Abstract
Corporate sustainability introduces multiple tensions or paradoxes into organisations which defy traditional approaches such as trading-off contrasting options. We examine an alternative approach: to manage corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens where contradictory elements are managed concurrently. Drawing on paradox theory, we focus on two specific pathways: to the organisation-wide acceptance of paradox and to paradoxical resolution. Introducing the concept of strategic agility, we argue that strategically agile organisations are better placed to navigate these paradox pathways. Strategic agility comprises three organisational meta-capabilities: strategic sensitivity, collective commitment, and resource fluidity. We propose that strategically agile organisations draw on strategic sensitivity and collective commitment to achieve organisation-wide acceptance of paradox, and collective commitment and resource fluidity to achieve paradoxical resolution. For each of these meta-capabilities, we identify three organisational practices and processes specifically related to corporate sustainability that organisations can leverage in pursuit of strategic agility. We offer a conceptual framework depicting the strategic agility meta-capabilities, and associated practices and processes, which organisations draw on to successfully manage corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens.
Highlights
As organisations increasingly integrate corporate sustainability into mainstream strategic considerations, they surface contradictory yet interrelated tensions, which coexist and persist over time (Hahn et al 2015, 2016; Smith 2014)
We propose that strategically agile organisations draw on strategic sensitivity and collective commitment to achieve organisation-wide acceptance of paradox, and collective commitment and resource fluidity to achieve paradoxical resolution
We start by addressing the first research question focusing, on organisational capabilities which contribute to managing corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens
Summary
As organisations increasingly integrate corporate sustainability into mainstream strategic considerations, they surface contradictory yet interrelated tensions, which coexist and persist over time (Hahn et al 2015, 2016; Smith 2014). While Smith and Lewis’ (2011) dynamic equilibrium model of organising remains a central contribution to paradox theory, key elements of the model require greater theoretical explication These authors present a pathway for paradox to achieve organisation-wide acceptance followed by a pathway where such acceptance culminates in paradoxical resolution, theorisation of organisational capabilities that contribute to such pathways is limited. We first locate the strategic agility meta-capabilities on the two pathways from existing paradox theory which form the focus of this paper: the pathway to acceptance of paradox and the pathway to paradoxical resolution Applying this to corporate sustainability, we identify organisational practices and processes contributing to each strategic agility meta-capability which organisations can draw on to manage corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens. We close the paper by reiterating our contributions and outlining the natural avenues for future research
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