Sjaña Holloway, MSc.
Abstract for: Research & simulations Methodology of complex Problems meeting
17 September 2009
Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Human Performance Management Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Organizations are in need of ways to maximize the sustainability of their organizations in turbulent times. At the work-organizational level, sustainability means an ability to find ways to deal with challenges and a capability to create new opportunities for a productive existence. To this end, a sustainable work organization transforms in both its exterior features (such as structure and patterns activity) and its interior characteristics (such as the mental models shared by its members). Sustainability is – in this sense – a dynamic state (Newman, 2005). At the employee level, sustainability means designing regenerative work. Regenerative work is defined as work that supports the growth and revitalization of employees ‘various resources’. Regenerative work thus increases employees’ ability to function in the future while also promoting positive affective states and performance in the present (c.f. Kira & Forslin, 2008; Kira & Van Eijnatten, 2008b). It is surmised that for the fields of management science and job design to grow in ways that are commiserate with the ongoing complexity inherent to these fields. Attempts to better understand dynamic processes will be facilitated by the implementation of interdisciplinary research designed within a complexity theory framework.
By using multiple processes and levels, questionnaires, the examination of video and audio data and by using past research data, an investigation into organization and human sustainability through regenerative work will be investigated within an international organization and its subsidiaries. For this research,it is hoped to validate and explain the use of Integral-CIMO-Action-Design methods (ICAD) ( Cacioppe & Edwards, 2004; Chandler & Torbert, 2003; Denyer et al. 2008; van Aken, 2007) as an overarching dynamic model of human development which utilizes context, interventions, mechanisms, and outcomes within the aims of action research and design science. From this research, tentative necessary conditionhypothesis that have been constructed about how such a theory works and to gather a body of information about the mechanisms of regenerative potential of work between an organization and its subsidiaries will be a benefit to other scholars working in this area. These data mayalso be useful to scholars interested in more general theories of regenerative work and sustainability in management and job design research.
References:
Cacioppe & Edwards (2004)Seeking the Holy Grail of Organizational Development: A synthesis of Integral Theory, Spiral Dynamics, Corporate Transformation and Action Inquiry. LODJ 26 (2) 86 – 105.
Chandler & Torbert (2003). Transforming Inquiry and Action: Interweaving 27 Flavors of Action Research. Journal of Action Research, 1(2) 133 – 153
Denyer, D., Tranfield. D., and Van Aken, J, E, (2008). Developing Design Propositions through Research Synthesis. The Journal of Organizational Studies, 29 (3) 393-413.
Kira, M., Forslin, J. (2008), "Seeking regenerative work in the post-bureaucratic transition", Journal of Organizational Change Management,21(1) 76 – 91
Kira, M., Eijnatten, F.M. van (2008). Sustained by work: individual and social sustainability in work organizations. In P. Docherty, A.B. Shani, M. Kira (Eds.), Creating sustainable work systems: emerging perspectives and practice.(pp. 233-246) London: Rutledge
Newman, L. (2005). Uncertainty, innovation, and dynamic sustainable development. Sustainability: Science, Practice & Policy, 1(2) 25 – 31.
Van Aken, J.E. (2007). Design Science and Organization Development Interventions: Aligning Business and Humanistic Values. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43(1) 67 – 88.
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