Sustainable development is everything including elements of ethics, politics, naturaland social sciences etc.
Brundlandt report (1987) our common future (I wish I had enough time to
summarize it here but most importantly is to go through chapter 2 from P36 to 51)
Sustainable development is:
1. Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
2. development which meet the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of the future generations to meet their own needs
3. The process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of
investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional
change are made consistent with the future as well as the present needs
The reason we need a sustainable development is because we need a process of
change where we manage to develop the economy and the society without putting
stress on ecosystems. This gives the future generations a decent possibility to a good
quality of life.
The Club of Rome became known to the world in 1972 when the report Limits to
growth was published. This a study of the earths future development during the 21st
century, within the dimensions of economy, society and ecology. The report was based
on systems analysis modeling and produced by a group of MIT researchers.
The message was if the world continues its economic growth as the main guarantor
for human wealth, meaning higher income, enough employment and old age security
systems, the ecological footprint will increase to such levels that there is a risk of
societal collapse during the first half of the 21st century
The 4
1.
2.
3.
4.
In the four principals of sustainable development the value of humans and nature is
discussed but it states that Humans has a unique special status. This means that this is
about people and peoples ability to survive but with a responsibility towards nature.
Nature has limited resource and resilience.
1. This points at the human responsibility towards nature and its value. Nature
should be preserved for its own sake and its own use and humans should be
extremely cautious on how to exploit it. This manifests itself through national
parks that future generations will have the possibility to appreciate.
2. The other perspective is that humanity has the responsibility to economize with
natures resources in such a way that future generations have the possibility to
make responsible use of them.
3. Equity towards now living generations, means that we should take responsibility
for people that we dont know and never have met but either depend on or
should have equal opportunities to have a good quality of life. Such people are
4.
5.
6.
7.
for example the people making our food or people having disabilities. Our
responsibility is to share resources and show solidarity in an equitable way
Equity of future generations concern how resources are used in a responsible way
so future generations have the possibility to have decent ways to satisfy their
own needs and a good quality of life. In order to do this there are some other
ethical concepts that are important. Responsibility and equity is already
mentioned and others are virtue and autonomy.
In a virtue you need decide on common rules on how to do things and then you
stick to the rules. In cases where you need to change the rules you need to
renegotiate them. An example is international agreements.
Autonomy means that you as a person are the one that is responsible for your
own actions. It also means that you have the right to your own thoughts and say
what you want.
With every right there is also an obligation which means that you can act as you
want as long as you dont abuse or harass other people.
In sustainable development there are many actions and decisions that have moral
implications. You feel that you need to do the right things, but feel bad and guilty. Some
people fight their responsibility. There are reasons to why it is difficult to take
responsibility in every situation. Sustainable development is complex and often you
dont see how your actions can make a difference. Ways to manage this is learn more
about things, to be able to take informed decisions and actions.
We can go about doing small changes in behavior and decision making and hope for the
best. This position is often referred to as weak sustainability. Strong sustainability
implies that stronger actions are needed and taken to achieve a radical change. These
actions are required in all parts of society.
In sustainable development there are a number of implicit values that concerns humans
and the view on nature. Traditional ethics is a logical way to structure the norms,
attitudes and values of human perceptions of things. The most used ethical theories are
the utilitarian and the deontological. The theories are anthropocentric which means
that humans are the most important living being and has an eigenvalue. This means
that human value is indisputable and absolute.
The difference is their perception of actions and decisions and how these are evaluated
and assessed.
1. The utilitarian considers an action or a decision as good based on the amount of
satisfaction it gives to as many people as possible. Welfare is created through
satisfying peoples desires and through maximizing the use.
2. In deontological theory, the action is measured to be good or bad in relation to
the individuals rights.
Sustainable development takes a wider ethical perspective and discusses the value of
nature by merging human and environmental ethics. Environmental ethics concerns the
value of nature and weather it has an eigenvalue or and instrumental value. An
instrumental value means a value that is given an object and relates its use.
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Sustainability Tools
Outcome based tools
1. Ecological footprinting
It shows the impacts that human beings have on the environment. And this profile is
defined in terms of as the sum of all crop land, grazing land, forest, and fishing grounds
that are required to produce the food for these people. To produce the materials that
they use and the energy that they need. And it also captures all the space that is
needed for storing the waste that they produce. So in that sense, it's really a footprint in
the sense of, given what you are doing, this is sort of the imprint that you make on the
Earth, on the Earth's ecosystems.
So this is really showing the outcome of all the activities of people, and you can simply
look up your country, and you can sort of say, okay, we're not doing too bad or maybe
you are doing really bad and based on that information, you can start to make decisions
about where you could possibly find improvements for the current situation. So that's
the basic idea of outcome oriented tools. You have some way of calculating your impact
on the environment and it gives you quite detailed information on where you could find
improvements. The ecological footprint is an index describing our environmental impact
by indicating the amount of land and oceans needed to sustain our consumption of
products and food, use of energy and the amount of waste we produce.
The worlds average ecological footprint is 1.9 hectares/person and year, but there are
big differences between developed and developing countries. The range is 0.6-12,2
hectares/person and year. The report concludes that the increased ecological foot print
will be unavoidable, unless politicians and decision makers take on a forward looking
policy.
For example, ensuring equal distribution of wealth, legislation to prevent cutting down
forests, control the emissions of greenhouse gases. It also suggests the control of
population growth by implementing social systems for education and health care.
http://en.solecopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Look at an ecosystem and you think about what are the services that this ecosystem provides to
society.
Regulating
Gas Regulation
Functions
Climate Regulation
Disturbance Regulation
Water Regulation
Soil Retention
Nutrient Regulation
Waste Treatment and Assimilation
Pollination
Biological Control
Barrier Effect of Vegetation
Supporting
Functions
Supporting Habitats
Soil Formation
Provisioning
Functions
Food
Raw Materials
Water Supply
Genetic Resources
Cultural
Functions
Basically you can look at the ecosystem and you can say, the ecosystem provides
materials, resources, but it also provides an opportunity for leisure. There is beauty, which is valued
by people, they enjoy that, so we also need to take that into account. And the ecosystem services
approach, tries to also put monetary value on those services. Which basically gives you one way of
comparing those services. And maybe saying, okay, we know that these natural areas has a high
touristic value. But, it also provides resources and the resources are more important currently for our
society than another function. So you can make trade-offs between those functions using this kind of
a tool. Another outcome-oriented tool is Life Cycle Assessment. This is probably a bit closer to many
people who are working in companies.
And each of those steps has an environmental impact, and this type of tool is very interesting
because you can basically see where the majority of your impact of the product is
occurring. Because in some cases, that's the extraction of raw materials. But in other cases, it's in
the consumption phase. So it's not so much in producing the product that you generate
environmental impacts, but when people are using it, for instance electrical devices. You are using
electricity all the time, so that is a big environmental impact. In other cases it's the transport between
the different steps in the product life cycle. So depending on the product, you have a different profile
and you can also see where are the areas of improvement.
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The Big Question is: What is the role of business in Society?
And that can be understood as:
1. What does it mean for the collectives (Everyone) in a society (Broad understanding) to
manage responsibly?
2. How can business productively and constructively participate in these collectiveness
perspectives, problem and practical projects?
Where:
Productively means: what change can be brought about to address societal challenges?
Constructively: how can these different organizations be brought together in a constructive
dialogue to see how to manage responsibly?
Meaning of Normative:
1. The idea of good citizenship on behalf of the corporation. Normative in the sense that
particular variety and heterogeneity of societal cares and concerns. For example, fair
trade thinks about the production conditions under which food or other products are
produced.
2. Standardization and a shared perspective, so that others actually wish to participate and
therefore, enlarge the scope of organizations involved.
3. The above two points of normative take our hand to the meaning of Legitimacy
construction: the legitimacy of multinational can't be decided by that multinational but it
has to be given to that multinational by Non-government organization or civil society.
Organizational Ambidexterity (I like to call it learning organization) simultaneously comprises both:
1. Divergence: and variety generation opening up and it employs Experimentation.
2. Converging: once reached to a conclusion closing down it standard it and it employs
Exploitation.
Stakeholder Theory
A Tool: Establishing Stakeholder Maps
1. Identify the focal entity. A focal entity defines the perspective from which the stakeholder
analysis is conducted. Remember to put the societal challenge at the heart of your construct
and then relate to the stakeholders, map them out if you like.
2. List stakeholders: prepare a complete list disregarding type or strength of relationship to the
focal entity.
3. Group stakeholders: organize the map in groups of stakeholders with mutual characteristics.
Example:
Tools for evaluation: the first is the inside in and outside out matrix and
the second one is Responsibility Navigator.
Inside In: to develop insight in perspectives. That is, about communication and translation
inside the organization. What we understand as responsibility translates as it moves around
within the organization
Inside out: which is how, as we've said, a large organization communicates and works with
its external stakeholders.
Outside in: in that sense it is the same as Inside out.
Outside out: intermediary player. To bring different organizations together. Bringing all
Different actors together.
Responsibility
Navigator
Inclusion
Ensuring quality
of interaction
Moderation
Ensuring quality
of interaction
Deliberation
Ensuring quality
of interaction
Modularity and
flexibility
Positioning and
Orchestration
Insid
e In
Navigation towards responsibilisation is
more likely to be transformative if it
takes into account the diversity
of actors relevant to the problem or
project in a way that engages them
directly and effectively in debate or joint
activities,
where both their material interests and
core values are considered and if they
perceive the processes of sense
and decision making as legitimate,
transparent and trustworthy
Organizational modes appropriate to
build up trust, collect data and organize
dialogue are needed in the
form of fora', that is, institutionalized
places or procedures for interaction and
for bridging different perspectives
between contesting actors, after which
some alignment of goals and
procedures is expected.
Sense-making and decision-making
among actors with different knowledge
claims and positions, not only between
organizational actors but also
individuals, require confronting,
synthesizing and eventually
compromising across different
perspectives which might arise from
various knowledges.
Legitimate and effective governance
rest on carefully combining hard and
soft regulatory
mechanisms, allowing for self-regulation
and organization, as well as external
control and accountability structures
(e.g. supervision), where flexibility of
governance arrangements should not
lead to arbitrariness.
Insid
e
Out
Outsi
de In
Outsid
e out
Subsidiarity
Positioning and
Orchestration
Adaptability
Positioning and
Orchestration
Capabilities
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Capacities
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Institutional
entrepreneurship
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Culture of
transparency,
tolerance and rule
of law
Developing
Supportive
Environments
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Wrapping up
ITV Responsible management and sustainability approach falls into four different sections:
1. The first is inclusive programming. So that is really looking at how we reflect modern
Britain onscreen and in our editorial content. The social partnership, which was launched
back in 2014, was a big step forward for us in terms of partnering with our commissions
and our studio side of the business to really achieve and drive that change.
2. The second is inclusive workforce. So that is looking how we make sure the workforce
reflects modern Britain as well. So making sure that everything we do is relevant and
appropriate.
3. The third is all about inclusive culture. So my role in that is really making sure that we
embed diversity inclusion fully within the business. So it's not reliant on our department or
one single person to drive that change. It's owned within the business, and managed every
single day in what we're doing.
4. Our fourth commitment is inclusive access to programs and services. So, we do a lot of
work around our supply chain, making sure that have increased the standards, and making
sure that our content is accessible to everyone. We continue to exceed our quotas set by our
regulatory body regarding signing, audio description, and subtitling. And we also partner with
a various number of different external organizations to drive this agenda forward, whether it's
the RNIB or Action on Hearing Loss as well.
N.B: The MOOC looked to three levels.
1. In level of the individual in networks of individuals.
2. The level of the organization and groups of organizations.
3. And the level of systemic or transformational change.
The interviews 6 themes:
1. Our first is individuals and organizations. So, we will look at what people say about their
individual work links to their organization prospective.
2. The second links organizations and systems, so what happens in individual organizations
links to what happens at the systemic level?
3. And then we found that a few of our interviewees talked about different temporalities and
different scales, so local, global organizations on how they kind of interact at different levels.
How organization affect the global system.
4. Another thing that we can draw out from all the interviews is about diversity. And we have a
number of interviews from different parts of the world. And that naturally takes us into
thinking about the global level differences in culture, differences in business practices,
and how things are done differently around the world.
5. We have a theme that is about power structures and tension, so even though we might
like things to be smooth and easy to achieve. We all know that the world is very complicated
and full of tensions and power relationships. So, we can draw some of that out of the
interviews. Short termism and long termism way of thinking.
6. And the final one is about people's individual careers, the pathways that they've been on
so far in their careers. And how that helps people watching the MOOC to connect what we
hear in our interviewees story line to their own lives and where they're going in their career.
Worth Mentioning:
The Inside-Out approach is guided by the belief that the inner strengths and capabilities of
the organization will make the organization prevail.
The Outside-In approach is instead guided by the belief that customer value creation,
customer orientation and customer experiences are the keys to success.
From an Outside-In approach, long-term shareholder value is a consequence of listening and
providing value to customers and helping them get their jobs done better than the
competition while providing a seamless customer experience. The ideal organizational
culture is market- and customer-oriented and the targeted customer segments buyers as
well as users are the source of inspiration and development. There is also a strong belief
that if the customers arent satisfied with the solutions offered, the business will suffer and
the shareholder value will diminish.
With an Inside-Out approach to business, you would likely see effective use of company
resources and core competencies as the main driver of shareholder value. Inside-Out
strategists believe that a company achieves greater efficiencies and adapts more quickly to
changing circumstances with this approach.
1.
Do you know which your targeted customer segments are, what needs and behaviors
they have, how to best solve their relevant problems and what kind of value you provide
them?
2.
Is there a strong fit between your target segments needs, your value proposition,
your overall business model, internal processes and a customer-oriented organizational
culture, with focus on creating value for your customers? And do you feel that it is a
fundamental necessity of running a successful business?
If the answer is yes to the questions above, there is a high probability that you and/or your
organization lean towards an Outside-In approach. If the answer is no, its more probable
that you and/or your organization lean towards an Inside-Out approach.
References:
Most of the above mentioned materials is either adopted from this course, other
courses, Internet or my readings. Sometimes I put it as it is and sometimes I will
comment based on my understanding.
3 Sustainability Area:
Economic, Social and
Environment
Sustaina
bility
Stakehol
ders
1. Sta
Economi
c
Economi
c
Social
Economic
Sustainability
( Not part of this report)
Social Sustainability
Environmental
sustainability
Indirect
downstream
Customers
National
Boundary
General Public
Communities
(NGO, others)
Characteristics
Firms top management
Firms employees including managers
and workers
Example: 2nd or lower tier suppliers,
vendors, cooperating companies in the
upstream
Example: 1st tier suppliers, vendors,
cooperating companies in the upstream
Example: 1st tier distributors, sales and
logistical channels, cooperating
companies in the downstream
Example: 2nd or remoter tier distributors,
sales and logistical channels, cooperating
companies in the downstream
Buyers or consumers of the products and
services provided by the focal firm
Possible to include final or ultimate
buyers/consumers of the
products/services that are made of the
products and services provided by the
focal firm
People in the country, where the focal
company is operating Communities
Communities either directly or indirectly
connected with the company
Non-governmental organizations (NGO),
Competing Value
Chains
Non-competing
Value Chains
Governmental
General Public
Communities
(NGO, others)
Global Market
Stakeholders
Competing Value
Chains
Non-competing
Value Chains
Governmental
Insi
de
In
X
Insi
de
Out
X
Outsi
de In
Outsi
de
out
Moderation
Ensuring quality
of interaction
Deliberation
Ensuring quality
of interaction
Modularity
and flexibility
Positioning and
Orchestration
Subsidiarity
Positioning and
Orchestration
Adaptability
Positioning and
Orchestration
Capabilities
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Capacities
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Institutional
entrepreneurs
hip
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Culture of
transparency,
tolerance and
rule of law
Developing
Supportive
Environments
Normativity (N)
Details
N is linked to
both dI and IE. It
should work on
the
standardization
and creating the
culture of RRI,
yet the IE
support to create
the N as values.
Where dI provide
the stability to
inside the
firm/organization
/country
Learning
organization
Institutional entrepreneurialism
(IE)
On the strategic
scale and it sees
the leadership as
a fundamental
role for driving
the firm/country
toward the RRI
My Case
Referring to the dI and
IE status the country
and most organization
inside the country still
in the ignorant stage
It discusses the
importance of
the financial
incentivisation as
a mechanism of
both governance
and control
I would love here to adopt some important graph that should tell where the position
of the organizations/country on the operation and Strategic scale. And it shows that
the organization/country of my residence is still rambling in the ignorant stage.
Where the strategic liability and corrective activities intersects.