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Publications
  • 2022
  • Chapter
  • Handbook on the Business of Sustainability

Sustainability for People and the Planet: Placing Workers at the Center of Sustainability Research

By: Julie Yen, Julie Battilana and Emilie Aguirre
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Abstract

Though workers face a series of critical challenges in contemporary work organizations, they are often overlooked in conversations about sustainable business. In this chapter, we argue that prioritizing the rights and well-being of workers is a core dimension of sustainability along with the preservation of the environment. We review scholarship on corporate social responsibility, then identify psychological and structural empowerment as two key dimensions of human sustainability. Drawing on empirical findings emerging from research on hybrid organizing, we argue that organizational democracy has the potential to empower workers and promote their well-being, while enabling the simultaneous pursuit of social, environmental, and financial objectives. We propose a research agenda to investigate how democratic organizing and sustainability are intertwined, calling for interdisciplinary research that attends to the importance of legal and institutional frameworks that support organizations’ pursuit of a sustainable future. In doing so, we draw attention to potential synergies as well as conflicts between organizational democracy and sustainability, with implications for worker well-being and inequality.

Keywords

Environmental Sustainability; Employees; Well-being; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Social Issues

Citation

Yen, Julie, Julie Battilana, and Emilie Aguirre. "Sustainability for People and the Planet: Placing Workers at the Center of Sustainability Research." Chap. 11 in Handbook on the Business of Sustainability: The Organization, Implementation, and Practice of Sustainable Growth, edited by Gerard George, Martine R. Haas, Havovi Joshi, Anita M. McGahan, and Paul Tracey, 189–214. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022.

About The Author

Julie Battilana

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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    • December 2022
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    Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement

    By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Julie Battilana and Rachel Tropp
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Democratize Work: The Case for Reorganizing the Economy

    By: Isabelle Ferreras, Julie Battilana and Dominique Méda
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    Democratizing Work: Redistributing Power in Organizations for a Democratic and Sustainable Future

    By: Julie Battilana, Julie Yen, Isabelle Ferreras and Lakshmi Ramarajan
More from the Authors
  • Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Julie Battilana and Rachel Tropp
  • Democratize Work: The Case for Reorganizing the Economy By: Isabelle Ferreras, Julie Battilana and Dominique Méda
  • Democratizing Work: Redistributing Power in Organizations for a Democratic and Sustainable Future By: Julie Battilana, Julie Yen, Isabelle Ferreras and Lakshmi Ramarajan
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