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Thriving and Flourishing into the Future: An Ecosystems Approach to Building Sustainable Organisations

  • Dieter VeldsmanEmail author
  • Cecile Benade
  • Pieter Rossouw
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Abstract

The VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) environment has changed the working landscape forever. Agile multidisciplinary work teams, innovative organisational designs, a multi-generational workforce and a digital knowledge economy have become the norm. Amidst this complexity and constant change, employee engagement and functioning is becoming a source of critical competitive advantage as organisations aim to drive sustainability and relevance into the future. Practitioners and scholars have turned their attention to the concept of thriving as a means to better understand the requirements of individuals and organisations to become future-fit. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the concept of the thriving organisational ecosystem and the impact from both a macro- and micro-perspective. The chapter will contextualise the changing landscape of work and discuss the impact on knowledge economy organisations amidst the VUCA environment. The concept of thriving organisations is positioned from both a macro-organisational ecosystem and an individual well-being and motivational perspective to better understand the implications for the organisations into the future. The chapter concludes by providing recommendations to both organisations and individuals in an attempt to contribute towards building thriving workplaces where individuals can flourish.

Keywords

VUCA Thriving Flourishing Knowledge economy Employee engagement Agile work teams Ecosystem 
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Copyright information

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dieter Veldsman
    • 1
    Email author
  • Cecile Benade
    • 2
  • Pieter Rossouw
    • 1
  1. 1.MMI HoldingsJohannesburgSouth Africa
  2. 2.Organisational Development ConsultantJohannesburgSouth Africa

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