Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:31:05.213Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transformations? Skilled Change Agents Influencing Organisational Sustainability Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Keith Davis  and
Mark Boulet
Keith Davis*
Affiliation:
Wannon Water Corporation, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia
Mark Boulet
Affiliation:
Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Keith Davis, Wannon Water Corporation, PO Box 1158, Warrnambool VIC 3280, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Training employees in sustainability knowledge and skills is considered a vital element in creating a sustainability culture within an organisation. Yet, the particular types of training programs that are effective for this task are still relatively unknown. This case study describes an innovative workplace training program using a ‘head, hands, heart and feet’ learning framework to create skilled change agents among employees, in order to influence organisational sustainability culture. Utilising a dialogic inquiry methodology (Most Significant Change), as well as Mezirow's phases of transformative learning and Schein's organisational culture framework, this study considers the training program's impact on both participants and organisational sustainability culture. While transformative learning impacts for participants were identified, questions remain as to the overall impact of the program on the organisation's sustainability culture. Considering training participants as ‘seeds of influence’ as opposed to wholly responsible for organisational culture might provide new perspectives to these questions.

Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 32 , Issue 1: 18th AAEE Biennial Conference - Sustainability, Smart Strategies for the 21st Century , March 2016 , pp. 109 - 123
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adomßent, M., Fischer, D., Godemann, J., Herzig, C., Otte, I., Rieckmann, M., & Timm, J. (2014). Emerging areas in research on higher education for sustainable development — Management education, sustainable consumption and perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe. Journal of Cleaner Production, 62, 1–7.Google Scholar
Ajzen, I., Joyce, N., Sheikh, S., & Cote, N.G. (2011). Knowledge and the prediction of behavior: The role of information accuracy in the theory of planned behaviour. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33, 101–117.Google Scholar
Arbuthnott, K.D. (2009). Education for sustainable development beyond attitude change. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 10, 152–163.Google Scholar
Argyris, C. (1993). Knowledge for action: A guide to overcoming barriers to organizational change. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, R.J. (2009). Organizational culture and leadership: Preconditions for the development of a sustainable corporation. Sustainable Development, 17, 102–113.Google Scholar
Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths (2006). Enabling change for corporate sustainability: An integrated perspective. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 13, 156–165.Google Scholar
Bertels, S., Papania, L., & Papania, D. (2010). Embedding sustainability in organizational culture: A systematic review of the body of knowledge. London, Canada: Network for Business Sustainability.Google Scholar
Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement. London: Paradigm Publishers.Google Scholar
Brundiers, K., Wiek, A., & Redman, C.L. (2010). Real-world learning opportunities in sustainability: From classroom into the real world. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11, 308–324.Google Scholar
Brunetti, A.J., Petrell, R.J., & Sawada, B. (2003). SEEDing sustainability: Team project-based learning enhances awareness of sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Canada. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4, 210–217.Google Scholar
Christie, B.A., Miller, K.K., Cooke, R., & White, J.G. (2014). Environmental sustainability in higher education: What do academics think? Environmental Education Research, 1–32.Google Scholar
Cranton, P., & King, K.P. (2003). Transformative learning as a professional development goal. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 98, 31–38.Google Scholar
Dart, J.J., & Davies, R. (2003). A dialogical story-based evaluation tool: the Most Significant Change technique. American Journal of Evaluation, 24, 137–55.Google Scholar
Dart, J., & Davies, R. (2005) The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) technique: A guide to its use. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www.clearhorizon.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dd-2005-msc_user_guide.pdfGoogle Scholar
Davis, K. (2010). Applied learning and action learning: Frameworks for sustainability skills in Australian water industry training. Action Learning Action Research Journal, 16, 56–75.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A., & Benn, S. (2003). Organizational change for corporate sustainability: A guide for leaders and change agents of the future. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Haugh, H.M., & Talwara, A. (2010). How do corporations embed sustainability across the organization? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9, 384–396Google Scholar
Heimlich, J.E. (2010). Environmental education evaluation: Reinterpreting education as a strategy for meeting mission. Evaluation and Program Planning, 33, 180–185Google Scholar
Howard-Grenville, J.A. (2006). Inside the ‘Black Box’: How organizational culture and subcultures inform interpretations and actions on environmental issues. Organization & Environment, 19, 46–73Google Scholar
Kaufman, S., Symons, W., & Bachar, Z. (2006). The Green Steps Program: Fostering environmental change agents. In Filho, W.L. & Carpenter, D. (Eds.), Sustainability in the Australasian university context (pp. 91–106). Frankfurt: Peter Lang GmbH.Google Scholar
Linnenluecke, M.K., & Griffiths, A. (2010). Corporate sustainability and organizational culture. Journal of World Business, 45, 357–366Google Scholar
Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative learning: theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 5–12.Google Scholar
Mezirow, J., (Ed.). (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Mogensen, F., & Schnack, K. (2010). The action competence approach and the ‘new’ discourses of education for sustainable development, competence and quality criteria. Environmental Education Research, 16, 59–74.Google Scholar
Rickinson, M. (2001). Learners and learning in environmental education: A critical review of the evidence. Environmental Education Research, 7, 207–320.Google Scholar
Reid, A., & Petocz, P. (2006). University lecturers’ understanding of sustainability. Higher Education, 51, 105–123.Google Scholar
Ryu, H.-C., & Brody, S.D. (2006). Examining the impacts of a graduate course on sustainable development using ecological footprint analysis. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 7,158–175.Google Scholar
Schein, E.H. (1997). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Shephard, K., Harraway, J., Lovelock, B., Skeaff, S., Slooten, L., Strack, M., . . . Jowett, T. (2013). Is the environmental literacy of university students measurable? Environmental Education Research, 20, 476–495.Google Scholar
Sipos, Y., Battisti, B., & Grimm, K. (2008). Achieving transformative sustainability learning: Engaging head, hands and heart. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9, 68–86.Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education — Re-visioning learning and change. Dartington, UK: Green Books.Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2011). Transformative learning and sustainability: Sketching the conceptual ground. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 5, 17–33.Google Scholar
Stern, M.J., Powell, R.B., & Hill, D. (2014). Environmental education program evaluation in the new millennium: What do we measure and what have we learned? Environmental Education Research, 20, 581–611.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R.B., & Evans, N. (2011). The distinctive characteristics of environmental education research in Australia: An historical and comparative analysis. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 27, 24–45.Google Scholar
Taylor, E.W. (2008). Transformative learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, (119), 5–15.Google Scholar
Wals, A.J. (2010). Between knowing what is right and knowing that is it wrong to tell others what is right: On relativism, uncertainty and democracy in environmental and sustainability education. Environmental Education Research, 16, 143–151.Google Scholar
Willard, B. (2009). The sustainability champions guidebook: How to transform your company. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers.Google Scholar