Socially sustainable work organizations: A chaordic systems approach

Abstract

Abstract This paper outlines an approach to socially sustainable work organizations. Socially sustainable work organizations have a dynamic ability to function both by repeating accustomed and by devising innovative solutions, and they maintain this operational viability by promoting the functional capabilities of their stakeholders. The organizational and stakeholder functional capabilities are founded on complexity stemming from the simultaneous uniqueness and integration of resources. It is argued that traditional socio‐ technical systems (STSs) approaches do not offer optimal foundations for achieving sustainability. Instead, a migration into chaordic systems thinking (ChST) is proposed. It is concluded that to promote social sustainability, a work organization has to be understood as a holon system in which development can only take place when also its members grow in their interior and exterior complexities. Complexity development is outlined as an emergent process; the importance of ‘un‐learning’ or dissipation is also explored. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.