Research Spotlight
Organizational Change and Sustainability
A New Way of Thinking About Business
Back in 1987, the Brundtland Commision, convened by the United Nations, put forward a definition of sustainable development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition is still commonly used by companies aspiring toward more sustainable business practices, many organizations and practicing managers struggle with how to make sense of this societal ideal of sustainability in their day to day operations.
Enter University of Guelph researcher Prof. Elizabeth Kurucz in the Department of Business. She is involved in a variety of research projects that are focused on the different ways that the concept of sustainability is socially constructed, and what this means for organizational change toward more sustainable business practices.
In one of these projects, a three-year SSHRC funded initiative Leadership for Sustainability, Kurucz and her colleagues Barry Colbert from Wilfrid Laurier University and David Wheeler from the University of Plymouth in the UK explored what sustainability meant across a range of private, not-for-profit and government organizations. They are currently collaborating on a book focused on identifying the implications of this research for the skills and capabilities required by leaders to translate a sustainability vision into reality in their organizations.
Kurucz says sustainability has different meanings for everyone, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, she says, this wide range of ideas can lead to strategic opportunities for forward thinking organizations if they embrace the diversity of these meanings, and use a process of dialogue described as “sustainability conversations” to engage employees in these initiatives. Understanding how sustainability is relevant to individual employees within the workplace -- whether it’s at the shop floor level or the managerial level -- can enhance innovation and creativity within organizations and lead to both short and long term benefits that ultimately create more value for both the organization and its stakeholders.
One reason a sustainability vision that effectively engages individual employees is highly beneficial is that it allows them to feel like their work, trade or particular job is connected to a greater good.
“Helping managers to understand how sustainability, when translated to their own organizational context, can enable employees to recognize how society, the environment and the economy all benefit from the work that they do is an important aspect of realizing a sustainability vision,” says Kurucz.
For example, in one organization the researchers examined, the way individual employees were engaged in the sustainability vision helped them comprehend that their work was integral to the well being of people in society, because it helped to ensure the safety of human lives. Possessing this knowledge enhanced employees’ feelings of purpose as well as their level of productivity. But -- and perhaps most importantly -- the value of engaging employees in sustainability conversations is for the challenge that it offers leaders to develop their critical, strategic and integrative thinking skills, and what this means for the quality of ideas that emerge from their organizations.
“Sustainability is sometimes described as a proxy for good management,” says Kurucz. “So, if managers can think on multiple fronts, simultaneously considering environment, economy and society in their decisions, these are simply better managed organizations. In taking this approach to decision-making leaders will find that this more holistic way of managing their business is highly beneficial to themselves, their organization and their stakeholders.”
Kurucz says working toward a more sustainable world requires an understanding of how individuals in private, not-for-profit and government organizations can more effectively work together to positively impact social, environmental, and economic issues.
Another three-year SSHRC-funded research project she’s involved in is directed toward the role of multi-sectoral collaboration in enhancing societal learning for sustainability. It focuses on how civil society organizations can act as catalysts for change in order to foster collaboration between these sectors address sustainability issues in an innovative way. Organizations are typically very good at competing with one another, but Kurucz says that collaboration is the key to a sustainable future.
“For us to succeed as a society in navigating this transition from our current practices toward a more sustainable world requires us to unleash new mindsets in current and future leaders; we have a significant role to play as educators in business schools in order to engage in the kind of transformational learning that is required for us to embark on this critical journey,” she says.
Research funding is provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
By: Johnny Roberts
