Glossary
• Video-clip references
• Authors

Human Resources

TheCityFarm is proud to be recognized as a green company, highly committed to the environment and worry about its damage and deterioration. To be ecological and create awareness in the people who hire our services are the elemental points that should be developed in all the areas inside the enterprise and Human Resources is not the exception. For this reason the company will hire only personnel, who is  highly interested in contributing to the  improvement of the conditions of environment.

TheCityFarm believes in the importance of its employees. The Human Resources area will have a main paradigm focused in one principal objective "if you give the best treat as possible to the employees, the company will be rewarded". This means that if the personnel is happy working for the company, undoubtedly this will have development and improvement in all the segments of the enterprise because the  successful operation of the company depends directly on the employees and in how he/she copes with tasks.

The people that will work in TheCityFarm should feel that this company is the best business in which they could work. This is because one of the most important intentions of the company will be concentrated on making them feel that the company will be congruent with its acts, a place where the ecology really matters and a space in which the employees could contribute with their ideas for the improvement the way in which the company operates. Throughout this, TheCityFarm hopes to motivate the personnel and to develop the areas and departments of the business. Everything resulting as a cycle of continuous improvement achieved with the opinion of the employees.

As for all green companies, for TheCityFarm it is also really important to take care of its employees. To make this possible the company will provide social plans/insurances (e.g. health care, retirements plans, jubilation, life insurance). Company will also  facilitate a balance of the working time; to give employees time with their families and to give them the opportunities to achieve and fulfill their interests. With all this aspects, the company will have a good working and organizational environment as well as a great improvement in productivity because employees will have more concentration in the aspects that the business needs. As all the businesses around the world have people working in them, the sustainable management of HR  will be the key to success.

Training

One of our objectives is to offer training to our employees for a more efficient and productive use of the natural resources, and in this way contribute to a better balance between economy, society and environment. Our training would consist of practical advice to our employees, to show them how to do things instead of imposing them. Company's plan is to offer a 3 weeks training.

Week 1: "Efficient use of the raw materials". In this module the employees work in a methodology of experiential learning, they would learn the importance of using less materials for their job.

Week 2: "Guide of Good Practices of Business Management". In this week the workers would propose improvements that can be applied in the job.

Week 3: "Module of management with Environmental Criteria" in this time the workers would learn how to calculate the costs and the environmental impacts in all the relevant flows of the company.

It is important to mention that our training system is also a participatory scheme, which tries to integrate and involve the whole personnel, because of this there would be meetings with the workers for a better strengthening and increasing the productivity of the company¹ .

Organizational Design

"TheCityFarm" will be a company made by three main departments:

Green department

This department its created to fulfill the needs of measuring and to ensure that the company is environmentally friendly. This department supervises each of the other three main departments; its responsible too of improving the way that the work is done in each area.

Commercial department

The Commercial Department (CD) is the area that will be in charge of making the purchases to the suppliers (fishes, plants, plastic, etc.) as selling the products (aquaponics) to the clients. In that logic the area will be divided in two completely different departments defined as:

• Marketing department: As has been mentioned in Marketing of TheCityFarm, "being friendly towards the environment is the fundamental pillar of TheCityFarm and it is also necessary that customers know it", the marketing department is the main department responsible to do this.
• Buying Department: For the buying department the company will need employees able to negotiate and to make the best businesses as possible (concerning always environmental issues) understanding that sometimes the price will not be only the most important aspect of the enterprise because is more important to give preference to the ecological aspects and be able to see that some of the offers could be really productive in the long term. At the same time, is indispensable to take into account the responsibility of the suppliers in terms of the environment when they produce their stuff and how they distribute and deliver them.
• Selling Department: In this department the company will need trained people who know perfectly the product that will positioned in the market. For example, to know how the system works, what kind of material uses, and to have a clear idea about the benefits that the aquaponics offer. Everything with the main purpose of understands what are the necessities and preferences about what the client wants.

Accounting department

The Accounting Department despite of its remoteness with the daily operations of the company is a fundamental sector for the understanding of it. And it is important because without it could be impossible to know about how the company is going and what are the possible ways that "TheCityFarm" could take depending on the finances. This means that the company will act in a balance between the capital and the green issues.

Technical department

The Technical Department will be focused on three special functions with one main objective (to achieve a better logistic and performance) divided into:

• Design area: This department would be in charge of planing and designing product  in agreement to what the client is requesting. The employees would need to be in touch with the accounting department to budget for; then the selling department can close a deal.
• Installation: This department would construct and make the installation according to the design proposed by the planning area.
• Maintenance: The maintenance department will be in charge of maintaining the products created, offering the service to the clients to look after the work of the product.

References

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