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Faculty of Technology Centre for Technology Strategy and Systems
PhD Research Studentships 1999
Research studentships are available, funded by ESRC  for full-time
postgraduate study for up to three years from October 1999.  Applicants
are invited for an ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship. The Centre for
Technology Strategy and Systems is officially recognised by ESRC as a
postgraduate research training centre, and provides high quality training
in research approaches and methodologies.
ESRC Collaborative Studentship
Applications are invited for a 3 year research studentships, sponsored by
the ESRC, based at the Open University in collaboration with the
organisation detailed below. Projects are multidisciplinary, will lead to
the award of a Ph.D. and are available from October 1999.  The studentship
will be based in the Centre for Complexity and Change,  which is a leading
interdisciplinary research and teaching unit, with several thousand
students at undergraduate and masters levels (Technology MBA, Development
Management masters, and Environmental Decision-Making masters).  These
studentships are supplemented with an additional award of £1375 p.a. from
the collaborating partner.

Organisational and structural constraints to learning with The Natural
Step. Partner: The Natural Step and Forum for the Future
Project Outline
Uncertainty over what is meant by sustainability and sustainable
development is one of the biggest barriers to its achievement.  For any
organisation with a commitment to sustainable development, the real
challenge is how to get from A to B.  The gradual acceptance by business
of its environmental and social responsibilities has forced companies to
re-think the kind of systems (organisational and structural) they need to
measure, manage and report on their impacts.  This has been accompanied by
a drive towards greater transparency and accountability.
This project aims to assess how three organisations  the Co-operative
bank; Air BP and Gloucestershire County Council have begun to implement a
process of sustainable development based on The Natural Step (N.B.
Arrangements remain to be finalised with the case study partners but each
has already established a working relationship with The Natural Step). 
The Natural Step is a science based, consensus process, which was
pioneered in Sweden through a programme of educational and learning
activities with business, local authorities and the general public.  It is
claimed that The Natural Step provides a framework for decision-making and
action towards a sustainable future which can be tailored to every level
of an organisation. 
This research programme will also assess how, and whether, the Natural
Steps four system conditions have been employed to embed sustainability at
every level within the organisation.  The research would attempt to
elucidate the conditions which would have to be satisfied for the claims
of “embedding sustainability” to be agreed amongst the key stakeholders.  
It will also explore how personal behaviour and values contribute to
action and change within the organisations and the extent to which the
interrelationship between organization (those processes which constitute
and conserve a particular organisation) and structure (the ways in which a
particular organisation is realised) enhance or constrain the emergence of
new actions which might be judged to be a move towards sustainable
development.  The research is based on the hypothesis that in the three
case study organisations the recursive redesign of both structure and
organization, so as to realise new “communities of conversation” and thus
learn, are needed to achieve the aspirations of an ambitious programme
such as The Natural Step.
The research methodology will be by case study encompassing other
qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviewing, focus groups and
text and document analysis.  Dissemination is designed into the research
approach via participatory workshops with key stakeholders in the final
stages of the research which will also be used as a mechanism for
triangulation and validation of data as well as joint learning. This will
be supplemented with formal publication and by conference presentation
when appropriate. 
It is anticipated that the research will provide a critical appraisal of
The Natural Step process and elucidate the processes and structures that
constrain or enhance particular organisations moving in a direction that
is claimed to be sustainable.  The nature of the judgements on which
claims for becoming more sustainable are based will also be elucidated.  
The Natural Step (TNS) (UK) was set up under licence in 1997 by Forum for
the Future  a “solutions-oriented” sustainable development charity
established by Jonathan Porrit, Sara Parkin and Paul Elkins.   It is
claimed that TNS is a well-documented process for achieving consensus on
the fundamental issues and principles which underpin sustainability.  The
process was pioneered in Sweden through a programme of high profile
educational and learning activities with business, local authorities and
the general public. In the UK  The Natural Step has been working with a
Pathfinder programme involving 8 companies: Tarmac, Yorkshire Water,
Co-operative Bank, Interface, Sainsburys.; Air BP: Papercom; and Dupont
Nylon.  This programme is now entering its third year.  More recently work
has begun to apply the Natural Step across the county of Gloucestershire.
The main academic supervisor of the research will be Professor Ray Ison.  
Professor Ison’s expertise is in three interrelated areas: 
Systems R&D: development and evaluation of systemic, participatory and
process-based environmental decision making, organisational change and R&D
methodologies, e.g. Systemic Ecodesign; Soft Systems Methodology; Systemic
Action Research; and Participatory Rural Appraisal; 
Development of learning systems: introducing problem based and
experiential learning into curricula; development of supported open
learning and
Grassland/rangeland systems and grassland eco-physiology R&D.  During the
last 4 years he has been involved in a systemic action research project
(incorporating his role as the head of the former Systems Department at
The Open University) which has resulted in the transformation of the
Department into the Centre for Complexity and Change.  He is co-editor of
a forthcoming book based on his research with Australian pastoralists -
Ison, R.L. and Russell, D.B. eds.(1999) Agricultural Extension and Rural
Development: Breaking Out of Traditions.  Cambridge University Press:
Cambridge.  He is the author or co-author of five of the nine chapters. 
These are: Ison, R.L. (1999) Technology: transforming grazier experience; 
Russell, D.B. & Ison, R.L. (1999) The research-development relationship in
rural communities:  an opportunity for contextual science; Ison, R.L
(1999) Experience, tradition and service? Institutionalised R&D in the
rangelands; Russell, D.B. & Ison, R.L. (1999)  Enthusiasm: developing
critical action for second-order R&D and Russell, D.B. & Ison, R.L. (1999)
Designing R&D systems for mutual benefit.  This book has drawn on
second-order cybernetic theory and epistemology to critically evaluate the
constraints to agency induced by a lack of appreciation on the part of
managers of the recursive relationship between organisation and structure.
 This has led to the formulation of alternative change processes.
Dr Stephen Martin, Director of Learning in The Natural Step (UK) Ltd, will
be the CASE partner supervisor for the research. 
For further information contact Prof. Ray Ison, Systems Discipline, Centre
for Complexity and Change,. The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. 
Tel: 01908-652918 Fax: 01908 652175 Email: [log in to unmask]



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