Assignment Answer final Answer (1)

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Nov 24, 2024

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Question 3: How could Sophia's research findings, after combining theoretical and practical perspectives, contribute to bridging the gap between theory and practice in environmental sustainability? Sophia's research was on how cultural aspects impacted an organisation’s ability to implement environmentally relevant initiatives. Reviewing key literature, Sophia understood a key problem: “the lack of in-depth understanding of the human and cultural aspects that hindered sustainability efforts”. This problem Sophia also realised was very linked to another problem which is the gap between the theory of environmental sustainability and the practical applications of these findings, but also how practical initiatives can adequately influence the theory. In environmental sustainability, the space in theory and practice mentions the conflict of organisation experience in the implementation of sustainability from the theoretical recommendations to adoption (Kares et al,. 2001). It is a complicated and many-sided problem that becomes apparent due to many factors, including the clash of preferences, limitation of resources and refusal of change in the organisation. The space between sustainability theory and practical implementation creates a serious hurdle to attaining sustainable development objectives (Bansal, 2005). Organisations may accredit principles of sustainability in their operation and strategy. The real combination of these objectives in day-to-day action can be challenging (Gibbs et al. l., 2015). Her research dealt with both the theoretical and practical viewpoints. To assist in addressing these aforementioned problems, Sophia, influenced by what Creswell (2014) posited, decided to carry out a mixed-method strategy to assist in bridging the gap between theory and practice in environmental sustainability. This would mean combining both qualitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative data from surveys shows an outline of the organisational structure and patterns where she would get statistical information on aspects like employee perceptions of sustainability. She further examines responses to surveys and identifies the frequency of particular sustainable actions in the organisation and the pitch of attention and devotion to sustainability. She also identifies relationships between the culture of an organisation and sustainable principles similar to Muir's (2021) findings. She connects organisational characteristics to sustainability. She also identifies the difficulties and hurdles in the implementation of sustainability. Quantitative statistical data alone cannot show the individual personal attributes, thoughts and behaviours towards sustainability initiatives in the organisation. To deal with this restriction, she combined qualitative methods in her research, such as extensive interviews and representative survey groups, to attain a comprehensive understanding of the individual employees in this research context. These methods assisted Sophia in finding the hidden factors that create delays in sustainable practices in the organisation (Creswell, 2014). Implementation of sustainability is critical from a human viewpoint as it is often very personal to individual perceptions, as Bansal, P. (2005) has identified, which corroborated Sophia's qualitative research findings. Sophia knew that to gain the most from the qualitative research in the interviews and focused groups, she had to build trust with the employees and managers. She did this by taking an ethical

approach to her work, following best practices and guidelines on research ethics[ CITATION Dav20 \l 1033 ], employing full transparency to the interviewees upfront on how the research would be carried out, and obtaining their formal consent for the interviews. She also allowed them to opt out at any stage and told them that while their data would be anonymised, it would be stored in a secure location. Sophia also met with the interviewees in person and some of them via video conferences before she started the research to rest any of their fears or anxieties in relation to the study [ CITATION Dav20 \l 1033 ]. Part of this was that their input to the research would not be shared with management or other employees, as some of the interviewees were afraid of the potential negative consequences of sharing their personal viewpoints. Once Sophia carried out these actions for the interviewees, she was able to build a solid rapport, trust and confidence with them, which enabled from their revelations very valuable practical insights into the real nuances of why sustainable initiatives were failing. The finding she got from theory was that other researchers had good statistical data and high-level organisation relationship insights into sustainability[ CITATION Ban14 \l 1033 ], but gaining an intricate human understanding of the barriers to adoption was essential, which was lacking from other such studies. This was thus a critical part of bridging the theory-practice gap for Sophia in previous research findings, organisational cultural aspects, individual interpretations and interactions with environmental sustainability [ CITATION Ban14 \l 1033 ],. Sophia's approach helps to merge the conditional and qualitative pieces of information. It also helps to deal with the understanding of the relationships between the organisation's culture and supporting the capability of practice in an organisation. By hypothesis and practical concepts in real life, she observes how this help to interlink with each other and their impact on the implementation of sustainability. The conditional data from surveys show an overview of the structure actions and viewpoint on sustainability in an organisation. The qualitative perception shows an extensive understanding of the human and cultural trends and dynamics in play (Cereswell, 2014). The combination of both insights helps her to identify different alliances and disputes between practical realities and theoretical ideas. The analysis of Sophia urges the decision-makers in the organisation to show their capable commitment to the organisation in sustainability initiatives which is supported by research by Seuring & Muller (2008). Part of this leadership perception change of culture and practices in sustainability is by giving more options in the requirement analysis and the possibilities for multiple arrangements and engagements of stakeholders (Gibbs et al., 2015). These options for the staff of the organisation help to get more adaption and effective results for organisation sustainability goals and benefits. Based on this theory and her gained practical understanding, her research showed a positive impact on the organisation's knowledge of how to apply the theory. Agyman et al. (2016) also posited that both theory and practice can assist the organisation's employees, managers and other stakeholders individuals in achieving their environmental sustainability goals. Thus, Sophia discovered that understanding and being able to adopt the relationship between culture and sustainable practices helps to obtain much better outcomes.

Sophia’s research initiative helped her to expose important perceptions to the adoption of sustainable thought combined with statistical data, quality nuanced human understanding and fused with her understanding of theoretical frameworks and previous studies. She urged the organisation to use these perceptions to deal with the problems with implementation in improving the environment. Her data assisted with her proposed practical steps that were very relevant to the organisation, helping management and wider stakeholders to develop sustainability more effectively (Bansal, 2005). Her research included encouraging employee training programs and suggests resource issuing to make the organisation's development more functional. Thus, the research work of Sophia performs a vital role in covering the space between theory and practices in sustainability in organisations. Her research binds the theoretical and practical parts of individuals, organisations' dynamics and cultural aspects. The intermix of quantitative and qualitative data and analysis assists with the theoretical concepts and findings that have a clear impact on real-life fixtures and show how these affect the decision-making behaviour of an organisation which were findings that were similar to Denyer & Tranfield (2009). The insights of her research extend the academic field and provide practical application for not just this organisation that magnifies its sustainability but also assists many other similar types of organisations in such initiatives. Thus, Sophia's grappling with the difficulties in culture and its impact on sustainability, the organisation can use these findings and conclusions to improve the behaviours of the organisation in adopting sustainability initiatives and, as posited by Seuring & Muller (2008) to have more effective outcomes with such initiatives.

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References 1. Aberdeen, T. (2015). The Sage encyclopedia of action research. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 16 (1), 72–73. https://doi.org/10.33524/cjar.v16i1.181. 2. Agyeman, J. (2013). Close to the edge, down by the river? Joining up managed retreat and place attachment in a climate-changed world. . Julian Agyeman. , 1-10. https://julianagyeman.com/2013/04/10/close-to-the-edge-down-by-the-river-joining-up- managed-retreat-and-place-attachment-in-a-climate-changed-world/. 3. Bansal, P. (2005). Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development. Strategic Management Journal, 26 (3), 197–218. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.441. 4. Bansal, P., & DesJardine, M. R. (2014). Business sustainability: It is about time. Strategic Organization, 12 (1), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127013520265. 5. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Scientific Research Publishing , 1-10. https://www.scirp.org/ (S(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=1964849. 6. Danyer, D., & Tranfield, D. (2009). Chapter 39 Producing a Systematic Review. In D. Buchanan, & A. Bryman, The Sage Handbook of Organisational Research Methods (pp. 671-689). London: Editors Sage Publications Ltd. https://www.scirp.org/ (S(351jmbntvnsjt1aadkposzje))/reference/references papers.aspx?referenceid=2455456 7. Oste, F. (2001). Implementing sustainable development: strategies and initiatives in high consumption societies. . The University of Groningen Research Portal. , 1-10. https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/implementing-sustainable-development. 8. Resnik, D. B. (2020). What Is Ethics in Research & Why Is It Important? National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences , 1-10. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm. 9. Rw, K., Corell, R., Lowe, I., Schellnhuber, H., Bolin, B., Faucheux, S., . . . Svedlin, U. (2001). Sustainability science. Science, 292 (5517), 641–642. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1059386. 10. Seuring, S., & Muller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16 (15), 1699–1710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.04.020. 11. Yin, R. (2014). Case Study Research Design and Methods (5th ed.). Scientific Research Publishing , 1-200. https://scirp.org/reference/referencespapers.aspx?referenceid=2196587.

Assignment Answer final Answer (1)

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