Management science methodologies in environmental management and sustainability: discourses and applications

Paucar-Caceres, A; Espinosa, A

Abstract

This paper investigates and discusses the use of systemic methodologies (SMs) developed in management science/operational research (MS/OR), in particular, those SM that have been informing the complexity inherent in environmental management and sustainable (EM/S) practices. By surveying a sample of the top MS/OR and systems journals, we assess the extent to which systemic management science methodologies developed recently have been used in tackling EM/S problems. Titles and abstracts of EM/S applications published in MS/OR and systems journals between 1989 and 2009 were queried for the occurrence of typical keywords associated with a set of SMs (eg, complexity theory, systems dynamics, soft systems, critical systems, viable systems model). The survey identifies a set of articles representing the practice of either a particular methodology or of a mixture of various SMs in EM/S setting. By assembling and critically reviewing a sample of applications in EM/S the paper hopes to raise awareness among environmentalists, operational researchers and management scientists of the benefits of using systemic approaches developed in MS/OR and, in this way, to encourage further exchange and conversation between these fields of management.

Citation

Paucar-Caceres, A., & Espinosa, A. (2011). Management science methodologies in environmental management and sustainability: discourses and applications. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 62(9), 1601-1620. https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.110

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2017
• Publication Date: 2011-09
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Journal Of The Operational Research Society
• Print ISSN: 0160-5682
• Electronic ISSN: 1476-9360
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1601-1620
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.110
• Keywords: management sciences, critical systems, soft systems, viable systems model, complexity theory, sustainability, environmental management,
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/468354
• Contract Date: Nov 13, 2014