Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to become more ecologically responsible through the adoption and development of
an alternative business model. Consequently, the SIGMA project developed guidelines
for organizations to:
•
effectively meet challenges posed by social, environmental and economic problems,
threats and opportunities; and
•
become change agents for a sustainable future.
SIGMA's guiding principles consist of:
•
the holistic management of the natural, social, human, manufactured and financial
capital that reflect an organization's overall impact and wealth;
•
the exercise of accountability, by being transparent and responsive to stakeholders;
and
•
complying with relevant voluntary and statutory rules and standards.
Project SIGMA's management framework (see
Table 11.3
) identifies a basic four-
phase cycle, together with various sub-phases, designed to manage and integrate
sustainability issues within an organization's core activities.
Management phase
Complementing the principles and management framework is the SIGMA toolkit,
which consists of a number of targeted tools and approaches to help with specific
management challenges illustrated by a range of practical real-life case studies; a 'SIGMA
guide to sustainability issues', relating to everything from directors' pay to ozone
depletion; and guidance on designing a business case through which an organization
can develop, promote and communicate its commitment to sustainable development
by detailed information on the reporting of its sustainability practice and performance
in accordance with the SIGMA guidelines and management framework.
Although this is a management system, Project SIGMA should not be confused
with the similar sounding Six Sigma, which the advocates of
jugaad
, discussed
earlier, are so critical of.
Leadership, complexity and self-organization
As noted earlier, the idea of complexity is associated with ecology, with living beings,
usually manifesting itself at the level of the system itself. Complexity and systems
thinking has had a profound effect on many thinkers and activists promoting
sustainability values and practices in a wide variety of fields - business, community,
politics, society and the economy. A complex system comprises many elements which
interact physically and communicatively in relation to the transfer of information
and other factors. These interactions are fairly short range, with each element operating
in ignorance of the overall nature of the system itself. However, they may have
consequences far in excess of their localized existence. The effects are therefore non-
linear in scope and not necessarily predictable. Feedback loops may enhance or
stimulate development, or alternatively hinder or inhibit it. Most importantly, complex
systems are not closed, as they constantly interact with the external environment,
