One pressing research question for the coming years is: how does ongoing austerity affect the possibilites for initiating and upscaling industrial ecology intitiatives?
My proposed research plan will focus on the micro-meso level. This means that the analysis will cover individual actors choices within an organisation and how this affect an interorganisational field at meso level. The question raised above adresses the issue of austerity and how this affects the progress/success of industrial ecology intiatives. The aim is to develop a framework on how to answer a research question like this. To start with I will specify the scope of the research question a bit more:
How does ongoing austerity affect the possibilites within an organizational field of industrial ecology initiatives?
The research plan will be divided into two parts. First we need to understand how austerity influences behaviour of individuals and therefore the organizations they are part of. We will have to analyse the organizational field (meso level), and the individuals that make up the organizations (micro level), since their choices in the end form the coordination mechanism of a company (Jones, 2003). This is a parallel process happening in multiple organizations, forming an interorganizational field.
Jones presents a framework for analysing the choices of individuals, and of companies. he proposes the following for individuals:
For organizations, Jones proposes the following;
Knowing that the aspects above are import to both individuals and organisations choices and in the end form coordination mechanisms, it seems like a good idea to analyse individuals and organisations within an organizational field by the points made by Jones. This can be done by interviews. Interviews are a suitable method because one can sit with employees/managers to gain insight in their work and the choices they make within their company. The researcher has the chance to ask follow-up questions. Disadvantage of interviews is that they are cost and resource intensive. Another disadvantage could be that the interviewer him/her self may be influenced/biased, endangering the credibility of the research (Wisker, 2007)
To answer the question if austerity affects the possibilities for IE initiatives, the frameworks by Jones can very well be used to interview individuals within organizations. An interview could be organized in such a way that it becomes clear how choices by individuals where made before the austerity in question, and after. For example, since long-term memory plays a role in individual decision making, questioning people about whether budget constraints have affected them in their decisions concerning their major activities within a company on the long run. Another question example (concerning pt. 3 of Jones individual choice framework) could be whether people where emotionally affected by imposed budget constraints.
After this has been done with multiple individuals working at different departments occupying different hierarchical functions, the same can be done but from the organisation as a whole's perspective. So the questions asked to individuals will focus on how the company in it's whole functions/progresses. It may be influential on the organizational outputs if ongoing austerity has changed rules and routines within an organization. The same goes for the ratio of serial or parallel processing a company may be doing.
After this information has gathered, it could help us in understanding why certain organizations make certain decisions that in the end could affect IE initiatives/organizations.
The second part of this research plan consists of an analysis of the resource network that the IE organization is part of. This may clarify, support or be evidence for a lot of the information gathered in the interviews. Since we are talking about a cut in subsidies, which is a resource for many IE activities (governments usually fund organizations who's activities aim to improve/not harm the environment). It may be very helpful in the research to see if their are also other sources of fundings for IE organizations. If so, then maybe austerity is not even a significant factor of disturbance for IE organizations.
To summarize, the research plan is as following:
- Individuals will be interviewed about their personal behavior and the companies behavior using the framework proposed by Jones (2003).
- This information will be put next to the perceived progress that a certain IE initiative makes and thus helps us understand if austerity was a cause for a change in certain progress of IE organizations.
- The resource network analysis of an IE organization will also help us understand how resources are distributed among IE companies.
The main research questions will be:
- how does individual behavior affect organizational actions/decision making with austerity as influential factor?
- how does interorganizational behavior change the inter organizational field with austerity as influential factor?
- how are resources distributed among relevant networks as a result from growing austerity?
Answering these questions by using the theory that has been taught to us during the SSPM course, should give us insight in whether growing austerity influences IE organizations and startups.
My proposed research plan will focus on the micro-meso level. This means that the analysis will cover individual actors choices within an organisation and how this affect an interorganisational field at meso level. The question raised above adresses the issue of austerity and how this affects the progress/success of industrial ecology intiatives. The aim is to develop a framework on how to answer a research question like this. To start with I will specify the scope of the research question a bit more:
How does ongoing austerity affect the possibilites within an organizational field of industrial ecology initiatives?
The research plan will be divided into two parts. First we need to understand how austerity influences behaviour of individuals and therefore the organizations they are part of. We will have to analyse the organizational field (meso level), and the individuals that make up the organizations (micro level), since their choices in the end form the coordination mechanism of a company (Jones, 2003). This is a parallel process happening in multiple organizations, forming an interorganizational field.
Jones presents a framework for analysing the choices of individuals, and of companies. he proposes the following for individuals:
For organizations, Jones proposes the following;
Knowing that the aspects above are import to both individuals and organisations choices and in the end form coordination mechanisms, it seems like a good idea to analyse individuals and organisations within an organizational field by the points made by Jones. This can be done by interviews. Interviews are a suitable method because one can sit with employees/managers to gain insight in their work and the choices they make within their company. The researcher has the chance to ask follow-up questions. Disadvantage of interviews is that they are cost and resource intensive. Another disadvantage could be that the interviewer him/her self may be influenced/biased, endangering the credibility of the research (Wisker, 2007)
To answer the question if austerity affects the possibilities for IE initiatives, the frameworks by Jones can very well be used to interview individuals within organizations. An interview could be organized in such a way that it becomes clear how choices by individuals where made before the austerity in question, and after. For example, since long-term memory plays a role in individual decision making, questioning people about whether budget constraints have affected them in their decisions concerning their major activities within a company on the long run. Another question example (concerning pt. 3 of Jones individual choice framework) could be whether people where emotionally affected by imposed budget constraints.
After this has been done with multiple individuals working at different departments occupying different hierarchical functions, the same can be done but from the organisation as a whole's perspective. So the questions asked to individuals will focus on how the company in it's whole functions/progresses. It may be influential on the organizational outputs if ongoing austerity has changed rules and routines within an organization. The same goes for the ratio of serial or parallel processing a company may be doing.
After this information has gathered, it could help us in understanding why certain organizations make certain decisions that in the end could affect IE initiatives/organizations.
The second part of this research plan consists of an analysis of the resource network that the IE organization is part of. This may clarify, support or be evidence for a lot of the information gathered in the interviews. Since we are talking about a cut in subsidies, which is a resource for many IE activities (governments usually fund organizations who's activities aim to improve/not harm the environment). It may be very helpful in the research to see if their are also other sources of fundings for IE organizations. If so, then maybe austerity is not even a significant factor of disturbance for IE organizations.
To summarize, the research plan is as following:
- Individuals will be interviewed about their personal behavior and the companies behavior using the framework proposed by Jones (2003).
- This information will be put next to the perceived progress that a certain IE initiative makes and thus helps us understand if austerity was a cause for a change in certain progress of IE organizations.
- The resource network analysis of an IE organization will also help us understand how resources are distributed among IE companies.
The main research questions will be:
- how does individual behavior affect organizational actions/decision making with austerity as influential factor?
- how does interorganizational behavior change the inter organizational field with austerity as influential factor?
- how are resources distributed among relevant networks as a result from growing austerity?
Answering these questions by using the theory that has been taught to us during the SSPM course, should give us insight in whether growing austerity influences IE organizations and startups.
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