2016Cambridge Business & Economics ConferenceISBN : 9780974211428
Creating a Culture of Sustainability
C. Michael Ritchie
Professor of Management
Security Federal Banking Chair
University of South Carolina Aiken
S. Michele Harmon
Associate Professor of Biology
University of South Carolina Aiken
John Engel
Instructor
University of South Carolina Aiken
David S. Harrison
Professor and Chair in Global Business
University of South Carolina Aiken
Visiting Professor
IESEG School of Management, LEM-CNRS
Lille, France
Creating a Culture of Sustainability
INTRODUCTION
Sustainability, a fairly new construct in the world discourse, works to ensure that those resources necessary for a quality human existence are used in such a way as to ensure that these resources are available to present, as well as future generations (UN World Commission on Environment and Development – 1987 Brundtland Report). Some would suggest that in addition, society has a moral imperative of stewardship over these resources (Heuer, 2010). Every entity in today’s environment, individual, corporate, and government, is dependent on external resources for survival. The use of these resources, many of them non-renewable, has increased exponentially over the last 100 years(Ger, 1999).
Human population has tripled over the last several decades and is now over Seven Billion individuals. To meet the increased demands for the goods and services required by this ever growing population, governments and corporations have expanded their efforts to produce and deliver these items. We have now reached the untenable situation that is represented by growing demand and growing production in the face of a drastic decrease in available resources, both renewable and non-renewable. The world seems to be at a tipping point that will experience the obvious reality of this situation, lack of resources to ensure a quality human existance.
The choices that could alleviate this situation are daunting. The world could begin to make a significant reduction in its population, thereby decreasing the demand for these resources. That proposal has been on the table for hundreds of years, never proven successful, and met with forceful resistance from most of the world’s population. A second option would be the increase in renewable resources, mostly in the area of biomass production. However, the amount of arable land as well as significant climate change create serious challenges to this increase. A further, more draconian measure, would be to ration non-renewable resources, thereby slowing the elimination of these resources in hopes that new technologies will create alternative resources for use in time.
Complicating the problem of increased demand accompanied by diminishing supply is the fact that many of the players involved, individuals, governments, businesses (to name just a few) are either unaware of the growing crisis or are blindly moving toward the brink with the idea that someone will fix the problem before it is too late. Creating awareness of this issue, or better put, awareness of a sustainable strategy for efficient use of resources, could create a ubiquitous philosophy concerning resource efficiency as well as motivation for technical advancement that would reduce our dependence on current resources, practices, and technologies.
This research is focused on a process developing a Culture of Sustainability, as well as a social movement, that will guide behavior, both at the individual and institutional level. The proposed model will suggest how communication and understanding can create Social Movement that will give voice and identity to Sustainability. The process continues as individuals begin to accept the behaviors necessary for positive change. The process of acceptance of Sustainable issues will then evolve into internalization of the positive effects of Sustainability. In turn, this internalization will create positive Sustainability behavior, both individual and organizational. In addition, techniques will be presented to help create and propagate behavior.
SUSTAINABILITY AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT
The creation of a social movement motivated by Sustainability will give voice, effort, communication, as well as political activism to the issue. The development of social movements is well documented and presented as a step-wide process (Benford, & Snow, 2000; Inglehart, 1990;King, Cornwell, & Dahlin, E., 2005; Porta & Diani, 2006; Sawyers& Meyers, 1999).Social movements have been studied through many varied lenses including sociology, anthropology, political sciences, psychology, and history (Roggeband & Klandermans, 2007).
By creating a communication network, social movements can quickly extend information as well as new directions to its members (McAdam, 1982). Communication is essential as conversations between activists and perspective membersare key to creating a new mindset favorable to the issue at hand (Tilly, 2002). Melucci (1996) argues that once created, social movementsentail an endless stream of information that ensures the recognition and interaction between movement leaders and membership. As the social movement begins to evolve into a culture, it will espouse a value system that will enunciate accepted behaviors. Following these behaviors will create a level of control for the leaders of the movement and will also give the movement and its members a mutual identification.
To have any significant effect on human behavior, the philosophy of Sustainability must coalesce into a social movement on par with the other modern movements such as Civil Rights and Women’s Issues. A Sustainability movement will give this issue the energy, voice, direction, and commitment that will be necessary to create change in attitude and behavior. The Sustainability movement will provide a constant drum beat, communicating our need for better resource utilization for the present and the future. In addition, this movement will drive new technologies that will replace non-renewable and inefficient energy sources.
CREATING A CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY
To better understand the process through which a Culture of Sustainability can become a driving philosophy which motivates the world population, it is important to examine environmental areas that facilitate not only the philosophy of Sustainability but also lend credence and resources to the process. The following areas of social existence are considered essential to the support of Sustainability:
ELECTED OFFICIALSNATIONAL COMMUNITY
LOCAL COMMUNITYGOVERNMENT
INVESTORSEDUCATION
INDUSTRYENFORCEMENT
Each these areas interact with each other and provide direction, support, and motivation for local and national action. Through direct support through the use of resources or through external support through the use of policy and sponsorship, these social areas will be able to create a Culture of Sustainability (Fig. 1). This culture will develop values and behaviors that are necessary to create a common set of directions that all member of the culture will be expected to follow. Culture has often been described as the “glue” that holds the unit together (Tichy, 1982, 63). The enculturation process allows potential members to understand the types of behaviors that are expected and allows them to decide if they share these values and wish to join the group.
FIG. 1 – CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY
CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY – INFLUENCE ON THE PROCESS
A model is presented that suggests factors necessary for creating a process that develops a unified approach to address the need for a more Sustainable environment (Fig. 2). The components of this process include:
CREATION OF A CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY
ACCEPTANCE
INTERNALIZATION
BEHAVIOR
This research will present the theoretical ground supporting this process and suggest tactics and procedures that will facilitate this process.
FIG. 2 – CULTURAL INFLUENCE
CREATION OF CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY
It is essential that individuals, organizations, and government understandthe issues encompassing Sustainability. The concept of Sustainability is oftentimes misunderstood due to the many existing definitions. For instance, Sustainability in the area of business usually deals with a firm’s ability to withstand competitive forces and continue as a viable entity. Even when Sustainability is examined within a resource context, the conversation quickly turns to environmental issues such as pollution and carbon emissions. While these areas certainly fall into the realm of Sustainability, this concept is so much broader than the truncated and stop-gap research that has gone before. These efforts are certainly useful.However, it seems that we have put the cart before the horse. The world is aware of many of the environmental issues we face, from global warming to the depletion of ozone to disappearing water tables, and is attempting to “fix” these problems when they become apparent. But these isolated attempts will not solve the problem. Until an organized, dare I say majority, of individuals truly understands that our current use and manipulation of resources is guaranteeing the complete depletion of these resources, little will be done to reverse this process. Every player in our environment must be aware of the issues we face and the need to create a driving motivation to create policies and practices that will have long-term and permanent impact on our environment.
To better understand the challenges facing a long term Stainability process, it is argued that a 1,000 year perspective be applied (Donnelly and Boyle, 2006). Boyle (2004) suggests that two key initiatives must be addressed: 1) maintaining the ability to meet current critical needs and 2) recognizing the acute threats to sustainability. Sustainability planning is a long term engagement that must analyze resource use and conception into the next milinium. From understanding this long-term issue to communicating it to the world populace can be a difficult task. As there is often no immediate threat, behavior is often non-existent or slow at best. Communication that is focused, direct, and constant will have a better chance of affecting individual, as well as group, behavior.
In order to impact behavior, or simply put, to change people’s minds, it is important to expand an individual’s schema concerning Sustainability(Stalder and Baron, 1998).The more complex the individual schema, the greater chance the individual will attend to this information and perform meaningful analysis. To begin the process for developing a Culture of Sustainability, clear, accurate, and focused information must be transmitted to individuals within the chosen group (Ritchie, 2000). The concept of Sustainability must be accurately communicated and learned in order for any change in behavior to take place. This communication should be salient and simple and should be transmitted on a continual basis. The realization that resources, necessary for the continuation of mankind, are being used at a much faster rate than they are being replenished allows us to calculate the exact date that these resources will disappear. The logical response to that information could possibly be the practice of reduction and better use of existing resources, reducing our dependence on these resources, and creation of new technologies that will replace previous resources.
Increasing the amount of useful information concerning Sustainability would entail a detailed and expansive communication campaign developed by all players involved in the process: governments, organizations, and civic groups, to mention but a few. This information, delivered through education, public communication, or government publication, would eventually seep into the consciousness of the world population and begin to change world behavior. Without a unified message concerning Sustainability, the impact of attempting to create a Culture of Sustainability will be hard pressed to succeed.
ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance of a Sustainable Culture suggests that individuals are aware of the importance of Sustainability to their existence and are willing to adhere and follow the organization’s Sustainability requirements. Individuals may not agree with the idea of Sustainability, but will accept the behaviors and performance that the organization has established because of the external rewards furnished by the organization (Myers & McPhee, 2006). As individuals continue their association with the organization and continue to receive rewards, such as pay, association, and other benefits, acceptance of the behaviors required by the Culture of Sustainability may become less burdensome. In fact, individuals may begin to see the logic and practicality of the new culture, which allows them to be successful and remain as participating members.
INTERNALIZATION
Individuals that remain and succeed in the organization will be aware of the overriding value placed on Sustainability by the firm or society. At some point, the individual will experience a merging process of their personal values regarding Sustainability and those of the organization. As these two values become similar, the behaviors desired by the organization become the same behaviors that individuals internalize as their own(Caldwell, Chatman, & O’Reilly, 1990). Individuals maintaining values close to those of the organization are more likely to view the organization’s value system as their own, and thus support these values. In a manner of speaking, the Organization’s prescribed behaviors are eventually perceived by individuals as the “right” thing to do (Ravlin & Meglino, 1987).
As individuals continue the internalization process and believe that Sustainability practices are indeed the “right” thing to do, they will monitor their own behavior as well as others to ensure that everyone is doing the “right” thing (Carver & Scheier, 1990). They will also teach new members information necessary to follow required behaviors and also monitor their process. At some point, the individual’s value system will insist on support of actions and behaviors that support sustainability initiatives and actively discourage behaviors that do not (Ritchie, 2000).
Human impacts and the overuse of resources have led to the decline of thenatural ecosystems that provided people with abundant bounty for so long. This decline is evident when we consider the disappearance of tropical forests, the overuse of valuable groundwater in crop-growing regions of the world, over-harvesting in oceans, and a serious depletion of agricultural soils (Brown,2009). However, most citizens of developed nations are becoming more aware of these issues educating those around them with the hope of a more-positive future.
THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER - POSITIVE OUTCOMES
The last several decades have seen effective and positive outcomes in the efficiency and reduction of the world’s use of resources. Some areas are less dependent on fossil fuel, while other programs have developed technologies that reduce the use of resources. Brown (2012) points out that the United States has reduced its coal consumption by 13 percent since 2007. The use of fossil fuel is still the primary energy used for transportation, electric automobiles have been designed that operate on a cost equivalent of 80 cents per gallon gasoline.
The development and use of biofuels is also on the rise with over 23 billion gallons of fuel ethanol and 6 billion gallons of biodiesel being produced in 2011. That same year saw the use of solar produced electricity grow by 74 percent. It is expected that solar output will increase from the current output of 70,000l megawatts to over 1 million megawatts by 2020.
However, wind generated energy has overtaken both solar and geothermal production in the last decade. Wind generation capacity has grown by 30% over the last 10 years. Over 80 countries now use wind to generate energy and currently maintain a worldwide capacity of over 240,000 megawatts, with China and the US leading the way.
Advances in technology and reduced dependence of natural resources can be viewed as an excellent start on our new path to a Culture of Sustainability. These new initiatives in wind, solar, and efficiency have shown that resourcedependence can be affected by new policy and technology. Imagine the global impact of a world-united approach. A Culture of Sustainability would facilitate the transfer of information, technology, productivity, as well as public policy.
CONCLUSION
The effect of a Culture of Sustainability on individuals, organizations, and governments is predicted through the Culture of Sustainability Model presented earlier. Through the creation of a Social Movement, Accurate Information, Acceptance, Internalization, and positive Sustainability outcomes, individuals will become better informed, more focused, and engaged in behavior that supports the concepts in their personal, vocational, and political behavior. As the world’s population becomes more aware of the shrinking resources that will eventually lead to a point of either a diminished quality of life or no life at all, policy and action must be formulated and implemented to reverse this trend. It is imperative that we develop a more efficient use of remaining resources or develop technology that will reduce our dependence on these resources. Only through a communal effort will the population of this planet be able to alter the inevitable outcome. A Culture of Sustainability will encourage practices and behaviors that predict a quality of life for both current and future humankind. As Emery (2013, 16) so simply states, “It may take a village to raise a child, but it will take anation of conscientious minds to make true sustainabilitya reality in the United States.”
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