Hybrids and Hybrid Organizing for Sustainability

Abstract

It is notable to see how management scholars have started to investigate sustainability issues. With regard to the history of management research, this phenomenon is very recent and, thus, there is much to investigate. In particular, we do not know how organization and management theories can help to address the grand challenges of modern times. Reversely, it is still unclear how sustainability issues question and help improve managerial practices and theories. At the intersection of these two questions, this symposium aims to start a discussion on the role of hybrid organizations in the context of sustainable development, and on the strategies making hybrid organizing work. Hybrid organizations are part of new organizational forms that replace “or” by “and”, create bridges and outreach traditional organizations that prove their failure to meet social and environmental requirements. This symposium brings together theoretical and empirical researches reflecting the diversity of grand challenges with data from renewable energy cooperatives, local food hubs, microfinance organizations, social entrepreneur coworking spaces, cooperative platforms and public-private partnerships. They not only critically examine the concept of hybridity in various empirical contexts but also highlight in how far hybrid organizing may contribute to develop solutions for sustainability challenges of modern times, and where this analytical framework needs to be improved. The Restoring of Institutional Logics and the Engagement of Grand Challenges Presenter: Ali Aslan Guemuesay; U. of Hamburg Presenter: Laura Claus; U. College London Presenter: John Matthew Amis; U. of Edinburgh Transforming from Within or Building an Alternative? Presenter: Marya Besharov; Oxford U., Saïd Business School Presenter: Bjoern C. Mitzinneck; Groningen U. (RuG) Inside Hybrid Organizations: The platform Cooperatives Presenter: Mélissa Boudes; Institut Mines-Telecom Business School, LITEM, U. Paris-Saclay, France Cross-pollinating at the Beehive: Embracing Hybridity at a Social Entrepreneurship Coworking Space Presenter: Julie Fabbri; Cnrs - Ecole Polytechnique of Paris Presenter: Benjamin Huybrechts; EMLYON Business School Employee Tenure and Staff Performance: The Case of Social Enterprise Presenter: Naome Otiti; U. of Adger Presenter: Cécile Godfroid; UMONS-CERMi Presenter: Roy Mersland; full professor Cross-sector Collaboration to Tackle Grand Challenge? Presenter: Martin Sievert; U. of Mannheim Presenter: Alexander Pinz; U. of Mannheim Presenter: Bernd Helmig; U. of Mannheim