Reintroducing Organisational Innovations to Environmental Sustainability - A study of rational innovations that are regularly ignored

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School of Engineering | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2018-03-02
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Date

2018

Department

Rakennetun ympäristön laitos
Department of Built Environment

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Mcode

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Language

en

Pages

54 + app. 42

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Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 33/2018

Abstract

The current governmental climate change targets, such as the Paris agreement, are indeed a step in the right direction, however, they will not be met through the incremental innovation of business as usual. Furthermore, firms cannot be complacent and rely on technological advancements to deliver the required reduction in emissions. The innovations that form the core of this dissertation have similar characteristics which are low cost, low technology, high impact and high disruption. They deliver a substantial improvement in environmental and economic performance while requiring low investment and relying on existing technology. The downside of these organisational innovations is that they disrupt routines and require a change in behaviour of the firm. This can lead to a loss in productivity as the change is absorbed. The main aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of organisational innovations that aim to substantially improve environmental and economic performance. The research methodology employed in this dissertation is based on a mixed methods approach which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The background of the research is predominantly qualitative and the research data is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data. The perspective of this research's paradigm is mainly pragmatism. This research argues that greater focus should be given to innovations with the above mentioned low-low-high-high characteristics. These kinds of innovations seek to reconfigure established organisational processes and this is challenging as it disrupts routines and requires a change in behaviour of the firm's employees. As a consequence, organisational innovations are more complex than many other types of innovations. The main contribution of the research is the development of a framework that shows the route that firms should take when aiming to reconfigure their organisational processes.

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Supervising professor

Junnila, Seppo, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Built Environment, Finland

Keywords

environmental sustainability, organisational innovations, routine rigidity, environmental innovations, organisational inertia

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Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Dooley K. 2017. Value Chain Systemicity: Promoting Organizational Creativity and Environmental Sustainability in Low Velocity Industries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140: 1903-1913.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.075 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Dooley K. 2017. Routine Rigidity & Environmental Sustainability: Why Rational Innovations are Regularly Ignored. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(1): 70-81.
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1984 View at publisher
  • [Publication 3]: Dooley K. 2017. Routines, Rigidity and Real Estate: Organisational Innovations in the Workplace. Sustainability, 9(6): 998-1011.
    DOI: 10.3390/su9060998 View at publisher

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https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-7861-8

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[diss] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG