Heroes No More: Global Business Practice of Collaborative Leadership to Confront Climate Change

• In Event: Innovation in Environmental Leadership: Global Perspectives

Short Description

This paper examines the engagement of multinational corporations in C4C, a United Nations climate change program. It reflects on theoretical concepts such as the role of structures, artifacts, and routines from distributive leadership theory; and contextual communication and leaderful practices from relational leadership theory to propose a theory of collaborative environmental leadership.

Detailed Abstract

Multinational corporations (MNCs) increasingly engage in cross sector partnerships with environmental nongovernmental organizations to address large scale environmental problems. MNCs are most likely motivated by dual desires: to fulfill responsibilities as global citizens and to learn new ways of functioning in a global society in which lines between sectors are increasingly blurred (Waddock, 2012; Bromley & Meyer, 2014). Some MNCs participate in trisector partnerships such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), in which members work together to activate shared processes of organizational learning and influence global environmental policy. UNGC members act as organizational boundary spanners to work collaboratively and engage in collective action with like-minded leaders; they create innovative paths to exercise collaborative leadership.

In 2007 leading UNGC member firms recognized that impacts from climate change were alarming and that a high level and visible initiative on climate change was clearly needed. Thus, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched Caring for Climate (C4C) as a partnership between businesses, NGOs and three United Nations institutions: the UN Global Compact as lead, the UN Environment Program, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the long run up to the 21st United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in December, 2015 in Paris, C4C was one of the most productive UNGC initiatives. Many UNGC member firms were present in Paris to offer testimonies of their work on climate change and the need for collaborative leadership and collective action to assist in adapting to impacts and developing effective policies.

This paper examines MNC member engagement in C4C, building on recent case study and participant observation research (Gallagher, 2016). Per the recommendation of Denis et al. (2012), it applies a critical lens and interrogates research which casts corporate environmental leadership as heroic (Egri & Herman, 2000; Robertson & Barling, 2013). The approach is both empirical and theoretical; it analyzes data from MNC leaders’ experiences using a grounded theory method to puzzle over collaboration between leaders who “build settings where trust and reciprocity can emerge, grow, and be sustained over time” (Ostrom, 2010, p. 555). The paper reflects on theoretical concepts such as the role of structures, artifacts and routines from distributive leadership theory (Bolden, 2011; Crosby & Bryson, 2010) and contextual communication and leaderful practices (Uhl-Bien, 2006; Raelin, 2011) from relational leadership theory to propose a theory of collaborative environmental leadership.

Participant

• Deborah R. Gallagher, Duke University