Institutions for Social Learning Towards Sustainable Development

1
Institutions for Social Learning Towards
Sustainable Development

• Bernd Siebenhüner Oldenburg University

2
Growing Awareness on Knowledge and Learning

• Policy learning
• Sabatier (1987, 1988) Advocacy coalition
  framework
• E. Haas (1990) When Knowledge is power
• P. Haas/Adler (1992) Epistemic communities
• Mitchell et al. (2006) Information and/as
  influence
• Policy diffusion
• Rose (1999, 1994) Lesson drawing
• Tews/Busch (2004) Diffusion of environmental
  policy innovations across different countries
• Social learning
• The Social Learning Group (2001) Societies learn
  to manage acidification, climate change and ozone
  depletion
• Adaptive co-management

3
Defining Social Learning

• Social learning can be understood as
• a process of change on the level of a society or
  collective actors
• that is based on newly acquired knowledge, a
  change in predominant value structures, or of
  general belief systems
• which results in observable outcomes.

4
Approaching collective actors

• No coherent use of the term actor in social
  sciences
• Actor-centred institutionalism composite actors
  that have the capacity for intentional action
  (Scharpf, 1997)
• Separate or collective control over action
  resources
• Capabilities to employ resources in strategic
  action
• Examples social/political movements, political
  associations, corporate actors
• Management studies Organisations as systems of
  coordinated and controlled activities (Argyris
  Schön, 1996)
• agreed-upon procedures for making decisions in
  the name of the collectivity,
• individuals that have the authority to act for
  the collectivity
• boundaries between the collectivity and the rest
  of the world

5
Defining collective actors

• Collective actors build on
• Membership patterns
• Common objectives
• Coordinated individual actions
• Collectively shared routines
• Authority to act for the collectivity
• Boundaries between the collectivity and the
  envrionment

6
Forms of Learning

• Adaptation
• change in routines induced by external processes
  that do not include changes in the cognitive
  frameworks of the collective actor and its
  members
• Error correction
• Reflection
• change in routines through change in the
  prevalent knowledge structure including the
  prevalent cognitive frame and the objectives

7
Key Influencing Factors

• Existence of effective learning mechanisms such
  as regular evaluations, specific committees,
  workshops etc. (Poper and Lipshitz, 1995,
  Armstrong and Foley, 2003)
• Organizational culture (Schein, 1985)
• Leadership to initiate and promote learning
  processes (Glynn, 1996, Witt, 1998)
• Contextual factors

8
Case Study Business Firms

• Case studies of 6 German medium-sized and large
  corporations
• Selection criteria
• Sustainability related changes in product or
  process designs (successful/positive examples)
• General sustainability strategies with observable
  effects

9
Case Study Business Firms (2)

• Medium-size businesses have a higher potential
  for radical change than large companies
• Reflexion and adaptation observed

10
Case Study International Organizations

• Qualitative case studies in
• World Bank
• OECD
• IMO
• GEF
• Treaty secretariats of UNFCCC, UNCCD, CBD, Ozone
• Reflection with resulting change in the internal
  structure UNEP, World Bank
• Adaptation resulting in the development of an
  environmental policy World Bank, GEF
• Adaptation resulting in the adoption of new
  policies UNFCCC, UNEP, UNCCD, CBD
• No learning IMO

11
Comparing Learning Processes

• Externally different conditions (orientation on
  markets versus national governments)
• Both types of organization show reflexive and
  adaptive learning processes
• Size (and autonomy) helps reflexive learning, but
  inhibits implementation of results

12
Influencing Factors Learning Mechanisms (1)

• Business firms
• target-driven learning mechanism
• formal communication (manual, trainings) and
  top-down diffusion of new knowledge
• well structured research development processes
  drive learning and innovation
• International organizations
• Task force with internal and external experts
  (UNEP)
• Evaluation department (World Bank)
• Staff retreats (World Bank, UNCCD)
• Workshops with experts (OECD)
• Project reviews (GEF)
• External review through governments/COP (CBD,
  UNCCD)

13
Influencing Factors Learning Mechanisms (2)

• Any learning process necessitates a learning
  mechanism
• Actors employ different learning mechanisms that
  seem to suit them
• Learning mechanisms differ with regard to the
  inclusion of external knowledge
• Business firms excluding external knowledge
• International organizations including external
  knowledge (exception UNCCD Secretariat)

14
Influencing Factors Organizational Culture

• No coherent pattern
• Business firms
• Culture matters for learning
• Large firms
• stakeholder demands are taken seriously
• companies in fear of loss of reputation
• elaborate sustainability reporting schemes
• Medium-size firms management commitment crucial
  for sustainability culture
• International organizations
• Homogeneity and heterogeneity of professional
  cultures help learning

15
Influencing Factors Leadership

• Business firms
• leadership played in most cases an important role
  combined with a participatory culture of decision
  making
• Medium-size firms leadership of executive level
  crucial
• Large firms leadership executed by
  sustainability units or RD departments
• International organizations
• key role of leaders in UNEP and World Bank
• Reflexive learning necessitates leadership while
  adaptation can take place without strong
  leadership

16
Contextual Factors

• Business firms
• Stakeholder pressures in case of large firms
  highly relevant
• Markets often hindering than supportive of
  sustainability initiatives
• Legal requirements partly support sustainability
  changes
• International organizations
• Pressure from governments or NGOs
• More general policy processes UNCED and Joburg
  dynamics
• Pressure from within the UN systems

17
Conclusions

• Successful learning of collective actors requires
  adapted institutional arrangements for learning
  (learning mechanisms)
• Organisational culture of openness to change
  necessary
• Learning-oriented leaders at executive level are
  called for in IOs and medium-sized companies in
  large companies in med-level management
  positions
• Good learners seem to have sizeable external
  effects

18
Questions for Future Research

• Do these factors hold true also for other
  collective actors?
• How do different collective learners interact and
  create a societal learning process?
• How do different scales interact local, national
  and global levels of learning?
• How to improve methods and concepts of (social)
  learning?
• How does learning and knowledge relate to
  political power and economic self-interest?

19
Thank you!