Organizational culture and leadership: Preconditions for the development of a sustainable corporation

TLDR

Corporate sustainability is often underestimated in discussions of sustainable development, and without embedding sustainable practices in leaders’ and employees’ mindsets, such activities are unlikely to influence core business and may fail. The study hypothesizes that embedding ambitious corporate sustainability activities and strategies within organizational culture is essential for success. The authors conduct a mining‑industry case study applying Schein’s three‑level model—artifacts, values, and basic assumptions—to characterize and assess four types of sustainability strategies (introverted, extroverted, conservative, visionary). Applying this framework, the authors identified the organizational culture of a global leading mining company. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between corporate sustainability and organizational culture seems to be underestimated within the discussion of sustainable development. The research presented in this paper is based on a case study conducted in the mining industry. The hypothesis is that ambitious corporate sustainability activities and strategies have to be embedded in the organizational culture in order to be successful. If aspects of sustainable development are not part of the mindset of leaders and members of the organization, corporate sustainability activities will not affect the core business efficiently and are more likely to fail. The model of Schein for organizational culture is used to characterize corporate sustainability strategies: introverted, extroverted, conservative and visionary strategies are distinguished. Each strategy is assessed regarding the relation and the integration in the levels of organizational culture according to the model of Schein. The model consists of three levels, i.e. artifacts, values and basic assumptions. This framework is used for a case‐study to identify the organizational culture of a global leading mining company. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.