2.1 Introduction

Organizational sustainability is undergoing a crisis as contemporary business and society is going through rapid dynamic changes in the new global economy. Business organizations are facing new opportunities and threats as they work towards sustainable organizational development at their own pace and speed (United Nations Global Compact, 2019). Besides organizational policies and beyond what’s written in employee job descriptions, workers have different backgrounds and personal histories. This creates a more comprehensive work environment and organizations that are embedded within uncertain and complex economies and societies (Roblek et al., 2017).

The global economy has penetrated and changed business organizations whose work processes and practices are lagging behind those of organizational structures. This problem requires immediate organizational solutions. On a global scale, there have been many economic and technological changes under which organizations must develop and adapt to specific environmental conditions.

Sustainability is increasingly relevant when it comes to the contextualization and transformation of organizations in the face of a global crisis. Today, business organizations and consumers are concerned with ecological and social issues and are becoming more aware of their responsibility to develop strategic and sustainable organizations and to maintain environmental management. Organizations may have different approaches to achieve these goals because of their varying capabilities, resources, knowledge, expertise and so on (Haanaes, 2016).

Business organizations engage in operational relationships and interactions between individuals, group organizations and institutions and make decisions that are channelled for sustainable organizational and personal development. Organizational changes in cultural, structural and individual behaviours have had a significant impact on community development. The organizational structure states the responsibilities of all workers and manages communication to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, organizational changes and progress, cooperation and collective bargaining (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997). It also ensures the implementation of employment policies, the agreement for procedures and the settlement of disputes and grievances. Traditional organizational structures are struggling with new internal, external and environmental demands.

Business organizational sustainability is affected by global and local sustainability challenges and issues that need to be assessed and analysed for designing policies, strategies and practices that may have broader economic, social and environmental impact (Danciu, 2013).

The study begins with the analysis of sustainability and organizations. It aims to create a link between both elements in the conceptualization of organizational sustainability and its components: economic growth and efficiency, social justice, equity and inclusion and environmental sustainability. Finally, this study relates all of these components and analyses elements from strategic organizational development before elaborating the final conclusions.

2.2 Literature Review

Around the world, more organizations are taking responsibility for sustainability and environmental management (Rondinelli & Berry, 2000). Sustainability has become a relevant issue because today’s consumers are more concerned about ecological and social issues when consuming and using products and services.

Originally, sustainability was defined as the element that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Commission on Environment and Development, 1987; Brundtland Report to the United Nations, 1987). Sustainability is critical for the organizations that are concerned with meeting the current needs of society without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations. (I took out this sentence because it was quite redundant.)

Sustainability is an ecological concept and environmental development that focuses on environmental stewardship, economic growth and social justice, all of which are essential factors when characterizing sustainable organizational development. Sustainable organizational development is a concept that leads to the promotion of growth and development (Sev, 2009). The framework that leads to environmental sustainability (Hill & Bowen, 1997) revolves around the management of organizational development and life cycle synergies and involves workers in long-term development and decision-making processes. Environmental sustainability is feasible with the development of the internal competencies. The ability of organizations to create and manage sustainable core competencies allow them to implement interventions and initiatives on biophysical, economic, social, environmental and technical sustainability (Hill & Bowen, 1997).

Individuals are interrelated in a system of organizations that are in turn connected within units and workplaces with varying characteristics. Thus, they are constantly interested in finding the best methods to organize them (Scott, 1992). As Senge (1999) stated in order to create and develop a sustainable organizational solution, it is required to invest in resources and skills that create a systemic thinking pattern on all organizational levels (Senge, 1999).

Individuals are beginning to join the organizations that meet their needs and demands such as the development of human relations. By rewarding the work and contributions to the production of goods and services with the best working conditions, these organizations also generate a feeling of satisfaction within their community (Androniceanu, 2009). Individuals working in organizations are encouraged to develop relationships and connections in the workplace and to share their ideas more freely and democratically, regardless of their position (Dombrowski et al., 2007).

It is essential to cultivate trust within organizations when it comes to handling information and operational communication between individuals. This will be reflected in higher levels of motivation and a better sense of commitment, which in turn will reduce instability in the outcomes of the organization (Elving, 2005; Mahal, 2009). Although it has been taken for granted that organizations operate under stable and predictable conditions, we now know that it is not the case. Organizations constantly find themselves in complex, uncertain, ambiguous and discontinued environments (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Weick, 1995; March, 2006).

The organizations give individuals and other organizations the opportunity to develop creative management skills and use the resources of power structures and distribution of authority, thus enabling the purposes and goals of the organization (Kanter, 2008; Leana, 1987).

Sustainable organizations are created by groups of individuals working together (Postmes, 2003). Organizations can be analysed with the core competence of in-out and out-in analysis (Han et al., 2010), which brings importance to the usage of knowledge and identifies the courses of action taken to diversify strategies, to develop the workforce and to enable new organizational positions and sustainable growth.

Interaction among organizational stakeholders increases the potential of networked structures to achieve sustainable organizational development initiatives (Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). Organizational networking that includes collaboration among academic and research institutions, government agencies and business make up the triple helix (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). A sustainable work system is one that meets the needs of the wellbeing of all the stakeholders involved and develops their creative potential in continuous individual and organizational development.

Through continuous improvement of organizational processes, appropriate working climates can be created and sustainable growth and development can be implemented to respond to environmental challenges. The development of low-carbon products was possible thanks to environmental training focused on climate change mitigation (Saturnino Neto et al., 2014). Organizational development requires specialized training (Perron et al., 2006) in order to achieve higher performance levels within environmental management systems (Sarkis et al., 2010).

Organizations must develop leadership strategies centred on sustainability practices, pervading every functional area within the organization and submitting it to sustainable development systems and processes. Finally, this process requires a greater involvement and commitment from all the stakeholders. Macke and Genari (2019) analyse state-of-the-art elements drawn from sustainable leadership, human resources management and environmental sustainability embedded in principles, organizational values, processes and practices.

Green organizations have the social and corporate responsibility to create value for the common good and should be measured in terms of their impact on economic growth, environmental sustainability and social development, thus benefitting the various stakeholders involved (Freeman, 1984).

In order to overcome the many challenges that arise from environmental changes, organizations must focus on their development (Han et al., 2010). Organizational management plays a critical role in promoting innovative sustainability by creating adequate behaviours, values and attitudes engaged towards the organization’s visions. Organizations set out long-term strategic plans that aim to achieve specific goals, increase quality and profitability and reduce risks, costs and time (Garrido & Martos, 2016).

Organizations are implementing management systems based upon international principles and standards, organization strategies and objectives, business processes and optimization as well as resource management, all of which are implemented in a systematic and structured way. Continual and sustainable organizational development requires internal structures and systems (Hill & Bowen, 1997). Organizational structures, norms, rules, regulations, communication processes and values are based upon an organizational bureaucratic model. Organizational structure is defined as the relationship between the authorities and the tasks that must be completed in an organization. It directly affects its sustainable development and use of resources through the coordination of its employees who are working together to achieve the organization’s goals (Martin, 2014).

Sustainable organizational development needs an internal structure to provide motivation and opportunities, to harness positive behaviour and to help balance power dynamics (Kanter, 2008). The organizational structure is a hierarchical arrangement of communications and authorities formulated around the organization’s objectives and strategies. Coordination of activities is an essential factor amongst the organization’s set of skills, as it facilitates communication and develops social identity within the organization (Postmes, 2003).

Organization and communication are dependent on one another in corporate or organizational environments as they aid in developing advantages, competitiveness and can help an organization find and maintain proficient, motivated and talented employees (Balmer & Gray, 1999). The communication channels of the organization must focus on empowering the workers to improve the level of development, motivation and commitment of its individuals and to enable sustainable organizational growth.

Organizational communication develops the structure and processes that are necessary for sustainable growth. Organizational communication is a tool that helps raise awareness within the stakeholders and conveys the concept of organizational proudness, purpose, goal and most importantly, of community ties. Organizational communication is the foundation of all interactions among individuals. It sets the group’s norms and social identity, promotes social cohesion, improves communication, collaboration and individual commitment (Elving, 2005; Haslam, 1997; Postmes, 2003; Tucker et al., 1996).

Organizational communication also helps employees develop their sense of commitment, motivation and involvement, as well as their general quality of life (Elving, 2005; Mahal, 2009). Organizational communication enables interpersonal relationships between all agents and stakeholders who play a role in attaining of the strategic goals of the organization (Postmes, 2003). Organizational communication creates, expands and continuously transfers knowledge within a workforce. It promotes the feeling of community within individuals that are active in their communities and contributes to the overall wellbeing of local and regional communities.

The organizational models of Barley and Tolbert (1997) and Crossan & Berdrow (2011) contradict each other. On one hand, there is the organizational setting, and on the other, there is the work put in place to promote societal changes and develop current processes, challenge the institutions and organizations and adopt post-bureaucratic designs. Various models for organizations across different contexts tend to duplicate organizational structures and processes. Although these models are sometimes presented as autonomous, the analysis suggests that they have similar norms and decision-making processes and engage in the well-known method of organizational isomorphism (Meyer & Rowan, 1977).

The post-bureaucratic characteristics and problems of work systems can be linked to traditional bureaucratic workplaces and occupations that are subject to internal and external factors. Some elements of organizational post-bureaucratic structures can co-exist beyond its formal structures and within the bureaucratic environment, making it more stable. The nature of organizational work is changing rapidly and drastically with the transitional emergence of post-bureaucratic systems. This poses new challenges to traditional organizational structures, although certain elements of post-bureaucratic organizations may still be found in more traditional bureaucratic frameworks (Howard, 1995).

Human resources motivation and job satisfaction are relevant behavioural factors that support sustainable organizational development and maintain the priorities of long-term management (Deal & Jurkins, 1994; Erez & Early, 1993). Human resources motivation, job satisfaction and wage policies are critical factors for economic and social activities (Ciocoiu, 2011; Colesca, 2010; Sims & Veres, 2007), supporting sustainable organizational development (Deal & Jurkins, 1994; Erez & Early, 1993). Workers hope that the wage policy of the organization can meet their personal needs as they demand a salary, duties, functions, benefits and cash rewards (Tyson, 2006) in exchange of work performance and contribution to production.

The development of human relations at work is a result of existing work conditions and welfare state benefits (Androniceanu, 2009). Organizational motivation is possible when the organizational climate maintains open communication and improves performance among the members involved (Patterson et al., 2005). Organizational communication plays an important role in the attainment of the workforce’s commitment (Elving, 2005) to develop a sustainable and competitive advantage within the organization’s strategic core competencies (Tucker et al., 1996). Organizational communication allows members to interact and participate in solving problems and making decisions. It also gives them the tools to feel empowered and to innovate.

Empowerment has a significant positive impact on organizational sustainable development (Mumford et al., 2017) as it can help motivate employees to make informed decisions and act upon them. It also has an impact on organizational and sustainable development, all while creating citizenship behaviour by giving moral, ethical, psychological, social and financial support (Bandura, 2002). Trust and accuracy of information lead to better organizational decisions across the hierarchical structure and have a significant impact on the overall performance (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974). Many decision-making issues and details that exist in management groups vanish by the time they make their way to the top of the organization’s management pyramid. This is only one of the deteriorated symptoms of bureaucracy (Heckscher, 1994). Top management is responsible for making the organizational work system more comprehensible and manageable at every level of the organization.

As stated by Ann Brands (2021), “Pride is the most important human emotion for motivating social behaviour. Organizational pride contributes to a good and respectful collaboration with other respected colleagues, and in the end organizational pride contributes to a better team performance.”

The quality of information transmitted between individuals hinges on their level of trust, organizational behaviour and satisfaction (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974). Trust development among individuals emerges from interpersonal relationships and interactions through communication, both of which are directly linked to the organizational behaviour and structure that creates a cohesive work environment and enables organizations to facilitate the transfer of information (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974).

The organizational structure correlates with its behaviour, motivation, communication and its overall cohesion through the organizational climate. Organizational climate refers to the representation of events that affect the level of motivation and performance on both individual and organizational levels (Patterson et al., 2005; James et al., 2008).

Organizational climate is the symbol of organizational ambitions and refers to the collective opinions on regulations, processes, protocols and methods applied to attain objectives (Elving, 2005). Organizational climate allows all the stakeholders and actors to reach a consensus regarding the methods that are used to achieve the goals of the organization. Actions that are consistent with these goals and objectives have the power to improve relationships and lead to an overall higher level of performance (James et al., 2008). The organizational climate has many effects within the organization and has a high impact on the workforce.

The organizational climate enhances positive motivation, balances the structure of power and improves overall performance (Patterson et al., 2005). It must be adjusted to and satisfy the needs of all stakeholders; it leads to consistent and continual sustainable organizational development (Cummings & Worley, 2014). Organizational behaviour refers to the proportionate structure and alignment of individuals vis-à-vis their organization in different situations. It is used as a tool to determine various social types. These differences in proportions are caused by individual attitude and by the specific needs of the organization (Kanter, 2008). Although environmental management systems as independent variables present many challenges, they offer opportunities mediated by the combination of empirical-environmental training, employee involvement and the organization’s environmental performance (Daily et al., 2012).

The organization’s performance is measured in terms of the balance it maintains between economic, social and environmental outcomes. These outcomes show the organization’s ability to attain organizational growth and to protect, conserve and maintain the natural resources for our future generations (Daily & Huang, 2001; Jennings & Zandbergen, 1995; Ramus, 2002).

2.3 Research Methods: Holistic, Humanistic and Critical Analysis

Holistic, humanistic and critical analysis are the basic conditions for a correct interpretation of the argumentation presented in any organizational research. The methodology of critical analysis instrumented in this organizational development research is based on various levels of analysis of texts that report theoretical and empirical research on the subject in question. The first level of this critical analysis is constituted by the perceived discrimination in the topic of this research, where segments of the theoretical and empirical research reports are selected and the arguments that support the topic are presented in such a way that the established analytical categories proposed are incorporated into the analysis.

The gathering and selection of information segments is contextualized as an indicator and is assigned to the corresponding category, making it possible to find similarities and disparities that lead to discrimination and surveying of the topics followed by the recorded analysis.

On the second level of critical analysis, the argumentation of the different authors is reviewed in order to identify where the sequence begins and where it ends. Then, it is circumscribed in the context and environment in which the authors develop their arguments. The argumentative sequences are recorded in a way that allows inferring and reconstructing the argumentative structure. The argumentation of the academic work is built on the basis of the argumentative analysis of the authors, identifying the possible reasons that determine the strength of the argument.

At a more advanced level, the argumentation strategies developed by the authors are analysed to develop a meta-argumentative level that serves as the basis for the preparation of the research report. These strategies provide greater legitimation of the facts, judgments and arguments that are intended to develop awareness of the implications of the topics discussed. This argumentative critical analysis scheme serves as the basis for the preparation of the final research report, emphasizing the findings produced by the analysis to be specified in the discussion, the implications and the conclusions.

In this critical analysis, a reflection within the findings of the research is established as well as its relation to the works analysed from the theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives. The convergences and differences are carefully observed, taking into account the type of research conducted and the context in which it was completed. After the findings are finalized, major criticism, potential improvements and academic concerns are established (Fig. 2.1).

Fig. 2.1
figure 1

Theoretical-analytical framework (own elaboration)

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2.4 Presentation and Analysis of Findings

A holistic approach to organizational sustainability enhances reputation, reduces costs and places organizations in a leading position. Holistic green organizations should use recycled and re-used materials for the design of new green products and packaging. Naudé (2012) has proposed a tridimensional approach to sustainable development that combines economic, social and environmental dimensions with initiatives and strategies. Organizational sustainable development has an economic, social and environmental advantage that can be managed by strategies focused on socio-economic development and environmental protection and maintenance.

Sustainability is an organization’s ability to achieve its goals, thus improving long-term shareholder value by integrating economic, environmental and social opportunities into its organizational sustainable strategies (Symposium on Sustainability, 2001). The organizational sustainability framework (Hill & Bowen, 1997) analyses the biophysical, economic, technical and social elements of sustainability.

Sustainable development in organizations is guided by the following principles: active ownership, cooperation among actors and learning through ongoing evaluation. The principles of organizational sustainability provide the foundations for the managerial strategies and policies aimed to attain sustainable organizational growth and development (Sev, 2009). A sustainability organizational agenda designs and implements sustainability strategy and operational planning on all levels to manage the initiatives, practices and activities led by top management with the strategic support of professionals who oversee facilitation and agency. Sustainability strategic imperatives are present in most of the organizational agendas (Cho & Pucik, 2005).

Corporate and organizational communication refers to the organizational reputation and identity developed by the stakeholders (Balmer & Gray, 1999). The development of organizational leadership and corporate communication requires investments in order to reap the benefits it can offer (Balmer & Gray, 1999). The quality of information transmitted between individuals hinges on their level of trust, organizational behaviour and satisfaction (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974). Trust among individuals emerges from interpersonal relationships, interactions and communication, which are linked to organizational behaviour and structures that create a cohesive work environment, enabling organizations to facilitate the transfer of information (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974).

Organizational sustainability is the result of a congruent ideology of economic, societal and ecological concerns that greatly influence human resources management. Organizational growth is the natural expansion of an organization. Development, on the other hand, is the ability to seize new opportunities when they present themselves (Daly, 1996). Sustainable regenerative work systems are built upon individual and organizational sustainable organizations (Docherty et al., 2002) and are contextualized within economic growth, social equity and justice and environmental sustainability.

Organizational ethics has a direct link with environment sustainability, economic growth and social justice in sustainable organizational development practices. The relationship between organizational ethics and sustainable development in terms of the organizational economic and social goals is the equitability (equity?) that ensures a balance between pricing, quality and health factors of the products. The ethical principles are applied to analyse the economic growth, social inclusion and equity, environmental sustainability, technological innovation, policies and regulation and branding of organizations. All of these factors are crucial as they influence the organization’s ability to grow and become more self-sufficient; they must be considered when identifying the organization’s strategic focus.

As for corporate ethics and according to Lăzăroiu et al. (2020), “Corporate ethics triggers the deployment of sustainable business practices in organizations”.

Organizational performance management, which is supported by organizational ethics and governance, fosters sustainable organizational development. This concept is defined as the radical changes made by an organization to become more self-sufficient in every one of its economic, social and environmental functions. In other words, sustainable organizational development must be efficient, equitable and green. Sustainable organizational development is concerned with environmental issues and engages with the so-called triple bottom line measures that direct their energy towards natural resources, social impact, organization welfare, health and safety, protection of human rights and so on. The economic wellbeing and labour productivity depend on proper training, efficiency and growth. “Organizations act sustainably when they simultaneously support all the dimensions of the triple bottom line (TBL)—ecological, social, and economic” (Braccini & Margherita, 2018).

The core competencies of organizations are the foundations for sustainable growth and development such as the capabilities to create intangible resources like knowledge and innovation (Egbu, 2004; Spence & Mulligan, 1995), both of which focus on benefitting the economy and encompassing environmental sustainability (Vanegas et al., 1996; Ortiz et al., 2009; Presley & Meade, 2010). Human motivation considers the effective organizational wages policies within the organization’s own policy to stimulate sustainable economic efficiency (Ciocoiu, 2011; Sims & Veres, 2007).

Organizational development is a regulated, integrated and planned approach designed to cope with challenges and difficulties and boost an organization’s efficiency. Organizational development is a response to environmental changes. It is carefully planned and tries to encourage organizations to revolutionize their values, attitudes, beliefs and so on, in order to improve their overall efficiency and wellbeing (Bennis, 1994). The prevalent attitudes within the organization are directly linked to motivation and output (Mahal, 2009). The efficiency management principles are based upon the equilibrium between flexibility and labour time (full devotion and attention towards the organization’s activities).

Organizational development indexes are used to diagnose and identify problems, steer the interventions and plan the actions towards improving the organization’s development. This is achieved through the implementation of corrective measures by units and groups that focus on organizational efficiency and health. The worker is able to perform more efficiently and cohesively when working in a stable workplace environment that allows them to maintain the standards and codes of conduct of the organization. Working in teams can also help the worker maintain initiative and show better overall performance (Mahal, 2009).

The institutional environmental development of any economic system has an impact on its economic growth, social justice and environmental sustainability. The organizational management and property structure, distribution of income and so on can increase the level of institutional development, and the economic growth also increases (IMF, 2017 World Economic Outlook Database). High institutional quality is related to the negentropic processes in economic systems of developed economies while low institutional quality creates entropic processes in less developed economies where the environment is dissipative in economic growth and human capital (The Human Development Report, 2014).

The dissipative system follows a certain order within the organization. It is determined by the order of the economic system and characterized as an open non-equilibrium system that maximizes the organization’s efficiency with a minimum of entropy and energy dissipation. The organizational entropy is measured by its orderliness and is based on the system’s structure and its impact on the economic system in terms of syncretic and entropic synergies (Prigozhin & Stengers, 1986).

Organizational development has an impact on the qualitative economic growth in national and global economic systems. Regional economic growth, competition and technological innovation networks are some external factors that can be standardized for organizational growth and development (Miyatake, 1996; Tan et al., 2011).

Social sustainability in organizations refers to sustainable human resources management practices that have an impact on the wellbeing of workers (Pfeffer, 2010). Social sustainability as a system may have institutionalized factors that provide some inertia to change. Organizational social systems are in a process of continuous change, in which people can be more aware of their environment and participate in the process of growth and development of their organization’s journey to sustainability (French & Bell, 1973).

Organizational power is shown in the hierarchical domination, where individuals have the necessary skills to structure resources and get their desired results (Kanter, 2008). When a select group of individuals has total monopoly of power, they tend to make decisions about the methods put forth to manage resources. This leads to inevitable conflict within the organization; it should be managed and minimized to ensure organizational harmony. Measurement of human development takes into account physical, psychological and social variables such as quality of life, living standards as well as health and education levels.

Organizational sustainability is a critical concern in designing and implementing strategies and practices and leveraging management vision and leadership activities for organizational sustainable development. Organizational sustainability is a competitive strategy that enhances the ability to develop sustainable change (Moore & Manring, 2009). Organizations adopt different approaches and initiatives for achieving environmental sustainability and protecting the environmental growth. In doing so, it helps avoid possible disruptions by managing internal factors such as the causal role of human behaviour (Davis & Challenger, 2013; Ones & Dilchert, 2012; Oskamp, 1995, 2000). Finally, organizational sustainability undertakes other environmental development initiatives outside the boundaries of the organization (Uzzell & Moser, 2009).

Organizational development planning and interventions for change in practices, processes, procedures and actions regarding environmental and contextual factors to design, formulate and execute organizational structures, strategies and policies are put in place to help organizations achieve their goals (Cummings & Worley, 2014). “Transformational leadership and organizational learning capability are important indicators of the internal conditions that firms require in order to innovate. The readiness of a CEO to recognize risks and failures is certainly also one of the first steps of the innovation” (Begum et al., 2020).

The planning and control approach for sustainable organizational development projects and programmes can be supplemented with an open process and by learning to promote long-term sustainability (Lindkvist & Söderlund, 2002; Morris et al., 2011; Brulin & Svensson, 2012; Svensson & Brulin, 2013). Strategic organizational planning for the formulation and implementation of long-term sustainability strategies guide all stakeholders through theory involvement in sustainable development initiatives and practices across all levels of the organization to reap the best benefits.

Sustainable organization is the catalyst of sustainable human resources management strategy (Fairfield et al., 2011). Environmental and internal analysis of the organization is needed to link environmental management and human resources management and to formulate sustainable strategies that contribute to greater environmental sustainability of the organization.

Change facilitation and agency must take into consideration the development of structures and systems to support sustainability initiatives according to the organization’s agenda. It must also align with the organizational culture and environmental strategy development. Organizational strategies should be aligned with the human resource system in order to link workforce capabilities with environmental sustainability growth management systems and sustainable development (Ichniowski et al., 1997; Mendelson & Pillai, 1999; Collins & Clark, 2003; Boselie et al., 2001; Paauwe & Boselie, 2003; Jiang et al., 2012; Daily & Huang, 2001; Renwick et al., 2013).

Organizational leaders must recognize that the human resources function is in charge of implementing sustainable strategy (Harmon et al., 2010). Organizational sustainability strategies must meet the short-term needs and obligations all while sustaining long-term profit and economic growth, social justice and inclusion and environmental sustainability.

2.5 Conclusions and Recommendations

The impact of economic globalization on sustainable business organizations has impacted on a business crisis by shortening the cycles of change to keep the pace of environmental sustainability through the design and implementation of more holistic organizational business models. Furthermore, strategic management systems and policies are implemented to improve the use of organizational and technological knowledge, processes and practices. However, while organizational change may not always be in action to solve organizational crisis at the level of the economic structure, organizational work activities and practices are constantly evolving and developing a closer relationship with the qualitative growth and efficiency of the economic system and the global economy.

The development of a sustainable organizational vision and mission to solve the crisis is facilitated by the incorporation of a sustainable agenda within the core values of the organization. Shaping the organizational sustainability in alignment with the vision and values of the organization requires the assessment of the stakeholder’s impact on local communities and the consideration of issues around cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and organizational climate in order to improve the overall performance. Sustainable organizational development implements innovation knowledge and processes in human resource management and development practices and aims to develop infrastructure and increase knowledge and innovation.

As stated by Ewing et al. (2018), technology will continue to transform internal communication and employee engagement practices, including the evolvement towards being more social, personal, participative, mobile and behaviour-driven.

The individual and organizational adaptability to environmental change relies on their ability to develop organizational leadership and managerial effectiveness through adaptive processes in continuous developing stages. They must gather information, diagnose and design interventions and implement new practices. Organizational leadership must be aligned with sustainable initiatives, lead the example for other organizations and maintain close contact with external environmental communities. They should also volunteer with non-profit organizations and offer organizational and supervisory support. Organizational management is responsible for the motivation and communication between the individuals of the organization and establishes what is expected from them within their workforce; how they can improve the functions of the organization and encompass their community as a whole.

Communication is the intrinsic organizational competency that can retain the workforce and as stated by Ghislandi, in the HDI, the level of human development is conceptualized as having three components: health, education and economic conditions (2019).

Organizational sustainable development supports regenerative and collaborative working processes to develop embedded organizational roles, practices and tasks within organizations. Creating collaborative and regenerative work allows for individual and organizational development to be incorporated in post-bureaucratic working practices and contribute to organizational structures, behaviours and technological processes, over a long period of time.

In order to develop and transform organizational strategies, sustainable organizational practices must consider the needs of current economic, social and environmental needs as well as those of all future stakeholders involved in sustainable activities.

Key Terms and Definitions

  • Economic growth: It is understood as the positive evolution of the living standards of a territory, usually countries, measured in terms of the productive capacity of its economy and its income within a specific period of time.

  • Organization: An organization is a system designed to achieve certain goals and objectives.

  • Organizational sustainability: It is the link that unites the physical environment to economic activities and policies, which could occur through the proper performance of companies.

  • Social inclusion: It is the tendency to allow people at risk of poverty or social exclusion to have the opportunity to participate fully in social life, and thus enjoy an adequate standard of living.

  • Strategy: It is the direction or orientation that is given to the internal resources of an organization depending on the demands of its environment and surroundings to develop a competitive advantage that allows it to survive, lead and so on.

  • Sustainability: It is a term linked to the action of man in relation to his environment. Within the ecological discipline, sustainability refers to biological systems that can conserve diversity and productivity over time.

  • Sustainable organizational development: Sustainable organizational development focuses on value creation, environmental management, environmentally friendly production systems and the formation of human capital, social responsibility is linked to transparency, dialogue with stakeholders and care for the environment and the social inclusion.