Organisational Change Management for Sustainability (eBook)

This book is aimed at providing clarity through a systemic and systematic approach to organisational change management for sustainability. Chapter 2 of the provides an overview of sustainable development and sustainability discourses, focussing on the economic, environmental, social, and time dimensions, as well as their interactions. Chapter 3 explains what organisations are, the types of organisations (civil society, corporations, education, public sector, and hybrid), the levels and system elements (individuals, groups, organisation, and system), attitudes (informational, emotional, and behavioural), the stakeholders that affect and are affected by the organisation, and the interactions between organisations (from competition to collaboration). Chapter 4 focuses on how organisations have been addressing sustainability, divided into 1) efforts to contribute to sustainability (i.e. focussing outside the organisation), and 2) engagement efforts (i.e. those focussing inside the organisation, e.g. through the use of tools, initiatives, and approaches for sustainability, and collaboration). Chapter 5 discusses change, types of change (internal vs. external, proactive vs. reactive, etc.), change strategies, change frameworks, and change for sustainability in organisations. Chapter 6 focusses on three key mechanisms for sustainability: Leadership, Governance, and Assessment and reporting (with examples from Higher Education Institutions, corporations, and public sector organisations). Chapter 7 discusses on the different drivers (internal, connecting, and external) that foster sustainability in organisations. Examples from empirical research are presented. Chapter 8 delves into resistance to change, particularly on the barriers that slow down or stop sustainability in organisations, as well as the strategies to overcome the barriers to change. Examples from empirical research are presented. The seventh chapter focuses on the different strategies that help reduce or eliminate resistance to sustainability in organisations. Examples from empirical research are presented. Chapter 9 focusses on where sustainability efforts have started (incorporation) and how have they been adopted throughout the organisation (institutionalisation). Examples from empirical research are presented. Chapter 10 presents the effects of external stimuli, such as COVID-19 on organisational change management for sustainability.

Rodrigo is an expert on sustainable organisations. He has experience in business, consultancy, and academia. He is currently a visiting professor at Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa and guest lecturer at the Vienna University of Business and Economics, Austria. Rodrigo is also the Founder and director of Organisational Sustainability Ltd. (www.org-sustainability.com) and has had consultancies in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Mexico. He was Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Organisations for Sustainability and Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Cleaner Production. He was previously Full Professor of Organisational Sustainability University of Gävle, Sweden, Assistant Professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and programme leader of the BA Environment and Business at the Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, UK. For over twenty years, Rodrigo has been working towards Sustainability in NGO's, universities, and corporations. His projects have ranged from sustainability competences and pedagogical approaches, chemical leasing, indoor-air quality and energy efficiency, to sustainability assessment and reporting, and to organisational change management. He has developed assessment tools such as the GRaphical Assessment of Sustainability Performance (GRASP), the Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversities Curricula Holistically (STAUNCH®) (shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Awards in 2008), and the Graphical Assessment for Sustainability in Universities (GASU™). Rodrigo holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering (graduated with honours) from Monterrey Tec, Mexico; a MSc in Environmental Management and Policy, from Lund University, Sweden; and a PhD on Organisational Change Management for Corporate Sustainability at Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK