Moving Beyond Fragmented Traditions

Abstract

On the organizational level, separate fields of public management and public policy, management and organization studies, as well as fragmented theoretical discussions within them, tend to operate as though the organizations under their respective microscopes operate in a vacuum and focus on best practices firmly rooted in one area. Organizational approaches will continue to evolve, in relation to the macro and micro forces that influence them, and which they influence. The image of organizations in relation to macro and micro levels implicitly highlights interconnectedness between many academic disciplines and their traditional levels of analysis and sectoral purviews. Overall, changes to the macro level could instigate a much faster shift toward a sustainability transition, and toward addressing grand challenges. Consumers and employees reaching the workforce today were born into a normative environment primarily in favor of sustainability and painfully aware of the challenges societies face.