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A Systems Thinking Approach to Environmental Follow-Up in a Swedish Central Public Authority: Hindrances and Possibilities for Learning from Experience

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Abstract

This study analysed the environmental follow-up of a public organisation from a systems thinking approach, including follow-up within different phases of operation and with different environmental management tools. The Swedish Rail Administration (SRA), a public authority responsible for Swedish rail infrastructure, was used as a case organisation. The main aim was to identify different follow-up activities during planning, construction and operation of rail infrastructure. Additional aims were to identify limiting factors for effective environmental follow-up and to provide suggestions on how SRA follow-up can better be used as an organisational learning tool. The follow-up proved to be highly influenced by Environmental Management System and was mainly used for showing compliance with legal regulations or contract requirements. Use of environmental monitoring data was limited to the specific project in which the follow-up was carried out, possibly because of the project-based structure of the organisation following rail deregulation. Theory on organisational learning was applied in the study to discuss how to improve the distribution and use of follow-up data. A more complete ‘organisational memory’ seems to be required for learning from experience and adapting to change.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Swedish Rail Administration through the Centre for Research and Education in Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure (CDU). The author thanks all those individuals at the Swedish Rail Administration who took part in the study and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of this paper.

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  1. Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden

    Kristina Lundberg

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  1. Kristina Lundberg
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Correspondence to Kristina Lundberg.

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Lundberg, K. A Systems Thinking Approach to Environmental Follow-Up in a Swedish Central Public Authority: Hindrances and Possibilities for Learning from Experience. Environmental Management 48, 123–133 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-010-9600-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-010-9600-5

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