Integral Design Thinking: A Novel Cross-national Framework for Sustainability Management

Jaber, Maya (2021) Integral Design Thinking: A Novel Cross-national Framework for Sustainability Management. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

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Abstract

This study attends to those involved in driving organisational sustainability agendas and the various obstacles they confront in implementing change. There is little evidence of holistic strategies that incorporate all the various sustainability elements, and a large percentage of sustainability leaders have implemented initiatives in a singular and isolated manner, which then fails to evolve adoption to the next level. Thus, there is a need for a holistic strategic framework that aids in the evolution of building agile, adaptive, and innovative organisations for sustainability/environmental social and governance (ESG) adoption.

This research aims to create a framework that will aid in advancing sustainability in organisations at a faster rate and find the main area of concentration on which sustainability leaders need to focus to embed sustainable behaviour into the organisational culture. It further intends to understand the challenges and barriers to sustainability leadership, the successful sustainability measures that have been put in place, and how design thinking methodologies may improve adoption. The methodology utilised to aid in the process is design science research with action research and holistic design thinking methodology cycles of learning for action. The study takes qualitative research approaches and includes case studies and semi-structured interviews with sustainability leaders in the UK and the US.

The findings reveal that the US sustainability sector is in constant evolution, causing pressures on organisations from both external and internal factors. These leaders are implementing change management processes, but they are not enough, as sector evolution has made it necessary for organisations to be agile and innovative. These leaders’ major challenges and the downfall of all change initiatives are the lack of a holistic strategy, leadership support, and cultural barriers. This study developed an integral design thinking holistic strategy framework, a tool that enables those in the sustainability management field to develop holistic strategies for the faster adoption and implementation of sustainability in their organisational culture.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:
DateEvent
April 2021Submitted
October 2021Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords: Sustainability, Design Thinking, Strategy, Culture Change, Behaviour Change, Holistic Change Management, Innovation, Design Driven Innovation, Integral Design Thinking, Environmental Social and Governance (ESG), Policy
Subjects: CAH13 - architecture, building and planning > CAH13-01 - architecture, building and planning > CAH13-01-03 - landscape design
CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-01 - creative arts and design > CAH25-01-03 - design studies
Divisions: Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection
Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > Birmingham School of Architecture and Design
Depositing User: Jaycie Carter
Date Deposited: 11 Jul 2022 14:28
Last Modified: 11 Jul 2022 14:28
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/13407

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