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Three Perspectives for the Development of Sustainable Enterprises
Abstract
Contemporary companies have to master the handling of increasing dynamics and complexity. For this, the systems approach offers for a long time the right theory and the necessary tools to successfully deal with high dynamics and complexity. In practice, intelligent companies are needed that demonstrate a high degree of viability and sustainability. So it makes sense to think more concrete about sustainable enterprises. There are three perspectives on the development of sustainable enterprises. All three are important in themselves, but the development of sustainable enterprises must be integrated and systemic. Overall, the focus is on effectiveness, awareness-raising and competence in sustainable enterprises. It requires clarity, competence and consistency in implementation, effective change management and support from top management. Effectiveness is needed in organizations in management of organizations and in learning of organizations. In practice we need more and more the raising awareness of sustainability. In sustainable enterprises, it is clear that competences are dispositions for action, the ability to act and willingness to act as well as the responsibility. To develop sustainable enterprises, we use a mix of proven approaches, from systems theory to management expertise to learning organizations. What is needed is an interdisciplinary and integrated approach that enables the development of the sustainable enterprise. Here, science, management and management consulting must work closely together for realizing and developing sustainable enterprises.
Interdisciplinary Practical Trainings (IPs) as a service-learning approach link higher education and the public to foster education for sustainability in both groups. In IPs, students work on a specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-related topic and acquire knowledge and skills for it. They also engage in devising methods of addressing the public to raise their sustainability awareness. In this chapter, we first explore which educational concepts allow for linking curricular activities and public awareness to generate knowledge, support reflection, and trigger appropriate action. Secondly, we investigate the contribution of IPs to raising public awareness of sustainable development. Thirdly, we demonstrate the importance of an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to tackle real world problems in an SDGs context. As a method, we use a qualitative content analysis of material gathered during three IPs in the master's programme “Global Studies” at the University of Graz. IPs prove to be a fruitful addition to higher education programs and a useful tool to foster education for sustainability.
Purpose
This study aims to explore an exemplar of the design and application of a systemic framework for higher education. The field of application is in the social sciences and the perspective long-term, covering three generations of faculty and many generations of students.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is exploratory. It contains a conceptual component and an empirical component with a long-term case study from a European university.
Findings
A cybersystemic approach to higher education has been shown, at the focal university, to be a powerful amplifier of individual and institutional capabilities, and it still has great potential. The crucial prerequisite is that the approach is virtuously designed and implemented.
Originality/value
A case study ranging over 50 years is presented. The respective university has been a role model for other educational institutions for many years. Its influence in the German-speaking countries, and more recently also internationally, has become significant.
In recent years, the author has repeatedly and intensively dealt with the topic of "Effective Learning in Management". The starting point of the in-depth employment was the own dissertation on the topic "management competence" with the question: What is management competence? How and where is the management competence assigned? (Pirker 2017)
The results of the empirical study on management competence are now being implemented especially in the practice of management education. (management consulting, management training, coaching and keynote speeches) There are also new scientific publications that deal with the eight "elements of management competence" as well as management education issues. On the one hand, there are concrete applications of new scientific knowledge in specific sectors and areas. On the other hand, there are corresponding extensions due to new issues.
It turns out that educational science continues to avoid the topic of "management education". There is no rational explanation for this. Nevertheless, it is of enormous importance for the practice to actively tackle the topic of "management education" and to deal consistently with effective learning in and by organizations (# ELF10, Learning Organization).
Here in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the practice of science is far ahead of what should be a wake-up call for science. In other countries there is a more intensive focus on the topic of "management education".
From a historical point of view, it is interesting that in Klagenfurt there were already very early developments in the direction of contemporary management education. These pedagogical and didactical bases are historically and systematically interesting and should be considered further. Likewise, the educational tradition at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt deserves credit. On this nutrient-rich soil many good pedagogical or management educational vegetables can and should flourish.
We live in a world in which complexity characterizes all human endeavors today, such as healthcare, economic development, environmental protection, gender relationships, poverty, mental health, business management and social responsibility (just to name a few). The issues facing our world have become increasingly complex due to the fact that they are embedded in a global web of ecological, economic, social, cultural and political processes and dynamic interactions. These complex problems and challenges cannot anymore be addressed and solved in isolation and with the single dimensional mindsets and tools of the past.
Systems science is defined in general fashion, and a brief background is provided that lists some of the systems science-related societies, conferences, journals, research institutes, and educational programs. The Systems Science Graduate Program at Portland State University in Portland, OR, USA, is described in detail, including its history, curriculum, students, faculty, and degrees granted. Dissertation topics are summarized via word diagrams created from dissertation titles over the years. MS degrees, student placement, and undergraduate courses are also mentioned, and future plans for the program are described including its support for sustainability education.
This second volume in the series, Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, which is edited by Sarah Underwood, Richard Blundel, Fergus Lyon and Anja Schaefer, draws together research contributions that seek to critically explore a range of issues in the specific context of social enterprise, sustainable entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Collectively, the chapters in this volume consider the challenges facing social enterprises globally, their environmental impact and the difficulties for policy makers in their efforts to tackle complex international environmental problems. The volume contributors draw on a range of research themes, methodological approaches and international contexts to enhance our understanding of the meaning, critical nature and value of social and sustainable enterprise development. Thus, this volume speaks directly to the core objectives of this book series by providing an opportunity for the ISBE [Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship] community of interest to challenge current thinking and create a research agenda for future inquiry.
Sustainable development can be a source of success, innovation, and profitability for companies. To use this source and to deal with the challenge of sustainability, corporations need a framework they can rely on in order to identify opportunities and threats and to develop, implement, control, and improve corporate sustainability strategies to be both more sustainable (for themselves and the society) and more successful in economic terms. Based on an extensive literature review of strategic management, CSR, and corporate sustainability, a conceptual framework is developed which offers an integrated view on the relevance of sustainability aspects for an individual company and enables the integration of these sustainability aspects on different management levels. Contextual factors are used to identify the relevance of sustainable development and the significant sustainability aspects. Based on this initial step, the relevance of sustainability issues for the different management levels, as well as opportunities and threats related to sustainable development, can be identified. The framework distinguishes three different management levels: normative management, strategic management, and operational management. Questions of vision and mission of a company and of the fit between sustainability engagement and organizational culture are in focus of the normative management level. Developing an effective corporate sustainability strategy is part of the strategic level. The implementation of the sustainability strategy in the different corporate functions is part of the operational level. This framework for corporate sustainability management is supported by instruments which are clustered in different areas like performance measurement, assessment and evaluation, operational management or strategic management. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Coping with complexity is at the heart of management and leadership in the turbulent environments faced by the organizations and societies of our day. The systems approach provides transdisciplinary theories and tools for dealing with this challenge more effectively than efforts merely based on disciplinary insights or pragmatic recipes. In this paper, a concept of "intelligent organizations" is introduced. A framework for the design of intelligent organizations is proposed that links three organizational cybernetic models: the Model for Systemic Control, the Viable System Model, and the Team Syntegrity model.2 The proposition is that a combined use of these models, guided by the integrative conceptual framework, enables a more effective response to complex situations than merely pragmatic approaches to "integrative management." Provisional empirical evidence gathered from applied research indicates that the proposed framework is capable of enhancing such superior potential for effective response. As such, it promises to meet the specific needs of the new types of organizations that have already begun to emerge in the knowledge societies.
The democratic corporation
- R L Ackoff
- RL Ackoff
Der Kompetenzbegriff in der Pflege
- C Pirker
Sustainability management emergence and integration on different management levels in smaller large-sized companies in Austria
- A L Kiesnere
- R J Baumgartner
- AL Kiesnere
The right corporate governance: Effective top management for mastering complexity
- F Malik
Introducing social and sustainable enterprise: changing the nature of business
- S Underwood
- R Blundel
- F Lyon
- A Schaefer