Mari Kira

Organizational development for social sustainability in work systems

A work system may be said to exhibit social sustainability if it utilizes its human, social, economic, and ecological resources with responsibility. This entails using these resources in a non-exploitive way, regenerating them, and paying due attention to the needs and ambitions of its stakeholders in the short- and long-term. For most presently existing organizations attaining and maintaining sustainability requires a midcourse correction, a transformation process. This chapter reviews the main concepts regarding sustainability and previous research of organizational development in this context. It presents a four-phase model for this transformation process and illustrates the models application in four different contexts. The results are discussed and directions for further research are presented.

Meaningfulness-making at work

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the ways workers can actively make their own work experiences more meaningful.Design/methodology/approach – The data consist of 29 interviews with people from three professions. The authors analyzed the interviews by coding the statements into first‐ and second‐order categories, and then aggregating them into theoretical constructs; and by recognizing relations between the constructs.Findings – Workers try to increase the proportion of positive cues extracted from work to make their work more meaningful. The three main tactics for increasing the proportion of positive cues are cognitively emphasizing the positive qualities of work, developing competencies to be better able to produce positive outcomes and positive reactions from others, and influencing the work content.Research limitations/implications – This model provides a preliminary understanding of meaningfulness‐making, based on cross‐sectional interview data. Future research shoul...

Sustained by work: Individual and social sustainability in work organizations

1. What the World Needs Now is Sustainable Work Systems (Peter Docherty, Mari Kira and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 2. Organizational Visions of Sustainability (Keith Cox) 3. The Interface Journey to Sustainability: Identity Dynamics within Cultural Incrementalism (Mona Amodeo) 4. Sustainability in Knowledge-Based Companies (Peter Brodner) 5. Sustainability and the Ageing Workforce - Considerations with regard to the German Car Manufacturing Industry (Julia Weichel, Markus Buch, Dirk Urban and Ekkehart Frieling) 6. Utilizing Technology to Support Sustainability (James Sena and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 7. Creating Sustainable, Desired Change in Teams through Application of Intentional Change and Complexity Theories (Richard Boyatzis) 8. Sustainable Heritage in a Rapidly Changing Environment (Lena Wilhelmson and Marianne Doos) 9. Learning Mechanisms in Sustainable Work System Design (Mike Stebbins and Judy Valenzuela) 10. Financial Management to Support Sustainability (Doug Cerf and Arline Savage) 11. A Development Coalition for Sustainability in Health Care (Svante Lifvergren, Tony Huzzard and Peter Docherty) 12. Three Powers of Feedback for Sustainable Multi-organizational Learning (Hilary Bradbury) 13. Labelling and Sustainability: The Case of Specialty Coffee (Mikael Roman) 14. An Initial Exploration of Sustainable Work Systems in China: An Issue of Imbalance between Economic and Social Reform (Sharon Moore and Julie Jie Wen) 15. Sustained by Work: Individual and Collective Sustainability in Work Organizations (Mari Kira and Frans M. van Eijnatten) 16. Toward a Sustainable Work Systems Design and Change Methodology (Michael Stebbins and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 17. Sustainable Work Systems: Past, Present and Future of Social Sustainability (Peter Docherty)

Sustainable work systems: Past, present and future of sustainability

1. What the World Needs Now is Sustainable Work Systems (Peter Docherty, Mari Kira and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 2. Organizational Visions of Sustainability (Keith Cox) 3. The Interface Journey to Sustainability: Identity Dynamics within Cultural Incrementalism (Mona Amodeo) 4. Sustainability in Knowledge-Based Companies (Peter Brodner) 5. Sustainability and the Ageing Workforce - Considerations with regard to the German Car Manufacturing Industry (Julia Weichel, Markus Buch, Dirk Urban and Ekkehart Frieling) 6. Utilizing Technology to Support Sustainability (James Sena and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 7. Creating Sustainable, Desired Change in Teams through Application of Intentional Change and Complexity Theories (Richard Boyatzis) 8. Sustainable Heritage in a Rapidly Changing Environment (Lena Wilhelmson and Marianne Doos) 9. Learning Mechanisms in Sustainable Work System Design (Mike Stebbins and Judy Valenzuela) 10. Financial Management to Support Sustainability (Doug Cerf and Arline Savage) 11. A Development Coalition for Sustainability in Health Care (Svante Lifvergren, Tony Huzzard and Peter Docherty) 12. Three Powers of Feedback for Sustainable Multi-organizational Learning (Hilary Bradbury) 13. Labelling and Sustainability: The Case of Specialty Coffee (Mikael Roman) 14. An Initial Exploration of Sustainable Work Systems in China: An Issue of Imbalance between Economic and Social Reform (Sharon Moore and Julie Jie Wen) 15. Sustained by Work: Individual and Collective Sustainability in Work Organizations (Mari Kira and Frans M. van Eijnatten) 16. Toward a Sustainable Work Systems Design and Change Methodology (Michael Stebbins and A.B. (Rami) Shani) 17. Sustainable Work Systems: Past, Present and Future of Social Sustainability (Peter Docherty)

Sowing Seeds for Sustainability in Work Systems

The aim of this chapter is to suggest some ways in which the promotion of social and human sustainability at work may contribute positively to a work system’s ecological and economic sustainability. We also explore conceptual and practical ways to encourage the sustainability of social and human resources in contemporary working life. Throughout the chapter, we exemplify our arguments with case illustrations from the Skaraborg Hospital Group in Sweden. We discuss how the unwavering goals of protecting and regenerating various resources in work-system operations are critical hallmarks of a sustainable work system. We also outline some worldviews and ways of thinking that seem to underlie the operations of sustainable work systems. We then delineate the implications of the resource regeneration goals and sustainability-minded ways of thinking for work-system actors. Most importantly, we propose that sowing seeds for sustainability involves engaging co-workers with different knowledge and professional backgrounds in on-going learning dialogues concerning the actual development of the whole system.

From struggles to resource gains in interprofessional service networks: Key findings from a multiple case study

ABSTRACT In interprofessional service networks, employees cross professional boundaries to collaborate with colleagues and clients with expertise and values different from their own. It can be a struggle to adopt shared work practices and deal with “multivoicedness.” At the same time, networks allow members to engage in meaningful service provision, gain a broader understanding of the service provided, and obtain social support. Intertwined network struggles and resource gains have received limited attention in the interprofessional care literature to date. The aim of the study was to investigate the learning potential of the co-existing struggles and resource gains. This article reports findings from two interprofessional networks. Interviews were conducted with 19 employees and thematically analysed. Three types of struggles and six types of resource gains of networking were identified. The struggles relate, first, to the assumptions of networking following similar practices to those in a home organisation; second, to the challenges of dealing with the multivoicedness of networking; and, third, to the experienced gap between the networking ideals and the reality of cooperation. At the same time, the network members experience gains in emotional resources (e.g., stronger sense of meaningfulness at work), cognitive resources (e.g., understanding the customer needs from alternative perspectives), and social resources (e.g., being able to rely on other professionals’ competence). Learning potential emerged from the dynamics between coexisting struggles and resource gains.