Fundamentals of

Organizational Sustainability

ENVR E-105 (#21808)

Harvard Extension School

Spring Semester 2017

Overview of the Course

Many people feel that sustainability must be the goal of humanity. Sustainability has a global focus that
includes environmental, social and economic aspects in which the needs of the present are met without
compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) is committed to encourage standard writers to consider sustainability issues in their
work using the publication of ISO Guide 82. Three groups are largely responsible for sustainable
development: corporations, organizations with geographic borders (i.e. municipalities, cities, states,
countries and organizations. Each of these groups has a different perspective on the topic of
sustainability and what can be done to create sustainable development. This course will focus on the
role of organizations. An organization is a social entity that has objectives, a deliberate operating
structure, and a coordinated activity system, all of which link it to its external operating environment.
Organizations can also be associated with corporations and municipalities. Each participant in the course
belongs to many different organizations: e.g. a family, a school, a job, a social organization or a
professional association. It is possible to help these organizations move beyond the reliance on
‘initiatives’ (i.e. random acts of sustainability) by integrating organizational sustainability and risk
management into what every member and/or employee does every day. When viewed from this
perspective, it is possible to define organizational sustainability as “the capability of an organization to
transparently manage its responsibilities for environmental stewardship, social well-being, and shared
economic value in the community, over the long term while being held accountable by its stakeholders.”
You will develop sustainability skills by discussing how it affects different kinds of organizations in your
own community anywhere in the world. Instead of relying on jargon, slogans, euphemisms, and colors
(e.g. green), you will use a peer-reviewed body of knowledge taken from the fields of organizational
development, culture development, context, decision making, knowledge management, sense making,
risk management, monitoring and measurement, continuous improvement, innovation, and organizational
learning. This course has evolved over the past 15 years and is being presented with a textbook that is
specific to this topic. It is also an opportunity to engage yourself with organizations that you are familiar
with to see how sustainability can make a difference for this fundamental building block of society.

Course Structure
This course content will be posted to the CANVAS website every Sunday evening (“Flipped Classroom”).
We encourage you to participate in the online discussion every Thursday evening (Harvard time) using
the Adobe Connect tool. As a member of one of the cohort teams in this action learning course, you will
use an online discussion board to have further conversations about how the materials presented each
week can be embedded in the organization case to help make it more sustainable. Your discussion will
be actively monitored over the weekend by a teaching fellow and the Instructor. YouTube presentations
will be used by the Instructor to explain concepts or to suggest ways to manage the difficulties of
incorporating sustainability into an organization at the community level. This course operates for an
academic semester from the end of January until early May. Please see the course content and schedule
section below.
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Course Content and Schedule

8 Jan Pre-Course Information - Foundation Topics
• Organizational Development
• People, Principles and Culture
• Organizational Decision Making, Knowledge Management & Sense Making
• Coherence of Organizational Systems of Management
• Embedding Organizational Risk Management into Daily Operations
• Embedding Sustainability in an Organization
• Organization cases used in the course

25 Jan Introduction to Organizational Sustainability (Week 1)

Organizational Objectives, Goals and Action Plans
• Introduction to the content presented in this course
• Introduction to the local organizations used in the cohort discussions
• Overview of the information on the course structure and the website tools
• Determining the organization’s strategic objectives
• Creating member and/or employee goals and action plans
• CASE: Restaurant

1 Feb Internal and External Operating Environments (Week 2)

• Reflecting on the organization’s strategic objectives
• Understanding the concepts of uncertainty and risk management
• Scanning the organization’s external operating environment (PESTLE)
• Determining the organization’s internal operating environment (TECOP)
• Creating the inventory of the organization’s opportunities and threats
• CASE: House of Worship

8 Feb Engagement of Stakeholders and the Social License to Operate (Week 3)

First Exercise Posted 12 February
• Reflecting on the organization’s context
• Identifying the stakeholders through the determination of the context
• Concept of engagement to understand the stakeholder’s interests
• Achieving the organization’s ‘social license to operate’
• Determining the opportunities and threats associated with these ‘interests’
• CASE: Grocery Store

15 Feb Organizational Governance and Leadership (Week 4)

First Exercise Due 26 February
• Reflecting on the engagement of stakeholders
• Concept of organizational governance
• Mandate and commitment to risk management and sustainability
• Events, decision making, knowledge, and sense making in an organization
• Ethics, principles, and the sustainability policy
• CASE: Community School

22 Feb Planning for Organizational Sustainability (Week 5)

• Reflecting on organizational governance and leadership
• Creating a register of opportunities and threats
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• Using uncertainty analysis to determine the significant opportunities and threats

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• Addressing uncertainty in the organization to manage the risk of meeting the strategic
objectives

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 Fundamentals of
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• CASE: Fire Station

1 March Organizational Processes and Operations (Week 6)

Second Exercise Posted 6 Mar
• Reflecting on planning for sustainability and meeting the strategic objectives
• Creating the system of management in the organization’s value chain
• Creating effective processes
• Creating efficient operations
• Ensuring an efficacious strategy
• CASE: Small Biotech Company

8 March Managing People and Performance (Week 7)

Second Exercise Due 20 March
• Reflecting on the organization’s processes, operations and strategy
• Role of people in supporting the value chain framework
• Concepts of competency, communication and documented information
• Concept of lead indicators for organizational performance
• CASE – Small Energy Consulting Firm

15 March No Class – Spring Break (11 – 17 March)

22 March Introduction to Monitoring, Measurement and Performance (Week 8)

• Reflecting on the organizational structure of risk management and sustainability
• How to measure anything, including intangibles
• Understanding monitoring processes
• Understanding measurement processes
• Scoping the monitoring process
• CASE: Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)

29 March Monitoring and Measurement Fundamentals (Week 9)

Third Exercise Posted 3 April
• Reflecting on the monitoring and measurement process
• Life cycle of an internal measurement
• Life cycle of a measurement for external interests
• Responding to external demands for specific results
• CASE: Family

5 April Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Performance (Week 10)

Third Exercise Due 17 April
• Reflecting on the lead and lag indicators
 Importance of maintaining transparency with disclosure of results
 Importance of accountability in meeting the organization’s strategic objectives
• Internal auditing and external assurance
• CASE: Bank Branch Office

12 April Self-Assessment and Maturity (Week 11)

• Reflecting on self-assessment methods
• Structure of the maturity matrix
• Preparation and use of maturity radar plots
• Understanding the importance and use of maturity measurements
 CASE: Craft Brewing Operation
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19 April Improvement, Innovation and Learning (Week 12)

• Reflecting on an organization’s sustainability maturity

• Understanding the concept of continual improvement
• Understanding how to drive innovation within an organization
• Harnessing the organization’s learning process
• CASE: Small Healthcare Clinic

26 April A Resilient Organization (Week 13)

Fourth Exercise Posted 24 April (Undergraduate Only)
Semester Paper Due (Graduate Only) 1 May
• Understanding the concept of a resilient organization
• Is this the next step for a sustainable organization?
• How do resilient organizations help build resilient cities and countries?
• NO CASE

3 May Presentation of Student Cases (Week 14)

Fourth Exercise Due 8 May (Undergraduate Only)

10 May Presentation of Student Cases (Week 15)

Grading
Undergraduate Credit

Four Independent Case Exercises (20% each) 80%

Participation in Cohort Case Exercises and Session 20%

Graduate Credit

Three Independent Case Exercises (15% each) 45%

Semester Paper 35%
Participation in Cohort Case Exercises and Session 20%

Graduate case exercises are different (more advanced) than the undergraduate cases
Graduate students are required to submit a semester paper
Written feedback provided on each case exercise assignment using a grading rubric
Written feedback will be provided on the semester paper using a grading rubric
Feedback will be provided on cohort case participation in the cohort sessions
Instructor feedback provided on weekly class discussion board and in the first hour of the Thursday web
conference session
We monitor live attendance in web conferencing discussion and assigned session web conference
Additional information is found in the “Guide to the Course.”
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Registration Information
Registration for this course begins on 14 November 2017. Degree candidates who have applied and
been admitted may register early, starting 10 November 2017. Registration ends on 22 January 2018.

Starting 14 November 2017, you may create or update your account in online services.

Additional information is provided at www.extension.harvard.edu/tuition-enrollment/course-registration

If you plan to apply for a master’s degree or a certificate in the Sustainability Graduate Program, you must
take this course at the graduate credit level.

Taking the course at the undergraduate level does not permit the submission of a semester paper and
to receive feedback at the graduate level.

Non-credit students can participate actively in the course and the cohort sessions; however, they will
receive not feedback from the teaching staff.

Most students participate in this course at the graduate credit level to help develop the skills to work in the
sustainability field.

Please contact the instructor should you have any questions after reviewing the information.

Additional Information on the Course

The website for the course will be posted on the Extension School Website:
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/courses/fundamentals-organizational-sustainability/21808

On the class Canvas website, you will find additional information on the course including the “Guide to the
Course.”

The enrollment is capped at 75 students. Students that register by the middle of December will be able to
access the pre-course information that will be made available in early January. Once you are registered
for the first time, it takes a few days to receive the information that enables you to establish a Harvard
University Identification Number and a PIN. Most of the class website is restricted to people taking the
course. Please refer to the “Guide to the Course” for additional information.

Dr. Robert B. Pojasek is the Instructor for this course. Information on Professor Pojasek along with
information on the members of the teaching staff can be found in the “Guide to the Course” link on the
class website. If you have any questions about the course, please contact Professor Pojasek by email:
rpojasek@fas.harvard.edu
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Accessible Academic Community

The Harvard Extension School is committed to providing an accessible academic community. The
Accessibility Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students with documented
disabilities. Please visit www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/disability-services-
accessibility for more information.

Policy on Plagiarism
Students are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic integrity
(www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/student-conduct/academic-integrity) and how to use
sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting
the wrong draft, or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses. There are no
excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about academic citation rules,
please visit the Harvard Extension School “Tips to Avoid Plagiarism”
(www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/tips-avoid-plagiarism), where you will find links
to the “Harvard Guide to Using Sources” and two free online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of
academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous, open-learning tools.

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© 2017 Robert B. Pojasek, PhD All Rights Reserved