Abstract
This paper tells the story of an ongoing greening process in a HE Institution from the perspective of an individual on the ‘shop floor’. It adds to the work of Walley and Stubbs (1999, 2000) on organisational greening at the level of the individual in context. Adopting Morgan’s (1993) metaphor of how termite mounds—organizations—are shaped, the 2000 paper investigated the role of the environmental champions in large organisations exploring the notion of strategic termites as inspiration for would-be environmental change agents. Whilst Walley and Stubbs (2000) focused on formally appointed champions, this paper records the journey of an informal agent, taking place against a backdrop of organisational change in a large university. Although much of this change had little to do with greening it presented opportunities for an industrious termite to tint the mound a little greener. The journey notes successes and failures from the ‘termite’s’ perspective and how his thinking gradually shifted from purely opportunistic to something more strategic. The strategic termite metaphor aids the interpretation of this journey. It is hoped this paper will inspire would-be sustainability change agents. Like termites we all move along seemingly predetermined pathways but if we remain sensitive to our surroundings, opportunities to reshape the future will present themselves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Alvesson M (1993) Cultural perspectives on organizations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Boje DM, Summers DJ (1994) Review of ‘Imaginazation: the art of creative management’. Adm Sci Q 39(4):688–690
Bourgeois VW, Pinder CC (1983) Contrasting philosophical perspectives in administrative science: a reply to Morgan. Adm Sci Q 28:608–613
Brooks I (2009) Organisational behaviour individuals, groups and organisation. Prentice Hall, Harlow
Brown RH (1976) Social theory as metaphor. Theory Soc 3:169–197
Burrell G, Morgan G (1979) Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis. Heinemann, London
Clegg SR, Courpassen D, Phillips N (2006) Power and organisations. Sage Publications, London
Cunliffe AL (2008) Organization theory. Sage Publications, London
Exter N, Grayson D, Maher R (2013) Facilitating organizational change for embedding sustainability into academia: a case study. J Manag Dev 32(3):319–332
Giddens A (1984) The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Polity Press, Cambridge
Godemann, J., Herzig, C., Moon, J., and Powell, A., (2011), Integrating sustainability into business schools – analysis of 100 UN PRME Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) reports, Nottingham University Business School, ICCSE Research Paper Series
Holley KA (2009) Interdisciplinary strategies as transformative change in higher education. Innov High Educ 34:331–344
Kezar A (2013) Understanding sensemaking/sensegiving in transformational change processes from the bottom up. High Educ 65:761–780
Lakoff G, Johnsson M (1980) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Lyotard J-F (1984) The postmodern condition a report on knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
McCourt W (1997) Discussion note: using metaphors to understand and to change organizations: a critique of Gareth Morgan’s approach. Organ Stud 18(3):511–522
Morgan G (1980) Paradigms, metaphors and puzzle solving in organization theory. Adm Sci Q 25:605–622
Morgan G (1986) Images of organization. Sage, London
Morgan G (1993) Imaginization: the art of creative management. Sage, London
Post J, Altman B (1994) Managing the environmental change process: barriers and opportunities. J Organ Change Manag 7(4):64–81
Rasanen K, Merilainen S, Lovio R (1994) Pioneering descriptions of corporate greening: notes and doubts on the emerging discussion. Bus Strategy Environ 3(4):9–16
Ricoeur P (1978) Metaphor and the main problem of hermeneutics. In: Regan CE, Stewart D (eds) The philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. Beacon Press, Boston
Tinker T (1986) Metaphor or reification: are radical humanists really libertarian anarchists? J Manag Stud 23(4):363–384
Walley EE, Stubbs M (1999) ‘Greenjacking’—a tactic for the toolbag of environmental champions? Reflections on an SME success story. Eco-Manag Auditing 6(1):26–33
Walley EE, Stubbs M (2000) Termites and champions case comparisons by metaphor. Green Manag Int 29:41–54
Wheatley MJ (1996) The unplanned organization: learning from nature’s emergent creativity. Noetic Sci Rev 37. http://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/unplannedorganization.html. Accessed 13 Jan 2014
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Christian, J., Walley, L. (2015). Termite Tales: Organisational Change—A Personal View of Sustainable Development in a University—As Seen from the ‘Tunnels’. In: Leal Filho, W., Brandli, L., Kuznetsova, O., Paço, A. (eds) Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10690-8_36
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10690-8_36
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10689-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10690-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)