The Eco-Leadership Framework

Currently, there are several challenges affecting my organization. There are no proper Knowledge sharing networks within the organization, and this necessitates the need for the creation of a network capable of allowing employees to collect and share critical information with each other. Second, there is no appropriate communication within the organization. Consequently, there is a need for an eco-leader with capabilities to create an environment when communication is effective and where every employee is allowed to raise issues and communicate with fellow workers. Third, the employees are not empowered, and so the company does not have knowledgeable and skilled employees. There is a need for strategies to attract and retain highly talented employees within the organization. Another problem is that there is no organizational learning within the company. The current organizational structure and leadership do not encourage employee growth within the organization. Consequently, the employees are looking for motivation from outside the firm. The eco-leadership framework must, therefore, inspire the employees to seek motivation from within and improve brand loyalty. The current transformational leadership in the organization is not working. As an HR representative in my current organization, I outline a framework for the eco-leadership styles in the company (Reiter, 2011). The steps shall be based on the four critical eco-leadership frameworks which include emancipation analysis, in-depth analysis, looking awry, and network analysis.

The four-critical framework of eco-leadership framework

The four critical factors upon which the eco-leadership framework is based on include emancipation, looking awry, depth analysis, and network analysis

Emancipation Analysis

The emancipation analysis involves liberation, autonomy, ethics, and justice. The application of this framework will ensure that a condition which hinders oppression and coercion but maximizes the potential for well-being, as well as the sustainable environment, is created within the organization. The analysis will not only allow leaders but also all workers within the organization to maximize their agency and creativity so that they can become leaders themselves. As a result, such employees will be able to create a greater good for all within the social and organizational context.

The leaders in the organization will be encouraged to always act in good faith.  Consequently, it is expected that they will start sharing critical information with employees so that they can empower employees to perform on behalf of the organization.

 The leaders will be encouraged to work towards the good of the society so that through the organization, they can contribute to the creation of a sustainable world.

The organizational aims and ethical and justice objectives will be formed. Apart from having the general organizational vision and goals, there will be new goals which aim to achieve justices and ethical relations.

Eco-leadership will enable the organization to align its success with the environmental and social justice concerns. It involves protecting the brand name and reputation from negative consumer and social activism.

The organization shall also prepare efficiency savings through the reduction of wastes and energy bills. The organization will also ensure that talents are attracted and retained. By practicing social responsible and ethical practices, it is expected that the organization will be positioned to attract and retain the best minds.

The current framework shall involve implementing strategies and methodologies which can increase the employee loyalty to the organization. Engaging in corporate social responsibilities is one of the ways that will be used to ensure that employees are attracted to the brand. Meijerink and Stiller (013) contended that workers are more likely to be attracted to organizations which align their business activities with socially responsible activities and initiatives.

Depth Analysis

The leadership will aim to reveal all the hidden dynamics within the organization and its operational environment.  The framework will draw from discourse and psychoanalysis. The implication of this is that the majority of happenings within the organization happen in the unconscious processes of individuals and groups through language and texts.  The eco-leaders are expected to understand the relationships between knowledge emotions, change and power through an in-depth analysis. The organizational leaders must be aware of the emotional as well as the unconscious cultures of the organization so that they can bring positive changes within the organization.

The eco-leadership will observe the languages and texts used by employees within the organization to reveal what they think about the organization.  For example, employees have been complaining that they have skills, but they are not involved in the operations of the organization. Therefore, the new approach will aim at ensuring that

Looking Awry

 The critical framework of looking awry requires leaders to reframe, short-circuit, and disrupt the normal operations of the organization.  Seeing things differently will require the leaders to inspire, bring desire, and subjectivity to the way the organization is operated thereby finding radical solutions. The leaders will be expected to look at the issues affecting the organization from different angles.  The analysis will involve bringing a desire to observation as well as cross wiring different resources, bringing new insights, and revealing hidden relationships (Western, 2013).  As an eco-leader, the looking awry framework will require the leaders to disrupt, engage, rethink, and reframe the way operations within the company works.

As an HR representative, one of my primary tasks will be to help encourage the organizational leadership to think spatially so that they can see the patterns and connections throughout the organization.  The paradigm must change from the currently hierarchical setup to dispersed leadership who can react more quickly and notice the changes as they occur at the grassroots levels within the enterprise.

As an HR representative, I will encourage the leaders to be able to be able to anticipate regulations. According to Cletzer (2016), it is expected that the national and international regulations concerning the use of natural resources will increase as climate change increase and natural resources decline. As an organization under the eco-leadership style, it will be forced to be proactive rather than be reactive to the new changes as anticipates new moves in the market.

Network Analysis

The network analysis will require the eco-leaders within the organization to develop actor-networks, interdependence, systems thinking, and ecosystems.  As globalization continues to affect the organization, introducing the network analysis will enable the organization to account for all the possible changes in the technological, environmental, and political environment.  The creation of a networked and interdependent world would require the organization to implement a new set of leadership approaches that would be dynamic and responsive to the changes in the market. As the work environment continues to change rapidly, it is important for leaders to stop thinking using the assumptions made during the 20th century (Hanson & Middleton, 2000). Instead, leaders should be adaptive to eco-leadership

First, I will make sure that the eco-friendly leadership is not embraced just as about environment but also about the need to successfully lead the organization by recognizing that the world is changing and that there is a need for a networked society.

The framework requires that the organizational leaders must look at the internal and the external environment influenced by social and environmental issues.  The objectives of this action are to ensure that the organization is fluid, members and departments are interdependent and are always changing. Also, it is aimed at ensuring that a change in one part of the organization will effect changes in other parts of the firm’s departments. The system will ensure that the connectivity between the organizational stakeholders, outsourced work, and customers are part and parcel of the organizational ecosystem.

 As an eco-leadership organization, a more holistic approach, as well as a networked perspective in which the organization operates, shall be taken into account. The eco-leadership strategies that shall be implemented in the organization will be about connectivity and interdependence between the different departments and individuals in the organization. Also, the organization shall be sustainably underpinned by the socially and ethically responsible principles.  The aim of this approach is to set the organization as an interlinked living network with human beings, buildings, technologies, and nature, all of which require change and adaptation.

One of the advantages of the eco-leadership approaches is that it will allow for the networked framework, distributive leadership, provision of feedback systems, and connecting technologies and people within the organization. One of the current problems in the organization is that it lacks proper distributive leadership.  The employees have complained of lack of proper feedbacks, and this delays their decision-making processes.  The current leadership will ensure that workers get the feedbacks for their efforts to allow them to make decisions and access the knowledge and skills they need to create and share knowledge within the organization. The eco-leadership styles will also ensure that the network framework created within the organization is also taken out of the organization by following the patterns and the trends necessary to strategically adapt the organization.  It also involves developing new business models, new products, and adapting the organization by ensuring that it is socially and ethically well placed to experience success sin the future. Emergent capabilities will have to be encouraged in the organization. Most importantly, steps shall be taken to create and sustain a learning culture within the organization. The roles of eco-leaders in creating a learning organization are immeasurable.

Reflection and Assessment

The use of the four-critical framework is important in solving the current problems which my organization is facing.  The framework allows for the application of eco-leadership as opposed to the transformational leadership which is based on the assumptions of authors and scholars from the 20th century. Therefore, I have learned that the framework encourages the use of more contemporary and current assumptions about the need to respond to the emerging challenges on leadership. As leadership theory which emerged at the turn of the new millennium, I have learned that eco-leadership system provides organizations with alternative or a paradigm to address the emergent issues in the modern business environment.  The leadership framework recognizes that the natural environment is facing.

Through the framework, I have learned that organizations consist of a web of connections and networks that operate in the manner observed in ecosystems. Furthermore, I have learned that the organizational ecosystem is an interdependent and interconnected within the larger ecosystems. Additionally, I have learned from this exercise that the contemporary eco-leaders must learn from the social movements so that they can operate in non-linear and non-hierarchical but in a sustainable style. Organizations should encourage sustainability objectives within their ranks.

Most importantly, I have learned the qualities which the current eco-leaders must show so that they can deal with the diverse challenges brought about by globalization. The characteristics include systematic ethics, connectivity and interdependence, organizational belonging, and leadership spirit.

The connectivity and interdependence require the eco-leaders to how connectivity and networked society can transform the social relations within organizations. The leaders must recognize the need of interdependence within employees and with the environment. Therefore, leaders must ensure that the organization is operating in a socially sustainable manner with regards to its natural, social, and technical environments.

The systematic ethics is a feature which requires the eco-leaders to encourage their respective organizations to act ethically and to protect the natural environment. The feature requires leaders to steer their companies beyond the individual moralities and values of the leader so that they can address the wide ethical implications of their business operations. As such, I have leaders should always strive to address social inequality including the downstream impacts of environmental pollution as well as the wellbeing of workers within their supply chains.

 The leadership spirit is also one of the most important factors I have learned from the four-critical eco-leadership framework. The eco-leaders must recognize and embrace the significance of human spirit and as such, must steer the organization beyond focusing on materialistic gains to paying attention to the community and social logos and mythos.  I have learned that leaders must be careful to take care of the non-rational and unconscious creativity and imagination of employees to pull their organizations from possible problems. The eco-leaders recognize the importance of dynamic vitality within the worker relations and between the organization and its natural world.

 Finally, I have learned that eco-leaders must encourage organizational belongingness by ensuring that employees are loyal to the brand. It may also include putting measures which encourage employee involvement and talent retention. Organizations, just like any other institution, belong to the certain fabric of communities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the framework proposed to deal with the current problems in the company includes the use of the four-critical eco-leadership framework suggested by Simon Western. The model involves the use of emancipation analysis, in-depth analysis, looking awry, and network analysis. The emancipation analysis allows leaders to practice liberation, autonomy, ethics, and justice within their operations to encourage and motivate employees.  The depth analysis allows eco-leaders to recognize the importance of hidden relationships between employees and the environment. The hidden meanings are usually expressed through languages and conducts of employees. Such languages can help to create a culture where the positive relationships between employees and between the organization and its environment. The looking awry analysis will enable the eco-leaders to have an alternative look at the problems facing the organization. It enables the leaders to be proactive rather than be proactive to the changes brought about by globalization.  Finally, the network analysis enables the eco-leaders to recognize the need of networking the company with its environment to ensure that it is cooperating within a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

References

Cletzer, D. A. (2016). Eco-Leadership in Practice: A Mixed Methods Study of County 4-H Programs (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Tech).

Hanson, D., & Middleton, S. (2000). The Challenges of Eco-Leadership: Green Machiavellianism. Greener Management International, (29), 95-107

Meijerink, S., & Stiller, S. (2013). What kind of leadership do we need for climate adaptation? A framework for analyzing leadership objectives, functions, and tasks in climate change adaptation. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31(2), 240-256.

Mobley, W. H., Wang, Y., & Li, M. (Eds.). (2009). Advances in global leadership. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Reiter, A. (2011). Eco-leadership and Green Lifestyle: Successful Strategy for a Growing Market Segment?. In Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2011 (pp. 93-98). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Western, S. (2013). Leadership: A critical text. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.