The sustainable organisation: blueprint for an integrated model

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to build on the original Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn (2007) model by proposing a new model of organisational sustainability which includes the economic dimension. There is a growing level of interest by senior executives in the role and potential impact that sustainability will have on their organisation’s future strategy and structure. Although management is keenly aware that sustainability is important in their future planning, there is much uncertainty about what level of involvement and commitment they should make towards sustainability endeavours.

Design/methodology/approach

This article reviews the existing organisational sustainability change model while building a case to have the important economic strand added to the original change dimensions relating to the human and the environmental strands.

Findings

This conceptual paper builds on previous work of sustainability organisational change theorists to produce an enhanced sustainability change model thus proposing a more comprehensive and integrated sustainability stage model that can guide managers in their quest to evolve effective and more sustainable organisations.

Originality/value

This is a conceptual paper that builds on previous work of sustainability organisational change theorists to introduce an enhanced sustainability change model that includes the important economic dimension to the widely accepted social and environmental dimensions, thus proposing a comprehensive and integrated sustainability stage model that can guide managers in their quest to evolve effective and more sustainable organisations.

Citation

Perrott, B. (2014), "The sustainable organisation: blueprint for an integrated model", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 26-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-07-2013-0061