Discuss the relationship between OD and Sustainability.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary. The aspect of creating sustainable organizations and communities should be addressed. OD should embrace the “triple bottom line” of social, economics, and environmental responsibility (or people, profit, and planet). Specific ways to help with this include as follows: (1) Drawing upon their motivations for making the world a better place, they can advocate and champion for sustainable organizations; (2) Helping organizations to gain agreement on and develop goals and objectives that drive sustainable practices throughout the organization; (3) Manage external demands of customers and government regulations and decide how to implement changes to current practices; (4) Harnessing internal employee energies toward the creation of social responsible organizations; (5) Aligning and coordinating multiple departments and functions; (6) Helping organizations with their work with suppliers, customers, and other formal and informal networks as there is growing recognition that organizations working in isolation may not have the capability or capacity to respond effectively to such a large mandate; and (7) Integrate the sustainability vision into metrics, rewards, and other internal structures, processes, and systems.