Shifting paradigms in sustainability management : instrumental and value-driven orientations

This paper discusses how a dual management system (using both instrumental and value-based orientations) can function in order to encourage intrinsically and extrinsically motivated employees to work toward sustainability.

The paper argues that social and environmental outcomes are inherently motivating for many employees who bring both caring for, and commitment to environmental and social change with them to the workplace. A shift from the traditional approach to sustainability management in companies-which motivates employees using instrumental arguments, external performance criteria and goals, compliance, and control-toward an approach that acknowledges that some employees care about environmental and social outcomes independently of the potential benefits to the company. A value-based management approach results in employees acting responsibly toward the environment and society based upon their self-espoused values, encouraging discretionary behavior and personal effort for sustainability.

Key points include:

• organisations which wish to be environmentally and socially sustainable must move beyond an exclusive focus on externally driven top-down strategic approaches to managing sustainability
• instead of exclusively focusing on compliance and control, employee commitment to sustainability can be encouraged by helping them leverage their personal, intrinsically held, environmental and social values
• an organisation that wants to reap the potential benefits of intrinsically motivated employees will necessarily need to embrace a value-based orientation for Its own sake. To move toward such a paradigm shift, organisations face the challenge of learning how to dialogue around sustainability issues, and provide a workplace that encourages employees to bring their values with them to work