Using environmental paradigms to understand and change an organization’s response to stakeholders

Abstract

A model is developed which allows an organization to assess its environmental perception and how that perception may impact its response to stakeholders. The model differentiates an organization’s socioecological responsibility across four dimensions for placement on Colby’s five‐paradigm continuum, which ranges between the frontier economic paradigm and new ecological paradigm. This article provides a useful means of assessing the ecological paradigm utilized by firms and offers criteria that may assist the organization in developing a competitively valuable environmental stance.

Towards a Spiritually Integral Theory of Management

“…For some "new paradigm" interdisciplinary organizational literature see Gustavsson, 2001;Johnson and Macy, 2001;Druhl et al, 2001;Fornaciari and Lund Dean, 2001;Steingard and Schmidt-Wilk, 2001. for advancing the intellectual profundity and transformative organizational power of both. (Steingard and Schmidt-Wilk, 2001: 311) The end result of challenging marginal paradigms that champion emancipatory values will be a total transmutation of the modern world of management.…”

Evaluation of the evolution of green management with a Kuhnian perspective

“…Colby (1991) suggested a more detailed classification and mentions five different GMAs; frontier economics, deep ecology, environmental protection, resource management, and eco-development. Colby's highly specified five-category typology is the most significant departure from the pattern of dichotomous assessments (Johnson and Macy 2001). While the frontier economics supports unlimited economic growth, deep ecology is against development and promotes blending with the environment.…”

Five factors for urban sustainability - exploring influences on municipal strategic planning

“…Short-termism, lack of will or resources, and organisational complexity -as well as myopic tendencies -may be among the factors that lead to poor strategies or performance on sustainability issues (Johnson and Macy, 2001). Nevertheless, much of the literature on strategic planning focuses on examples from the private sector.…”