Changing organizational ethics and practices toward climate and environment

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511535871.023

20 - Changing organizational ethics and practices toward climate and environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 August 2009

Keith James ,

April Smith and

Bob Doppelt

Edited by

Susanne C. Moser and

Lisa Dilling

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Keith James: Affiliation:
Portland State University
April Smith: Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Bob Doppelt: Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Susanne C. Moser: Affiliation:
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder
Lisa Dilling: Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder

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Summary

Introduction

Business organizations play an increasingly important role in the world … Companies that win the public's confidence and trust are open, visible, engaging and create business value while delivering benefits to society and the environment.

William Ford, Chairman and CEO Ford Motor Company

Rapid technological changes, pressures created by globalization, competition, and increasing resource constraints make the management of organizational change a critical issue for organizations of all types. The scientific study of organizational change is an interdisciplinary endeavor and it has grown in step with the practical importance of change to organizations. Only a limited part of the science of change literature has, however, directly addressed how to change organizations in ways that would benefit the natural environment, in general, or the Earth's climate, in particular. Changing organizations to help address climate change is the focus of this chapter.

The force-field model of change

At any given time, any mature organization is in reality an epiphenomenon of a dynamic balance between its connections to the outside world and its internal components, processes, and functions. For any attempted organizational change, there will be internal and external forces that both support the change, and ones that push against it. For a change to occur, therefore, something must move an organization from its current state of balance to a desirable new and relatively sustainable dynamic balance. We will argue that achieving new and environmentally friendly (hereafter “green”) organization states requires broad and deep change in organizations' culture and systems.

Type: Chapter
Information: Creating a Climate for Change
Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change
, pp. 303 - 318

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535871.023 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2007

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