Sustainability issues are not just “out there” in the external environment. In approaching the issue of sustainability, students benefit from questioning what is it that sustains their own lives, the lives of those they care about, and the organizations in which they work. If encouraged to do this, students become better systems thinkers as they link their external and internal worlds. This article presents some clarification of the concept and practices associated with sustainable development and describes numerous class exercises to help management students move sustainable development into their own sphere of attention and practice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bradbury, H., Carroll, J., Ehrenfeld, J., & Senge, P. (2000). Inter-organizational learning: Developing sustainable business enterprises in a context of dynamic and behavioral complexity. NSF Proposal for project funding, SES NSF no. 0080643.
2.
Bradbury, H., & Clair, J. (1999). Promoting sustainable organizations with Sweden’s Natural Step. Academy of Management Executive, 13(4), 63-74.
3.
Bradbury, H., & Ford, J. (2001). Docu-com: A marriage of profit and principle. Teaching case for executive management students. ORBH Working Paper Series.
4.
Bradbury, H., & Lichtenstein, B. (2000). The space between: Operationalizing relationality in organizational research. Organization Science, 11(5), 551-564.
5.
Checkland, P. (1985). From optimizing to learning: A development of systems thinking for the 1990s. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 36, 757-767.
6.
Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with forks. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: Conscientious Commerce/New Society.
7.
Elkington, J. (2001). Buried treasure. London: Sustainability.
8.
Gladwin, T.N., Kennelly, J.T., & Krause, T.-S. (1995). Shifting paradigms for sustainable development: Implications for management theory and research. Academy of Management Review, 20, 874-907.
9.
Hart, S.L. (1997). Beyond greening: Strategies for a sustainable world. Harvard Business Review, 75(1), 66-77.
10.
Hawken, P. (1993). The ecology of commerce: A declaration of sustainability. New York: HarperBusiness.
11.
Hawken, P., Lovins, A., & Lovins, L.H. (1999). Natural capital: Creating the next Industrial Revolution. New York: Little, Brown.
12.
Holliday, C. (2001). Sustainable growth, the DuPont way. Harvard Business Review (Sept.), 129-134.
13.
Holliday, C., Schmidheiny, S., & Watts, P. (2002). Walking the talk: The business case for sustainable development. Sheffield, U.K.: Greenleaf Publishing.
14.
Midgely, M. (1992) Science as salvation: A modern myth and its meaning. New York: Routledge.
15.
Natrass, P., & Altomare, M. (1999). The Natural Step in business. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: Turtle Island.
16.
Porter, M. & van der Linde, C. (1995). Green and competitive: Ending the stalemate. Harvard Business Review (Sept./Oct.), 120-134.
17.
Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (2001). The handbook of action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
Robert, K.-H. (1995). Cycle of nature. Shumacher lecture. Retrieved from http://www.geocities.com/combusem/robert.htm.
19.
Robèrt, K.-H., Daly, H., Hawken, P., & Holmberg, J. (1997). International Journal of Sustainable Development, 4, 79-92.
20.
Roome, N. (Ed.). (1998). Sustainable strategies for industries. Washington, DC: Island.
21.
Schmidheiny, S. (1992). Changing course: A global business perspective on development and the environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
22.
Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline. New York: CurrencyDoubleday
23.
Senge, P., & Carstadt, G. (2001). Designing the next Industrial Revolution. Sloan Management Review, 42(2), 24-38.
24.
Starik, M., & Rands, G. (1995). Weaving an integrated web: Multilevel and multisystem perspectives of ecologically sustainable organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(4), 908-935.
25.
Wackernagel, M., & Rees, W. (1996). Our ecological footprint. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: New Society.
26.
Waddock, S.A. (1989). Understanding social partnership: An evolutionary model of partnership organizations. Administration & Society, 21(1), 78-100.
27.
Wheatley, M. (2002, May). Webs boxes and boundaries. Shambhala Sun, pp. 27-29.
28.
Wilber, K. (1996). Sex, ecology and spirituality. Boston: Shambhala.
29.
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our common future. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
