Engaging sustainability. A multilevel approach to strategic sustainability challenges

Abstract

“Sustainability” challenges the limits of human decision making capability but managerial prescriptions and recommendations for sustainability are mostly based on simplifying disciplinary assumptions that reduce the complexity of the challenge that organizations face. This limits the effectiveness of organizational initiatives for change. A deeper appreciation of the problem context is required. When is coupled with a process-oriented problem structuring methodology and a learning-based approach to innovation, this can result in organizational strategies that are both more effective and that ensure organizational flourishing. This paper describes an engagement process that is based on three elements: an inquiry and structuring process based on Aristotelian causality, the use of systems thinking for analysis and communication, and an innovation process based on the logic of effectuation. Aristotelian causality is the foundation of the engagement process and links systems thinking and effectuation in a natural way. The organization’s learning culture is shown to be a key element in the engagement process.