Towards an Holistic Framework for Environmental Change: The Role of Normative Behaviour and Informal Networking to Enhance Sustainable Business Practices

Abstract

The term 'Sustainable Development' is brandished by modern businesses as a marketing ploy used to suggest evidence of ethical conduct, innovative thinking and moral superiority. However, when analysing an organisations' adoption of sustainable practices, it is often clear-within the UK-that there are few activities that have been undertaken as an ethical stance instead of legal obligation (McCormick in Environmental politics and policy in industrialized countries, MIT, London, 2002). Our hypothesis is that most methodologies and practices for environmental management do not adopt a holistic perspective, causing significant problems in implementation from inadequate structures and communication channels (Espinosa et al. in Eur J Oper Res, 187:636-651, 2008). In particular we consider that most organisations are currently stifled with management hierarchies that prevent informal/social networking, which may be one of the most powerful natural forms for self-organisation. It is proposed that sustainable development requires more efficient communication channels that foster self-organisation and selfregulation as a method for more productive change processes. In this paper, we explain the reasons why meta-systemic principles of self-organisation and distributed network management offer clear criteria to design an environmental management system that operates on the basis of self-controlled individuals and communities.

Using social networks as an integration tool in rural areas of the Czech Republic - agricultural enterprises

“…Facebook is trying to actively predetermine these for marketing purposes on social networks (Knowles and Espinosa, 2011). Nevertheless, from the point of view of virtual spread possibilities, Groups seem to be more suitable even if they have just a limited possibility -in spite of ever developingof adding Applications and customizing.…”

Greening road freight transport: evidence from an empirical project in Austria

“…In order to fulfil such expectations, some companies may only pretend to respect the environment to obtain or sustain a positive image and thus use sustainability as a pure 'marketing ploy' (Knowles and Espinosa, 2009). So the general public can barely distinguish between useful projects and 'lip-service' (Knowles and Espinosa, 2009). However, customers and society are interested in environmentally responsible companies and products and influence managers' efforts (Gadenne et al, 2009).…”

It's time for management version 2.0: Six forces redefining the future of modern management

“…While the issue of business sustainability has been salient for more than a decade, including the pivotal notion of a ''triple bottom line'' [64], the evidence points more to rhetoric than actual change. Knowles and Espinosa [65] suggest that the term 'sustainable development' has often been used more as a marketing ploy and that many organizations only become active in the face of legal obligation. The state of affairs is similar within the realm of management education.…”

“…A number of scholars emphasize that the path to business sustainability must be both holistic and systemic [65]. Haugh and Talwar [71] warn that most organizations underestimate the magnitude of the transition.…”