Change Management Study of Horticulture 2015 — Conditions and Success Factors

The increasing organizational size, as a result of the industry's structural change, is leading to crises in German horticultural companies. Therefore, the present study examines the causes of fundamental change processes in horticultural companies, indicates the overriding trends and identifies the success factors of change initiatives. For this purpose, over 150 decision-makers with over 10 years’ experience in their respective organization were surveyed from May to December 2014. The megatrends are environmental issues, changed consumer behavior, resource shortages and the labor market. Currently, the reasons for change lie in a changing market strategy/sales approach, business succession and submission and external changes in the legal conditions. Among the most difficult problems occurring in the implementation of change processes are low willingness to take responsibility, interest and goal conflicts of the involved organization's members and a sacrifice of long-term actions for short-term profit improvements. The most important success factors of change processes include realistic, clear visions/goals and their communication, team spirit and motivation and a coordinated chronological procedure. Six factors of the psychological level of the change success are presented. The results of the study can help to recommend a design for change processes in companies within horticultural manufacturing.     

Review and Analysis of the Benefits,Purposes, and Motivations Associated with Community Gardening in the United States

Community gardens have been a part of modern American culture since the late 19th century. Participation in community gardening has ebbed and flowed in response to changing socioeconomic conditions, and thus the current economic recession has reheightened public interest. In a review of the scholarly literature from 1999 to 2010, rigorous quantitative research studies on the effects of community gardens are found to be sparse; however, a larger body of qualitative data is available. Eleven themes related to the purposes, benefits of, and motivations for participating in community gardens are identified. Community gardens can serve as an effective tool for community-based practitioners in carrying out their roles within the arenas of organizing, development, and change.     

The permaculture movement in India: a social movement with Southern characteristics

ABSTRACT

Permaculture is an attempt to design and develop sustainable communities in harmony with natural ecosystems. It embraces solution-oriented approaches to contemporary social and environmental problems. Originating in Australia, permaculture was initially considered a design system but it has become a global social movement and it is practiced in different countries in various forms and at multiple scales. It is manifested in numerous networks of local practitioners, teachers, promoters, demonstration sites, organisations and magazines where various ideas and practices converge. Despite its popularization scant attention has been given to analysis of permaculture as a social movement. Moreover, the few academic writings which analyse permaculture as a social movement do not systematically engage with its manifestation and adaptation in the global South. The latter is the main contribution of this article. Based on original research this paper narrates the origins of the permaculture movement in India, and it pays close attention to its contextual adaptation by a diverse group of practitioners. It demonstrates that these diverse actors and their strategies have clear linkages to the independence movement; they are influenced by the incomplete project of Indian liberal democracy; they operate on the sphere of civil and political society; and they engage middle and lower classes in a formal and informal political nexus.     

“Projecting the Future by Looking Over One's Shoulder at the Past”: The Milken Institute's One-Sided Analysis of California's Future

The first Michael Milken Institute conference on the state of the state of California, held November 5, 1999, identified 21st century opportunities and challenges in light of recent economic and demographic trends. The panelists came from the banking/venture capital, industrial, real estate development, think tank and political spheres. Notably absent were delegates from the environmental community. Optimism reigned: The presenters considered that the shortage and soaring price of housing are major concerns, yet they could not view this as a contra-indication to future population increase. Possibilities of major ethnic clashes in a state where no ethnic group commands a majority went unaddressed. Both the conference materials and those present subscribed to the view that growth is good and bigger is better; no other indicators of quality of life were mentioned. Ecological overload and threats of collapsing eco-systems, the permanent water shortage foreseen by state planners beginning as early as 2015, and the increasing vulnerability to inevitable natural disasters as major earthquakes and droughts should population projections be fulfilled (today's 35 million will grow to 50 million by 2020; carrying capacity level is about 10 million) all went unmentioned. Those present left falsely reassured that for California the 21st century will largely be a replay of the 20^th.     

城市环境治理研究的热点领域、特点及启示——基于SSCI来源文献(2004～2019年)的知识图谱分析

为推动中国城市环境治理理论和实践发展,以2004～2019年间SSCI数据库中收录的5 332篇相关文献为样本源,采用共词分析方法、社会网络分析方法以及可视化技术,对国际城市环境治理研究文献进行知识图谱分析,研究城市环境治理研究的现状、特点和趋势。研究认为,近16年来城市环境治理研究的五大热点领域是城市可持续性、城市气候变化治理、中国城市化发展、城市生态系统以及城市环境治理模式; 城市可持续性是城市环境治理研究热点领域的基础,气候变化与生态系统具有高度的相关性,中国城市化发展速度快但伴随一定程度的发展不协调、城市景观破碎化等城市问题,可持续性、弹性为城市环境治理模式提供概念分析框架,多层次治理和多元化为城市环境治理模式提供理论基础; 气候变化治理、城市生态系统服务以及促进绿色空间的建立将成为未来城市环境治理研究的重要趋势; 未来的城市环境治理研究,还应高度关注城市环境治理理论的本土化研究和跨学科研究。     

基于社会创新视角的企业参与扶贫攻坚可持续模式

企业社会创新已被视为可能解决金融危机、气候变化、生态过冲、人口爆炸和贫富差距等世界性难题的方法之一。在我国,参与扶贫攻坚是企业社会创新的重要途径之一,有利于实现社会责任与经营业绩的双赢。对中国优秀企业参与扶贫情况进行深入分析,结果表明企业参与扶贫取得了卓越成就,但参与路径仍显单一,尚未把社会问题或公众期望纳入自身发展的战略框架,未能将参与扶贫作为企业可持续发展的转型路径。据此提出鼓励企业参与扶贫实践的可持续模式,包括包容性的商业模式、可持续性的投入产出规模、公平互利的供应链管理以及与核心利益方建立战略伙伴关系等创新性解决方案,以期在脱贫攻坚与乡村振兴衔接之时,助力企业在社会治理挑战中寻找商业机遇,以开发性战略布局应对后扶贫时代。     

包装设计可持续性发展要素研究

设计作为一种生产力,对每一个国家地区经济发展有着重要的推动作用,也是整个社会物质文明和精神文明的结晶,是一个国家科学和文化发展的重要标志。当今社会人们越来越注重设计所带来的产品附加值,但是在观念上,却存在很大的误区,造成了过度包装、环境污染、低级媚俗、盲目模仿等不健康的设计现象。如何把包装审美和产业价值与环境保护有机结合,这是当今学术界关心的焦点,也是包装产业新的增长点。同时包装材料生产工艺、减少环境污染也成为全人类共同关心的话题,寻找新材料、新工艺,最大限度降低环境的人为污染,防止产品附加值对环境造成的二次污染,也成为包装行业当前共同努力研究的紧迫课题。文章针对包装设计存在的上述问题,剖析了产生这些现象的原因。着重从包装设计的民族化、人性化、非物质性、绿色化四个方面,论证了包装设计寻求可持续性发展应具备的重要条件,并提出了解决这些问题的应对方案,有助于树立健康的包装设计理念,有助于包装设计向着可持续性方向健康发展。     

村落文化景观保护与可持续发展的两种实践——解读生态博物馆和乡村旅游

生态博物馆和乡村旅游是当前村落文化景观保护与发展的两种模式,二者均奉行可持续发展的理念,但是对可持续的理解却"和而不同".生态博物馆奉行"严格的可持续",侧重于保护,并顺应发展;乡村旅游奉行"温和的可持续".侧重于开发,但也承认保护的重要性.通过对于两种模式理念与实践的比较分析,透视在实现文化保护、促进经济发展的综合目标上,梭嘎生态博物馆表现出的阶段性"失败"和巴拉河乡村旅游表现出的阶段性"成功",实质上有着不同于此种表象之下的、更深层的含义.     

Re-conceptualising talent management and development within the context of the low paid

Those working in organisations have choices to make associated with not only the goods and services they produce but also their wider social and economic impact. The number of employees in low-skilled/low-paid jobs and the high proportion of companies adopting business strategies based on low-specification goods and services are a concern for many developed and developing economies. Addressing this problem is not traditionally the concern of Human Resource Development; however, we argue that through exploring the role that a wider, more balanced approach to Sustainable Talent Management and Development (S-TMD) may play within the context of the low skilled in the UK provides a crucial link to enhancing an organisation’s performance and responsibility to society. At the heart of this approach lies a shift to appreciate the collective endeavour of work practices, an enhanced role for stakeholders and identification of, and participation in skills ecosystems to support sustainable development. The paper identifies the opportunity for S-TMD to move from a predominantly individualist, managerial and unitarist understanding to one grounded in the value of tacit and embedded development processes undertaken to reflect a pluralist, multi-voiced approach to understanding of a skills ecosystem.