Natural Sciences, Management Theory, and System Transformation for Sustainability

Abstract

It is becoming clear that many of today’s management theories are inadequate theoretically and practically to move understanding, scholarship, and practice to where it needs to be for scholars, business leaders, and policy makers to cope with an increasing fraught world. This Special Issue’s focus is on sustainability. Sustainability challenges need to incorporate multidisciplinary interventions and the trans- and interdisciplinary nature of solutions. To actively seek transformation toward sustainability, fundamental and innovative short-term as well as long-term efforts are required in society, economy, technology, and education, including our understanding of human behavior and attitudes toward the management of the environment. This introductory piece presents natural science theories as a promising approach for achieving progress toward transformation for sustainability.

Building on Its Past: The Future of Business and Society Scholarship

“…Over the years, we have published about three special issues per volume and we plan to continue doing so. Recent topics have ranged from interdisciplinary perspectives on modern slavery in business (Caruana et al, 2021) to governing business responsibility in areas of limited statehood (Azizi et al, 2021) and systems transformations for sustainability (Wasieleski et al, 2021), while new issues are in the making. Next to special issues, we also developed a new publication format, Business & Society Commentary , which facilitates a dialogue between academics and the various stakeholders of academic research by providing space for pathbreaking new thoughts and observations on contemporary issues that concern the domain of business and society (de Bakker et al, 2021).…”

Well-being as a staged social responsibility process: exploratory testing of a new theory

“…We deduce three distinct well-being action logics of top managers and find preliminary empirical support for different well-being action logics captured by the theoretical types of compensatory, integral and hybrid and a systematic relationship between these action logics and stages of consciousness as outlined in constructive-developmental theory (Cook-Greuter, 2004, 2013; McCauley et al , 2006; Rooke and Torbert, 2005; Valcea et al , 2011; Vincent et al , 2015). While there are increasing calls for interdisciplinary research into the integration of social, economic and natural systems (Wasieleski et al , 2021), reflected in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the implementation of such by practicing top managers across different sectors in society may depend upon their stage of consciousness and the corresponding ability to handle such complexity. Indeed, we agree with Wasieleski et al (2021) that “the highest leverage point needed to enact change involves shifting the mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises” (p. 12).…”

“…While there are increasing calls for interdisciplinary research into the integration of social, economic and natural systems (Wasieleski et al , 2021), reflected in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the implementation of such by practicing top managers across different sectors in society may depend upon their stage of consciousness and the corresponding ability to handle such complexity. Indeed, we agree with Wasieleski et al (2021) that “the highest leverage point needed to enact change involves shifting the mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises” (p. 12).…”

What We Talk About When We Talk About Stakeholders

“…There is a growing demand in the business and society field for work addressing business’s role in tackling societal grand challenges (Brammer et al, 2019; Walsh, 2005; Wasieleski et al, 2020). Yet, despite Wood’s (1994) early call for a “system-level stakeholder theory” developed in parallel with the firm-centric model, the disconnection between firm- and system-level needs has become entrenched.…”