Strategic Communication for Sustainable Organizations

In response to growing global environmental problems and threats associated with global warming, organizations are recognizing that business-as-usual is no longer sufficient and that it is time to go to scale in responding to impending challenges. Effective communication is absolutely essential. Strategic communication is needed to alert, persuade, and help people enact sustainability initiatives within and between organizations. Strategic communication also orients our consciousness by inviting us to take a particular perspective, by evoking certain values and not others, and by creating referents for our attention and understanding. Sometimes effective communication is characterized by strategic ambiguity. Organizations face multiple challenges in terms of their sustainability-related communication. Some are silenced because of their fear of speaking out. For others, the messages they create are not processed because message recipients are unmotivated. Knowledge regarding the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion and the use of repetition are important tools when designing strategic communication. Communicators need to think critically about where their audience is in their understanding of sustainability and how to present information in an accessible way. Attention to message design and message framing can help. Interview data drawn from Aspen Skiing Company; Heifer International^®; the City and County of Denver, CO; the Arbor Day Foundation; and ClearSky Climate Solutions illustrates the concepts being discussed.

This chapter begins with a description of the transformational changes undertaken at the Portland Trail Blazers’ basketball arena campus when messages within their external environment changed to highlight environmental sustainability. Two paradigms generally used to describe the belief systems of people and people groups regarding our relationship with the natural environment are described: the dominant social paradigm and the new ecological paradigm. The societal shift toward the growing importance of the sustainable development Discourse within businesses, cities, and universities is described. Paradigms are differentiated from Discourses and ten environment-related Discourses are identified (i.e., the industrialism Discourse, survivalism, the Promethean response, administrative rationalism, democratic pragmatism, economic rationalism, green politics, green consciousness, ecological modernization, and sustainability). Criticisms of the ecological modernism and sustainability Discourses are reviewed. Communication’s role in reinforcing and challenging paradigms is discussed. The chapter ends by discussing forces which influence how environmentally related issues are framed, contested, and reframed. In addition to paradigms, Discourses, and ideology, theories or theoretical concepts highlighted include discursive closure, critical theory and the neo-Marxian perspective on sustainable development, framing, schemata of interpretation, systematically distorted communication, and social judgment theory. Throughout the chapter, interview data gathered from small businesses, an activist organization (the Natural Resources Defense Council), a nongovernmental organization, South Dakota’s state government, multiple cities (e.g., the City and County of Denver), two sports organizations (the Portland Trail Blazers, Aspen Skiing Company), a university, and two multinational organizations (Tyson Foods, Sam’s Club) is integrated.

When organizational leaders undertake sustainability-related initiatives, they are concerned with whether or not their key stakeholders perceive their organization and its actions to be legitimate. In this chapter, legitimacy is defined, the types of legitimacy are described, the benefits of being seen as legitimate and having a positive reputation are discussed, and actions used to manage legitimacy are reviewed. Communication helps manage perceptions of the legitimacy of industries as well as individual organizations. Message credibility is important. Standardized communication directed simultaneously toward multiple internal and external stakeholders is discussed (i.e., annual public meetings, websites and sustainability reports, reporting frameworks, certifications, and architecture such as LEED-certified office buildings). Best practices are provided. The chapter reviews stakeholder theory and discusses the need to adapt messages to engage different stakeholders. In addition, theories or theoretical concepts highlighted include population ecology theory, resource dependency theory, institutional isomorphism, agency theory, normative discourse, the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, actor–network theory, speech act theory, attribution theory, visual rhetoric, narrative theory, and organizational co-orientation theory. Interview data drawn from a variety of organizational types illustrates the applicability of theory and research. Organizations represented include Tyson Foods; WasteCap Nebraska; Missoula Sustainability Council; Ecotrust; the Neil Kelly Company; the Arbor Day Foundation; Aspen Skiing Company; the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; the City of Boulder; Sam’s Club; Assurity Life Insurance; Heifer International^®; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the University of Colorado, Boulder; and the University of Colorado, Denver.

Given the changes forecast to result from global warming, scholars’ and practitioners’ interest in sustainability and organizational change is increasing. Although sustainability-related changes can be piecemeal and incremental, my interest is on transformational change. Transformational organizational changes begin when key individuals become aware of new processes, technologies, opportunities, constraints, and expectations. Once awareness occurs, the challenge becomes transforming information into useable knowledge and diffusing it throughout the system. Factors influencing the adoption of an innovation are reviewed. The characteristics of change adopters and stages of change are identified. Important communication roles during times of change (e.g., board members, top executives, change agents, sustainability champions), the process of communicating about change, guidance for change communicators, and formal structural and communication efforts to facilitate change efforts are discussed. Formal ways to embed a focus on sustainability within an organization include changing an organization’s structure (e.g., creating new roles, creating new inter- and intraorganizational coordinating structures) and designing pathways (e.g., mission and vision statements, goals and plans, formal communication channels). In addition to transformation change, theories or theoretical concepts highlighted include diffusion of innovation theory, the absorptive capacity concept, sensemaking theory, structuration theory, systems theory, transformational leadership, the communication approach to leadership, models of communication and change, and ethos. Interview data spotlights the City of Boulder, the City of Portland, the City and County of Denver, Sam’s Club, Assurity Life Insurance, the HEAL project, the University of Colorado, Portland, the Neal Kelly Company, Tyson Foods, the Portland Trail Blazers, and Aspen Skiing Company.

This chapter focuses on factors that can influence employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. Sustainable organizational cultures, learning organizations, and an informed and supportive managerial subculture are discussed in this chapter. Employee hiring, socialization, and training can influence employees’ pro-environmental actions. Reward systems need to link sustainability goals and measures to corporate training. If employees do not see that their organization rewards people for displaying pro-environmental behaviors, training can have less of an impact (Cantor et al., Journal of Supply Chain Management, 48, 33–51, 2012). Although managers may encourage employees to meet work-related pro-environmental goals, employees balance multiple goals and react emotionally to their working environment assessing issues related to perceived organizational support and justice. Informal communication helps create, reinforce, stabilize, and challenge sustainable values and goals within an organization. Additional theories or theoretical concepts discussed in this chapter include the 4I model of organizational learning, organizational climate, affective organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, employee trust, the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, goal congruence, path-goal theory, socialization and assimilation, uncertainty reduction theory, social exchange theory, social identity theory, person-organization fit, organizational citizenship behaviors, green teams, personal sustainability plans, social learning theory, cognitive maps, and self-efficacy. Interview data spotlights WasteCap Nebraska, Ecotrust, the HEAL program, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Aspen Skiing Company, Neal Kelly Company, the City of Portland, the City and County of Denver, the Arbor Day Foundation, the South Dakota Bureau of Administration, the State Farm processing plant in Lincoln, NE, Assurity Life Insurance, and Sam’s Club.

This chapter is about groups and group communication at the organizational and interorganizational levels. The enactment of sustainability initiatives often requires group collaboration. Characteristics of strong teams are identified. Theory and research related to small group decision-making and problem-solving processes are reviewed. Group-level techniques for frame breaking and building so as to identify creative alternatives are identified. Then, the focus shifts to interorganizational collaboration (IOC) efforts. Complex environmental issues accompanying global climate change require large collaborative efforts. Theory related to the role of communication in the creation of emergent collaborative structures is identified. Theories and research related to learning in IOCs are reviewed. Techniques used to build communities of practice and enhance group learning are discussed. The ways language and texts can contribute to IOC effectiveness are reviewed. A specific case of IOC interaction, the nongovernmental organization (NGO)–corporate alliance, is discussed in terms of their joint external communication efforts. Finally, the focus is on sustainable supply chains. Why do organizations form them, how are they governed, and what challenges exist? Internal and external communication issues are identified and best practices are offered. Interview data spotlights the City of Denver, Aspen Skiing Company, Tyson Foods, Sam’s Club, and Bayern Brewing.