Introduction
Theorizing Societal Change Processes
Hybrid Organizations
Research Design, Methods and Materials
Case Selection
Methods and Materials
Data Analysis
The Case of The Natural Step Sweden (TNS)
Bridging Actors for Assimilation: Scientization of Environmental Debates in the Late 1980s
In December 1988, the scientifically based, cross-disciplinary collaboration manifested in a final framework describing “fundamental conditions for life.” As evidence of the process, Robèrt (2002) notes that 21 drafts were circulated and input was gained from over 50 scientists—mainly ecologists, chemists, physicists and medical doctors. The ethical motivation throughout the process had been to bring to the fore the fundamental issues where consensus between scientific disciplines and between different interest groups in society could be found, and to do so in a “neutral way that doesn’t push your personal spiritual beliefs onto others” (Robèrt 2002, p. 16).I sent out the manuscript, took heed of comments, wrote additional drafts, and expanded the circle of scientists to include physicists, medical doctors, chemists, biologists, and so on. As we proceeded with the arduous work of correcting, altering, and proofreading the manuscript, more and more participants were drawn in—people from the major educational associations, a growing number of scientists, and researchers and teachers from schools and universities.
In an ambition to reach out beyond the scientific communities, Robèrt vividly describes (in books and retrospective interviews) how he approached a number of Swedish celebrities—musicians, media managers, politicians, and eventually also the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, to spread the word about the scientific framework about to be finalized and to ask them to join and support the movement (Interview 1; Robèrt 2002; Boström 2001). These “missionary” ambitions were widely welcomed, and the notion of The Natural Step soon expanded beyond Robèrt as an individual and TNS’s founder, and beyond the manifesto framework document itself.A common method of influence for environmental organizations is to pursue specific issues/campaigns. This may be the decommissioning of nuclear power stations or the use of chlorine or to mission for sustainable forestry. TNS pursues actors, rather than specific issues. It all comes down to conveying knowledge and meaning to the environmental work of different actors, and to co-ordinating and uniting actors.
TNS came to be seen as a “node” to which different actors both could and wanted to connect. TNS soon experienced a range of different types of actors willing to let their different sub-paths cross at the new national node for sustainable cooperation, TNS. For example, in September 1988, while the network of scientists had still not ratified the scientific manifesto, Robèrt pitched the idea of the framework to Sweden’s public television broadcaster (SVT). His idea was to celebrate the launch of the manifesto with a national TV broadcast including famous music artists. The head of SVT Channel 1 first laughed at the idea (Interview 1) but eventually agreed, under the condition that Robèrt could find the funding for his endeavor. He then approached the Ministry of Education, asking if they would be interested in a booklet and audiocassette of the scientifically agreed-upon knowledge to be mailed free of charge to all the schools. They were, again provided that Robèrt was able to find the necessary funding. He also went to the King of Sweden’s personal assistant with the same offer noting the involvement of “the government and Channel 1 and all these artists and scientists and I…” and, to his surprise, he received an invitation to meet with the King and Queen at the royal palace to present the project (Interview 1).If everyone – politicians, public servants, CEOs, professionals and consumers – all depart from the same framework, this creates conditions for people with different competencies to have a more efficient dialogue with one another.
Established environmental movement activists, however, saw TNS as not having enough distance to the “evil villains” of the business community, but, as Boström (2001) notes, the comparative closeness in TNS’s approach to different stakeholders enabled it to actually reach and involve them in fruitful dialogue. The common way for TNS to describe its position was to say that: “We are your critical friend—not only critical, but first and foremost friend” (Interview 1 and Participant Observation of 2-day client course). And this applied not only to industry. As a hybrid, TNS’s ability to persuade a range of different actors to join the widening common path did not only stem from its perceived neutrality. TNS also benefited from its ability to communicate in a multivocal way. As expressed by Boström (2001, p. 89):It was completely value-neutral. We didn’t attempt to taint anyone with our values, and that offer of value neutrality seemed to open things up and motivate those concerned to start questioning their own views and values.
Thus, initially, there was a focus in TNS’s activities of assimilating actors from different separated paths in order to initiate interactions among them and the paths they came from. Retrospectively, and as shown above, it has been noted that TNS was successful in its attempts (Boström 2001; Windell 2006; Frostenson 2010; Alexius et al. 2017), which means that TNS contributed significantly to establish a new path in the Swedish environmental discourse, about the same time that “the sustainable development regime” emerged transnationally (Bothello and Salles-Djelic 2018). Consequently, in a short period of time, The Natural Step had managed to facilitate a space for assimilation of different interests and earlier separated actors.The Framework is the connection but the cognitive work of TNS is more nuanced. In the interaction with municipalities and larger corporations, specific “frame bridges” were used to enable an increased response.
Coalescence: Conceptualizing and Organizing for Further Missioning
Cooptation: Managerialization and Mission Drift
And she was not alone in this observation. A similar reflection was made by one of her colleagues, also a senior advisor (Interview 7):[Long silence] It depends on how… erhm… how interested they really are. Because to understand what I do, kind of requires lengthy discussions. So, in that situation, I have to decide whether I feel like having that discussion, and if I don’t, I simply say that I’m a consultant, or perhaps a sustainability consultant…If I said that I work in an idea-based organization of advisors that accelerate the transition towards sustainability, and that we are “critical friends,” then no-one would really understand me. (Interview 5).
TNS’s newly employed board and management struggled to put their trust in policies like a new salary policy, and in evaluation. Managerialization had gained a substantial impact on the hybrid. This increased the internal conflicts about how to maintain a hybrid identity, however, since emphasizing commercial efficiency and professionalism in consulting meant a step further along the trajectory towards the commercial logic of the consultancy. Nevertheless, the decision made was to adopt and implement the structures of a “proper” professional service firm, to find ways to define and transform TNS into a “normal,” “comprehensive consultancy” (Interview 2, Interview 4, Observation of internal staff meetings).We take pride in being part of an organization where surplus is used to develop our purposeful operations… But if someone asks me what I do for a living, I say: “I’m a management consultant.”
Recombination: Bankruptcy of the Consultancy and Internationalization of the Hybrid
Discussion
Hybrids in the assimilation phase | Hybrids in the coalescence phase | Hybrids in the cooptation phase | Hybrids in the recombination phase | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Actions | Connecting sub-paths | Nurturing neutrality | De-hybridizing | Organizational survival |
Conditions | Transnational trajectory established | Institutional pluralism and support from actors representing different logics | Multivocal and institutional pluralist positions are fragile and only temporally legitimate | Institutional consolidation Reduced understanding and demand for hybridity |
Consequences | ||||
Organizational | Multivocal position | Neutral node | Mission drift | Synchronized identity |
Path generation | Opportunity space for orientation | Dialogue | Contraction and diffusion | Path re-orientation |