Biodynamic in California: Organizational Cognition and Learning with Complexity

Abstract

The convergence of social and environmental crises has urged organizations and institutions to apply systems-thinking principles as a way to better attend to ongoing issues and their inherent complexity. This qualitative empirical study inductively investigates the types of organizational-level cognition apparent in 20 sustainable wine producers in California applying different agricultural and organizational practices. We offer developments in the organizational cognition and learning literatures by presenting systems-thinking in the face of complexity as a unique empirical contribution. We differentiate between holistic (systems) and particularist (linear) cognition and dynamic ways of learning in organizations. Through semi-structured interviews, field observations, and secondary data from their website communications, we elaborate upon emergent findings and generalize a model of enacted cognition and organizational learning in a bidirectional manner with institutions. By focusing on producers with sustainable orientations, many implications related to responding to complex social and environment issues by applying holistic ontologies arise for further contemplation. Our insights serve as a foundation for understanding how organizations think in while dealing with ongoing complexity and long-term challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality.