Organic organizing - leverage for wellbeing and sustainability? - Formal power structure in relation to organizational conditions for sustainable development

Abstract: Organizations of today are facing disruptive and changing times with a lot of uncertainties how to survive, evolve and stay relevant in the future. At the same time there is an increased awareness and external pressure on organizations to develop sustainably. With these challenges in mind, is it possible to state that there are certain ways of organizing that are more supportive of sustainable development than others? Is it even possible to say that there are perspectives of formal power structure that have major implications on sustainable development? The purpose of this master thesis emerges from these questions as to explore how formal power structure relates to conditions for sustainable development of organizations. Particularly, the thesis has its focus on individual perception of formal power structures in organizations and how they are related to conditions for sustainable development. This from the scope of three organizations differentiated in the mechanistic and organic continuum. The empirical data is collected in ten semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to the method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The main findings of the thesis are clear indications that formal power structures designed from an organic perspective have positive relations to organizational conditions for sustainable development and most likely even important effects on sustainable development in a larger system. The connection to conditions for sustainable development is especially emerging from the individual social perspective expressed as wellbeing, a sense of meaningfulness, involvement and connection to a common purpose together with a feeling of personal responsibility. On the contrary it is also found that formal power structures designed from mechanistic principles have negative effects on organizational conditions for sustainable development. Suggestions for future research are also discussed and outlined.