Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Organizational sustainability'

This study aims to explain the process through which organizations adopt practices that are congruent with the need for sustainability of the world to support the existence of economic, social, and environmental systems for future generations. The study used grounded theory for data collection and analysis. Seven organizations that varied by industry, type, size, and number of years in operation participated in this study, representing industries from manufacturing, financial services, education, government, community organizations, faith-based organizations, and consumer products from Northwest Pennsylvania. The data analysis was qualitative in nature. Results from open, axial, and selective coding produced six main categories: sustainability definition/meaning, sustainability practices, sustainability mechanisms, sustainability barriers, sustainability factors, and sustainability learning to-date. Implications of study and future research are discussed.

Today's challenge for workforce management lies in providing a healthy, safe and productive working culture where people are valued, empowered and respected. Workforce diversity is becoming an essential aspect of the global workforce, and ageing is the most prominent and significant factor in this regard. Diversity brings many opportunities and challenges, as workers with different backgrounds, cultures, working attitudes, behaviours and age work together, and in future, the key to organizational effectiveness and sustainability will heavily depend on developing and sustaining inclusive work environments where people with their differences can co-exist safely and productively. Manufacturing organizations expect the highest levels of productivity and quality, but unfortunately the manufacturing system design process does not take into account human variability issues caused by age, skill, experience, attitude towards work etc. This thesis focuses on proposing an inclusive design methodology to address the design needs of a broader range of the population. However, the promotion and implementation of an inclusive design method is challenging due to the lack of relevant data and lack of relevant tools and methods to help designers. This research aims to support the inclusive design process by providing relevant data and developing new design methodologies. The inclusive design methodology suggested in this thesis is a three step approach for achieving a safe and sustainable work environment for workers, with special concern for older workers. The methodology is based on the provision of relevant human capabilities data, the capture and analysis of difference in human behaviour and the use of this knowledge in a digital human modelling tool. The research is focused on manual assembly through a case study in the furniture manufacturing industry and joint mobility data from a wide-ranging population has been analysed and the task performing strategies and behaviours of workers with different levels of skills have been recorded and analysed. It has been shown that joint mobility significantly decreases with age and disability and that skilful workers are likely to adopt safer and more productive working strategies. A digital human modelling based inclusive design strategy was found to be useful in addressing the design needs of older workers performing manufacturing assembly activities. This strategy validates the concept of using human capabilities data for assessing the level of acceptability of any adopted strategy for older workers, and suggests that the strategies adopted by skilful workers are more likely to be equally acceptable for older and younger workers keeping in view differences in their joint mobility. The overall purpose of this thesis is to present a road map towards the promotion and implementation of the inclusive design method for addressing workforce challenges and in future the same strategies might be implemented within a variety of other industrial applications. The proposed three step inclusive design methodology and getting a reasonable understanding of human variability issues along with the use of human capabilities data (joint mobility in this case) in a human modelling system for design assessment at a pre-design stage can be considered as the major contributions of this research.

The defunding of higher education at the state and national level following the 2008 recession created the need for administrators of public higher education institutions to develop and implement funding strategies to maintain organizational sustainability. State government administrators reduced spending approximately 26% per student across the nation, leaving higher education administrators challenged with adjusting organizational budgets to compensate for the reduction in state monetary support. A multiple case study design was used to explore funding strategies that community college business leaders used to support budget decisions that maintain organizational sustainability. Four leaders from 3 community colleges in Central Texas participated in semistructured interviews. Interviews were triangulated with reviews of historical school board documents. Data analysis included documents review, member checking, coding data by participant, and electronic data analysis software to determine the most frequent responses. The theory of organizational change was used as the conceptual framework for exploring strategies community college business leaders use for sustainable futures. Two themes that emerged from the analysis were business-focused planning and student success identifying that community college business leaders need to focus on offering affordable education that meets stakeholders' needs while implementing funding strategies to support budget decisions for organizational sustainability. The findings may impact social change when budget decisions are made with a focus on affordable and quality education that improves the lives of individuals, meets local workforce needs, and promotes economic development within communities.

The purpose of this single case study was to explore enterprise risk management strategies that nonprofit business leaders used to maintain and improve organizational sustainability. The study population included 3 executive leaders from a rehabilitation and social services nonprofit agency located in the northeastern United States. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations integrated enterprise risk management framework was the conceptual lens used in this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with the 3 executive leaders of the client organization and review of internal, external, and publicly available documents. Data and information from documents and interviews were manually coded. Findings were validated through data triangulation and member checking to help ensure accuracy, consistency, and credibility. Several overarching themes emerged from data analysis related to managing risk for sustainability: a commitment to culture and the mission, vision and values; operational efficiencies to build a financially strong organization; engagement of executive staff and board members; and addressing staffing needs for ongoing operations to meet client needs. Findings from this study might contribute to positive social change by providing nonprofit leaders with enterprise risk management strategies and processes to maintain and improve organizational performance, thereby helping to ensure leaders’ ability to serve and improve their communities.

The present Thesis is structured as a collection of three essays linked by one core idea: contributing to research knowledge on inter-organizational network dynamics in the context of innovation and the promotion of sustainability. In this Thesis, the author takes a systemic perspective and analyses the interactions between diverse groups of stakeholders, aiming to identify and interpret the logic underlying the formation of inter-organizational partnerships to promote innovation and sustainability. The dynamics of inter-organizational networks are influenced by several internal and external factors, such as strategic cooperation with stakeholders, structural changes (such as an R&I policy change), and exogenous shocks (such as COVID-19). The present work’s value is developing research inputs and providing empirical ground and methodological support for innovation management framed by inter-organizational networks and mission-oriented public policy evolution. The present work is divided into three main chapters, and their abstracts are presented below. Finally, the Thesis ends with conclusions that summarize the outputs of the empirical works. CHAPTER 1 An appropriate starting point to comprehend the inter-organizational networks for sustainability is to deepen the research knowledge on stakeholders’ role in sustainable innovation and disentangle the antecedents, management, and potential sustainable innovation outcomes. Using the Scopus database, we collected papers that represent works carried out in the field of sustainable innovation and stakeholders’ involvement in organizational practices for these innovations. Based on the data process selection method, we carry out a literature review of the 59 selected papers. This literature review aims to describe the sustainable innovation phenomena and offer a comprehensive overview of the knowledge produced on the theme to practitioners and policymakers So, this chapter presents an interpretative framework of extant literature and discuss the following questions related to the inter-organizational resource-management of sustainable innovation: (a) with whom to work; (b) when to work; (c) how to work together; (d) what challenges should organizations learn to face. Theoretical and practical business implications of the proposed framework are discussed. CHAPTER 2 This chapter aims to analyze the inter-organizational R&I collaboration network dynamics at a mesoscopic level as a consequence of an external environment change. In particular, the study’s empirical setting is the policy change that occurred when passing from the EU 7th Framework program (FP7) to the HORIZON 2020 program (H2020). This change’s effect on the patterns of evolution of the inter-organizational networks between financed actors is stressed. In such R&I context, inter-organizational networks play a particularly critical role as innovation catalysts. Using a dataset of more than 22,228 unique projects in FP7 and 22,153 in H2020, we constructed two collaboration networks. We apply network analysis as a research instrument to identify and measure the fundamental structural properties of networks. At the mesoscopic level, the resulting communities for both networks have been analyzed and compared. Results show that under a policy change, the Horizon 2020 network becomes more assortative than the FP7 network. Preferential attachment (reach-club phenomenon) between leading R&I institutions is demonstrated within the system. The network is supported by the sporadic participation of (many) new actors. Also, the work outcomes demonstrate three different architectures of inter-organizational connections that can define network dynamics: (i) persistent stability or knowledge concentration, (ii) expansion of clusters or knowledge spread, and (iii) merging effect or knowledge aggregation. With these results, we contribute to organizational and network theories by detecting and identifying structural patterns for innovation links in such a complex system as the EU framework program stressing the policy’s impact on them as a dynamics booster. CHAPTER 3 The last chapter examines the impact of an exogenous shock on an inter-organizational R&I network. We concentrate on healthcare public-private partnerships and investigate the history dependencies within them and how an exogenous shock such as COVID-19 fosters an evolution of the complex R&I network. In total, data of 2087 funded projects (FP7, HORIZON 2020, and Innovative Medicines Initiative) are involved in this study to understand the evolution process(es) these types of networks manifest under emergency conditions. The results demonstrate that the present crisis’s urgency shifts the healthcare sector to test new working paths. Two opposite behaviors of the actors in these networks are observable: (i) highly innovative partnerships and (ii) strong lock-in effects. Additionally, we state that non-EU countries demonstrated strong cooperation and co-creation openness under this exogenous shock. Furthermore, the urgency conditions in COVID-19 push policymakers to demonstrate vital flexibility and adaptability of the EU R&I call to the societal needs. Finally, it is possible to underline that network analysis is a powerful research tool for developing new knowledge regarding R&I cooperation evolution under external factors. Accordingly, this work provides a theoretical and an empirical framework for managing the inter-organizational innovation network based on a dynamic complex system theory perspective (Simon 1996; Sawyer, 2005). In particular, it is possible to mention the newly developed insight capable of describing the network’s dynamics through the meso and micro levels of analysis.
The present Thesis is structured as a collection of three essays linked by one core idea: contributing to research knowledge on inter-organizational network dynamics in the context of innovation and the promotion of sustainability. In this Thesis, the author takes a systemic perspective and analyses the interactions between diverse groups of stakeholders, aiming to identify and interpret the logic underlying the formation of inter-organizational partnerships to promote innovation and sustainability. The dynamics of inter-organizational networks are influenced by several internal and external factors, such as strategic cooperation with stakeholders, structural changes (such as an R&I policy change), and exogenous shocks (such as COVID-19). The present work’s value is developing research inputs and providing empirical ground and methodological support for innovation management framed by inter-organizational networks and mission-oriented public policy evolution. The present work is divided into three main chapters, and their abstracts are presented below. Finally, the Thesis ends with conclusions that summarize the outputs of the empirical works. CHAPTER 1 An appropriate starting point to comprehend the inter-organizational networks for sustainability is to deepen the research knowledge on stakeholders’ role in sustainable innovation and disentangle the antecedents, management, and potential sustainable innovation outcomes. Using the Scopus database, we collected papers that represent works carried out in the field of sustainable innovation and stakeholders’ involvement in organizational practices for these innovations. Based on the data process selection method, we carry out a literature review of the 59 selected papers. This literature review aims to describe the sustainable innovation phenomena and offer a comprehensive overview of the knowledge produced on the theme to practitioners and policymakers So, this chapter presents an interpretative framework of extant literature and discuss the following questions related to the inter-organizational resource-management of sustainable innovation: (a) with whom to work; (b) when to work; (c) how to work together; (d) what challenges should organizations learn to face. Theoretical and practical business implications of the proposed framework are discussed. CHAPTER 2 This chapter aims to analyze the inter-organizational R&I collaboration network dynamics at a mesoscopic level as a consequence of an external environment change. In particular, the study’s empirical setting is the policy change that occurred when passing from the EU 7th Framework program (FP7) to the HORIZON 2020 program (H2020). This change’s effect on the patterns of evolution of the inter-organizational networks between financed actors is stressed. In such R&I context, inter-organizational networks play a particularly critical role as innovation catalysts. Using a dataset of more than 22,228 unique projects in FP7 and 22,153 in H2020, we constructed two collaboration networks. We apply network analysis as a research instrument to identify and measure the fundamental structural properties of networks. At the mesoscopic level, the resulting communities for both networks have been analyzed and compared. Results show that under a policy change, the Horizon 2020 network becomes more assortative than the FP7 network. Preferential attachment (reach-club phenomenon) between leading R&I institutions is demonstrated within the system. The network is supported by the sporadic participation of (many) new actors. Also, the work outcomes demonstrate three different architectures of inter-organizational connections that can define network dynamics: (i) persistent stability or knowledge concentration, (ii) expansion of clusters or knowledge spread, and (iii) merging effect or knowledge aggregation. With these results, we contribute to organizational and network theories by detecting and identifying structural patterns for innovation links in such a complex system as the EU framework program stressing the policy’s impact on them as a dynamics booster. CHAPTER 3 The last chapter examines the impact of an exogenous shock on an inter-organizational R&I network. We concentrate on healthcare public-private partnerships and investigate the history dependencies within them and how an exogenous shock such as COVID-19 fosters an evolution of the complex R&I network. In total, data of 2087 funded projects (FP7, HORIZON 2020, and Innovative Medicines Initiative) are involved in this study to understand the evolution process(es) these types of networks manifest under emergency conditions. The results demonstrate that the present crisis’s urgency shifts the healthcare sector to test new working paths. Two opposite behaviors of the actors in these networks are observable: (i) highly innovative partnerships and (ii) strong lock-in effects. Additionally, we state that non-EU countries demonstrated strong cooperation and co-creation openness under this exogenous shock. Furthermore, the urgency conditions in COVID-19 push policymakers to demonstrate vital flexibility and adaptability of the EU R&I call to the societal needs. Finally, it is possible to underline that network analysis is a powerful research tool for developing new knowledge regarding R&I cooperation evolution under external factors. Accordingly, this work provides a theoretical and an empirical framework for managing the inter-organizational innovation network based on a dynamic complex system theory perspective (Simon 1996; Sawyer, 2005). In particular, it is possible to mention the newly developed insight capable of describing the network’s dynamics through the meso and micro levels of analysis.

This research sought to understand the role of organizational learning and the experience of the use of organizational learning for the development of sustainability culture in life science companies. Therefore, the study utilized a phenomenological qualitative approach to find out the perspectives of life science companies and life science non-governmental organizations (NGOs) about the subject matter. Furthermore, this study was exploratory and inductive and used a combination of research methods (triangulation). It was found that organizational learning creates sustainability awareness and engagement which contributes to the development of sustainability culture. This in turn would lead to the organization becoming a learning organization that focuses on sustainability. Government policies, quality management systems and internal standards serve as factors that create awareness of sustainability issues and encourage life science small-medium enterprises (SMEs) to continuously engage in sustainability business practices. It was found that various learning methods can be used internally and externally to learn about sustainability. However it is important that learning that is done externally or on an individual level be shared with the organization in a group or organizational level. The study acknowledged a heightened awareness for more sustainability focused practices within the operations of life science companies, however the financial constraints negatively influence how they prioritize their actions. It also identified how collaborations with life sciences NGOs help facilitate the implementation of a long-term sustainability vision and strategies into life science companies.

Organization development (OD) is a field of scholarship and practice with a tradition of contributions to successful organizational change since the 1930s. In recent years proponents of OD have articulated the need for the field to address global issues, including sustainability. The World Commission on Environment and Development of the United Nations in 1987 published Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, and called for attention to urgent issues of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Subsequent sustainability scholars and practitioners identified organizational and social changes requisite for its achievement. This descriptive, qualitative, empirical study links the two fields. Eleven internal organization development practitioners (IODPs) were interviewed about their role as change agents for sustainability within their organizations. Thematic analysis was used to identify five themes from their responses about their organizations of employment: the constancy of change, the variety and forms of sustainability in evidence, the work of IODPs, organizational relationships of IODPs and their reflections on their practice, and the IODPs’ perspectives on being agents of change. The findings have implications for how IODPs are integrated into the sustainability initiatives of organizations as well as for the education and training of these practitioners.

The concept of implementing organizational learning principles in an organization to help individuals and groups ?learn to learn? (Schein, 2017), thereby making the ongoing adaptation and change that inevitably occurs in organizations more successful, is an interesting problem to explore. While interesting, there are very few studies that examine the sustainability of change in any context. Several theoretical models incorporate the idea of sustaining, or institutionalizing, change. But, very few empirical studies actually explore that concept. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive, embedded case study was to explore how a government agency developed and sustained organizational learning, using the Organizational Learning Systems Model (OLSM) as a lens. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the following research question was addressed: How did a government agency introduce and sustain organizational learning during and after a planned change? The results from this study contributed to the literature and to the practitioner community by showing that (1) the organization introduced and implemented organizational learning by centrally managing the learning subsystems during the change itself; (2) the organization introduced and sustained organizational learning by involving, encouraging, and empowering employees and middle managers during the change; (3) the organization introduced and implemented organizational learning by aligning all messaging from senior leadership to front-line employees during the change; (4) the organization implemented and sustained organizational learning by encouraging practice to learn the new behaviors and to iterate the change plan based on lessons learned; (5) the organization sustained organizational learning by counting on middle managers to sustain sensemaking and organizational learning post-change; and, (6) the organization was challenged in sustaining organizational learning because the specific change to a dispersed work environment has several unintended consequences that make it a tricky change. A conceptual model to augment the OLSM was proposed. Future studies could: (1) test the conceptual model proposed; (2) explore the impacts of a dispersed work environment using OLSM or social network analysis; and, (3) examine the relationship between open office design and a dispersed work environment.

One of the reasons, why it is difficult to implement the concept of social sustainability into organizations, is its inherent complexity and vagueness. The new Social Sustainability Principles (SSPs) within the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) offer a clear definition of success for the social system. This study aims to put the new SSPs into an organizational context. It investigates how people-related issues within organizations, discussed in six organizational and management journals, published between 2009 and 2014, are related to the SSPs. One fourth of the 3305 reviewed articles were found to relate to social sustainability. Most of the articles focused on improving performance through aspects related to social sustainability. The articles mainly discussed aspects related to barriers to the SSPs as problems, solutions or positive aspects that could remove barriers to the SSPs. The results show that for organizational research to be able to support organizations moving towards social sustainability, there is a need for a clear definition of success as well as a frame that takes the whole social system into consideration. The FSSD and the SSPs could help to structure the diverse topics, put research problems in a bigger context and discern relevant problems and solutions.

Environmental Planning theory tells us that continued improvement in environmental outcomes will require new approaches that are voluntary; behavior change will come from within organizations, not imposed from outside. The concept of sustainability fits in this new phase of environmental planning and policy. In order for organizations to be successful in achieving sustainability goals, they must create an organizational context that produces innovative ideas (considered a strength of organic or learning organizations), along with an organizational context that effectively manages and implements continuous change (considered a strength of bureaucratic organizations). Effectively striking this balance appears to be a key component of making progress in sustainability for large public organizations. The research completed through this doctoral dissertation addresses gaps in the literature by asking the question: How have large public organizations implemented sustainability programs? A multiple case study design was used that examined three large public organizations that have adopted sustainability goals and established programs for achieving these goals. The data were analyzed based on a conceptual framework that predicts the types of activities and attributes organizations will exhibit to successfully achieve sustainability goals. The results demonstrate that sustainability implementation in these organizations is dependent upon leadership support, cross-functional teams, orientation to the external environment, effective management systems and consistent support over time. Bureaucratic organizations are structured to effectively accomplish the core mission, but if they also want to be more sustainable, they must adopt and promote more organic attributes to enable change, learning and innovation.

Motivated by an assumption of and concern about the unsustainable trajectory of modern human civilization, the purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool to assist organizations striving to align their operations with principles of sustainability. The relevant context is established with consideration of the dimensions of environment, society and economy, as well as their interconnections, with an eye towards sustainability. Some of the challenges and opportunities presented to organizations by the current unsustainable trajectory are reviewed. The social constructs of culture and climate (organizational and psychological) are discussed as important to understand organizational life. I propose the notion of a sustainability climate to represent factors within the organization that are theorized as important for successfully integrating the principles of sustainability into organizational decision-making and routine behaviors. Items were developed to tap the theorized constructs and were administered to a population of university employees (N = 252). The study explored construct validity of these measures through exploratory factor analysis, assessment of internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and criterion validity. Results provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the sustainability climate factors (perceived top-management support, shared vision, employee involvement, rewards, sustainability norms), and factors of sustainability beliefs (personal understanding, supportive attitude, and positive engagement). These factors' power predicting the criteria, sustainability role expectations, sustainability role behaviors, and environmental stewardship demonstrates the potential to improve upon the instrument. Limitations of the present study are discussed and appropriate application of the Sustainability Climate Survey is explored.

For-profit social enterprises are facing the dual challenges of fulfilling social purpose on the one hand and surviving business competition on the other. Being a sustainable for-profit social enterprise, the company must balance between economic, social and environmental aspects throughout their business operations. In order to achieve the desired end of sustainability, organization need to keep learning about the social needs and the business environment in order to develop sustainable business processes, and better fulfill their purpose as organizations formed to create social value. The study aims to fill the gaps in sustainability research literature about organizational learning in for-profit social enterprises by exploring how effective learning processes occur at individual, group and organizational level and how to facilitate these learning processes to improve sustainability. The study develops an analytical framework by combining the 4I framework for organizational learning process (Crossan et al., 1999) and an AKO (activities, knowledge source, outcomes) framework for understanding learning activities, knowledge sources and learning outcomes. Four for-profit social enterprises in both Denmark and Sweden are chosen as cases. Based on findings, three organizational learning mechanisms are identified on selected cases. Practical implications and insights are also generated for for-profit social enterprises to facilitate organizational learning for sustainability.

In the United States, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) face a precarious future because of their heavy reliance on the financial support of government funding, other donor agencies, and philanthropic foundation resources. The purpose of this study is to understand how and to what extent leadership of NPOs can benefit from using funder-required performance data to improve organizational sustainability. Using Pfeffer and Salincik's resource dependency theory to explain organizational sustainability, this qualitative multiple case study of 10 NPOs in a northeastern U.S. state includes 14 interviews with NPO leadership, a document review of NPO 990 tax filings, annual performance reports, and board meeting minutes. All data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. Key findings indicated 6 overarching themes associated with NPO sustainability and funder-required performance measures that impact program sustainability but are mainly used for compliance: (a) NPO adoption and use of performance measures; (b) data collection and evaluation for external compliance; (c) information pertaining to financial, operational, and administrative decision making; (d) NPO leadership decisions regarding internal constructs, operations, and management; (e) resource dependency; and (f) sustainability practices. The implications for positive social change include strategies for NPO leaders to use to ensure survival, continuous community impact, and awareness for policymakers regarding legislative and regulatory developments that may inadvertently harm NPOs.

Els problemes de sostenibilitat ambiental, com el canvi climàtic, solen ser d'escala mundial però necessàriament locals i materials en les seves manifestacions. No obstant això, la literatura sobre sostenibilitat i gestió ha prestat poca atenció a com l'entorn natural afecta les organitzacions i les seves operacions. Un punt de vista emergent en la literatura sobre sostenibilitat retrata les organitzacions com incorporades a la natura i permet una mirada més profunda a les interrelacions locals entre les organitzacions i l'entorn natural que les envolta. Aquesta tesi doctoral adopta aquesta perspectiva per comprendre millor com les organitzacions i els seus membres entenen i interpreten l'entorn natural en què estan immerses, i com aquestes interpretacions donen forma a les pràctiques organitzatives. Per a això, s'apliquen metodologies d'investigació qualitatives i quantitatives per examinar fins a quin punt i com l'experiència directa dels fenòmens naturals, com els efectes del canvi climàtic o les catàstrofes naturals, afecta les respostes i resultats de les organitzacions. Un primer estudi de mètodes mixtes sobre productors de cacau al Brasil explora com els responsables de la presa de decisions en contextos vulnerables experimenten les conseqüències del canvi climàtic i com els seus diferents interpretacions donen forma a les respostes adaptatives organitzatives. Aquest estudi se centra en les respostes organitzatives immediates als fenòmens naturals adversos. Un segon estudi investiga empíricament els efectes a llarg termini de l'experiència dels fenòmens naturals en els resultats organitzatius. Basant-se en l'anàlisi de dades quantitatives sobre empreses japoneses en el context del Gran Terratrèmol de l'Est del Japó, aquest estudi proposa el concepte de creixement posttraumàtic organitzatiu per captar el canvi emergent en els valors organitzatius i la capacitat de resposta a les necessitats socials després del desastre natural. Aquests estudis se centren en les interrelacions locals entre les organitzacions i l'entorn natural en què estan immerses. Si bé aquest enfocament contribueix a la creixent literatura sobre les organitzacions i l'entorn natural, també implica el risc de perdre en la infinitat d'especificitats i interpretacions que caracteritzen a cada context i que s'han d'integrar amb l'escala global de les qüestions de sostenibilitat. Conciliar l'escala local i la global, necessàries per abordar aquests reptes de sostenibilitat, no és gens trivial. Per això, un tercer estudi pretén fer una contribució teòrica a les tensions que sorgeixen entre l'aplicació local de pràctiques sostenibles i la necessitat de coordinació global en el context de les normes voluntàries de sostenibilitat. En conjunt, els tres estudis d'aquesta tesi doctoral pretenen contribuir en la interrelació local entre les organitzacions i el sistema natural en què estan immerses, per entendre com les interpretacions organitzatives dels fenòmens naturals locals afecten les organitzacions i com poden abordar eficaçment les tensions entre els nivells local i global. Els principals arguments es basen tant en la teoria com en les proves empíriques, de manera que s'ofereix un enfocament metodològic global apte per a fer aportacions substancials a l'estudi de les organitzacions i la natura.
Los problemas de sostenibilidad ambiental, como el cambio climático, suelen ser de escala mundial pero necesariamente locales y materiales en sus manifestaciones. Sin embargo, la literatura sobre sostenibilidad y gestión ha prestado poca atención a cómo el entorno natural afecta a las organizaciones y sus operaciones. Un punto de vista emergente en la literatura sobre sostenibilidad retrata a las organizaciones como incorporadas a la naturaleza y permite una mirada más profunda a las interrelaciones locales entre las organizaciones y el entorno natural que las rodea. Esta tesis doctoral adopta esta perspectiva para comprender mejor cómo las organizaciones y sus miembros entienden e interpretan el entorno natural en el que están inmersas, y cómo estas interpretaciones dan forma a las prácticas organizativas. Para ello, se aplican metodologías de investigación cualitativas y cuantitativas para examinar hasta qué punto y cómo la experiencia directa de los fenómenos naturales, como los efectos del cambio climático o las catástrofes naturales, afecta a las respuestas y resultados de las organizaciones. Un primer estudio de métodos mixtos sobre productores de cacao en Brasil explora cómo los responsables de la toma de decisiones en contextos vulnerables experimentan las consecuencias del cambio climático y cómo sus diferentes interpretaciones dan forma a las respuestas adaptativas organizativas. Este estudio se centra en las respuestas organizativas inmediatas a los fenómenos naturales adversos. Un segundo estudio investiga empíricamente los efectos a largo plazo de la experiencia de los fenómenos naturales en los resultados organizativos. Basándose en el análisis de datos cuantitativos sobre empresas japonesas en el contexto del Gran Terremoto del Este de Japón, este estudio propone el concepto de crecimiento postraumático organizativo para captar el cambio emergente en los valores organizativos y la capacidad de respuesta a las necesidades sociales tras el desastre natural. Estos estudios se centran en las interrelaciones locales entre las organizaciones y el entorno natural en el que están inmersas. Si bien este enfoque contribuye a la creciente literatura sobre las organizaciones y el entorno natural, también implica el riesgo de perderse en la infinidad de especificidades e interpretaciones que caracterizan a cada contexto y que deben integrarse con la escala global de las cuestiones de sostenibilidad. Conciliar la escala local y la global, necesarias para abordar estos retos de sostenibilidad, no es nada trivial. Por ello, un tercer estudio pretende hacer una contribución teórica a las tensiones que surgen entre la aplicación local de prácticas sostenibles y la necesidad de coordinación global en el contexto de las normas voluntarias de sostenibilidad. En conjunto, los tres estudios de esta tesis doctoral pretenden contribuir en la interrelación local entre las organizaciones y el sistema natural en el que están inmersas, para entender cómo las interpretaciones organizativas de los fenómenos naturales locales afectan a las organizaciones y cómo pueden abordarse eficazmente las tensiones entre los niveles local y global. Los principales argumentos se basan tanto en la teoría como en las pruebas empíricas, con lo que se ofrece un enfoque metodológico global apto para realizar aportaciones sustanciales al estudio de las organizaciones y la natura.
Environmental sustainability issues, such as climate change, are often global in scale but necessarily local and material in their manifestations. Yet the sustainability and the management literature has paid little attention to how the natural environment affects organizations and their operations. A burgeoning view in the sustainability literature portrays organizations as embedded in nature and allows for a deeper look at the local interrelations between organizations and the surrounding natural environment. This Ph.D. thesis adopts this perspective to provide a better understanding of how organizations and their members understand and interpret the natural environment in which they are embedded, and how these interpretations shape organizational practices. To that purpose, qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are applied to examine to what extent and how the direct experience of natural phenomena, such as climate change effects or natural disasters, affects organizational responses and outcomes. A first mixed-methods study of cocoa producers in Brazil explores how decision makers in vulnerable contexts experience the consequences of climate change and how their different interpretations shape organizational adaptive responses. This study focuses on the immediate organizational responses to adverse natural phenomena. A second study empirically investigates the long-term effects of experiencing natural phenomena on the organizational outcomes. Based on analyzing quantitative data on Japanese companies in the context of the Great East Japan Earthquake, this study proposes the concept of organizational post-traumatic growth to capture the emerging change in organizational values and responsiveness to social needs following the natural disaster. These studies hone in on local interrelations between organizations and the natural environment in which they are embedded. While this approach contributes to the burgeoning literature on organizations and the natural environment, it also implies a risk to get lost in the myriad of specificities and interpretations that characterize each context and that need to be integrated with the global scale of sustainability issues. Reconciling the local and global scale that are both required to address these sustainability challenges is far from trivial. Therefore, a third study aims to make a theoretical contribution to the tensions emerging between the local implementation of sustainable practices and the need for global coordination in the context of voluntary sustainability standards. Together, the three studies of this Ph.D. thesis aim to delve into the local interrelation between organizations and the natural system in which they are embedded, to understand how organizational interpretations of local natural phenomena affect organizations and how tensions between local and the global levels can be effectively addressed. The main arguments are grounded in both theory and empirical evidence, thereby providing a comprehensive methodological approach apt to make substantial contributions to the study of organizations and the natural environment.

Stakeholders are important to the financial sustainability of a nonprofit organization; however, heavy reliance on 1 stakeholder over another can place a nonprofit organization at financial risk. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies used by 3 senior leaders of a nonprofit organization in New York who have experience with stakeholder engagements efforts. The conceptual framework used for this study comprised general systems theory and transformational leadership theory. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, and review of organizational documents and online databases. Using thematic analysis, the 4 key themes that emerged from process and results strengths were leadership involvement in engaging stakeholders, persistent promotion of the organization's mission and vision, connection with the community, and workforce engagement activities. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to increase nonprofit leaders' understanding of practical approaches that may facilitate stakeholder engagement for improving financial sustainability, improve nonprofit leader–stakeholder relationships, and bolster philanthropic efforts to improve the economic stability of the nonprofit organization and the community.

Sustainability has become an important topic in many parts of society. However, companies struggle to translate it into their processes. If an individual values sustainability but is not able to fulfill these values an individual may feel a discrepancy; it may force individuals to feel an (in)congruence in their identity, leading to the question, How does sustainability identity (dis)congruence affect commitment? To answer the question a theoretical model was developed from different nuances of identity theory and organizational commitment. A mixed-method was used to capture the data. The results indicate that dependent on commitment style, the organization may override their personal sustainability identities. Our observations indicate that affective committed individuals choose to justify both personal and organizational actions in order to mitigate value incongruent behaviors. The thesis ends with a chapter of managerial recommendations.

Grade: Pass with distinction (VG)

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of insufficient business planning and good management of SMEs in Gabon have on SMEs’ to survive and grow. Thus, the study examined the relationship between business strategies and SMEs’ organisational sustainability in Libreville (Gabon).The study was a descriptive one which made use of positivist philosophy and adopted quantitative approach. As such a questionnaire which was designed from themes extracted from literature survey was used to gather data from a sample of 30 SMEs. The findings indicated that the lack of business strategy encountered in SMEs in Libreville lead partly to the failure or setbacks of the operation of the organisations. Most common reasons of the failure of SMEs were related to the absence of business plan, the lack of leadership, and lack of appropriate management system. The recommendations are to improve the SMEs in terms of good leadership, importance of business plan, management control system; strategic business management, organisation and employees performance. It further revealed that for the purpose of organisational sustainability, business strategies are regarded as critical aspects to consider for avoiding non-conformances while running businesses. The significance of the study is the framework to identify and optimise business strategies in order to promote successfully SMEs. The study shows the interest of owners of SMEs to set up appropriate business strategies.

In the absence of state and national governments leadership addressing climate change, cities and academic institutions have been taking the initiative to provide direction toward low-carbon transitions. From the U.S. Mayor's Climate Agreement, to the American College and University President's Climate Commitment, voluntary agreements are the only U.S. initiatives to address climate change systematically over the last decade or more. These voluntary agreements constitute a social movement and innovation space, supported through networks of sustainability practice and research. The proliferation of these agreements, the increasing numbers of participating organizations, and a nascent market in businesses providing supporting resources to network members, points to an action space that is a form of transition niche, unusual in that it is not protected or supported at any higher level of governance. Using a combination of social constructivist methods of situational analysis and social network analysis, this dissertation describes and analyzes six purely voluntary university agreements and makes visible their complex interactions. It investigates these voluntary agreements and the universities that are working to transform their operations, practices and curriculums in a collaborative effort to mitigate and adapt to climate change and move toward sustainability. It demonstrates that these networks are part of a larger network of cognitive practice for sustainable low-carbon transitions.

As scientists become more aware of the imposing threats associated with climate change, university leaders are encouraged to become familiar with the principles of sustainability. Abundant research already supports the relevance of environmental sustainability in higher education; however, there exists a gap in the literature which investigates an understanding of environmental sustainability and the implementation of its practices. By examining colleges at the University of Kentucky, this study identifies organizational barriers to recognizing a thorough understanding of environmental sustainability at the departmental level. The results indicate that out of the eight colleges selected, two have no existing environmental sustainability programs or initiatives. Based on this research it is possible for departments to initiate self-assessment and situate themselves firmly inside an institutional vision of sustainability.

Background: Sustainability is realized by companies to different extends as plenty of pressures operate on projects which influence the outcome. One specific influence are the actors who make sense of the pressures based on organizational and personal experiences. By the combination of institutional logics and organizational sensemaking theory, organizational influences in form of pressures and logics (forming the macro-level) and personal views based on individual sense making (micro-level) are combined to a micro-macro connection. The integration of the both theories leads to a deeper understanding on ‘sustainability integration’. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand how individuals handle sustainability in a project in a multinational company with has a focus in sustainability. It is of most interest how the influences, represented by the concept of institutional logics, are constructed by the sensemaking of the actors. Research question: How do employees make sense of a project with a sustainability purpose based on institutional logics? Method: The research design of this thesis is an exploratory case study with data collection by the hands of semi-structured interviews. Abductive reasoning was applied. An epistemological position of constructivism and interpretivism was taken. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that organizational pressures are not explicitly noted by each individual. A collective sensemaking is found in the fact that a sustainable project must be affordable for the customers to meet their needs. This finding however, can be traced back to the organizational level which is coined by a strong value culture.

Sociology
Ph.D.
Extreme poverty remains a persistent problem across the globe. Academics, practitioners, politicians and activists have sought ways to address this persistent problem. Traditional approaches to dealing with endemic poverty have centered around international aid and trade. The band aid approach of using aid alone to alleviate poverty has, at best, been ineffectual. International trade has also often been used as a means to increase the economic standing of an impoverished country. Trade has the potential to increase a country's economic position (e.g., gross domestic product) however it does not necessarily reduce poverty. It has become apparent that more effect means of reducing poverty are needed. In recent years, several bottom-up alternative approaches have emerged. Fair Trade is one such approach that seeks to balance the inequalities of traditional trade and provide a market where those on the bottom can participate more fully and fairly in economic enterprise. This study investigates the state of the alternative form of trade known as Fair Trade. Specifically, this study examines the development, functioning, and sustainability of the North American Fair Trade market. Realistically speaking, Fair Trade, which accounts for only a very small percentage of global trade, currently does not appear to be a replacement for traditional free trade. However, this study investigates if the Fair Trade market has the potential to become an important component of general efforts (e.g., by the United Nations and World Bank) to raise the living standards of the world's poor and function as an alternative market to the traditional free trade market. Two key areas of the market were examined in this study to ascertain the sustainability of the Fair Trade market. Specifically, the financial sustainability of the Fair Trade market was assessed. Quantitative data on sales and growth of Fair Trade goods over the past several decades was compiled to illustrate the relative significance and the future prospects of this market's financial status. These data were supplemented with an analysis of the financial records of available years of operation from a sample of Fair Trade businesses. Also, the organizational structure of the Fair Trade market was examined to ascertain the operational sustainability of the market. Organizational data were compiled to identify the business choices made by Fair Trade businesses. Results suggest that financially the North American Fair Trade market is growing at or above the pace of comparable non-Fair Trade businesses. Further, this study highlights a distinct and largely self sustaining organizational structure of the North American Fair Trade market.
Temple University--Theses

In many small to mid-size nonprofits, a large amount of knowledge and information is confined to local folders, hard copy formats or even specific people, making it inaccessible to those who could benefit from it. This informal practice causes duplication of efforts and prevents the organization from maintaining critical knowledge and learning from past experience. Partnering with The Center for Victims of Violence and Crime (CVVC), a Pittsburgh-based human services nonprofit organization, I applied human-centered design methods to identify their specific informal knowledge and information processes and structures. Using the research findings, I developed a sustainable and systematic knowledge management practice that also takes into account the constraints of funding and time, which many nonprofits face. To support this practice, I created a system with a hierarchical information architecture that is able to expand overtime to accommodate the growth of the organization and its programs. It enables clear organization, storage and retrieval of explicit knowledge documents as well as the related tacit knowledge, creating the necessary basis for sharing and collaboration. By simplifying and formalizing major administrative tasks, the system also streamlines organizational processes, allowing the staff to work more effectively. Implemented with Microsoft SharePoint 2010, the system creates a trustworthy environment that is necessary to facilitate organizational learning and maintain critical knowledge, leading to sustainability and innovation.

Extensive changes are taking place in working life and creating new and important areas for research. New knowledge is needed in order for individuals and organizations to be able to maintain long-term development. The aim of this thesis is to increase our understanding of how change and (im)mobility in the labor market are related to employees’ health, wellbeing, and work-related attitudes. The thesis comprises three studies, based on questionnaire data from different samples. Study I examined the potential consequences of downsizing in two organizations that had implemented change in two different ways (proactively and reactively). A proactive approach seems to lessen change-related demands and provide an opportunity for increased participation, which helps lessen the negative effects on employee work attitudes and wellbeing. The descriptive data from a representative sample in Study II revealed that 28 percent of the permanent and 50 percent of the temporary employees did not work in their preferred occupations. The results indicate that those individuals who were involuntarily embedded (locked-in position), especially among the permanent employees, had more health problems and less development at work. Study III utilizes a newly developed construct (work-related health attributions) that focuses on the individual’s perception of the relation between work and health. The results indicate that it seems to be a promising construct for predicting job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. For employees to have the opportunity to participate in organizational change, as well as the opportunity to exercise mobility and alter their circumstances when the organization, occupation, or job is not contributing to their better health appear to be factors that help improve health and sustainability for both employees and organizations.

Global mobility of the workforce and competition to attract and retain top talent compels organizations to develop healthy workplace environments that support employee engagement, well-being and retention. Within the education sector, many studies examine issues surrounding teacher retention, however, only a few studies were found that examine expatriate teacher turnover in international schools. While these studies contemplate the role of the workplace environment, they do not examine expatriate teacher turnover from a workplace health perspective. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to determine if workplace health plays a role in expatriate teacher sustainability in international schools from the perspectives of expatriate teachers, and in doing so, provide a new way to think about the role of international school environments in supporting expatriate teacher sustainability. Teachers were interviewed at Canadian Offshore Schools in Egypt and qualitative data analysis was undertaken using inductive thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that workplace health plays a role in expatriate teachers‟ decisions to leave or remain working at Canadian Offshore Schools in Egypt. Supportive relationships with administrators and colleagues, opportunities for career development and growth, job challenge, work demands and adequate compensation and benefits were among the features described by expatriate teachers as important to retention. Other reasons to stay were associated with the development of relationships beyond the schools and personal motivations. A number of implications arise from this study that may help to support expatriate teacher sustainability in Canadian Offshore Schools in Egypt. In addition to elements associated with workplace health, specific recommendations obtained from teachers concerning the recruitment process and the role schools can play in providing support to teachers to build relationships within and beyond the schools shed light on important issues that can serve to enhance teacher retention. This research supports prior literature and provides a new lens through which to view teacher retention in Canadian Offshore Schools in Egypt. The first-hand perspective of expatriate teachers demonstrated in this study reinforces the role of workplace health in employee retention and provides information to support international workplace practices and recruitment and retention strategies toward organizational sustainability.

Ineffective leadership impedes employee performance and threatens organizational sustainability, causing U.S. businesses to spend billions of dollars addressing such issues. Correspondingly, boxing promotion companies are challenged as some leaders lack strategies to improve employee performance. This single case study was focused on leadership strategies utilized in the boxing promotion industry to improve employee performance. Transformational and charismatic leadership theories were the conceptual framework for this study. The data consisted of semistructured interviews with 8 participants from 1 organization (4 leaders and 4 subordinates), as well as document review of company training materials. The 6-step model for thematic analysis coding procedure was used for data analysis. Five themes/strategies emerged: leading by example, inspiring/fostering teamwork, honest communication, people-driven actions, innovative/adaptive organizational change, and providing rewards were each associated with effective transactional leadership for increasing performance and sustainability. The consensus among participants was that effective leadership is a significant factor in improving employee performance, maintaining constructive leader-subordinate relationships, and increasing organizational sustainability. The social change implications include community economic enhancement. When organizational performance, as well as local economies and communities have the potential to thrive, local spending and use of community resources may also increase to stimulate local economies.

Recent trends point toward a decline in solo and small business medical practices, yet, the need and demand still exists for this model of health care. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective approaches to help physicians in solo practice and small medical group primary care practitioners (PCPs) retain their small business medical practices. The study included purposive sampling and face-to-face interviews: 11 physicians, predominately primary care practitioners, in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region, were interviewed until data saturation was reached. A component of systems theory (strategic thinking) and the dynamic capabilities concept were used to frame the study. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed to identify themes regarding effective competitive approaches to help small medical group physicians retain their practices. Four major themes emerged: need for flexibility and adaptability, need for higher levels of business acumen, need to fully embrace automation, and a focus on pursuing financial stability before pursuing growth and expansion of the medical practice. Results may benefit society by preserving and strengthening a source of patient-centered, effective, affordable health care for communities served by small business medical practices. Implications for social change include presenting methods to enhance stability and organizational sustainability of small business medical practices.

This case study of the Salvation Army Visby (SAV) describes the theoretical concepts of a Christian narrative and sustainable action within a local organizational context. As a result, one of the main contributions of this research is the consideration of narratives within a Christian organization from the angle of current ecotheological debates. While there can hardly be a single definition of what a Christian narrative of sustainability would be, we have summarized two conflicting views — an anthropocentric and a biocentric one. Our use of narrative theory has helped us understand in what ways such an overarching narrative can have influence into a local organizational context. We found that the SAV is deeply influenced by a Christian narrative putting more emphasis on social work rather than on ecotheological notions. We argue that the SAV’s actions are therefore more in line with social sustainability. We conclude by exploring how sustainability, and notably from an environmental perspective, can further be put in place within Christian organizations such as the SAV.

There is a high failure rate among local community-based nonprofit human service organizations in New York State, which may lead to service gaps in communities. Increasing sustainability may reduce these gaps and allow nonprofits to continue following the first leadership transition. Using McGregor's human resource theory as the guide, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the relationship between leadership succession planning and how departure of founding leaders impacts the sustainability of nonprofits. Data were collected through interviews with 16 leaders that included departing founding leaders, successors, and 2 board members in 4 local community-based nonprofit human service organizations in New York State, regarding the impact of the founder's departure on (a) leadership, (b) motivation, (c) teamwork, (d) power balance, (e) work environment, and (f) organizational change. Interview data were inductively coded and analyzed using a thematic analysis procedure. The results yielded 4 thematic elements that contributed to successful outcomes: (a) strengthening accountability to balance power, (b) individual versus collaborative leadership to increase shared governance, (c) assessing and developing competencies to efficiently use human resources, and (d) ability to conceptualize change and plan for the future. The results of this research study may help to contribute to positive social change by offering the leaders of local community-based nonprofit human service organizations strategies to sustain their organizational culture during and following their first leadership transition, involving the departure of the founder, allowing the organizations to continue to contribute positively to the community.

The purpose of writing The Role of Resistance to Change in Church Sustainability in Harlem, New York is to determine the role that resistance to change plays in ensuring that a church continues to survive in the face of the gentrification of the Harlem community. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

While sustainability-dedicated managers and related titles represent a profession that has hardly existed for more than a decade, it is not surprising that the field of research concentrating on these professionals is in itself relatively new. With an increasing demand for corporations to take their social and environmental responsibility, and a corporate sustainability characterized by tension and paradox, we found it of importance to explore the role and entanglements of these professionals. By analysing 17 in-depth interviews with sustainability-dedicated professionals from the private sector in Sweden, our interpretation is that sustainability managers hold the function of selling sustainability, with talk as their main weapon. Expressly, in the intersection between business-case logics and sustainability logics, sustainability managers have to, above all, make a convincing case for sustainability, inwards and outwards. Therefore, they draw dynamically on different narratives which we conceptualise in three roles: the chameleon, the pragmatic, and the nagging manager. Through these roles, we intend to capture the fluidity with which the managers relate and engage with sustainability, and hence we do not mean to ossify a role’s dynamics within a single, static or stereotypical category. We discuss these findings and concepts to the background of previous studies and existing literature.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate how organizations successfully can implement sustainability strategies. To fulfill the purpose, three research questions were established: What factors are important to consider when implementing environmental sustainability strategies? How do these factors affect the implementation of an environmental sustainability strategy? How can these factors enable a successful implementation of sustainability strategies? Method – To achieve the purpose of this study, a case study has been conducted at an organization where empirical data has been collected through interviews, observations, and document analyses. Further, a literature review was carried out to establish a theoretical framework. The empirical data and theoretical framework have been compared and analyzed in order to answer the research questions and fulfill the purpose. Findings – The findings provided six important factors in the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies: organizational structure, organizational culture, internal communication, management control, leadership, and employee motivation. The factors affect the implementation by hindering and facilitating alignment, common understanding, efficient communication, employee involvement and motivation. Further, the factors can enable a successful implementation by creating a mutual understanding of the strategy's vision and goals and establishing an organizational alignment in relation to the strategy. Last, the research indicates that a holistic consideration of these factors is needed. Implications – The research did not contribute to new theories, however, it provided increased knowledge on various factors that affect and enable environmental sustainability strategy implementation. Further, the research suggests that the factors should be considered holistically and simultaneously to achieve organizational alignment and mutual understanding. Limitations – The study is a single case study where one organization has been explored and a limited number of interviews have been conducted. The credibility of the study is believed to have increased further if multiple organizations had been studied with more interviews.

Abstract Background: Sustainability reporting is an important communication channel for corporations to increase legitimacy in the public eye and handle different stakeholder demands (Blanc et al., 2017). In order to manage different stakeholder demands scholars have developed different theories to detect any inconsistencies between a corporation’s communication and actions, namely organizational façades and organizational hypocrisy. Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to understand in which way RBS are misleading, in form of communication, their customers in their sustainability reports. This phenomenon is investigated between 2008-2013. It is under this period the FCA (2016) investigation concluded that the bank had misled their customers. Method: This thesis adopts the qualitative content analysis when conducting the research. This method aids to categorize the text data which helps to make a large sample of text more attainable and easier to analyse and find connections within the data. In this thesis the textual data is coded into one of the three following codes: (i.) Rational façades - the organization meet fundamental norms of rationality. (ii.) Progressive façades - the organization do not only show rationality but also progress. (iii.) Reputational façades - statements that are disclosed in order to meet demands of the most critical stakeholders (Abrahamson, & Baumard, 2008) Conclusion: The results show that the most frequently apparent façades in the sustainability reports are progressive façades, followed by reputational façades and lastly rational façades. Moreover, the findings of this thesis uncovered clear sub-categories fitting under each façade. The sub-categories discovered were eight folded. Lastly, the results show that RBS shows signs of organizational hypocrisy, since their sustainability report disclosures and their actions are not in line, during the investigation period.

This research seeks to identify how an organization's facility management (FM) practices relate with the state of sustainability in the organization. A review of the literature leads to presentation of a model defining these relationships. The concepts of direct and indirect FM sustainability roles in organizational sustainability are presented. Accepted facility metrics found in the APPA Facilities Performance Indicator Survey are used as indicators of FM in University System of Georgia institutions and are tested for correlation with sustainability best practices scores generated in an assessment performed for this research. FM performance indicators representing the direct role of FM are not found to be correlated with organizational sustainability best practicesin USG higher education organizations.

Striking the balance between managing a successful organisation and paying attention to environmental sustainability requires excellent leadership. There are several benefits associated with being an environmentally sustainable organisation such as improved image (reputation and brand), increased customer loyalty, improved bottom line, attracting skilled experienced staff and improving the relationships with local communities. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the change leadership qualities needed to drive environmental sustainability in the South African landscape to reduce global warming reduction. The qualitative paradigm was utilised to investigate the change leadership qualities needed to affect create environmental sustainability, with focus on global warming reduction actions in the workplace. A literature review was conducted on environmental sustainability, change leadership, and leadership qualities necessary to effect change. A survey was conducted among 13 participants using an interview schedule in the Gauteng, Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa in both private and public organisations in various business sectors. Data was collected in 2013 over a four–month period by conducting face-to-face, telephonic and email interviews. The returned questionnaires were subjected to constant comparative, content and grounded theory analysis. Biographical profiles of the respondents and participating organisations were presented as case studies. Trustworthiness of the data was ascertained using data triangulation. Data was analysed in terms of the issues of environmental sustainability and change leadership. In-depth analyses were also conducted by means of provincial, business and employment sector comparisons. It was found that environmental sustainability was being addressed by the selected organisations, specifically relating to GHG emissions, energy and water saving actions. Change leaders should implement specific environmental sustainability strategies to assist in the reduction of global warming, create awareness, focus on employee involvement, report on their sustainability results and put and incentives in place to encourage environmental sustainability. In order to effect such changes, change leaders need to set targets to measure their sustainability progress. Green campaigns should be conducted internally to educate employees on the effects of global warming, and externally to inform the public about their commitment to environmental sustainability and to advise the public on courses of actions to assist in the quest to reduce global warming. It would be advisable for organisations to appoint a specific environmental sustainability team to drive these efforts. It was found that in order to bring about such changes, certain qualities were needed by change leaders to enable them to act as a change agents. Associated change leadership styles were also addressed. Change leaders should be knowledgeable in order to effectively communicate the importance of environmental sustainability. They should adopt a blend of leadership styles to drive environmental sustainability depending on the extent of change actions planned. Organisations should identify, appoint and mentor female leaders as they have the nurturing qualities that could successfully drive environmental sustainability actions. Change leaders should also preferably be personally involved in environmental sustainability as their personal values together with their job role at top leadership level could contribute towards successful implementation of environmental sustainability actions in the workplace. The study has provided general guidelines on the environmental sustainability issues necessary to address global warming reduction as well as guidelines on the change leaders qualities necessary to drive environmental sustainability actions in the workplace.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Science, Dept. of Graduate School of the Environment, 2008.
Bibliography: p. 370-395.
Part 1: Introduction and contextual influences ; chapter 1: Getting a sense of the research terrain ; chapter 2: Shaping contextual influences -- Part 2: Theoretical foundations of the study ; chapter 3: Understanding organisational change ; chapter 4: Exploring organisational learning and sustainability as social learning processes -- Part 3: Methodology and research processes ; chapter 5: Critical action research methodology ; chapter 6: Research design and processes -- Part 4: Contextual issues and social learning outcomes ; chapter 7: Critical organisational analysis of the NMK ; chapter 8: Deliberating and exploring possibilities for change -- Part 5: Discussion of findings ; chapter 9: Ontological, epistemological and pedagogical implications of the study ; chapter 10: Reflections, contributions and recommendations -- References.
The main goal of this study was to deepen an understanding of exploring organisational learning and sustainability using critical action research methodology in a Kenyan context. The research process invloved a group of 23 middle level management emplyees of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) in identifying and acting on sustainability issues. This group was designed and cultivated as a community of practice for organisational learning purposes. The basic premise underlying the study is that exploring agential, structural and cultural interactions (morphogenetic relationships) through educational interventions (communicative interactions) in a community of practice can deepen context specific understanding of organisational learning and sustainability. I developed this argument by drawing on a complex philosophical framework that brought together assumptions from Archerian social realism, Deweyan pragmatism and critical theory. The framework underpinned three distinct and yet related theoretical perspectives - the Archerian morphogenetic approach. Habermasian critical theory and Lave and Wenger's communities of practice. The Archerian morphogenetic approach and Habermasian critical theory respectively provided ontological and epistemological perspectives for the study. Lave and Wenger's communities of practice approach provided both a unit of analysis (the NMK community) and a social theory of learning to complement the Archerian and Habermasian theoretical perspectives. -- I generated data within a 14-month period between March 2005 and March 2007 in three distinct but integrally intertwined broad action research cycles of inquiry. During the first cycle, the research group identified contextual issues related to organisational learning and sustainability. In the second cycle the group investigated the issues deeper and deliberated possibilities for social change and the emergence of sustainability. The final cycle delineated social learning outcomes from the study and explored ways of institutionalising social change processes. Throughout these cycles, I explored ways of knowing the social reality of enabling organisational learning and sustainability. The cycles were integral to communicative interactions, which I implemented as educational interventions for developing agency in the NMK community of practice. Data analysis was undertaken within cyclical processes of entering and managing data, manual coding and developing categories, identifying themes, presenting results and validating findings. -- Undertaking a collaborative critical organisational analysis of the NMK revealed various contextual factors that both constrained and enabled participant learning capabilities and reflexivity to address sustainability issues. These factors manifested as contextually mediated issues of communication and information flows, decision making and leadership (governance), staff motivation and development, financial management and identity and role of the NMK. The research process promoted collective social action and innovation, forstered critical reflections and reflexivity, enhanced democratic deliberations and strengthened systemic thinking capabilities in the NMK community of practice. This study contributes to the body of literature on environmental education in its employment of a coherent and complex philosophical and thoretical framework for exploring organisational learning and sustainability.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
xvi, 419 p. ill. (some col.)

Implementing and conducting sustainability management in businesses today presents an urgent but also complex challenge for large German companies. To react to the fast-changing regulations and demands on the market and to reduce the complexity of sustainability, organizations have introduced sustainability departments as well as sustainability experts and managers. However, the question remains as to what the motives of companies have to conduct sustainability management, and what roles sustainability managers and experts have in the process of sustainable development. The main research question therefore examines how large German companies can achieve sustainable organizational change. In 15 semi-structured interviews with sustainability experts and managers, the motives of companies for conducting sustainability management were analyzed, thereby further exploring the role and influence of sustainability managers and experts in the change process. The results demonstrate that companies pursue a variety of motives which combine economic, legal, ethical, social, environmental, as well as philanthropic and discretionary factors. In addition, the research outlines that sustainability managers and experts embody different roles in order to support the process of integrating sustainability into the organization. Moreover, through their personal involvement and enthusiasm they can partly influence sustainable organizational change. The key results also highlight the complexity of sustainability within large companies. Based on these key results of this study practical implications could be derived in the form of ten correlating factors for achieving sustainable organizational change.

Companies are considered as central actors towards a more sustainable society. Implementing a sustainability strategy is seen as an effective way for corporations to take responsibility andmeet the society’s expectations. Different factors have been identified to affect the implementation of a sustainability strategy. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to add to the concept of strategy implementation and how organizational structure, organizational culture and internal communication affect the implementation process. A qualitative case study has been chosen to answer the research question where we conducted semi-structured interviews with employees at various positions in the case company. Our result revealed that a company’ssustainability strategy can be implemented even if the internal communication is weak. However, we suggest that an organizational culture that is promoting the employees to feel committed to the strategy will have a positive impact on the implementation process. Finally,we also advocate that the organizational structure has affected the case company’simplementation of their sustainability strategy positively by enabling strategies to emerge from practice.

This research investigated cross-sector collaboration as ideal-seeking social action within the context of a stakeholder-led initiative to foster place-based community revitalization in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It engaged organizational leaders and citizen activists to develop and refine the praxis of design conversation inspired by an appreciative awareness of values and qualities found in communities as thriving, living systems. Within a framework of community action research (CAR) methodology, the study engaged a small group of community leaders to create a learning space and relational field enabling them to acquire knowledge and understanding in the manner of an evolutionary learning community. Through facilitated design inquiry, participants sought to understand their communities as living socio-ecological systems; evolving purposefully within a context of embedded cultural and institutional influences.

The group discourse combined generative and strategic dialogue with other co-creative inquiry practices to embody dynamic and purposeful characteristics of an evolutionary guidance system. Through design conversation in both small group and community practice settings, participants worked to transform habitual patterns of thinking and shift awareness towards appreciative qualities of communities as purposeful social systems; thereby building collective evolutionary competencies that enable self-organization and unfolding of human evolutionary potentials at the levels of self, organization, community, and society.

The study results were summarized from participant journaling and transcribed conversations, and interpreted through critical hermeneutic analysis and systemic modelling. The results demonstrate, at least tentatively, how designing conversation as a strategic approach to community revitalization praxis enabled participants to coalesce as a dynamic learning community, expressing evolutionary consciousness and competency and developing a more integral, shared understanding of Cleveland’s communities as continuously evolving and appreciatively self-guided, living systems. These results show how strategically facilitated conversation within a framework of evolutionary systems design enabled community stakeholders in Cleveland to utilize conversation as purposeful social action to build appreciative awareness of their differences and understanding of their collective human potentials as the conscious embodiment of values and qualities found in healthy, resilient communities.

How do firms adapt to the intensity of adverse conditions stemming from the natural environment (ecological adversity intensity)? In this dissertation, I develop several lines of inquiry in exploring this question. First, I seek to contribute to generally diverging perspectives on organizational adaptation, which view firms as either inherently constrained or capable of continuous adaptation to fit their environment. To do this, I examine the conditions under which firms are more likely to adapt to different levels of ecological adversity intensity. My findings from a 13-year longitudinal analysis of western U.S. ski resorts’ adaptation to temperature conditions indicate that firms facing moderate ecological adversity intensity appear more likely to engage in higher adaptation levels while those experiencing low and high ecological adversity intensity show a tendency for lower adaptation levels. That is, both diverging perspectives may predict part of firms’ adaptive responses to ecological adversity intensity. My findings also suggest firms may encounter limits to adaptation when facing increasing ecological adversity intensity. I also undertake a post hoc exploration of firm and institutional environment level factors that may moderate the relationship between ecological adversity intensity and firm adaptation. Second, I use an interdisciplinary approach that draws from resilience theory in socioecology to suggest that the existing conceptualization of organizational resilience could be expanded to include transformative change, which may allow firms to mitigate the operational impacts of reaching adaptation limits. Third, I also consider the resilience implications of the interdependency between firms and the broader ecosystems in which they operate. I conclude with potential avenues for future research in this area.

The world’s poorest people, most of whom reside in under-developed nations, lack access to clean water and sanitation facilities, nutritious food, and education (UMP, 2005). These conditions are linked to malnutrition, disease, and low life expectancies (WHO). In an effort to reduce global poverty, the United Nations (UN) adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Under Goal 7c the UN denotes that by 2015 the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation as compared to the proportion who do should be halved. As a response to this objective the international development (ID) sector has implemented projects aimed at increasing access to clean water and sanitation facilities, yet reports of high rate of project failure continue (Ika, 2012). In this thesis factors contributing to project failures are outlined based on the literature. In response to these findings this thesis explores the components of sustainability as it relates to the WASH sector and creates a framework for minimum standards that should be met in order for a WASH project to be considered successful. These standards are adapted based on the World Health Organization (WHO), a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that evaluates WASH projects called WASHCost, as well as the standards proposed by Carter et al (1999). Furthermore, it is argued that if implementing organizations are expected to monitor, evaluate and report on the environmental, social, economic as well as technical components of their implemented project, it will create a level of transparency that promotes organizational accountability that will inherently cause a shift towards more effective WASH projects.
B.S.Env.E.
Bachelors
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Engineering and Computer Science
Environmental Engineering

The role of continuous innovation is imperative to creating and maintaining sustainablecommunities. The role of collaboration is also imperative to creating and maintainingsustainable communities. Researchers mean that the educational system should be an activeplayer in supporting government policies to promote local entrepreneurship and find it crucialto create collaborations among and within universities to achieve this. But what if the practiceof the solution is the complex phenomenon? The word “collaboration” is a multifaceted termthat has created a lot of ambiguities amongst organizations. This study therefore aimed tounravel the characteristics of inter-organizational collaboration between university-linkedinnovation organizations by studying the collaboration between two innovation organizationslinked to Malmö University. The outcome was depicted in a model as a suggestion to aframework of the collaborative efforts between university-linked innovation organizations.Whereas there are a number of pre-identified elements for successful collaboration, it wasfound that five distinct elements played a bigger role than others. These are committedmembers, access to resources, relationships & mutuality, diverse skillset and time& patience.These, alongside with a conflict-resolution strategy and a defined process map out thecornerstones of the suggested model.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a Conceptual Framework for an evaluation model for compliance and regulatory programs in specialty academic medicine. The Framework was built on three research questions to determine the following items within a specialty academic medical institution: (i) the Program Elements for effective and sustainable compliance and regulatory programs, (ii) the required knowledge and skills for stakeholder groups, and (iii) the motivation and organizational influences which improve stakeholder efficacy and program sustainability. There was a total of 21 Program Elements derived from both professional and theoretical literature. Those elements were then matched against the gap analysis model for assessing organizational performance based on knowledge and skills, motivational, and organizational influences as developed by Clark and Estes (2008). Finally, 15 recommendations were developed, along with each of the required elements for evaluation and implementation using the New World Model developed by James D. Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick (2016). Items such as leading indicators, critical behaviors, required drivers, and several other components provide content and context for immediate and long-term summative assessment, to address the program sustainability, aim of the study.

United States hospitals are faced with fulfilling the triple aim, which require high quality, safe practices, and at lowered cost. The payment model for the Center of Medicaid and Medicare Services and many commercial payers has moved toward a fee-for-value based model, which was a deviation from the traditional fee-for-service system. The new models are either incentivizing healthcare providers for achieving or exceeding quality, safety, and service outcomes; or penalizing them for not adding value or achieving expected outcomes. Ultimately, hospitals are required to be efficient and bend the cost curve or suffer the consequences in their fiscal performance. Surgical services are hospital departments that have the potential to achieve the highest net revenue if efficiency is achieved and sustained. Hospital leaders often contract consultants to support business process change (BPC) efforts with the main goal of attaining long-term sustainable improvements to their operational processes through effective knowledge management. The following study was a retrospective examination of the BPC initiative through the perspectives of a cross section of two case sites surgical service members. The researcher compared and contrasted the surgical team’s perceptions of their BPC execution, their journey, and the post initiative performance. Questionnaires, interviews, and document collection were used to collect a rich overview of the BPC phenomenon. The data showed that there are multiple factors that influenced the long-term culture of change, which included transformational leadership, effective knowledge management, and the prioritization of the change initiative. In addition, the participants implied that physician leadership is required to achieve behavioral alignment to expected performance. The outcome of this research resulted in the following recommendations to direct future research. First, further investigation is needed to determine if the Lean methodology is an effective approach to business process change for healthcare organizations, or are there other methods that would prove more beneficial for the healthcare arena. Second, there needs to be more investigation on how healthcare systems can optimize knowledge management processes for retention and transition so when key leaders and knowledge experts leave organizational learning continues. Lastly, there needs to be further investigation into physician leaders’ influence on business process change, which would include a gap assessment of their current clinical competencies against the business acumen domain of healthcare administration, operational management, and business development.

The organizational structure of Holacracy has been gaining popularity in recent years, but a lack of academic research on Holacracy called for a systematic approach to assessing its merits and shortcomings. The need Holacracy fills, is that of organizations dealing with a complex world and rapidly evolving technology. While Holacracy is not tailored to address sustainability issues, there are many components that made it a candidate for the researchers to examine it through a social sustainability lens. This study examines the effect of specific components of Holacracy with elements of adaptive capacity – a theory from which the research definition of social sustainability was built. With the goal of determining the effect of Holacracy on social sustainability, a questionnaire directed at employees and practitioners of holacratic organizations was utilized. The findings implied that Holacracy does positively influence the experience of the elements of adaptive capacity; with the relationship to the adaptive capacity element of self-organization being a standout. The importance of trust is also identified. The link to the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development can be elucidated through adaptive capacity’s influence to the social sustainability principles. Because of the importance of social sustainability and social capital to organizational performance and longevity, this research is of value to any business using, or considering using Holacracy.