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Driving Water Management Change Where Economic Incentive is Limited

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  • Matthew Egan

Abstract

The maintenance of safe and reliable water supplies presents a challenge for communities across the world. This paper responds by exploring how five large food and beverage producing organisations operating in Australia were able to develop some focus on water management at a time of acute drought. Despite weak economic and regulatory drivers, a heterogeneous range of responses was developing across all five organisations. Drawing on Laughlin’s (Organ Stud 12(2):209–232, 1991 ) model of organisational change, we argue that each reshaped or developed archetypes and subsystems to enable a focus on improving efficiencies. Some were motivated by little more than compliance and so the extent of change was limited. A sense of community pressure was able to drive some change to interpretive schemes in two of the five organisations. Broad cultural change, supported by clear board level mandate, became critical to the survival of new practices. We also demonstrate that management level staff with a passion to champion water efficiency can be instrumental in driving change. This paper contributes to our understanding of water management, and to the factors needed to embed developing practice. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Matthew Egan, 2015. "Driving Water Management Change Where Economic Incentive is Limited," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 73-90, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:1:p:73-90
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2309-2
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    4. Gerson Francis Tuazon & Rachel Wolfgramm & Kyle Powys Whyte, 2021. "Can You Drink Money? Integrating Organizational Perspective-Taking and Organizational Resilience in a Multi-level Systems Framework for Sustainability Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 469-490, January.
    5. Lucie Baudoin & Mohammed Zakriya & Daniel Arenas & Lael Walsh, 2023. "Would You Walk 500 Miles? Place Stewardship in the Collaborative Governance of Social-Ecological Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(4), pages 855-876, May.
    6. Yu‐Lin Chen & Mei‐Chu Huang, 2023. "Water usage reduction and CSR committees: Taiwan evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1070-1081, May.
    7. Jiahao Gu & Liyuan Zheng & Changgao Cheng & Mengjiao Wang, 2023. "The Configuration Effect of Institutional Environment, Organizational Slack Resources, and Managerial Perceptions on the Corporate Water Responsibility of Small- and Medium-Sized Corporations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.

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