Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times: Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges for Sustainable Organizations (Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management) 9811947228, 9789811947223

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Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management Series Editors: Nayan Mitra · René Schmidpeter

Tanuja Sharma  Rupamanjari Sinha Ray  Nayan Mitra Editors

Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges for Sustainable Organizations

Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management Series Editors Nayan Mitra, Sustainable Advancements (OPC) Private Limited, Kolkata, West Bengal, India René Schmidpeter, Ingolstadt, Bayern, Germany Editorial Board Kanji Tanimoto, School of Commerce, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan Samuel O. Idowu, Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, London, UK Noha El-Bassiouny, Faculty of Management Technology, German University in Cairo, New Cairo City, Egypt Bhaskar Chatterjee, Former DG and CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Gurugram, India Gabriel Eweje , School of Management, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand Tanuja Sharma, MDI Gurgaon, Gurugram, India

The series aims to transform corporations into future-fit businesses by bringing forth latest perspectives from cross cultural and interdisciplinary learning, management and business administrative paradigm. It will not only showcase systemic outlooks on how new businesses look like, but also foray into specific key areas to comprehensively reveal their challenges and propose solutions. The series intends to make varying concepts, research and practices of responsible leadership and sustainable management accessible so as to promote their better understanding and implementation. The scope of this series will lie in collaborating with global researchers, practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders, so that responsible leadership and sustainable management becomes mainstream in organisations and businesses. The objectives of this series are: a) to foster collaboration between Europe and Asia in content creation and knowledge transfer on the topic b) to publish research that focuses on building strong, resilient international value chain and common market c) to advance a new sustainable, responsible thinking The series publishes research monographs, both authored works and case studies, to highlight innovative and best practices on the topic, and edited volumes putting together varied perspectives. The content covered should be international with fresh perspectives on topics that have the potential to bring about transformational changes in corporations, for their seamless evolution into businesses of the future.

Tanuja Sharma · Rupamanjari Sinha Ray · Nayan Mitra Editors

Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges for Sustainable Organizations

Editors Tanuja Sharma MDI Gurgaon Gurugram, Haryana, India

Rupamanjari Sinha Ray MDI Gurgaon Gurugram, Haryana, India

Nayan Mitra Sustainable Advancements (OPC) Private Limited Kolkata, West Bengal, India

ISSN 2730-9533 ISSN 2730-9541 (electronic) Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management ISBN 978-981-19-4722-3 ISBN 978-981-19-4723-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

To the thought leaders to ponder on the questions of Inter-Generational Equity. What legacy are we leaving behind?

Foreword

It would be fair to say that we live in a strikingly disruptive world, with far too many simultaneous upheavals than faced by any generation at any one point in time. A global pandemic, heightened economic turmoil, social, religious and racial divisions and unrest, mass migrations of the human and the non-human world, severe climate changes, and geopolitical tensions pose unique challenges for business and society. In this dynamic, complex, and uncertain world, where capitalism emerges as both part of the problem and the solution for it, responsible leadership, stakeholder capitalism, and sustainable entrepreneurship are no longer buzz words. With resources, capability, access, and intent, responsible leadership has the power and indeed the opportunity to shape a sustainable society socially, environmentally, and economically. A large part of this discussion evokes an important debate on the purpose of the business. Never in our collective history has it been clearer that business purpose, when embraced through the lens of stakeholder value, can enable organizations to serve multiple interests that are no longer oppositional or exclusionary to each other or, for that matter, a zero-sum game. But what is responsible leadership, and where and how does it emerge? We have learned through several experiences during COVID-19, that responsible leadership is not exclusive to the corporate boardroom. It often emerges at the middle levels within organizations. It is not only formal but also informal, and it can be organic, spontaneous, and collaborative in nature. It encompasses characteristics of empathy and compassion. And breaking the boundary of large business organizations, responsible leadership can be exhibited by entrepreneurs and social enterprises, by individuals and communities. It can take the form of product, process, and digital innovations, such as the provision of emergency medicines, protective gear, and information-sharing campaigns; it can unfold through sensitive community responses to societal challenges such as those experienced by migrant workers during pandemic-related lockdowns. Responsible leadership is also informational, if not always actional, in that it can involve encouraging humanized conversations and creating safe spaces that help normalize taboo subjects such as those relating to isolation, mental breakdowns, and depression.

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Responsible leadership can go beyond existing business models to business model transformations. Here, the net positive impact extends beyond the boundary of a firm and the well-being of internal stakeholders to external stakeholders and nature. It can involve re-thinking and re-constructing multi-tiered supply chains by giving more agency and voice to local country supply chain partners. Such fundamental re-designs can help effectively, transparently, and collaboratively govern supply chains for challenges endemic in their globally spread-out nature such as invisibility, paucity of resources and knowledge, and limits on adaptive capabilities. Responsible leadership can add resilience to global supply chains by helping them better withstand systemic shocks and disruptions, that impact the livelihood of millions. It can facilitate the better adoption of green technology and fair labor conditions, thereby promoting both human and non-human conservation efforts. Yet, responsible leadership is not necessarily altruistic. It can be instrumental in gaining back the lost reputation of a business. To accomplish this, we need to connect responsible leadership to the emerging consensus about reforming capitalism to be more in tune with stakeholders. Responsible leadership is necessary if we are to balance purpose and profits. We need a strong sense of responsibility to fulfill our obligations to both financiers and other stakeholders such as customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. We need to understand both societal and market forces that affect all of our businesses. Finally, we need to have a more nuanced and sophisticated view of our humanity in businesses that includes integrating business, leadership, and ethics. Stakeholder capitalism can emerge as a strong force to make the world better if we can embed it with an idea of responsible and conscious leadership. Tanusree Jain Trinity Business School Trinity Centre for Social Innovation Trinity College Dublin, Ireland R. Edward Freeman University of Virginia Darden School of Business Charlottesville, VA, USA

Preface

In the current discourse of management literature, Responsible Leadership plays a vital role, particularly in the VUCA world. Uncertainty is looming large at the global level especially since the time of COVID-19 which has disrupted the economies at both local and global levels. Frequent lockdowns to contain the virus during the COVID pandemic from 2019 onwards have disrupted the social interactions at work, harming the efforts of globalization and the dream of a Global Village. Technology was a boon to mitigate the hardships and remote work became the new norm. Moreover, climate change risks have already been imminent for almost three decades and have been adding to the uncertainty over the years. As stated in the book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (2014), the five mass extinctions that took place in the last 450 million years have led to the destruction of 70–95% of the species of plants, animals, and microorganisms that existed earlier. During anthropocene extinction, the ongoing sixth extinction, populations and species extinctions have severe implications for society through the degradation of ecosystem services. A new normal is emerging to operate in the current disruptive world. This book is an attempt to document a robust body of literature on the leadership roles, employee behavior, well-being issues, best practices, and innovations to help the organizations to sustain uncertain environments, the most recent of which has been the COVID pandemic. Responsible leadership roles have been more pronounced to mitigate such crises. Thus, responsible leadership goes beyond the social responsibilities and sustainability practices of organizations. A purpose-driven and ethical leadership, with complete social and environmental responsibilities, could visualize the crises and take up initiatives to build on from the scratch, transforming threats into opportunities to keep moving forward. This book has documented scholarly research and case studies of such experiments to survive in the uncertain world. A rethink into the “future of work” as well as the societal issues have been addressed in the discourse of responsible leadership. Contributions in terms of existing business models and new models to adapt to unprecedented situations are some of the unique features of this

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book. Examples of responsible leadership on individuals, corporate and civil society organizations have been incorporated in this book. This book has several chapters based on a data-driven approach to address the following topics: • A comprehensive documentation on how responsible leadership could lead to a sustainable transformation and mitigate the risks and challenges of uncertain times especially due to the COVID pandemic and climate change. • The strategic shifts toward stakeholder management approach through 7 S model and through integrative and collaborative efforts to pursue a higher purpose in partnership roles. • Role of social capital in understanding how organizations survive and thrive inclusively in uncertain times. • Digitalization, multi-sector collaborations, localization, and inclusion of social agenda in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to be more resilient and impactful. • Technology, innovation, remote working, and employee health and well-being. • Case Studies from different sectors on leadership, social and environmental concerns. The social and environmental concerns as discussed and their mitigation as documented in the chapters of this book are useful for future planning and execution for sustainable existence. To create intergenerational equity and ethical practices, the book would contribute to the extant literature on Responsible Leadership. Gurugram, India Gurugram, India Kolkata, India

Tanuja Sharma Rupamanjari Sinha Ray Nayan Mitra

Acknowledgments

The opportunity to edit this book arrived at the most appropriate time. Discourse on Responsible Leadership for Sustainability was on the top of our minds in the VUCA world. Technology had disrupted the global businesses both positively by process innovation and negatively by the redundancy it created due to the demands for new skills and newer ways of business. Climate concerns were one of the main agendas before leadership. Subsequent economic impact in the post-globalization world was accelerated manifold with COVID pandemic from 2020 onwards which was certainly a black swan event. In response to these uncertainties, we floated a Centre of Excellence (CoE), Centre of Ethics, ESG initiatives, and Responsible Organizations (CERO@MDI Gurgaon) in India to address the rising concerns. An offer to compile a book from Springer Nature on such an important subject was most timely and we acknowledge the same. We are thankful to Dr. Nayan Mitra and Dr. Rene Schmidpeter, series editors for Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management for giving us this opportunity. Foreword by Prof. Tanushree Jain, Trinity Centre for Social Innovation, Trinity Business School and Prof. Edward Freeman, Darden School of the University of Virginia, USA has motivated us deeply and has strengthened our conviction that it is indeed a timely publication. Our special thanks to them to take out time and reinforce the idea and the purpose of this book. We are extremely thankful to all the authors for contributing to this book on Responsible Leadership. Their contributions have helped us in creating a rich repertoire for the audience. This book wouldn’t have been possible without the support from Ms. Jayati Talapatra, a Springer author and editor and a faculty focused on environmental concerns and sustainability. Consistent support from Ms. Roopal Gupta, a research scholar at MDI Gurgaon, has made this book a reality. Our heartfelt thanks to them for all the support.

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Acknowledgments

In the end, we would like to thank our institution, MDI Gurgaon, India and our families and friends for all the motivation and support extended to edit this book. Tanuja Sharma Lead CERO@MDI Gurgaon Rupamanjari Sinha Ray Member CERO@MDI Gurgaon

Contents

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Responsible Leadership in Uncertain Times—Past Discourse and Present Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tanuja Sharma and Rupamanjari Sinha Ray

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Part I Responsible Leadership: Past Discourse and New Insights 2

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Approaching and Accompanying the Sustainable Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bridget Rug

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Well-Informed, Agile Decision-Making Key to Sustainable Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parul Soni

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The Dynamics of the Remote Leadership: A COVID-19 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ramandeep Saini, Hamayun Khan, and Stanley Oliver

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Part II 5

Responsible Leadership for Managing Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges

Integrating Simplification in Integrative Contracting to Navigate VUCA: The Case of De Rechtmakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharda S. Nandram and Vanessa C. M. Englert

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Circular Organising for Fuller Engagement and Sustainability . . . . Anil K. Maheshwari, Jyoti Bachani, and Ray R. Gehani

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Decoding 4Ps of Social Capital: How Organizations Survive, Thrive Inclusively in Uncertain Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Prabhjot Kaur and Tanuja Sharma

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The Revelio Charm: The Invisible Migrant Labour of India . . . . . . . 127 Saurabh Upadhyay and Madhushree Nanda Agarwal

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Contents

Responsible Leadership at the Time of the Pandemic: SMEs in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Nazia Talat and Saradindu Bhaduri

10 Connecting Value-Based Leadership to Sustainability in India . . . . . 171 Bidisha Banerji and Pallavi Maitra 11 Climate Change and Responsible Business Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 S. N. Mishra and Ritu Srivastava 12 Social Indicators of ESG and Firm’s Financial Performance in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Roopal Gupta, Tanuja Sharma, and Anupama Prashar 13 Framework for Mainstreaming Sustainability and Climate Governance in the Oil & Gas and Finance Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Namita Vikas Part III Case Studies 14 Reimagining Non-profit Management and Leadership in the Face of Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Pranab J. Patar 15 Responsible Leadership: Delhi Metro’s Carbon Credits in Regenerative Braking System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Rupamanjari Sinha Ray, Sharat Sharma, and Sunil Ashra 16 Environmental Leadership—Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Jayati Talapatra

Editors and Contributors

About the Editors Tanuja Sharma is a Professor (HRM) and Lead—Centre for Ethics, ESG Initiatives and Responsible Organizations (CERO@MDI Gurgaon). She is actively involved in teaching, training, consulting and research at MDI Gurgaon. She studies Buddhist text (Nalanda Tradition) and has organized CEO/CXO dialogues on compassionate organization (2016) and has chaired conference panels on discussions on ethics and compassion. She is a distinguished senior advisor, Center for Responsible Management (CRM), Jindal Global Business School and vice-president WICCI, National Business council for Sustainability, India. Her academic presence includes member BoS for curriculum in Ambedkar University, Delhi and member, RAC-apex committee, Shiv Nadar University. She has been present in many reputed forums like SHRM India, CII, member GOI performance cell, empaneled member UPSC and BoG, CSRL-an enterprise based on social innovation, super 30, for supporting marginalized students for higher education through capacity and capability building. She has published in international and national journals. She has contributed a chapter on mapping performance management in India in the seminal book on the subject of Performance Management Systems—A Global Perspective by Rutledge (2008). In addition to a book on OB co-authored for Oxford press, Malaysia, she has contributed two chapters in book on CSR mandate and New economic models by Springer. Her Ph.D. from FMS, University of Delhi on the subject of performance management for attaining quality received MERCER Award, Asia (2005). In addition, she has received best paper in track award in ICBED New York, USA (2013), most highly cited paper by Emerald group of publishing (2017) and Best mentored case award by WCA (Western Casewriters Association (2021). Rupamanjari Sinha Ray is an academician, researcher and a consultant who has been associated with higher education since 1998 after she completed her Masters in Economics from Jadavpur University. She was awarded PhD as UGC-NET scholar of the same university. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in Economics Area

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at MDI Gurgaon. She has been engaged in management teaching and training for 15 years. Her research areas and publications are based on development and environmental economics, mainly on sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, environmental regulation and policy and MSMEs. To her credit she has co-authored a book on CSR practices in India. She has published papers in the national and international journals of repute. She is a life member of Indian Economic Association and a member of Trans-disciplinary research cluster (TRC) on Frugal Innovation of JNU. She was involved in consulting projects with Hindustan Copper Limited, Vodafone, Fifteenth Finance Commission and currently working on evaluation projects of Ministry of Jal Shakti. Nayan Mitra has over 20 years of diverse professional experience in academics, social and corporate sectors; academic council member and science board member in International Academic forums. She has edited books such as Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Cases and Development After the Legal Mandate (2017); Mandated Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from India (2019) and Corporate Social Responsibility in Rising Economies: Fundamentals, Approaches and Case Studies with co-editor, Dr. Rene Schmidpeter and has many scientific publications on the subject in peer-reviewed international/national journals/books. Dr. Mitra was a recipient of the prestigious Author Award at the India CSR Leadership Summit three years in a row: 2017, 2018 and 2019, and adjudged as one of the 25 most impactful CSR Leaders in India (2019) and has won many other international awards for her contribution to CSR. She was recognized as an Exceptional Woman of Excellence at the Women Economic Forum, 2019.

Contributors Agarwal Madhushree Nanda Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Ashra Sunil Management Development Institute Gurgaon, Gurgaon, India Bachani Jyoti Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, USA Banerji Bidisha Amity Institute of Public Policy, Amity University, Noida, India Bhaduri Saradindu Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India Englert Vanessa C. M. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Gehani Ray R. University of Akron, Akron, USA Gupta Roopal Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Kaur Prabhjot Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Khan Hamayun Washington, D.C., USA

Editors and Contributors

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Maheshwari Anil K. Maharishi International University, Fairfield, USA Maitra Pallavi Index Advisory, Mumbai, India Mishra S. N. Ex- Indian Air Force, New Delhi, India Nandram Sharda S. Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Oliver Stanley Doctoral College, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Patar Pranab J. Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness, New Delhi, India Prashar Anupama Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Ray Rupamanjari Sinha Management Development Institute Gurgaon, Gurgaon, India Rug Bridget Oberzent-Hetzbach (Odenwald), Germany Saini Ramandeep Chandigarh Business School of Administration, Chandigarh, Landran, India Sharma Sharat Delhi Metro Railway Corporation, Noida, India Sharma Tanuja Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Soni Parul Thinkthrough Consulting, New Delhi, India Srivastava Ritu Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Talapatra Jayati New Delhi, India Talat Nazia SPM College for Women, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India Upadhyay Saurabh Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India Vikas Namita auctusESG, Mumbai, India

Abbreviations

4-D 4P 7S AADHAAR AMC B2B BANI BRR BRSR CAC CCPI CCUS CDC CDM CEE CEEW CEO CERs CFC CHAT CIMO CO2 COP COP26 COVID-19 CPU CSA CSC CSIP

Appreciative Inquiry Cycle of Discovery, Dream, Design, Destiny Product Purpose Place Price Strategy, Structure, System, Style, Staff, Skills and Shared vision 12-digit Unique Identification Number issued by the Government of India and serves as proof of Identity and Address for Indians Annual Maintenance Contract Business-to-Business Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible Business Responsibility Reporting Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting COVID-19 Action Colab Climate Change Performance Index Carbon capture and storage Center for Disease Control and Prevention Clean Development Mechanism Central Eastern European Centre for Energy, Environment and Water Chief Executive Officer Certified Emission Reduction Chlorofluorocarbon Community Health Action Teams Context Interventions Mechanisms Outcomes Carbon dioxide Conference of Parties Conference of the Parties Corona Virus Disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus Central Processing Unit Corporate Sustainability Assessments Centre for Social Change Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy xix

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CSO csQCA CSR DGB EBIT ERCC ESG ET EU ETS FCI FMCG FSQCA FTSE FY GFANZ GHG GLOF GRESB B.V. GRI HR HRM ILO IoF IoT IPCC IPO IRM IT IT/ITES LED LIFE LLP M&E MAXDQA MERS MRTS MSCI MSME NC NCR NCW ND NDMA

Abbreviations

Civil Society Organizations Crisp Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Corporate Social Responsibility Deprived of Government Benefits (Indicator for Economic Invisibility) Earnings Before Interest and Tax Enterprise Risk and Control Committee Environment, Social and Governance Employee Turnover European Union’s Emission Trading System Food Corporation of India (Statutory body of Government of India) Fast Moving Consumer Goods Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE), now FTSE Russell Group Financial Year Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero Green House Gases Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark Global Reporting Initiative Human Resource Human Resource Management International Labour Organization Institute of Fundraising Internet of Things Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Indian Patent Office Independent Risk Management Information Technology Information Technology/ Information Technology Enabled Services Light-emitting diode Lifestyle for Environment Low Protection under Labour Laws (Indicator for Structural Invisibility) Monitoring and Evaluation Quality Data Analysis Software Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Mass Rapid Transit System Morgan Stanley Capital International Micro, small, and medium enterprises Low Collectivization (Indicator for Political Invisibility) National Capital Region National Commission for Women No Documentation (Indicator for Structural Invisibility) National Disaster Management Authority

Abbreviations

NGFS NGO NGO NIFAA NIST NITI NMIS NSE NVR OCB OECD OEM P&L P2P PC PD PDS PEI PET PFE PRI PRISMA QA&QC QCA R&D RBS RL RO RTI S&P SASB SBTi SDGs SDS SEBI SECMOL SFDR SIA SMEs TBL TCFD TCS THPE UAE

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Network for Greening the Financial System Non-Governmental Organization Non-Governmental Organizations National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institution for Transforming India National Migrants Information System National Stock Exchange No Voting Rights (Indicator for Political Invisibility) Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Original Equipment Manufacturer Profit and Loss Peer-to-peer Policy Count Dominant Power Structs (Indicator for Social Invisibility) Public Distribution System Poor Financial Inclusion (Indicator for Economic Invisibility) Polyethylene Terephthalate Percentage of Female Employees Principles for Responsible Investment Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses Quality Assurance and Quality Control Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research & Development Regenerative Braking System Responsible Leadership Reverse Osmosis Right to Information Standard & Poor Sustainable Accounting Standards Board Science Based Targets initiative Sustainable Development Goals Social Disclosure Score Securities Exchange Board of India Students’ Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation Social Impact Assessment Small and Medium Enterprises Triple Bottom Line Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures Tata Consultancy Services Training Hours Per Employee United Arab Emirates

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UK UN UN SDG UNFCCC UNGC UNIDO US VaR VERs VUCA VV WCED WEF WWF

Abbreviations

United Kingdom United Nations United Nations Sustainable Development Goals United Nations Framework of Climate Change Conventions United Nations Global Compact United Nations Industrial Development Organization United States Value at Risk Verified Emissions Reduction Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity Video Volunteers World Commission on Environment and Development World Economic Forum World Wildlife Fund

Chapter 1

Responsible Leadership in Uncertain Times—Past Discourse and Present Scenario Tanuja Sharma and Rupamanjari Sinha Ray

Abstract This chapter begins with theoretical concepts of responsible leadership discourse. From organizational perspective, responsible leadership is not confined to making profits for organizations but going beyond and making the world a better place to live in with sustained provision and use of resources for all stakeholders in uncertain times. Responsible leadership is centred around a purpose in a VUCA world. There are inherent qualities of leadership to innovate and manage people and operations for saving people and planet in times of uncertainty like the recent pandemic. The chapter delves deep into the positive impact of responsible leadership on environment and society. It also provides an understanding of the importance of responsible leadership and the various challenges that uncertain times present, making responsible leadership absolutely essential, concluding with glimpses of all the chapters of this book and their relevance in present uncertain circumstances. Keywords Responsible Leadership · Uncertain times · Sustainability · Pandemic

1.1 Introduction Where would I possibly find enough leather. With which to cover the surface of the earth? But wearing leather just on the soles of my shoes. Is equivalent to covering the earth with it. (Arya Shantideva, Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way of Life).

T. Sharma (B) · R. S. Ray Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected] R. S. Ray e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_1

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T. Sharma ana R. S. Ray

The intent of leadership has been expressed beautifully in the above lines from one of the most important Buddhist texts, Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Chap. 5). Strategic understanding to lead the organizations to a sustained future with limited resources is critical in uncertain times. In the post-pandemic world, the current discourse on ‘Responsible Leadership’ is essentially embedded in stakeholder engagement, shared values, and climate concerns. Well-being of individuals is central to the organizations by way of empathy and compassion to attain ‘Bodhichitta,’ a mind embedded in wisdom-based compassion for human and non-human elements. Both nurture and nature seem urgent and important, From the perspective of Taoism (Zu 2019), the purpose of the organization is not confined to only profit making, but also to make the world a better place to live in. Laozi (also known as Lao Tzu), an ancient Chinese philosopher emphasized on “Tao” or purpose in his Taoism philosophy. The wisdom and principles of Taoism could be embedded by incorporating compassion and integrity, while working towards society (Zu 2019). According to Zu (2019), responsible leadership of the organization is purpose-driven to serve the society and environment at large and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) for the environment is positively influenced by responsible leadership (Zhu and Zhou 2019). This book on Responsible Leadership for sustainability in uncertain times is an attempt to extend the current discourse through conceptual and empirical studies for the benefit of both the practitioners and the academic fraternity. The first chapter aims to explore the literature on responsible leadership for mapping the past discourse followed by a brief description of chapters in this book. In the extant literature on leadership, there are certain activities that define leadership beyond the “formal leadership roles” (Alvesson & Spicer 2012; Fairhurst & Uhl-Bien 2012). These are not only limited to the inherent activities within the organizations but how the activities are centred around the major external stakeholders. Responsible leadership is defined by adding the ethical practices and environmental accountability of leaders (Miskan & Mendehall 2018). Meliou et al. (2021) describe the emergent perspective of responsible leadership as they argue that responsible leadership qualities could be gauged through “shared concerns” towards various stakeholders. “Shared concerns” could be viewed in terms of “communal concerns”, “environmental concerns”, “employee concerns” and “professional concerns” (Meliou et al. 2021). Responsible Leadership could thus be viewed as an integrative leadership approach with various stakeholders as a shared value (Szczepanska-Woszczyna 2015). Responsible Leadership is often viewed as an individual trait of “doing good” and being harmless (Stahl & Sully de Luque 2014). On the other hand, other views put forward are based on relational aspects of leadership with different stakeholders that encompass social and environmental responsibilities (Pless et al. 2012; Doh & Quigley 2014; Meliou et al. 2021). A study, cited by Meliou et al (2021), is a critique of relational aspects of leadership, where it is pointed out that these are based on responses to stakeholders within the organization and emphasizes the need to move beyond organizational structures in defining responsible leadership (Zueva-Owens 2020). Meliou et al (2021) argued that the emergence of responsible leadership

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might take shape in a complex adaptive system out of the pre-existed relationships. In this context, it is worth mentioning that attributes of responsible leadership that encompass various features of business leadership and sustainability (Armani et al. 2020) get diverse importance among managers depending on their functional domains in the organizations. The responsible leadership beliefs are also different among entrepreneurs leading to asymmetric awareness and knowledge of the concept (Szczepanska-Woszczyna 2015). Friedman’s (1970) view of “social responsibility of business” (Friedman, 1970), remaining confined to the idea of profit-making based on ethical practices, has been one of the major pillars of ethics in leadership. The proponents of responsible leadership have ideated a leadership pattern based on responsible behaviour and ethical practices to evolve into “good business” (Schwartz & Carroll, 2003; Knights & O’Leary, 2006). Thus in the context of this book, “responsible leadership” is defined where an organization’s top management or any individual leader is accountable to all internal and external stakeholders through ethical governance, social and environmental responsibilities.

1.2 Impact of Responsible Leadership Rimita et al (2019) examined the preparedness of organizational leaders in the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. Kagema (2018) emphasized the need for responsible leadership in sub-Saharan nations, where natural resources are abundant. But, due to a lack of responsible leaders, countries suffer from a resource curse. The mediating factor of converting responsible qualities into individual managerial leadership is “reflexive abilities” (Hind et al. 2007), which are required for a sustainable organization, and necessitate taking care of people and the planet. However, nurturing such attitudinal change toward employees would not be enough amidst uncertainties in their job environment. Zhu et al. (2021) identified the contradictory impact of responsible leadership on employee cyberloafing. Employing semi-experimental methodology, they concluded that responsible leadership leads to reduced employee cyber-loafing through felt obligation but also increased cyber-loafing through job stress (Zhu et al. 2021). Szczepanska-Woszczyna et al. (2015) also emphasized the need to strike a balance between the needs of the entrepreneurs and the needs of the stakeholders to realize responsible leadership in reality. Zhao and Zhou (2019), in their study, showed a positive impact of responsible leadership on employees’ organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment. This relationship is moderated by two constructs–– role of leadership identification, and perceived role of ethics and social responsibility (Zhao and Zhou 2019). It has become pertinent to design business models where employees could turn risk and challenges into new opportunities through green business models, frugal innovations and sustainable transformations. The role of social capital in bridging and bonding, emotive issues like empathy and compassion at work for engagement

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and wellbeing are being discussed by practitioners and academicians and need to be documented.

1.3 Responsible Leadership in Uncertain Times Since the days of the Brundtland Commission’s report (1987), the sustainable development agenda has always been centred around meeting the needs of the present generation while sustaining the future generations. Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (Benett and Lemoine 2014) are features embedded in the triple bottom line approach of people, planet and profit (Elkington 1998). Most of the literature has captured organizational practices and change management related to the uncertainty created by anthropogenic activities like excessive consumption of exhaustible resources of energy leading to global warming and climate change etc. Disruptions have become a new normal. Currently, rejuvenating global trade and commerce has emerged as an urgency to combat COVID-19-related issues. A sound healthcare infrastructure in terms of availability of vaccines, COVID-19 care centres, oxygen cylinders and ventilators are necessities today. Uncertainties due to rising inequality and climatic calamities are possible in near future. How far corporate social responsibility can take care of community needs as well as the needs of their own employees is also an important area to address, which would, in turn, ascertain how quickly an organization or a community at large comes out of the crisis. The role of product and process innovation is absolutely crucial in today’s uncertain world. How technology and innovation can be game changers for an organization to serve its purpose of sustainable business model in a cost-effective way, and it certainly leads to the emergence of new business models. In times of slowing down, economic growth leads to a basic fundamental question of what priority the organizations should focus on—profit, people or planet. However, the three aspects of the triple bottom line could be worked out under a responsible leadership framework with high compassion and the right attitude. Mukerji (2020) has emphasized the role of project management perspective, the need for continuous learning, and indices and metrics as parts of responsible leadership. There is scope of sustainable investment to address the issue of intergenerational inequity in uncertain times. During the first and second waves of the pandemic, many countries faced a dilemma of how to carry on economic activities within a framework of stringent lockdown and disrupted supply chain. World Economic Forum Report (2021) states that the economic growth is predicted to be at its pre-COVID-19 level by 2022, though continued disruptions due to mutant coronavirus and repeated pandemic waves would affect the economy and result in downward projections. The current crisis calls for a new discourse if the organisations wish to sustain operations. Most successful organizations, that have become centre of profits due to online platforms and remote work amid COVID-19 pandemic, like IT, insurance, and pharma sector companies, may be viewed from the lens of the frictional theory of profit (Salvatore 1995). There are savings related to renting and energy costs of the organization and profits due

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to health emergencies and their consequences but then the question of economic viability, social and environmental sustainability in the future needs to be addressed. The pertinent question is whether such profits are going to be just frictional (Salvatore 1995) or long-lasting for the sustainability of such organizations. The role of responsible leadership is therefore, relevant here for the sustainability of such businesses during uncertain times. In uncertain times when people lost jobs or suffered heavy compensation cuts, and lockdown further jeopardized their scope of getting alternative jobs, sustaining lives became a challenge. As per World Economic Forum’s report (2021), forty percent of the world population is likely to suffer from the insecurity of their job loss within the next five years. Oxfam report (2021) states that eighty-seven percent of the economists perceive that inequality is likely to widen in this pandemic, unless immediate remedial measures are taken. The report further states that within nine months, the billionaires of the world would be back to their pre-COVID-19 wealth accumulation, but for the poor to reach back to their pre-COVID-19 income is an extremely difficult proposition to make. The impact on gender is also being measured and discussed. During both the waves, India faced this conflict of employment and health hazard like many other countries that are struggling with these continuous disruptions. Discussion on lives and livelihood is a critical one and needs urgent attention. The plight of migrant workers during total lockdown also raises a question about their invisibility and the need to invest in social infrastructure. COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in job losses and an acute dearth of medical infrastructure. Issues of governance and leadership for data ethics, transparency and vaccination equality need to be addressed. New economic models and newer ways of social inclusion that emerged during COVID-19 times led to conscious planning for use of natural resource consumption. In this context, the book focusses on responsible leadership, organizational challenges, issues and change management due to the altered patterns of social capital formation in tech-enabled remote-work-based organizations and its effect on human resource management internally and stakeholders externally. Book chapters also focus on analyses and identifications of the factors underlying these phenomena beyond the current discourse on anthropogenic activities responsible for disruptions. This is particularly relevant today when uncertainty has increased manifold and remote working and well-being of employees have been the critical differentiators for sustainable operations due to COVID-19 pandemic. In India and other Asian countries, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) and traders had suffered due to untimely and indefinite lockdowns from time to time. Business activities which got disrupted several times due to lockdown, not only posed new challenges of continuity but also led to liquidity crunch and availability of soft working loans. The challenges and issues of sustainability in the future emerging out of these uncertainties are explored through real-life cases.

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1.4 An Overview of the Book Chapters This book is a blend of theory, empirical studies, and case studies on sustainable livelihood and the role of responsible leadership and empowerment for sustaining businesses in such uncertain times. The book contains the following three sections. Section I This section focuses on responsible leadership in uncertain times. It begins with the current chapter discussing the past discourse and present scenario. Chapter 2 talks about how responsible leadership could lead to a sustainable transformation to mitigate the challenges of uncertain times. The chapter discusses that Elkington (1998)’s framework of the Triple Bottom line (TPL) approach could not replace the single-line approach of profitability successfully as the primary focus still remained on profitability. The chapter also explains the complementary relationship between the TPL of People, Planet and Prosperity in uncertain times. The relationship could change from substitutability of TPL to complementarity for sustainability in the VUCA world. Sustainable transformation involves complexity, importance, urgency and megatrend. The key responsible leadership traits that should exist for sustainable transformation are explained through 7S- strategy, structure, system, style, staff, skills and shared vision. Besides this 7S framework, the chapter also identifies diversity, inclusion and culture to be the main features of responsible leadership to bring about change with social impact. Chapter 3 is an encapsulation of the past discourse on prominent leadership practices woven into an evolving style of responsive, responsible, agile and well-informed leadership relevant in today’s uncertain times. Comparing and contrasting political and organizational leadership in pre-covid and during COVID-19 times, the chapter discusses various leadership practices and their impact on the country and organizations. COVID-19-induced anxieties, hazards and work-style changes are enumerated along with the leadership practices that helped in managing them, paving a way forward for these practices to be the new insights that may guide the leadership discourse even when the pandemic is long behind us. The chapter is a rich compilation of various facets of the society: the governments, migrant workers, not-for-profits, employees, and discusses these in the light of sustainable growth, and innovation, bringing about a circular economy and shared economy. The chapter is a sincere call for all present and aspiring leaders to know themselves and their leadership styles better, to understand their anchors and to exhibit leadership that is embedded in values and responsibility. Chapter 4 dwells on dynamics of remote leadership to ensure employee wellness especially in the context of COVID-19 situation. Various issues discussed in the chapter include the need and use of remote leadership pre- and post-COVID-19, remote leadership and employee wellness, the impact of technology on remote leadership, challenges for remote leadership and tips for achieving excellence in remote leadership. The discussion and conclusions of the chapter will provide the readers with an insight into remote leadership and its role in maintaining employee wellness.

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Section II This section deals with organizational, social, economic and environmental issues in uncertain times beyond the current discourse and documentation. COVID-19induced uncertainties have thrown many newer challenges. Remote working and well-being of employees have been the critical differentiators for sustainable operations. Chapter 5 outlines how VUCA perceptions encourage the search for interorganizational collaborations within and among different sectors, and can be positioned as a theme of partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this chapter, a special case of inter-organizational collaboration is presented, that of De Rechtmakers, which is focused on contracts. The literature on contracts shows the need for a new mindset in contract governance and presents developments towards including elements such as trust, reciprocity, relationship building, and long-term orientation. The latter are usually labelled as psychological contracts, and are additional to formal contracts. The new contracting approach can be termed ‘Integrative Contracting’ and is inspired by the Integrating Simplification of collaboration processes, with the aim of pursuing a higher purpose in partnership. Integrative Contracting incorporates the new elements found in other approaches, but it starts with a fundamental view of the world, and especially of human beings. Here, the intention of aligning the partners’ different perspectives and purposes forms a key starting point for partnerships. This alignment inherently creates space to realize human nature’s potential in the midst of uncertain, volatile and unpredictable developments. When VUCA levels are high, a basic set of guiding principles form the root of partnership. These lead towards the simplification of processes in partnerships, such that everyone involved feels ownership and the processes become interwoven, which prevents their disintegration. The pattern that emerges is described in five steps, using the metaphor of stepping stones. The principles of Integrative Contracting are: Serving, Attuning, Trusting, Needing, Rethinking and Common Sensing. They take place within the spaces of actions (Doing), interactions (Interbeing), and values (Being). Chapter 6 is a unique addition to organizational sustainability from the Eastern perspective of Veda and Yoga Sutras. This is a new angle to responsible leadership in terms of circular organizing as an egalitarian and flexible form for fuller engagement and resilience. In a VUCA world, circular organizing is an innovative solution to organizational problems. The chapter demonstrates examples of social and organizational circles from ancient Indian scriptures to illustrate and examine the potential benefits of circular organizing. Many functions in organizations and society are already organized as circles, such as quality circles, social circles, product life cycles, software development cycles, and others. The UN Security Council is perhaps the most iconic circular organizing structure. Apple Inc.’s new global headquarters in California is another iconic circular structure. At the spiritual level, the Vedas and Yoga Sutras are organized as mandalas or circles. Leadership circles provide expression to a richly interwoven community to engender greater creativity and accountability. Chapter 7 explores the role of social capital in understanding how organizations survive and thrive inclusively in uncertain times. Social capital is a multi-dimensional

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concept, which has its origin in community studies and has gradually found its way into organizations. Ever since the industrial revolution, economic instrumentality of organizations has amplified. However, more recently, globalization and disruptions in the business environment have added new dimensions of complexity and uncertainty and therefore have necessitated attention to different forms of capital including human capital and social capital. A systematic literature review of social capital over the past decade (2011–2020) has been presented using the 4P framework: Purpose, Product, Place and Price. The chapter presents insights into how social capital has been leveraged as a resource by multiple stakeholders. Using social exchange and social embeddedness view, social capital has shown to positively impact the business ecosystem, communities, minorities, businesses, and employees. Also, during uncertain times, social capital acts as a rainy-day investment that can be used to construct, convert, transfer, or complement needful resources. Findings from the study can be leveraged by both practitioners and academicians to invest in social capital for employee wellbeing and drive an organization’s success. Chapter 8 presents a study on the migrant workers across states in India during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The policymakers’ sudden announcements of such lockdowns completely ignored the implications on the lives of millions of Indian workers. This created tremendous economic, social and psychological stress on these workers. The concept and various dimensions of “invisibility” (Daniels 1987) were explored to understand the policymakers’ attitude towards migrant workers and their plights in uncertain times. Invisible work is associated with the work that has been neglected by mainstream researchers in work and employment. The chapter further identifies the structural, political, social and economic factors that led to such invisibility of migrant workers for policymakers. How irresponsible behavior of the policy makers due to the invisibility of migrant workers led to such a circumstance, is analyzed using a robust research methodology. The authors have employed empiricoinductive approach using the expert opinions of professionals and volunteers dealing with migrant workers during covid times followed by a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 24 migrant workers. The policy implications of the study are a more inclusive approach and state-regulated structures that could create visibility for migrant workers leading to a responsible leadership of policymakers. Chapter 9 explores the impact of COVID-19-induced lockdown and its repercussions on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in India. In doing so, the authors focus on the importance of responsible leadership to survive through uncertain times. Digitalization, multi-sector collaborations, localization, and inclusion of social agenda are discussed to have played a critical role in enabling the MSMEs to be more resilient and impactful. The chapter considers the realm of developing countries, and their unique business and environmental challenges and presents two powerful cases in the water purifier manufacturing sector to emphasize on how seemingly small innovations are game changers for the entire sector and blessings for the environment. The context of these innovations sends out a strong message of the right intent, to diagnose a social problem, to make the process more efficient using cross-disciplinary learnings, producing a product that does good to the consumers (good health), the business (revenue) and the society (employment).

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Chapter 10 on sustainable development has captured the public and political imagination in the rapidly changing environmental landscape and global order. Leadership plays an important role in the implementation of sustainable practices. Regulators in India are now introducing comprehensive sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) related frameworks for disclosures, to look beyond traditional finance-centric models. Only if senior leaders are value-driven and fully committed to sustainability, the scale of change required can be achieved within a short time. This chapter is an early-stage analysis of the interrelationship of value-based senior leaders and top management to sustainability in the Indian context. Mixed method research with a combination of a survey and interviews is used. Respondents were drawn from diverse sectors of the industry, government and education. In-depth structured leadership interviews with business leaders and regulators provided insights into shaping the study. The findings of this study reveal that value-based leadership ensures a leader’s commitment to sustainability. No difference was found in the leader’s commitment to values and sustainability across age groups, gender, size of organization and work experience. Leaders highlighted that communication and collaboration play an important role in achieving sustainability goals. Chapter 11 explores the risks and uncertainties in business organizations associated with climate change and global warming, leading to new challenges as well as opportunities. Amidst such a crisis, the chapter identifies responsible leadership as taking actions to convert the challenges into the right opportunities. As per the Paris agreement, the organizations are complying with the newer policies by ushering in new technologies and processes in their business operations. Thus, this chapter argues that these innovative modifications in business pave the way for responsible leadership in the organization, thereby enhancing transparency and accountability. The chapter presents cases of two prominent business organizations-Reliance Industry and Tata Power based on secondary data as to how they converted threats to opportunities at certain times. The chapter emphasizes the role of responsible leadership towards clean and sustainable practices to bring about change management not just in business operations but in the entire supply change. Chapter 12 focusses on a global burning topic of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures for sustainability. The latest development in the Indian corporate governance has been the introduction of ESG disclosures, mandated by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in May 2021. This chapter is an empirical endeavour in explaining the relationship between the social indicators of the ESG framework and a firm’s financial performance. The chapter contributes to the pervasive debate on whether the Human Resources function adds perceptible value to the bottom line of an organization and if it does, to what extent. Considering the key practices organized and monitored in almost every organization––inclusion of female employees, training and development initiatives, employee turnover and presence of employee policies, the chapter reveals interesting insights from the panel data regression, paving way for a much richer research in human resources management and sustainability realms. Chapter 13 presents a case for sustainability as being more than just a subset of a business enterprise. It discusses the issue of climate change in the context of the oil & gas and finance

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sectors. The chapter proposes a framework rooted in the Basel Committee’s principles on climate-related financial risks, Task Force for Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and World Economic Forum (WEF) principles to ensure that sustainability is constitutive of, and not in addition to, business operations. Section III Case Study Section III includes case studies focused on responsible leadership, technological innovation and environmental concerns. Chapter 14 captures how a not-for-profit organization, Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness (Global Foundation), not only survived the leanest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also emerged victorious in maximizing the impact of various Covid relief efforts through a collaborative and participatory approach. The COVID-19 crisis exposed stark differences in the fortunes of different small and medium-sized businesses. Well-capitalized start-ups have weathered the storm better than cash-poor community businesses. Global Foundation, which is a smaller fry in the world of the development sector, operates as a not-for-profit startup committed to bringing in innovative and enduring solutions to some of the key socio-environmental challenges. Being very new in the game, it had its enthusiasm intact and perhaps being young, was more resilient and innovative. No less dramatic than a Sci-fi movie, COVID-19 arrived silently, and swept the world away with both losses of life and livelihood. Global Foundation stood its ground, refusing to budge, no matter what, embracing the best possible adaptation. This case study shows that despite being a core environmental organization, it engaged in and with all avenues coming its way with the sole motto of serving the community—“by doing more with less”. Chapter 15 discusses the benefits of responsible leadership through a case study on Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s innovation of introducing the Regenerative Braking System (RBS). Delhi Metro did not shy away from making a large investment to save energy consumption and avoid carbon footprinting through this technological innovation. This made them win carbon credits from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and a Gold Standard Certification for this project and a project of Modal shift in transportation. Both certifications were awarded as a result of avoiding the increase in further carbon foot-printing in an already polluted National Capital Region of India. The case study shows how the crisis of the collapse of the global financial market in 2008 led to a decline in the international carbon markets, which came to standstill in 2013. Delhi Metro did not cease its green initiatives and continued to earn carbon credits, which almost lost any monetary value amidst uncertainty. The market revived in 2018 but became uncertain again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic lockdown led to a huge financial loss of their operations that got compensated by the sales of accumulated carbon credits at such uncertain times. Thus, this chapter analyses how responsible leadership behaviour led to contribution towards sustainability, which ultimately contributed not only to the society but supported back the organization in times of crises. The chapter uses the framework of “Shared concerns” (Meliou et al. 2021) to analyse the responsible leadership model of Delhi Metro.

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Chapter 16 calls attention to the growing concern for climate change. The author uses case studies of globally renowned environmental leaders: Yvon Chouinard, Founder of the multi-billion-dollar clothing and sports gear company Patagonia, and Sonam Wangchuk, Founder of Students’ Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) to define and explain environmental leadership in the current times and also enriches her discourse on environmental leadership with interview analysis of eleven more such personalities from the field of sustainability and conservation. The author’s conviction is that the seeds of sensitivity and feeling of responsibility towards one’s environment are sown in the formative years of one’s childhood. She discusses the life histories and journeys of Wangchuk and Chouinard, which were highly unconventional and exemplary in that their businesses met their objectives while being responsible towards the planet and its people. In the eleven interviews, she breaks away from a qualitative methodology paradigm and poses a single question that is reflective and open-ended. The responses that are presented substantiate her conviction of the importance of role models and proximity with nature in growing up to be more responsible adults. The cases of Wangchuk and Chouinard have little in common, demographically. While the former is based in the eastern hemisphere of the Earth, the latter is a citizen of the West. But their zeal to take care of the planet, and be more sensitive to the world couldn’t be more similar. Fighting their unique challenges, they, along with the other eleven interviewed, reinforce the importance of childhood experiences—in developing compassion for the environment, and personal grit—in wading through the challenges to be responsible towards the environment, and the local context—which is their nurturing ground and the land they feel indebted towards.

1.5 Conclusion Based on the literature review of responsible leadership, it is defined in the context of this book as where an organization’s top management or any individual leader is accountable towards all internal and external stakeholders through ethical governance, social and environmental responsibilities. Literature also reaffirms that such leadership steers the organization for external validation of its practices and processes to attain legitimacy through the social construction of reality and this, in turn, enhances its attractiveness and brand appeal to customers and investors of the organization. Interlinkages and interdependencies among different stakeholders are a norm for sustainability. Few selected verses from ‘In Praise of Dependent Origination’ by Lama Tsongkhapa, (Je Rinpoche) of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, aptly indicate the requisite cognitive development for responsible leadership for sustainability in uncertain times. Whatever degenerations there are in the world, The root of all these is ignorance.

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You taught that it is dependent origination, The seeing of which will undo this ignorance. So can an intelligent person. Not comprehend that this path. Of dependent origination is. The essential point of your teaching?

References Alvesson M, Spicer A (2012) Critical leadership studies: The case for critical performativity. Hum Relats 65(3):367–390. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726711430555 Armani AB, Petrini M, Santos AC (2020) What are the Attributes of Sustainable Leadership? Revista Brasileira De Gestão De Negócios 22(4):820–835 Bennett N, Lemoin GJ (2014) What VUCA really means for you. Harvard Business Review, January–February Brundtland GH (1987) (forwarded), Report of the world commission on environment and development: Our common future, accessed at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/docume nts/5987our-common-future.pdf Daniels AK (1987) Invisible Work. Soc Probl 34(5):403–415 Doh JP, Quigley NR (2014) Responsible leadership and stakeholder management: Influence pathways and organizational outcomes. Acad Manag Perspect 28(3):255–274. https://doi.org/10. 5465/amp.2014.0013 Elkington J (1998) Accounting for the Triple Bottom line. Meas Bus Excel 2(3), 18–22 Fairhurst GT, Uhl-Bien M (2012) Organizational discourse analysis (ODA): Examining leadership as a relational process. Leadersh Quart 23(6):1043–1062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012. 10.005 Hind P, Wilson A, Lenssen G, (2007) Developing leaders for sustainable business, Corp GovAnce, Emerald, 9(1), https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700910936029 Kagema DN (2018) Responsible leadership and sustainable development in Post-independent africa: a kenyan experience. J Values-Based LeadShip, 11(1):9. https://doi.org/10.22543/0733.111.1207 Meliou E, Ozbilgin M, Edwards T (2021) How does responsible leadership emerge? An emergentist perspective. Eur Manag Rev, 18(4), 521–534. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emre. 12488 Miska C, Mendehall ME (2018) Responsible leadership: A mapping of extant research and future directions. J Bus Ethics 148(1):117–134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551015-2999-0 Mukerji D, (2020) Responsible leadership for sustainability and resilience in rising economies. In: Conference Paper, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338390576 Oxfam report (2021) The Inequality virus report- Global report https://d1ns4ht6ytuzzo.cloudfront. net/oxfamdata/oxfamdatapublic/202101/The%20Inequality%20Virus%20-%20Global%20R eport%20%282021%293.pdf?N03OMRi1S_PWAiXig7D34AiDJ6ibPSOP Pless NM, Maak T, Waldman DA (2012) Different approaches toward doing the right thing: Mapping the responsibility orientations of leaders. Acad Manag Perspect 26(4):51–65. https://doi.org/10. 5465/amp.2012.0028 Rimita, K., Hoon, S.N. Levasseur, R. (2019) Leader Readiness in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous Business Environment, J Soc Chang, 12(2), https://doi.org/10.5590/JOSC.2020. 12.1.02

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Stahl GK, Sully de Luque M (2014) Antecedents of responsible leader behavior: A research synthesis, conceptual framework, and agenda for future research. Acad Manag Perspect 28(3):235–254. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2013.0126 Salvatore D (1995) Managerial economics in the global economy, McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed, Chapter 1 Szczepanska-Woszczyna K, Dacko-Pikeiwicz Z, Lis M (2015) Responsible leadership: a real need or transient curiosity, 20th international scientific conference economics and management. Procedia—Social and Behavioural Sciences 213:546–551 World Economic Forum’s report (2021) http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Chief_Econom ists_Outlook_June_2021.pdf Zhao H, Zhou Q (2019) Exploring the impact of responsible leadership on organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment: a leadership identity perspective. Sustainability 11:944 Zhu J, Wei H, Li H, Osburn H The paradoxical effect of responsible leadership on employee cyberloafing: A moderated mediation model. Hum Resour Dev Q, 32:597–624 Zu Liangrong (2019) Purpose-driven leadership for sustainable business: From the perspective of taoism, Int J Corp Soc Responsib, 4(3), Springer Open Access, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991019-0041-z Zueva-Owens A (2020) Fools, jesters and the possibility of responsible leadership. Organization 27(4):613–633. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508419831919

Tanuja Sharma Prof. Tanuja Sharma is Ex-chairperson, HR area, MDI Gurgaon and Head, Center of excellence for Ethics, ESG initiatives and Responsible Organizations. Her research interests include Performance Management, Happiness, Dignity, Gender across generations and Sustainability. She has published in numerous peer reviewed journals, authored book chapters, cases and presented in international conferences. Her Doctoral work received ‘Mercer Award Asia 2005’ for innovative research. Rupamanjari Sinha Ray Dr. Rupamanjari Sinha Ray is an Assistant Professor in Economics Area at MDI Gurgaon. She has been engaged in management teaching and training for fifteen years. Her research areas and publications are mainly based on development and environmental economics, primarily on Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Regulation and Policy and MSMEs. She has co-authored a book on CSR practices in India and has published papers in the national and international journals of repute. She is a life member of Indian Economic Association, and a member of Trans-disciplinary research cluster (TRC) on Frugal Innovation at JNU.

Part I

Responsible Leadership: Past Discourse and New Insights

Chapter 2

Approaching and Accompanying the Sustainable Transformation Bridget Rug

Abstract In this article, we are going to take a look at the current situation, some of the factors that have caused it and sustainable transformation as a way to create a world in which People, Planet and Prosperity (previously: Profit) are no longer competing elements. Until now, there was a clear imbalance between the three aspects: While Profit was an obvious goal all company executives made a priority, People and Planet seem to have been neglected by many organizations—with severe consequences. Based on this observation, John Elkington accepts that the Triple Bottom Line has failed to replace the Single Bottom Line approach targeting Profit only. According to him, additional competencies are urgently needed to safely navigate a world characterized by permanent change and uncertainties. What he calls for in Green Swans are the 3 Rs: Responsibility, Resilience and Regeneration. The chapter is also going to demonstrate how the 7-S Model, developed by McKinsey consultants in the 1980s, can help structure the sustainable transformation to achieve lasting effects. Responsible leadership plays a key role in this respect. Keywords Sustainable Transformation · 7-S Model · Diversity and Inclusion · Agile Transformation · Trust

2.1 Setting the Scene Before COVID-19, permanent change was already all around us. However, the pandemic has accelerated things even more. As a result of this unprecedented pace of change, almost anybody would probably confirm that the times we live in are uncertain. But before we move into problem-solving mode, we need to define what uncertainty means and what its main characteristics are. A well-known concept that was developed by the US Army War College back in the late 1980s and which has been applied to business since the turn of the millennium is the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, B. Rug (B) Oberzent-Hetzbach (Odenwald), Germany e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_2

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complex and ambiguous) world. In other words, a context in which the future is hard to predict, which makes it even more important to successfully manage the broad variety of aspects coming into play. While it remains fair to say that the present is very complex in all respects, various researchers and practitioners claim that VUCA is no longer enough to describe the current state of affairs. To take it a step further, Cascio (2020) came up with the BANI framework. BANI stands for: B—Brittle; A—Anxious; N—Non-linear; I—Incomprehensible. In the world we live in, complexity has been replaced by chaos. While volatility tends to follow certain ups and downs, non-linear developments make predictions almost impossible. And many of the things that are happening around us are simply incompatible with any kind of human logic. What this implies is that, in a BANI world, the recipes for success are very different from the ones we used in the past and which we have seen failing over and over again in recent months and years. The challenges have changed dramatically and businesses as well as society as a whole need to develop novel strategies to cope with the new rules of the game. If we take a closer look at the macroeconomic situation, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed several shortcomings of our globalized world. While foreign trade entails many benefits, some of the disadvantages have been hugely underestimated. During the pandemic, we learnt a lot about supply chain disruptions, more precisely about low salaries and materials of unknown origin, but also the adverse (environmental) impact of relying on cheap imports. In extreme cases, companies with full order books ran the risk of going bankrupt because they were unable to produce and deliver the ordered products due to a lack of necessary components. With raw materials becoming scarce, the prices on the international markets went up accordingly, with corresponding knock-on effects on businesses and ultimately individual house owners and consumers. In summary, we are in a threatening situation that has, to a large extent, been caused by unsustainable business practices and behaviour over decades. The climate crisis forces us to act immediately, and we are all expected to play an integral role in the problem-solving process. Politicians all around the world must do their utmost to set the appropriate legal framework. However, companies and individuals are the ones to fill it with life within the boundaries of their respective possibilities and potential. It is both a burden and a huge responsibility. But it is non-negotiable. We do not have a choice anymore if we want to leave our children and grandchildren a world behind which is worth living in, and if we want to be able to look into the mirror tomorrow and in the future.

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2.2 The Goal: Sustainability with a Lasting Impact The role of the consumers tends to be belittled at times because the widespread perception is that small changes in our daily lives are not going to make a big difference (Goodall 2020). What this thinking leaves out of sight is that seemingly minor contributions in aggregate add up to a significant one. And another essential aspect is that, when it comes to sustainability, a shift in mindset (Dweck 2017) starts with awareness and consciousness (Sinek 2019), that things cannot continue like this and that we need to course-correct to get it right going forward. Companies, on the other hand, have a fundamental role to play. And many of them already take their responsibility very seriously and lead by example with best-in-class practices. But what does sustainability mean and entail? For a very long time, there was a common understanding that companies had to choose between either being environmentally friendly or earning money. In his Triple Bottom Line concept, Elkington (2020) stated that focusing on Profit only is not enough and that companies should also consider the Planet and the People in their decision-making processes as sustainability would allow companies to make the environment a priority while ensuring a financially sound position. Their way of doing business and earning money create additional advantages for certain parts of society or for society as a whole. Edmans (2020) suggests that responsible business is one that creates value for society while generating profit for investors. According to this definition, it is no longer an either-or choice but a conscious decision to strive for both. With new legislation on the horizon (Non-Financial Reporting, Supply Chain Act or Taxonomy, just to cite a few), larger companies have to disclose their practices. This means the market in general and consumers, in particular, get easy access to this information and can take their buying decisions on that basis. As a result, the pressure on companies to behave in line with the highest sustainability standards continues to increase. Fortunately, sustainability has also entered the asset management arena by now. Ever since Larry Fink, President and CEO of BlackRock highlighted, in his 2020 letter to the CEOs, the importance of ESG as a risk management tool and stated that ultimately the purpose is the engine of long-term profitability (Fink 2020), the pressure has become enormous. The financial industry has immense power as access to capital remains one of the crucial growth factors for companies of all sizes and industries. Without such access, the question becomes a matter of survival. While his statements are perceived as strict by some, others see a lack of credibility, claiming that BlackRock has not always acted as a role model in ESG-related questions. What is set in stone is that we, as a society, need to become sustainable as quickly as possible. Companies are stakeholders with a significant leverage effect and what might get them to act immediately is a high probability that their inaction is eventually going to exclude them from the capital market. On a positive note, many companies have voluntarily committed to sustainability and serious initiatives are already underway. For others, the current circumstances are likely to be a wake-up call to finally embark on the journey towards sustainability.

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2.3 Sustainability-Related Concepts With this in mind, let’s think about possible ways of driving sustainability. More and more companies have implemented initiatives designed to help them as an organization to become more sustainable. These are largely based on a growing consciousness that we need to act without further delay. This awareness combined with the willingness to truly contribute is an important first step. However, the question is what impact the adopted measures are going to have. And this varies significantly across organizations. The CSR maturity model by Schneider (2015) is a very helpful tool designed to categorize companies depending on the scope of the efforts undertaken. A few years ago, a widespread practice was to rely on corporate sponsoring only (also referred to as CSR 0.0 or, if combined with other CSR measures but in a non-systematic way, CSR 1.0). The intention behind this was to support a good cause and to get positive press and a better reputation in return. Corporate sponsoring certainly was and continues to be an important element within culture and society, in particular the local communities. As such, it remains a legitimate form of CSR. At the same time, it is key to understand that isolated measures are not designed to create a lasting impact and that corporate sponsoring should be part of a broader and fully aligned sustainability agenda. The higher the level of CSR, the bigger the potential that the company’s efforts directly improve the three pillars of sustainability. CSR 3.0 located at the top of the pyramid refers to the most advanced companies in the CSR arena with a proactive approach and a serious commitment to sustainably shaping the future. By now, many companies approach sustainability with professionalism. Some of them hire a sustainability manager or entire teams dedicated to sustainability and/or have sustainability initiatives in place. They are much more advanced than some of the companies falling into the aforementioned categories. But can they truly make an impact? The answer to that question varies from company to company. It seems to be fair to say though that to make a significant impact that truly deserves the designation “sustainable”, we need to see companies going for a genuine sustainable transformation (Bueno and Ferreira 2015). What does this mean in practice? We need to strive for the long-term impact which clearly cannot be achieved exclusively through short-term measures. Actions which solve problems on the surface are likely to lead to small and perhaps immediate improvements (frequently with a one-time effect). If we are striving for lasting results though, then we need to get to the core of the business.

2.4 Sustainable Transformation Many company representatives get worried when they hear the term “sustainability”. Let’s face it: Permanent change is all around us and some of the major initiatives are transformations. Some of the key characteristics of transformations are:

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Complexity, Importance, Urgency, Megatrend.

Not every topic has the potential to be transformational in nature. A transformation is based on a megatrend, a topic that is here to stay and which companies will need to deal with now whether they want to or not, and which is going to affect many, if not all, areas in the organization (Bueno and Ferreira 2015). In our days, most organizations are in the middle of some form of digital transformation. What this translates to in real life will vary substantially from one company to another. However, hardly any company can afford to ignore digitization as they would otherwise sooner or later disappear from the marketplace (Gothelf and Seiden 2017). Another transformation topic is business agility. During the pandemic, the need for companies to adapt quickly around core activities became very apparent. And the ones that were able to throw old processes and approaches overboard in order to adopt new ways of working, managing projects and delighting customers were the ones that weathered the storm rather well. A third topic that is particularly suitable for transformations is sustainability. While, before COVID-19, many people and companies alike considered sustainability as a temporary trend, the shortcomings of the existing systems have revealed a need for large-scale sustainability and economic systems based on sustainability as a common denominator and driving force. As the above definition implies, sustainability that is supposed to create long-term impact is not going to happen through short-team measures. Lasting effects can only be achieved if sustainability is truly embedded in the entire organization.

2.5 The 7-S Model One possible approach is to apply the 7-S Model also known as the McKinsey 7S Framework (Lowell 2008). The 7-S Model is typically used as a tool to assess the strengths and weaknesses of organizations based on strategy, structure and system (hard factors) on the one hand and style, staff, skills and shared values (soft factors) on the other hand. Applied to sustainability contexts, it suggests that to make sustainability stick, changes are required in these seven core areas of the organization.

2.5.1 Strategy One of the fundamental changes from previous concepts is that within the sustainable transformation, sustainability becomes an integral part of the corporate strategy. As such, it is no longer a nice-to-have feature but a key element of the company’s

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core business. This includes the commitment to accept that its license to operate will also depend on whether promises around sustainability are being kept. What this also entails is that any actions taken to achieve set company goals will not only be measured by financial KPIs but also, in addition, by the degree to which sustainability standards have been met. Ultimately, any aspects that contribute to creating a competitive edge and value will have to be in line with sustainability criteria. This also refers to resource allocation (and, for example, travel policies in sales contexts).

2.5.2 Structure Another area that needs to be looked at as part of the sustainable transformation is the organizational structure. This refers to hierarchies and reporting lines. One may be wondering what this has to do with sustainability but several elements should be considered. The following list is certainly non-exhaustive but contains a couple of important topics that should be reviewed: More and more companies hire sustainability managers to express their commitment to sustainability. While this is a very positive step, the question as to how impactful his or her decisions are will largely depend on whom the sustainability manager reports to. As a topic that concerns the deep inside of the business, we would logically expect this individual to report to the C-Suite, if not the CEO or CFO. However, in many cases, the sustainability manager reports to someone outside of senior management. While this need not necessarily be bad, it changes the message this reporting line decision conveys. In today’s world, the importance assigned to a topic tends to be closely correlated with the perception by third parties. In other words, having a sustainability manager report to middle management might create the impression that the company considers sustainability as a medium priority whereas a sustainability manager reporting to the CEO comes across as someone representing a topic that is core to the company. The intention is certainly not to glorify hierarchies but to make sure that sustainability gets buy-in from the very top as, otherwise, it is going to be difficult to make changes happen in the sustainability arena. On a separate note, many companies have eight hierarchy levels or more. While this could be justified in some cases, a general trend is to look at ways to eliminate hierarchy levels by re-organizing reporting lines. From a pure environment perspective, the number of hierarchy levels may appear to be irrelevant. However, it does play a role when it comes to employee satisfaction as companies with flat hierarchies tend to empower their staff much more than those with many hierarchy levels in which command and control is a much more widespread practice.

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2.5.3 System The third and last hard factor included in the 7-S Model is the system which is the framework for processes needed to run the daily business. Depending on the industry, the company size and a myriad of other elements, this can be a few or many processes which all need to be looked at under the sustainability lens. In a medium-sized manufacturing business, for example, processes include production, supply chain, performance measurement, budgeting and quality assurance, just to cite a few. The size and industry of the company in question are key factors determining the complexity of the sustainable transformation. This becomes particularly clear by exploring the system and identifying the processes operating within. Whereas Strategy, Structure and System are hard factors, four soft factors are being considered within the 7-S Model: Style, Staff, Skills and Shared Values.

2.5.4 Style Style is equivalent to a corporate culture which is largely comprised of two parts: elements introduced and applied by senior management on the one hand and those which have grown over time on the other hand. One of the difficulties with corporate culture is its intangible nature. A very common misconception is that corporate culture cannot be measured. Since you can only change what you can measure, corporate culture gets frequently neglected when it comes to transformations. This, however, means missing out on significant potential. Change typically causes adverse reactions. Whenever we leave our comfort zone, we have to make efforts. And the more we distance ourselves from the comfort zone, the bigger the probability of struggling to cope with change. This makes it even more important to accompany change at a human level. Corporate culture is very valuable in this respect. To demystify corporate culture, it may help to take a look at some of the elements comprising it. While each company has its particularities, certain aspects form the basis of every corporate culture. These include the following: • Respect—Trust—Collaboration, • Diversity—Openness—Courage—Commitment. Measuring these characteristics is all but easy, but it is possible approaching the “state of culture” using a variety of tools and techniques including satisfaction surveys, culture assessments, empathy interviews, etc. Once the current situation has been established, a second step consists in defining the desired culture. In the context of sustainable transformation, the target culture would be the culture that supports sustainability in an ideal manner.

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2.5.5 Staff Another pillar that is directly linked to the corporate culture is the staff. This is an area with enormous leverage potential. What is true in general becomes even more relevant in companies that count sustainability among their top priorities. First of all, if sustainability is part of the core business, new profiles with a focus on sustainability and expertise in this area will be needed. To take it a step further, a truly sustainable company (or looking to become one) may want to ask all employees to bring a basic knowledge or at least a general interest in sustainability topics. At the same time, companies that have adopted sustainability as an essential element of their reason for existence are becoming much more attractive. One of the side effects of the pandemic is known—at least in the US—under the term “The Great Resignation” (Cook 2021). What this stands for is the readiness to quit a job in many cases even without having an alternative. One of the main drivers of this development is that many employees have realized during the various lockdown phases that their current role does not meet their needs. The purpose is gradually gaining traction. More and more people are striving to get a meaningful job and are often willing to make concessions on salary if the purpose and other non-financial benefits of a new job over-compensate the drop in salary. Given the link between style and staff, close alignment on the contents seems fundamental. This should also be considered in setting reporting lines. The Human Resources department (a designation which seems to be in evolution as more and more companies adopt terms avoiding “resources” in connection with employees) or a specific committee (as very common in US organizations) may also want to monitor overall employee engagement scores. This is important in any change scenario but should be non-negotiable within a transformation. The gap between happy and unhappy employees is likely going to widen. While it is key to get a picture of the status, what is even more important is to drill down to the underlying causes. Knowing that an employee is unhappy at work is a piece of information that can be interpreted in many different ways but remains very vague as long as we are missing details about what exactly makes him or her unhappy. Conversely, learning that an employee is happy at work might sound reassuring. However, the interesting aspect is what their happiness is based on. For a deep dive into these topics, a broad variety of tools and techniques are available. To choose the right mix, ask questions that provide genuine insights and engage in a mutually beneficial dialogue with employees, the individuals responsible for carrying out these tasks should possess empathy and communication skills (Dweck 2017).

2.5.6 Skills Skills refer to the competencies at a corporate level that allow the organization to add value through its products and services as well as to differentiate itself from the

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competition. By incorporating sustainability into the main business, competencies in the sustainability arena should be added to the corporate skillset, i.e. the skills the company as a whole excels in.

2.5.7 Shared Values (Vision) Finally, companies that have chosen the path of a sustainable transformation need to ensure that their shared values (Porter and Kramer 2011) are sustainability-proof, i.e. aligned with set company goals as well as the vision for its future development.

2.6 The Power of Cross-Transformational Methodologies There is probably a consensus that embarking on a transformation is a complex undertaking that impacts almost every area of the company. Suggesting that we may want to look at other transformations to support the sustainable transformation may sound contradictory. However, it might be worthwhile doing so as experience shows that there are several overlapping factors and commonalities we could benefit from. What does this mean in real life? My recommendation is to review the 7-S Model once again, this time applying a cross-transformational methodology to identify potential synergies.

2.6.1 Strategy As soon as sustainability becomes an integral part of a company’s core business, reaching set sustainability goals turns into a top priority. Digitization can help in this respect, for example by reducing the carbon footprint while saving costs.

2.6.2 Structure Hierarchies and reporting lines are closely linked with leadership. Agile leadership is a concept based on which leaders are not focused on power but on serving their teams and leveraging the power of influence to help them navigate uncertainties (Kotter 2016). The term “servant leader” is frequently misinterpreted as being a weak leader while servant leadership requires the presence of several sought-after soft skills including empathy, a genuine interest in their team members’ well-being and success as well as the ability to create an environment of psychological safety within which trust can flourish (Šochová 2021).

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2.6.3 System In a world of permanent change, it becomes vital to be able to adjust to new situations quickly and accurately. This involves creating agile processes in areas that would benefit from iterations in short intervals, e.g. product management/innovation among others.

2.6.4 Style Sooner or later, any company is likely to be faced with a transformation challenge. This also needs to be reflected in the corporate culture. We previously saw that corporate culture is the temporary result of values established by management from the outset and others that have emerged over time and are, therefore, subject to continuous change. To be able to manage the sustainable transformation successfully, both elements need to be revised accordingly: Management needs to confirm if previously established values continue to be appropriate to truly embed sustainability throughout the organization. Additionally, it might be recommendable to run a culture assessment to measure the status quo, define the target culture and come up with a strategy to achieve it. Both elements from agile and digital transformation could potentially be incorporated into the corporate culture, provided they would foster and accelerate the sustainable transformation as such.

2.6.5 Staff Both job descriptions and profile requirements are changing in companies on a journey towards sustainability. While technical skills in sustainability-related topics are certainly important, for the reasons given above, organizations may also want to consider hiring employees with an agile leadership focus to support the sustainability agenda and guide the company safely through uncertain times.

2.6.6 Skills As far as corporate skills are concerned, not only sustainability-related competencies play a key role but also agile frameworks combined with an agile mindset as complex, uncertain and even chaotic circumstances are most probably here to stay (Dweck 2017).

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2.6.7 Shared Values (Vision) The same is true for shared values (Porter and Kramer 2011): By incorporating sustainability into the core business, the company has chosen a long-term option. The longer the planning horizon, the higher the probability of changes in circumstances. To be able to detect these changes along with their (potential) implications early on and respond to them quickly and adequately, agility needs to become a shared value. In summary, elements of both the digital and agile transformation might support the transformation towards a truly sustainable company. Therefore, it seems reasonable to rely on them selectively.

2.7 Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) as Key Elements of Responsible Leadership Research shows that companies with a well-established D&I culture1 tend to be more successful than others relying on little diversity or companies that are diverse on paper but have failed to become inclusive. Even though we are talking about companies in sustainable transformation, we have seen that introducing agile concepts simultaneously might help achieve the sustainability goal in a faster and more reliable way due to the commonalities between both transformation types. A core element of agility are self-organized teams which are by definition diverse as the objective is to be able to address most situations within the own team, without the need to call for help from external teams. What is essential in self-organized teams is that all team members contribute their strengths and that all strengths have equal value. This means that team members are not competing against each other but jointly creating value to delight customers (Gothelf and Seiden 2017). What seems helpful in this respect is to focus on the commonalities rather than the differences as this creates a precious link that will enable the team to join forces to bring out optimal results. My biggest source of inspiration around this topic is my daughter Marcella: The other day, she flipped through one of my books on diversity and when I asked her to describe what she saw, she proudly talked about many children who all shared the same passion for sports. She did not even notice the differences among them but exclusively focused on the uniting elements. In my opinion, this approach is extremely powerful.

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Based on ‘Diversity Statement” of Stanford University. https://ideal.stanford.edu/about-ideal/div ersity-statement.

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2.8 The Role of Culture as a Catalyst for Change and Social Impact As we heard before, one characteristic of transformations is their complex nature which tends to create a certain inaccessibility towards the topic’ (Helfand 2020). What is crucial though is to get buy-in from management in the early phase and to attract supporters rapidly thereafter. An interactive dialogue can help close this gap. Culture in general and Art, in particular, are very valuable “tools” in this respect as visual messages and interactions as well as metaphoric approaches can be door openers in the sense of providing alternative access to topics that are otherwise perceived as being difficult to connect with (Sagmeister 2019). As an example, Monarch Intelligence is a French Association pursuing the mission of co-creating the future.2 One of their objectives is to raise awareness around the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To complete their mission, they organize different events in cooperation with change agents in the areas of climate, technology and organizational development and share best practice standards with the audience. Another pillar consists in bringing together students with companies, thereby fostering a mutual learning experience. Furthermore, Monarch works with cultural institutions regularly, including a Theatre with a program dedicated to the SDGs, to convey their message. Another real-life example is Oskar W. Rug,3 an artist/painter who has chosen sustainability as one of the main pillars of his oeuvre. This encompasses a variety of elements: • Creating artworks with sustainability-related content to get the observer to reflect on the topic. • Relying on exhibitions as a forum for getting visitors involved in a conversation about the important topics of our time. • Using Art on controversial topics to provoke any reaction by the observer as a first step out of silence, an icebreaker designed to foster an interactive dialogue and to create social impact. • Turning second-hand furniture into artworks as a mini contribution on the way towards a circular economy. Oskar W. Rug uses the power of Art as a catalyst for change on all levels of society and recently created formats based on a diversity approach to support organizations on their innovation journey. The transformative power of Art for social change and innovation is not only a concept relied on by associations and artists but is also a key element of the works of Sandra Waddock, Galligan Chair of Strategy and Professor of Management at Boston College. 2

From excerpts of an interview with Jean-Yves Mougeolle, Président, Monarch Intelligence. www. mymonarch.org. 3 Interview of Oskar W. Rug, Artist with a focus on sustainability and social impact. www.artisr ug.de.

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In summary, organizations may want to think about accompanying major change projects and even the sustainable transformation by cultural/artistic interventions and/or cooperations with artists as catalysts for social impact as their perspective and approach tend to be very different from standard corporate thinking and behaviour. It is thus a way to foster excellence through Diversity and Inclusion.

2.9 Limitations and Scope As we have seen, implementing a sustainable transformation is not an easy task for an organization. Several aspects need to be considered and the companies must overcome various obstacles to pave the way for the subsequent sustainable transformation. It seems imperative to identify and address these before defining the scope of the sustainable transformation including the first steps to get started.

2.9.1 Limitations A sustainable transformation—like any other genuine transformation—takes several years and is never fully complete. There are many unknowns along the way and success cannot be guaranteed from the outset given the long planning horizon. A second hurdle is that the decision to embark on a sustainable transformation is going to result in immediate costs while the benefits might only be visible in the future. The last limitation I would like to mention in this non-exhaustive list, which is very crucial in nature, is the pushback typically caused by change and which is particularly apparent in the case of major changes like a sustainable transformation.

2.9.2 Scope Given the above, taking an agile approach seems to be imperative if we want to avoid the watermelon effect (Ellis and Ellison 2015), which is very common in traditional projects with the objective of meeting set goals within deadline and budget. We will only know upon completion of the project (months or years after its initiation) whether it was successful or not. As a result, reporting in between is never reliable. However, to reassure management and other stakeholders, it is very common to report green status, whereas the probability that the true status is red is rather high (hence the name: watermelon effect). Iterations in short sprints, on the other hand, allow teams to work from one milestone to the next and make adjustments along the way. Furthermore, the teams make constant progress and are in a position to assess frequently if the goal remains unchanged (Sinek 2011) or if external circumstances

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require setting a new goal with a corresponding strategy. In that respect, applying agile methods and techniques is also recommendable from a risk management perspective. The choice to introduce agile ways of working (even if the goal is not to embark on a full agile transformation in parallel) implies that it might make sense to also foster a culture of Diversity and Inclusion to support the concept of self-organized teams but also to benefit from the numerous virtues D&I provides in achieving organizational excellence. Last but not least, introducing robust change management is vital. While research by Becker et al. (2004) and Manns and Rising (2015) suggests that it is key to have an evangelist within the company, someone to lead the implementation of fundamental change, it is equally important to get buy-in from management and to find supporters, followers who will ultimately turn into ambassadors and leaders themselves. According to several authors, a tribal community is the best way to implement sustained change (Campbell-Pretty 2016). This involves making constant progress (baby steps, if necessary) and celebrating even small wins to keep up the momentum and motivation. Campbell-Pretty (2016) recommends in Tribal Unity, creating a oneteam culture as a way to get from teams to tribes. What we may want to keep in mind in this context is that, in the corporate world, some of the teams referred to as such are in reality not more than a group of people working for the same company, which changes the dynamics altogether and requires us to start from scratch. Another aspect that should not be ignored is that the decision-making process does not always follow rational logic as Ariely (2010) describes. In general, it is very helpful to include several different perspectives as recommended by De Bono (2000), including the critical one that will challenge pre-defined concepts and plans thereby assuring a thorough process in which pros and cons are both taken into consideration.

2.10 Conclusion By relying on short-term measures only, we remain on the surface of the topic and achievements will inevitably be temporary in nature. In contrast, sustainable transformation is a long-term process aimed at providing a solution with a lasting effect. The 7-S Model offers a structured way of approaching transformation, including sustainable transformation. The various elements within the 7-S Model are interrelated as a result of which making a change in one area is likely to produce knock-on effects in other areas. While applying concepts from other transformations may sound like adding complexity in the first place, it can create synergies. This approach helps ensure a smooth sustainable transformation. As the name suggests, responsible leadership is a form of leadership based on the highest ethical standards which, unlike traditional leadership styles, is not focused on power and command and control and more so on serving the teams in the sense of creating the prerequisite conditions for them to be able to succeed. A responsible leader is not looking to win followers but to support team members in

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becoming responsible leaders themselves with all this entails. A famous example of the difference responsible leadership can make is described by Marquet (2013). According to Hyacinth (2017, 2020), some of the key competencies of ethical leaders are communication skills, empathy and commitment to talent development as well as the ability to foster an innovation mindset whereby the fact of going digital does not prevent them from staying human. What will ultimately be a key factor in whether a leader succeeds or not is the ability to create trustful relationships. Years of research by Zak (2017), The science of creating high-performance companies, lead to the conclusion that the only way to retain employees and keep them motivated in the long run is a high-trust culture in which employees feel psychologically safe to be themselves (Zak 2017). And genuine, intrinsic motivation is what differentiates employees who are simply in compliance from those who are truly engaged and committed, as Pink (2011) suggests. To conclude, given the importance of trust for the relationship between the leader and his team but also for the team dynamics in general, let us take a look at the trust equation of Maister et al. (2000), according to which trust will depend on four factors: credibility, reliability, intimacy as well as self-orientation. To come across as a trustworthy person and leader, it is helpful to reach high scores for credibility, reliability and intimacy (=empathy), while having a low level of self-orientation. TRUSTWORTHINESS = (CREDIBILITY + RELIABILITY + INTIMACY)/SELFORIENTATION 4 My hope is that more and more leaders will understand the fundamental importance of trust for the relationship with each team member, the team dynamics, the performance of the company and their contribution to society as a whole. Trust is a key ingredient of responsible leadership and is particularly valuable, if not indispensable if the goal is to embark on a sustainable transformation.

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Trust Equation. https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/trust-equation.

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Elkington J (2020) Green swans—the coming boom in regenerative capitalism. Fast Company Press. Goodall C (2020) What we need to do now—for a zero carbon future, main edn. Profile Books Gothelf J, Seiden J (2017) Sense and respond—how successful organizations listen to customers and create new products. Harvard Business Review Press Hyacinth BT (2017) The future of leadership—rise of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. Brigette Hyacinth Hyacinth BT (2020) Leading the workforce of the future—inspiring a mindset of passion, innovation and growth. Brigette Hyacinth Kotter J (2016) Our iceberg is melting—changing and succeeding under any circumstances, 2nd edn. Portfolio Maister DH, Green CH, Galford RM (2000) The trusted advisor. Free Press, New York Manns ML, Rising L (2015) More fearless change—strategies for making your ideas happen, 1st edn. Addison-Wesley Professional Marquet LD (2013) Turn the ship around—a true story of turning followers into leaders, 1st edn. Penguin Pink DH (2011) Drive—the surprising truth about what motivates us, reprint edn. Riverhead Books Porter M, Kramer MR (2011) Creating shared value how to reinvent capitalism—and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Har Bus Rev Sagmeister S (2019) Business culture design—develop your corporate culture with the cultural map. Campus Verlag Schneider A (2015) Maturity model CSR—a definition and definition of terms. In: Schneider A, Schmidpeter R (eds) Corporate social responsibility: responsible corporate management in theory and practice. Springer Sinek S (2011) Start with why—how great leaders inspire everyone to take action, reprint edn. Portfolio Sinek S (2019) The infinite game. Portfolio Šochová Z (2021) The agile leader—leveraging the power of influence, 1st edn. Addison and Wesley Zak PJ (2017) Trust factor—the science of creating high-performance companies. Amacom

Online Blogs Cascio J (2020) Facing the age of Chaos. Medium. https://medium.com/@cascio/facing-the-ageof-chaos-b00687b1f51d Ellis G, Ellison C (2015) Avoiding ‘watermelon’ effect. ABB White Paper. https://library.e.abb. com/public/afb41a2d4e6d45d9a47e2f71fc58521a/avoiding-the-’watermelon’-effect.pdf Fink L (2020) A fundamental reshaping of finance, Larry Fink’s 2020 letter to the CEO. BlackRock. https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/2020-larry-fink-ceo-letter Helfand H (2020) Dynamic reteaming. https://www.heidihelfand.com/dynamic-reteaming/ Lowell B (2008) Enduring ideas: the 7-s framework. McKinsey Q (March 1). https://www.mck insey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/enduring-ideas-the-7s-framework

Other Online Resources Diversity Statement of Stanford University. https://ideal.stanford.edu/about-ideal/diversity-sta tement Interview of Mougeolle, Jean-Yves, Président, Monarch Intelligence. www.mymonarch.org

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Interview of Jenewein, Wolfgang, Professor at the University of St. Gallen. https://www.brandeins. de/magazine/brand-eins-thema/unternehmensberater-2020/wolfgang-jenewein-purpose Interview of Rug, Oskar W, Artist with a focus on sustainability and social impact. www.artisrug.de Mind tools. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/learning-zone-model.htm Grabmeier, Stephan. www.stephangrabmeier.de Trust Equation. https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/trust-equation What is watermelon effect? https://www.innovisor.com/2020/06/29/the-watermelon-effect/#:~: text=The%20watermelon%20effect%20is%20what,was%20red%2C%20like%20a%20wate rmelon www.zukunftsinstitut.de 7-S Model. https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/sieben-s-modell-51911/version-275062

Bridget Rug Ms. Bridget has a track record of 15+ years in international business. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for building and growing strategic partnerships with companies of all sizes in different industries and ownership structures. As a trainer for corporate culture and employee engagement, she works with organizations on their transformation journeys.

Chapter 3

Well-Informed, Agile Decision-Making Key to Sustainable Recovery Parul Soni

Abstract The chapter is an encapsulation of the past discourse on prominent leadership practices woven into an evolving style of responsive, responsible, agile and well-informed leadership in today’s uncertain times. Comparing and contrasting political and organizational leadership in pre-covid and during COVID-19 times, the chapter discusses various leadership practices and their impact on the country and organizations. COVID-19-induced anxieties, hazards and work-style changes are enumerated along with the leadership practices that helped in managing them, paving a way forward for these practices to be the new insights that may guide the leadership discourse even when the pandemic is long behind us. The chapter is a rich compilation of various facets of the society: the governments, migrant workers, not-for-profits, employees, and discusses these in the light of sustainable growth, and innovation, bringing about circular economy and shared economy. The chapter is a sincere call for all present and aspiring leaders to know themselves and their leadership style better, to understand their anchors and to exhibit leadership that is embedded in values and responsibility. Keywords Responsible leadership · Sustainability · Uncertain times · COVID-19

3.1 Introduction Of the many human traits, such as resilience, empathy, adaptability, and will, that the COVID-19 pandemic tested, leadership was one of the most tried and keenly watched qualities across countries and social lines. The uncertainty that the once-in-a-century crisis posed, made leadership a bigger challenge, more so as there were no straight solutions or answers to prevalent and emerging perspectives. Apart from responding to the health crisis quickly and effectively, responses by national and organizational leaders demonstrated a gamut of styles encompassing classical and contemporary leadership theories. One of the major dilemmas that P. Soni (B) Thinkthrough Consulting, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_3

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leaders faced was whether to take a top-down or autocratic approach (Lewin 1939) to leadership, wherein goals and tasks are determined by leaders for teams to follow or whether to let teams or citizens participate in the decision-making. At least in the early months of the pandemic when lockdowns were to be enforced, the unprecedented nature of the crisis and the limited knowledge of its impact and scope pushed decisions that were more autocratic in nature as demanded by the situation. Eventually, several leaders took into account the voices of civil society members and organizational teams in opening up the economies or adapting to a hybrid work model for an extended period. Over the past century, leadership practices experienced a paradigm shift as they evolved alongside civilization, especially with technology taking a centre stage. Response of leadership to crises or emergencies, too, changed over time. As Leonard and Howitt (2007) wrote in their article ‘High Performance in Emergency Preparedness and Response: Disaster Type Differences’, there are three distinctive types of emergencies that governments or leadership face over time: routines, crisis, and emergent crisis (Leonard and Howitt 2007). While a successful response to “routine emergencies” emerges from well-formed knowledge and expertise in dealing with the situation at hand, in “crisis emergencies”, understanding of the situation is relatively low and there is no script or policy, based on which leadership can respond. Response formation during “crisis emergencies” is marked by understanding the situation, designing actions as per available knowledge and then implementing them while observing the results and evolving accordingly. The third form of crisis, namely “emergent crises” is perhaps what the world faced with the outbreak of the SARSCoV-2. It was a crisis whose appearance was masked in ordinary circumstances which helped it fester and grow to unimaginable magnitude. Such types of crises would have “political officials” and “operational commanders” (Leonard and Howitt 2007) in the management process. The reason why such crises are challenging is that “they present crisis managers with all of the standard challenges of managing true crisis emergencies—the difficulty of recognizing novelty, the challenge of creativity and improvisation of new approaches and designs under stress, the painful realities of the errors and rough edges that arise when executing new and untested routine”- to cite Leonard and Howitt (2007, pg.18). We have witnessed this theory unfold right before us in the past two years. Leaders have shown mixed responses to the handling of COVID-19 and outcomes have emerged differently overtime for all of them. In countries such as Sweden and South Korea, which adopted a no-lockdown policy earlier on, success in the handling of the crisis was rather mixed (Bhatia et al. 2020). Although initially, both countries saw resounding success in their novel approach, the later waves showed a different picture. A constitutional monarchy, Sweden gives great freedom to its public agencies because of which the response to the pandemic was entrusted to health experts and the country’s head epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell. The government essentially handed over the charge of handling the crisis to the public health department and became the

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foot soldier in implementing those decisions. As the main architect of the COVID19 response, the experts planned to go with a no-lockdown, no-mask policy. Also, the country could not, constitutionally, impose restrictions as it considered such a move a violation of freedom of movement. What emerged was a very unique approach that was based on voluntary restrictions rather than imposed ones. The only advisories that came from the government encouraged social distancing, especially of infected people, ban on large gatherings and travel to some extent. The country of 10 million succeeded in the initial phase but the leadership received flak for its failure to protect the elderly. Later in 2020, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was pushed to put stricter restrictions in place because of rising cases of infection. In October 2021, a government-appointed COVID-19 Commission called Sweden’s response to COVID-19 “slow” and “insufficient” to stop or even limit the spread of the virus (Ahlander and Pollard 2021). A final report is awaited in 2022. For South Korea, the strict restrictions were limited to educational institutions, gyms, and cinemas with business establishments largely remaining open. What the country’s leadership did ensure was the effective use of technology for contract tracing and testing. Though the government’s mobile phone application, Corona 100 m, did spark some controversy around privacy issues, it held steadfast in the way it was dealing with the virus. South Korea’s response was based on learnings from the 2015 outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including the development of diagnostic testing technology (USFDA 2021). The Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology invested around 27 billion South Korean Won in technology to diagnose infectious diseases, as a result of which manufacturers were equipped to produce test kits that could test 135,000 people per day. Further, the government implemented strategies following the amendments it made to the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act in 2015, which allowed it to collect personal data of citizens on COVID-19 cases. Although this was an unprecedented event, learnings from previous virus outbreaks helped the leadership to prepare better. As of December 23, 2021, cases in Sweden were 122,985, while those in South Korea were 11,514 per million people. The number of deaths ascribed to the virus was 1,474 and 98 per million people, in Sweden and South Korea respectively. Assigning power to a health expert instead of the political leadership was also seen in the continent of Africa where the responsibility of steering 54 nations was entrusted to Ethiopia-based doctor, Dr. John Nkengasong (2021). The head of Africa’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended closing country borders early into the pandemic and imposed strict curfews and mask usage. The region of 1.2 billion people, despite poor healthcare infrastructure, rode the storm much better than many prosperous countries in the West. Through this pandemic, however, a new dimension to leadership emerged and would likely remain a yardstick for the recovery path as well as beyond. “Empathy” in leadership is a quality that stood out in these tough times, especially as emulated by the women heads of states. New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, for instance, became the face of responsible leadership during the pandemic. Apart from taking swift action in closing

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down travel activity from China when the first case appeared in early 2020, and later from more countries, the leader communicated effectively with her people. She came up with the idea of regular chats on Facebook Live, which was used as a tool to impart information and hold informal interactions (Friedman 2020). During a session conducted in March 2020, Ardern addressed the nation from her home wearing a sweatshirt while putting her toddler to bed as the country prepared to “hunker down” (Friedman 2020). She sent a strong message that she was with the people of her country in these times. Although the country somewhat struggled to handle the subsequent waves, it reported as few as 13,719 cases until December 23, 2021, and 49 deaths in its 5 million people population. In the Global South, Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, earned the sobriquet “chief panic diffuser” for her clear communication style on directives and live telecasts with frontline workers. She handled the crisis with the principle “Leave No One Behind”, which entailed focusing on the neediest in Bangladesh society. The lockdown was planned in steps, keeping in mind not just children but also migrant workers across cities. The country avoided a large-scale migration crisis. The lockdown was accompanied by awareness programmes with a clear message to not panic (Kamal 2020). By the end of 2020, a Bloomberg list included Bangladesh among the 20 countries worldwide that handled the health crisis best. The country’s economy has shone through the recovery. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bangladesh’s Gross Domestic Product is slated to grow to 6.6% during the financial year ending June 2022 and over 7% the year later, from 5.43% in FY21. In India, some states were particularly praised for their handling of the crisis. Here too, a woman’s role–Kerala’s erstwhile Minister of Health, Social Justice and Women and Child Development—KK Shailaja—was notable (Piscopo and Och 2021). Dubbed as “The Coronavirus Slayer” for her cohesive and systematic response to the coronavirus pandemic, her earlier actions were shaped by her experience in handling the Nipah virus outbreak in 2018. Kerala, a southern state in India, declared a partial lockdown even before the World Health Organization called COVID-19 a pandemic and the Indian government reacted with a nationwide lockdown. Contact tracing and isolation protocols were put in place by the end of January 2020. Kerala managed to keep lower deaths and cases in the earlier months of the pandemic. In areas where cases were increasing, she visited and conveyed how science was the answer to fight the virus while also gaining people’s trust. She also ensured she walked the talk by wearing a mask and following social distancing protocols all the while. Development economists, Garikipati and Kambhampati (2021) found that countries that were led by women had better outcomes of the pandemic, especially fewer COVID-19-related casualties, and this had much to do with the timing of the lockdowns. They studied 194 countries, of which only twenty (around 10%) were women leaders. The study confirmed that there were 1,900 fewer deaths in countries led by women than in comparable countries led by men. The case also held true in the number of cases of death, which ranged between 18,640 and 22,924 fewer in womenled countries when compared to men-led ones. According to the study, the results or

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promptness in lockdown actions by women leaders would well lie in the hypothesis that women were less willing to take risks with lives than with the economy. It quoted psychological evidence that indicated “women are seen to respond more strongly and intensely than men when anticipating negative outcomes”. Also, it pointed out that while anger is seen to make men less cautious about future gambles, women respond with caution, making them more prudent in their beliefs and restrained in their actions. Empathy in different sexes could also have its roots in neuroscience literature and cannot be explained as a cultural derivative of socialization alone but has deeper neurobiological drivers (Garikipati and Kambhampati 2021). Empathy and agility in action based on science were the two yardsticks that defined leadership during these tough times and will remain so even in the post-pandemic world and in a world where occurrences of frequent climate change disruptions may become a norm. Leaders will not just have to frequently firefight natural disasters and health crises but also need to be actively engaged in ensuring that the negative effects of climate change are limited.

3.2 Organizational Issues in Terms of Structure and Processes Due to Remote and Disrupted Work Political leadership aside, the pandemic tested the capabilities of organizational leaders. While the political leadership was framing policies and ensuring the overall well-being of people and the economy, company leaders had to face challenges regarding business performance at the micro-level. The top-of-the-mind concern for leaders was whether the business will survive the pandemic that brought with it near paralysis of many economic activities and, hence, loss of revenue. Global economic growth shrunk by over 3% to USD 84,537.69 billion in 2020, as per IMF estimates (Statistics Times 2020). At the outset, the pandemic disrupted supply chains, processes, and modes of production. Enterprise leadership struggled to understand the concept of lockdown, especially when an entire nation came to a standstill. Secondly, they had to prepare a business continuity plan that had no precedence to draw from. The plans had to be drawn after assessing the vulnerability and risks of each business, taking into account the people, processes, profits, and partnerships (ILO 2020). The impact of the disruption was majorly felt by small- and medium-scale businesses, many of which closed down. The response from enterprise leaders to the situation was also as varied as those of political leaders. In several instances, leaders chose to lay off employees while some others reduced salaries instead for a while. The ones that decided to go ahead and operate nevertheless, prepared for an unprecedented working style—remote working. The adoption of this model was tougher for organizations that had a large workforce and even more for companies operating in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Being on the shop floor has traditionally been linked to

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higher productivity within manufacturing firms and for activities such as assembling parts and quality checks, work-from-home was a difficult proposition. Companies did, however, try to tackle the difficulty by building rosters and letting quality control staff monitor processes from remote locations. However, this arrangement was difficult if considered as a permanent way of work unless significant investments were made in technology and the processes were re-planned. In future, technology infrastructure such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) may make it possible for factory work to be more collaborative (Kroupenev 2020). Besides, workers would need to be trained well to adapt to these changes without having to be monitored too closely. In all cases, companies that had already invested in sophisticated technology or had taken swift steps in deploying them were in a better position to sustain the change and operate seamlessly.

3.3 People Issues––Capabilities, Capacities, and Dignity at Work While the remote working system increased the productivity of many organizations, employees complained of burnout and issues related to mental wellness. According to a study by Buffer (2020), 22% of respondents found unplugging after work as the biggest challenge. Blurred lines between work hours and family time have been some of the biggest hindrances to a balanced life. In the post-pandemic scenario, a survey by McKinsey (Alexander 2021) found that one of the major reasons for anxiety among employees was that they felt they had not heard enough from the leadership on how the work arrangements would be in the future. There was a general intention to allow virtual work but, in most cases, there was no clear plan, policy, expectations or approach in place. However, organizations that clearly communicated their detailed policies on remote working witnessed a greater increase in productivity (Alexander 2021). Communicating future plans clearly and frequently, with a roadmap specifying the parts of the plan that were still work-in-progress would drive better responses from employees, as was evident from these experiences. During the pandemic, organizational leaders (or managers) were also forced into unfamiliar arrangements. They had to quickly and almost overnight shift from faceto-face management to remote management and they were not trained for the same. A study by researchers (Parker et al. 2020) revealed that one of the main fears that managers faced during this change was the sense of losing control at work. Around 40% of the 215 supervisors and managers surveyed expressed low self-confidence in their ability to manage workers remotely, while 21% disagreed with the statement: “I am confident I can manage a team of remote workers” (Parker et al. 2020). Another 16% were unsure about the ability to manage remote workspaces. Further, 38% of those studied believed that remote workers usually performed worse than those who

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work in an office (Parker et al. 2020). The trust deficit from the management can be counter-productive for the organizational culture as it could lead to distrust within structures and create a toxic work environment. The key to this, the study suggests, is training leaders in managing remote workspaces, and adopting innovative solutions to team building to promote a better environment. From the point of view of employees, the proven benefits did come at the cost of social life for some. For instance, working remotely can be lonely. The small breaks and even consulting with a colleague on a quick note can help improve performance and collaborations. That is a genuine concern as employees would find it increasingly difficult to gauge or understand the frustrations of the management concerning their performance. It could also be the other way round, where managers will not be able to understand their team members’ problems as well as they would in case of physical presence. Some others, especially women, often complain about the pressures of having to manage home and work without a clear break or demarcation. During the pandemic, even as remote working became a phenomenon, divorces and suicides were on a rise. India’s National Commission for Women (NCW), a statutory body to protect women, received 23,722 complaints of physical and mental domestic abuse in 2020, the highest single-year number in six years. Not that domestic violence was not a concern in the pre-pandemic era, but the increase in its level during the lockdown months, when partners had no choice but to spend more time together, necessitates deeper thinking. Mental health becomes crucial as the work-from-home culture becomes more permanent. Through the experience of the pandemic, however, organizational leaders did learn to respond more empathetically towards their employees. Besides, technology made it possible for leaders to be in touch with their teams, connect over their issues, help resolve them wherever they could and motivate them to work despite hardships.

3.4 Ensuring no One is Left Behind—Lessons from Migrant Worker Crisis For the blue-collared workforce at some organizations, the initial experience during the pandemic was especially painful. In India, many workers lost their jobs overnight, which led to the reverse migration of families from urban centres to their homes in rural areas. According to Census 2011, there are around 450 million inter-state migrants in India. While a portion of this group migrates to cities for long-term resettlement, another part moves to-and-fro for seasonal work in sectors such as construction. About 175 million migrants in India travel for work in the informal sector (Misra and Gupta 2020). These workers form the backbone of many state economies. When the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March 2020 in India, this populace was the hardest hit by not just job losses but by the lack of adequate support

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in terms of food security and relief measures. The Indian government, however, did make amends later by announcing various schemes, especially for the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with which most of these migrant workers were associated. In the 20-trillion-rupee relief package that the government had announced at the peak of the pandemic, many steps were taken for MSMEs, including a collateral-free credit guarantee scheme, credit-linked subsidy to 200,000 micro-enterprises, change in the definition of MSME to allow higher investments, and provision to credit 24% of monthly wages into provident fund accounts for next three months for earners below Rs. 15,000 (approx. 200 USD) per month. Companies in these sectors were encouraged to pass on the benefits to employees and continue to engage them in business activities. How much of these benefits have reached the last mile is yet to be observed. Besides, India also extended the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to provide an additional monthly free rice or wheat, and pulses allocation to ration-card holders covered by the National Food Security Act. This was coupled with measures such as direct benefit transfer, which ensured cash benefits directly reached the bank accounts of people, and was helpful during the pandemic. Though these couldn’t be sufficient due to the time lag in providing relief. Organizations and civil society members followed suit by putting more comprehensive plans in place for the affected migrant people. It was a fight where everyone pitched in and helped in regaining the confidence of the blue-collared workforce who are the lifeline of work. Globally, one of the examples of successful inclusion of all classes of workers was set by American payment technology firm PayPal, which was extremely active in its relief efforts during the pandemic. It gave out small business loans, helped in charitable fundraising, and facilitated faster and seamless government stimulus payments for customers in the US while waving-off fees. This was just part of what the founder, Dan Schulman, had been working on for a few years. In fact, in 2019, Schulman realised that even though the company was paying market prevailing salaries to its employees, they were barely managing to get by. So, he set a goal that every employee should have at least 20% of total salary as “net disposable income”. The company took steps to roll out a comprehensive financial health program, which included bringing down the cost of healthcare benefits, assigning stocks to every employee, increasing wages and offering new financial learning and counselling programs. The company estimated that by the beginning of 2021, the minimum net disposable income among hourly and entry-level workers would be around 16%, up from the earlier 4 percent in some locations. This was done without any impact on the company’s financial health. In the first three months of 2021, PayPal’s bottom line was a staggering $1.1 billion and revenue was higher by 31% than last year. Schulman’s initiative is a clear example of looking at the ’people aspect’ of an organization more inclusively and thereby creating a more resilient and sustainable entity.

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While more and more companies adopt this employee-essential approach to running an organization, the responsibilities of organizations towards the environment and society also become pronounced in the post-pandemic world.

3.5 Environmental Challenges and Innovation for Sustainable Development in the COVID-19 Era The effects of climate change are no more confined to a macro level. They are present in the everyday experiences of every human and animal life. While climate change is a natural phenomenon, much of contemporary change and the pace of change are man-made and, therefore, more concerning. Water resources that are drying up, uneven precipitation, sudden changes in weather patterns, and catastrophic natural occurrences such as tsunamis, forest fires, and earthquakes are owed to humans in a large part. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report ‘Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis’ has warned that the temperature rise in the Indian Ocean is faster than in other oceans and will translate into India experiencing some irreversible effects of climate change in the form of increased heatwaves and flooding. A report by The United Nations Environment Programme points out that if significant steps are not taken in curtailing global warming, temperatures could soar by over 3 °C over 100 years and cripple economies. Worse still, the effects of climate change would impact the poor and women more biasedly. What the global economy could also face is an erosion of around 10% of total economic value, or up to 18% of global GDP, by 2050 (SwissRe Institute 2021). Global leaders have already taken cognizance of the situation. At the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26 2021), leaders from around the globe pledged to secure a global net-zero by 2050 and keep temperature rise limited to 1.5°, to protect and restore communities and natural habitats, mobilize finance, and work collaboratively in achieving these goals. Political leaders will be expected to play a pivotal role on the policy front by incentivizing good practices and encouraging companies to follow through with their goals. At the technology level, companies have witnessed the adoption of innovations such as hydrogen fuel and carbon capture to drive towards the net-zero transition. Financing models too are undergoing refinement to support projects that are more environmentally friendly and align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as stated by the United Nations. Achieving the goals, however, would require more than just technological and financial innovations. The aim is to bring about a complete shift in human behaviours and mindsets. For businesses, it would mean the willingness and swiftness in identifying opportunities in new areas, understanding the economic incentives linked to SDGs, adopting procurement policies that support sustainability goals, using fair trade practices and supply chain methods that serve

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the poor population and give employees a piece of the profit-pie for their improvement and betterment. Companies can play a major role in agriculture and food security by partnering with every player in the supply chain, namely farmers, consumers, retailers, and traders in a way that would protect the environment and provide economic opportunity (Billecocq 2021). Besides, companies can also create a more inclusive model and invest in programmes to empower women and those from marginalized communities. Economic empowerment for such groups could create a more stable and sustainable society. One of the concepts that need greater exploration and adoption in recovering from the pandemic is the creation of a “Circular Economy”. In theory, circular economy refers to “markets that give incentives to reusing products, rather than scrapping them and then extracting new resources. In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently” (UNCTAD 2021). Circular economy can provide a means to not only preserve the environment but also utilize the finite natural resources in a wise manner while developing new sectors, creating jobs and developing new capabilities. There is no better time than now for governments and companies to use this as a bedrock to meet their Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, especially as economies across the world pump in $10 trillion worth of stimulus to “move away from unmitigated growth at all costs and the old fossil fuel economy, towards a lasting balance between people, prosperity, and planetary boundaries” (WBCSD 2020). Another concept that has emerged over the past few years through several discourses is “shared economy”. Investopedia defines “shared economy” as “an economic model defined as a peer-to-peer (P2P) based activity of acquiring, providing, or sharing access to goods and services that is often facilitated by a community-based online platform”. It is based on the principle of collaborative consumption or gig economy. Sharing within communities is not a novel concept. Car-pooling, for instance, was practised in many societies even before the term became popular. The emergence of the internet and big data has, however, introduced ease of seeking asset owners by use of idle assets and made it a trend in many countries. In India, for instance, the practice is often seen in services such as Ola and Uber. Airbnb too operates on this concept of the shared economy. Indian boutique investment banking platform, Maple Capital Advisors, forecasted in February 2020 that the shared economy in India would become a USD 2 billion industry by the end of the year (Press Trust of India 2020). The firm attributed the rise in the phenomenon to high penetration of mobile phones, high millennial concentration, and an aspirational population. Besides, Asians were found to be the most willing to use shared assets. Although critics have found loopholes in this concept of shared economy, they can be plugged with some policy interventions and the regularization of processes. Policymakers should ensure that barriers to entry in the shared economy sector are low, as a result of which competition will rise for existing players to the benefit of the consumers (Yaraghi and Ravi 2017). Besides, researchers at Brookings Institute suggest that sharing economy companies should be more willing to share data with

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the government to build greater trust. The control over the usage of data by businesses should be vested with consumers. Services such as Ola and Uber may have had to restructure their offerings such as shared mobility during the pandemic because of social distancing norms and transmission concerns and also because people preferred using private vehicles. The concept may re-emerge with modifications in the future. Meanwhile, the increased usage of electric vehicles is set to continue and is likely to take over as a better alternative to shared mobility.

3.6 Conclusion Hopefully, the world will return to normal in near future. Roads and markets will be buzzing as usual and offices may see more people working on-site. Leadership, though, will have undergone a sea change. If in the pre-pandemic world, qualities such as vision, communication, and results-oriented approach were the most valued qualities in a leader, the pandemic has shifted the preference to qualities such as resilience, emotional intelligence, and effective communication (CEMS 2020). If empathy and agile decision-making are the takeaways from the pandemic era, new roles and ways of functioning will emerge in the recovery and post-recovery stages. CEMS, The Global Alliance in Management Education’s Guide to Leadership recommends that leaders work on themselves. In this, questions such as “What is my leadership style?”, “What are my values?”, “Do my people feel respected, valued, trusted by me?” (CEMS 2020), “Do I micro-manage or give people the space to experiment, learn and grow?” (CEMS 2020) should form a part of leadership introspections. Leaders will also require to create a safe environment and organizational culture by identifying the challenges of its workforce and working towards resolving such issues. They may need to focus on creating programmes that encourage mentoring of young professionals as well reverse mentoring opportunities for senior staff so the two groups can learn from each other. CEMS also recommends embedding and ensuring the usage of learning and sharing opportunities into procedures and operations to build resilient businesses. Meanwhile, the instances of quick decision-making are set to become a norm rather than the exception as the floor is constantly shifting now and will continue to do so in the post-covid world with changing economic realities and environmental demands. Disruptions may become a new norm. Though some instances will require the top-down approach to decision-making, organizations can also explore if the democratization of leadership may help in handling issues better. Such a process would ensure there are diverse views on the table to consider, greater efficiency in problem-solving, more motivated teams and workforce, increased commitments from participants, and plan for a longer future with honesty as a priority. Organizations need to enable and mentor their employees to enable them to work independently in an office environment. The case of Video Volunteers provides great learning in this context.

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Video Volunteers India (VV) was founded in 2003 by documentary filmmakers and activists (Mayberry and Stalin 2020). It helps in building the social capital of the community to solve important local issues by empowering rural voices. The organization has positively impacted the lives of over 4 million people by introducing and nourishing a community media movement. The Goa-based social enterprise that trains rural citizens to produce videos highlighting their struggles and that of the community to authorities faced a daunting challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The correspondents would shoot videos on their mobile phones on a pre-discussed script and send them back to the headquarters in Goa to be edited and packaged. Their 200 grassroots community correspondents (or reporters), who engaged with the organization on a pro-bono basis from across Indian villages and towns, were now restricted in their movement because of pandemic-related restrictions. Video Volunteers operates on a community media model. The majority of its correspondents are from areas where access to the internet network is often patchy. Moreover, many do not have their own means of transport to carry out fieldwork and are dependent on public transportation for the commute. These realities, along with health concerns during the pandemic, resulted in low productivity. Almost all of these correspondents come from low-income families, whose sources of subsistence include activities such as farming, small businesses, and social work. While in the organized sector, the work-from-home policy was easier to implement because of the nature of work and technology, it was not the case for Video Volunteers whose correspondents’ primary work was to go out in the field. This resulted in a fall in income for the correspondents who were already witnessing a dent in earnings from their other sources. For Video Volunteers, it resulted in a drastic drop in the number of videos produced and carried on its platform, especially in the first few months of the pandemic. At one point, it was a question of survival because it would eventually mean a drop in funding for the organization and, hence, operations. The leadership at Video Volunteers began by first connecting with the correspondents on a one-on-one basis. It discovered that the correspondents were impacted at a psychological level (Mayberry and Stalin 2020). While many were keen on producing stories, some were petrified of the situation even if they were in green zones. Many others were facing the direct impact of the pandemic in terms of economics and food shortage. After receiving the feedback, the senior team at Video Volunteers devised different kinds of projects, including updating the database to expand its digital presence, so that the correspondents could participate. VV also paid correspondents for the relief work they were carrying out as volunteers on the ground (Mayberry and Stalin 2020). In the beginning, all correspondents were asked to appraise their bio-data on VV’s system with the latest information about them. That way, the leadership was able to gauge how family incomes and education levels of correspondents were impacting performances. After an internal survey in March 2020, the 45 correspondents were provided with one-time payment support of 3,000 INR (Indian Rupees) each as “Personal COVID-19 relief”, while seven correspondents were given 10,000 INR each for relief work in their communities (Mayberry and Stalin 2020).

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Correspondents were also trained on how to navigate through the database and look for videos created by them and their peers. Besides, they were provided training to track information related to their payments. Video Volunteers then encouraged the creation of WhatsApp Action Groups through which correspondents could not only share videos from their respective areas but also bring forth their problems before the Police personnel, block-level and village-level officers, as well as a pool of social workers and find solutions to them (Marandi 2020). The idea behind such groups was to facilitate people to discuss everyday issues, break the chain of fake information circulating COVID-19, gain access to authorities concerned to get problems solved and hold them accountable for shortcomings in resolving issues. Around 167 correspondents participated in the task and created 130 WhatsApp groups (Video Volunteers Group 2021) that are operational even today. The videos shot by the correspondents also resulted in impact or problems being actually solved. During the pandemic, the enterprise engaged community correspondents to conduct a COVID-19 Preparedness Survey across 136 towns and villages in India. Around 150 correspondents participated in the survey and were paid 1,000 INR each for their work (Video Volunteers Group 2021). Based on the survey, 30 Community Health Action Teams (CHAT) were formed in villages, under the CHAT Project, to empower correspondents and community leaders to lobby with government officials for better infrastructure and increased staff in local and hyper-local healthcare centres. In this journey, Video Volunteers learnt how to fine-tune its earlier project of democratization of leadership. It created different councils that would play the role of providing suggestions in the decision-making process, filling communication gaps between correspondents and the head office, and supporting each other on the wide network. During the pandemic, Video Volunteers saw the benefits of this structure fructifying through better accountability, greater solitary and mutual learning, and positive change in the performance levels of the correspondents (Video Volunteers Group 2021). Although the goal was to ensure that the correspondents earn 6000 INR (approx. $ 80) per month (the amount the Indian government recommends that rural families should earn to survive) from their assignments at Video Volunteers, the result was mixed. According to its Annual Report for 2020–21, 124 correspondents earned less than 3000 INR (approx. $ 40) per month from their work at Video Volunteers, while 42 of them earned in the range of 3,000–7,000 INR, (approx. $ 40–$ 90) and just 16 took home more than 7000 INR. In all, total payments made by Video Volunteers during the financial year were down 19% to 6.20 million INR ($84,000) from the financial year ended March 2020. One of the reasons for the shortfall in the target was that Video Volunteers was not the primary source of income for many of them. Besides, payments by Video Volunteers were made per video, higher quality videos were paid more, and not as a monthly salary or stipend. However, it was able to keep the correspondents motivated and its proactive engagement not just supported some aspects of their lives but also

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the larger community. It also created a resilient organization that survived and thrived through the crisis. Despite the challenges, Video Volunteers published 224 videos on COVID-19, of which 183 were produced by correspondents and 41 were talk shows on COVID-19 Ground Reports (Video Volunteers Group 2021).

References Ahlander J, Pollard N (2021) Sweden acted too slowly as pandemic swept country, the commission finds. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/sweden-acted-too-slowly-pandemic-hit-com mission-finds-2021-10-29/ Alexander A (2021) What employees are saying about the future of remote work. https://www. mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/whatemployees-are-saying-about-the-future-of-remote-work Bhatia et al (2020) A world of no lockdowns—the case of South Korea and Sweden. https://www. ideasforindia.in/topics/macroeconomics/a-world-of-no-lockdowns-the-case-of-south-koreaand-sweden.html Billecocq B (2021) Promote sustainable food and agricultural systems. UN Global Impact. https:// www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/environment/food-agriculture Friedman U (2020) New Zealand’s prime minister may be the most effective leader on the planet. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/jacinda-ardern-newzealand-leadership-coronavirus/610237/ Garikipati S, Kambhampati U (2021) Leading the fight against the pandemic: does gender really matter? Fem Econ. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2021.1874614 Kamal SM (2020) How Bangladesh is addressing the Covid19 pandemic. https://www.orfonline. org/expert-speak/how-bangladesh-is-addressing-the-covid19-pandemic-65601/ Kroupenev A (2020) The ‘virtual shift’: how manufacturing can adapt to remote work. Supply Chain Brain. https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/32058-the-virtual-shift-howmanufacturing-can-adapt-to-remote-work Leonard B, Howitt A (2007) High performance in emergency preparedness and response: disaster type differences. Harvard University. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/tau bman/files/peril_new.pdf Lewin K, Lippitt R, White RK (1939) Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. J Soc Psychol 10:271–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1939.9713366 Marandi R (2020) Government officials! Check WhatsApp, your people have problems to share. VideoVolunteers.Org. https://www.videovolunteers.org/government-officials-check-wha tsapp-your-people-have-problems-to-share-2/ Mayberry J, Stalin K (2020) Converting field work into ‘work from home’. Rural Covid response. https://ruralcovidresponse.in/published-page/toolkits?id=5f22e18e92e3bd000adda6c4 Misra P, Gupta J (2020) Impact of COVID 19 on Indian migrant workers: decoding Twitter data by text mining. Nature Public Health Emergency Collection. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art icles/PMC8294302/ Nkengasong (2021) World’s 50 greatest leaders. Fortune. https://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-lea ders/2021/dr-john-nkengasong/ Parker S et al (2020) Remote managers are having trust issues. https://hbr.org/2020/07/remotemanagers-are-having-trustissues#:~:text=About%2040%25%20of%20the%20215,were%20u nsure%20about%20this%20ability Piscopo J, Och M (2021) Effective, decisive, and inclusive: women’s leadership in Covid-19 response and recovery. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/ Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2021/Effective-decisive-and-inclusive-Womens-lea dership-in-COVID-19-response-and-recovery-en.pdf

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Robinson L (2020). The buffer 2020 state of remote work report. Buffer. https://buffer.com/stateof-remote-work/2022 Yaraghi N, Ravi S (2017) The current and future state of the sharing economy. Brookings India. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/sharingeconomy_032017final.pdf

Online Website Sources COP26 (2021). https://ukcop26.org/cop26-goals/ CEMS (2020) file:///C:/Users/91916/Downloads/CEMS_%20Guide-To-Leadership-PostCovid_v5.pdf International Labour Organisation, ILO (2020) The six-step COVID-19 business continuity plan for SMEs. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/--act_emp/documents/pub lication/wcms_740375.pdf Press Trust of India (2020) Shared economy in India to be USD 2 billion industry by 2020end: Maple Capital. https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/indicators/shared-economyin-india-to-be-usd-2-billion-industry-by-2020-end-maple-capital/articleshow/74337786.cms Statistics Times (2020). https://statisticstimes.com/economy/world-gdp.php SwissRe Institute (2021) The economics of climate change. https://www.swissre.com/institute/res earch/topics-and-risk-dialogues/climate-and-natural-catastrophe-risk/expertise-publication-eco nomics-of-climate-change.html UNCTAD (2021) Circular economy. https://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment/circular-eco nomy USFDA (2021) South Korea’s response to COVID. https://www.fda.gov/media/149334/download Video Volunteers Group (2021) Annual Report 20–21. https://www.videovolunteers.org/annual-rep ort-2020-2021/ WBCSD (2020). https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/Food-and-Nature/News/Open-letter-to-globalleaders-a-Healthy-Planet-for-Healthy-People

Parul Soni is Founder and Global Managing Partner of Thinkthrough Consulting. He is a consummate professional with over 25 years of experience and expertise in international investment, bilateral and multilateral trade, cross-border policies, regional trade agreements and negotiations at national and international levels.

Chapter 4

The Dynamics of the Remote Leadership: A COVID-19 Context Ramandeep Saini, Hamayun Khan, and Stanley Oliver

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be an unprecedented shock to both individuals and organizations alike. Taken by surprise, businesses across the world had to adapt to working remotely. The employees and the employers both had to learn and simultaneously implement the new strategies for managing their operations. The leadership process on the other hand also underwent a substantial change. This is why the concept of “remote leadership” was adapted to ensure employee wellness, which became the mantra. Therefore, in times of crisis, corporate leaders are expected to take possible corrective measures to address the crisis while maintaining a sense of normality. Hence in the time of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, corporate leaders had to drive organizations remotely while maintaining motivation, fostering accountability, and providing clear guidelines. This chapter, therefore, dwells on the dynamics of remote leadership required to be considered during policy reshaping— basically to help corporations ensure employee wellness—particularly in the context of trying times such as the pandemic COVID-19. Various issues discussed in the chapter include the need and use of remote leadership before and after the pandemic COVID-19, remote leadership, and employee wellness, the impact of technology on remote leadership, challenges for remote leadership, and insights for achieving excellence in remote leadership. The discussion and conclusions of the chapter will provide both its readers and corporate policymakers a spotlight on the perspectives of remote leadership and its role in maintaining employee wellness. Keywords Remote leadership · Employee engagement · Technology

R. Saini (B) Chandigarh Business School of Administration, Chandigarh, Landran, India e-mail: [email protected] H. Khan Washington, D.C., USA S. Oliver Doctoral College, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_4

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4.1 Introduction Remote leadership, virtual leadership, and dispersed leadership are like synonyms and all of these descriptors primarily mean the supervision, management and leadership of teams who work across dispersed physical spaces. Eikenberry and Turmel (2018) explain leadership as an act of leading and that remote leadership is the leadership of people who work from a distance. Figure 4.1 illustrates our adapted version of the Eikenberry and Turmel ‘Remote Leadership Model (2018)’, model, highlighting the significance of the components of effective remote leadership. The diagram contextualizes the components and helps to visualize how leader starts working remotely using technology. The concept of remote leadership became a prime focus for organizations after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (Martin et al. 2022). Remote leadership, due to its growing need, has become a global phenomenon and an indispensable element in companies. Remote leadership, having a flexible essence, holds the dimensions of both traditional and web-based styles of leadership. Watkins (2007) argues that there are two different definitions for the word “remote.” Both definitions refer to the virtual environment where a corporate leader and his followers interact. One meaning is the organization has distant operations wherein the employer controls employees from a remote location. This is also referred to as a virtual relationship between an employer and his employees. This working arrangement ensures the required coordination and

Fig. 4.1 The components of effective remote leadership. Source Adapted from Eikenberry and Turmel (2018)

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interaction, which leads to better compatibility between the employer and employee. The second meaning of “remote” refers to “distant” with the interaction between the leader and the subordinate taking place from a distance. This normally applies to a subordinate who has all the required skills to independently accomplish the tasks allocated but with little to no communication with the leader. When this happens, remote leadership takes place. The concept of remote leadership has been explained differently by a variety of business professionals and academic researchers. Mayhew (2020) believes that remote leadership is that form of leadership wherein employers manage their employees and subordinates through a remote working environment. This happens by using virtual tools amongst which the Zoom platform is one of the most-used tools with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Remote leadership like other traditional leadership styles is a beneficial virtual interaction that leaders worldwide use to communicate, motivate and stay in contact with their employees either during times like the COVID-19 or during distance between workplaces. Avlani and Charalampous (2021) advocate that the prevailing situation of pandemic demands for the use of virtual leadership. Hence, most of the companies and businesses have been rigorously trying to acclimatize to this new normal of leadership. According to Mayhew (2020), remote leadership is way different from a traditional style of leadership. Therefore, businesses to survive need to take a different managerial approach from the one used earlier in the pre-COVID-19 scenario. This is because with remote leadership the entire management process and strategies need to be different. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19, virtual work was confined to distance workforces and therefore remote leadership was in its infancy. But since COVID-19, remote leadership has become even more relevant and the demand to understand this type of leadership has significantly increased. There is, therefore, a strong demand for many professionals and leaders to fully engage and understand the developing concepts of remote leadership and the requirements not only to train and educate their management teams and employees about remote working but also about the changes known and being identified within the nature of remote leadership. There is an indication that the organizations that operate virtually can help connect people from remote geographical and far-flung regions (Terkamo-Moisio et al. 2022; Davidow and Malone 1992). This also enables such organizations to operate as a broad yet connected circuit of people who are dwelling independently in different locations (Vijaykar and Karhade 2021; Hedberg 1997).

4.2 Rationale for the Study 4.2.1 The Problem Our research was conducted over the past 2 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it shows that many managers are struggling with competent leadership of staff

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working from home, with this translating into many employees feeling untrusted and micromanaged by their team leaders. The significance of inadequate management during this period, for employees, society, and the economy, indicates the pressing need to help develop leaders’ skills in this subject. Positive manager–employee relationships in the workplace are very important in all organizations because it encourages productivity and cooperation among employees. Consequently, a mutual level of respect between a manager and an employee brings more willingness from both sides to offer support and perform better. There are many things that managers can do to establish trust with their employees, which include being open and honest about changes that will impact them; effectively communicating by talking to them, not at them; having an open-door (or easily accessible online meeting) policy, and then following up; being willing to get involved to help. In doing all this, the manager can build trust which is good for morale and motivation. Trust builds teamwork, collaboration increases loyalty and decreases stress levels and hostility in the work environment. Team leaders and managers, therefore, need to learn new skills of delegation and empowerment to provide their workers with greater autonomy over their work methods and the timing of their work, which in turn will promote worker motivation, health, and performance. Organizations need to start at the highest level possible. Managers who struggle with leading remote teams often have excessively controlling and low-trusting bosses themselves.

4.2.2 Research Agenda and Question The study was conducted within a framework of leadership development requirements for the work environment, remote working, and virtual team management. The research question that we asked here was: What is the impact of leadership as a contributor to overall employee engagement and well-being in an organization? The study is conducted based on secondary research and a review of the literature.

4.3 Significance of Remote Leadership Ever since the widespread outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have witnessed major changes, especially with the work-from-home concept which has been essential. Gingerich (2022) reports that 80% of employees have a preference to work-from-home partly if not wholly. Companies, therefore, had to adjust to such changes and all leaders had a crucial role to play in this transition to new normal. However, to manage teams in remote working environments, remote leadership needed to be exercised competently as was the engagement with technology. Among the technological tools used are Microsoft Teams, Google Workforce, Zoom, Soapbox, Trello, Slack, Dropbox, etc., (James 2021). Remote leaders in addition to

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this also had to ensure the smooth functioning of the following core organizational processes.

4.3.1 Communication Communication is one of the key factors of organizational growth and smooth operations (Egitim 2022; Island 2020). Communication is the key to the success of organizations however, it is equally important to understand the core hindrances that appear to be deterring communication, especially during remote work. Nonetheless, the advent of modern technological means overcome such shortcomings and facilitate proper virtual communication. Various tools can help improve remote communication and enable setting up a virtual office such as Zoom, Trello, Slack, Google Drive, etc., (Metallo 2022; Kirkwood 2018).

4.3.2 Employee Independence With the use of digitized tools, employer–employee virtual interaction has become much easier and more effective (Egitim 2022; Island 2020). This interaction has provided employees with the opportunity to decide independently their schedule and determine the way they prefer to accomplish tasks. In addition, employees can also organize their working hours following their individual defined expectations, routines, and deadlines. This enables employees to feel more independent and highly motivated due to the employer–employee building trust through remote leadership empowerment and facilitation. As a result, employees are contented leading to enhanced performance, and a stronger attachment to the organization (Gonçalves et al. 2022; Assert 2022).

4.3.3 Employee Professional Development Although the prevailing situation with COVID-19 is not promising, organizations can still upgrade the performance of their employees by providing them with professional development opportunities. However, many employees still need to understand how to operate various technological tools to adapt to a virtual work environment, it is therefore essential for employers to provide training and professional development opportunities. For remote working to be successful online learning opportunities need to be available to help employees enhance their competencies and enhance their capability and effectiveness (Gonçalves et al. 2022; Assert 2022).

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4.4 Remote Leadership and Employee Wellness Bhandari et al. (2022) advocate that employee well-being is now a high-priority leadership responsibility in organizations. They also argue that leaders believe that it is not only important for employees but also for improving business performance. COVID-19 has transformed the way many organizations lead their workforce and work-from-home mode and employee wellness is now a significant reality of the workplace today. Xenikou (2022) states that it is evident that the impact of changed workstyles because of COVID-19 is been catastrophic and difficult to quantify with regards to its impact on employees. MetLife’s annual benefits report reveals that: a. 44% of employees have serious concerns about their physical, mental, and social health. b. 52% of employees are worried about deteriorating financial well-being. c. 41% of workers don’t feel that their current benefits offerings are adequate during these difficult times. d. 80% of employees believe their employers have a responsibility to address their health and wellbeing, especially during COVID-19. GetApp (2020) A Gartner company––Productivity Study on Work from Home further revealed that: a. 82% of remote workers feel pressure to put in more hours. b. 67% of employees are occasionally or regularly using personal devices (mainly phones and computers) for work purposes and half of them are stressed by it. c. 44% of small and midsize business leaders want to let their teams work remotely some of the time and reduced productivity is a top concern. Irrespective of the fact that whether an employee has opted to work from home by choice or as a necessity, remote leaders focus on developing unique strategies to ensure employee wellness in a remote working environment (Bhandari et al. 2022). To understand employee priorities, preferences and challenges, effective remote leaders survey their workforce. The findings help remote leaders to become more effective one, for example by modifying their employee well-being program to be more considerate and have more influence. Organizations are now introducing a variety of new different initiatives such as providing communications technology, ergonomic office equipment, healthy snacks, access to leisure and fitness facilities, specifically for employees who are engaged in working from home (Bhandari et al. 2022). However, a good balance needs to be maintained between connectivity and productivity. Work from home requires employees to log into various apps and portals to stay connected with their tasks and their teamwork consequently, remote leaders need to ensure that this constant demand to be connected and involved does not lead to stress at work. Subsequently, remote leaders need to organize virtual team-building events and social events to foster a team culture and an individual identity within the team, therefore creating energy and enthusiasm. These activities can be scheduled as outof-office hours events similar to how they would have been for an in-person event.

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Xenikou (2022) discusses how remote leaders need to ensure that team members are not expected to work longer hours than normal, hence in some cases events can be arranged for times inside the normal working day. In addition, “quiet hours” or “quiet days” can be planned where no meetings/calls are scheduled, and employees can focus on work, and catch up on meetings and task lists. Renz (2022) advocates that a “remote perk stipend” also known as “remote work allowance” or “remote employee reimbursement” is a new initiative to support remote employees and is used to build an inclusive workforce. A remote work stipend is categorized as the amount of money given to employees to use to provide benefits while working from home. The stipend can be used to make purchases related to setting up a home office, buying a coworking pass, a coffee or anything else which helps in making the remote work locations comfortable and productive. Furthermore, it can be utilized to provide general benefits that employees working from an office can have access to items such as food, health, learning and other developments. These stipends may be given on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis and normally consist of taxable and non-taxable items. Another feature that has attracted attention after COVID-19 is the training of leaders to enable them to maintain a healthy and productive remote working environment for employees. Exposing leaders and managers to training about having healthy and productive communication with their teams goes a long way in enhancing employee wellbeing and developing positive organizational culture. Remote leaders are now required to act as role models and encourage supervisors to frequently check in with their employees and to arrange regular meetings. Importantly organizations now prioritize the mental health of employees as they know it impacts overall corporate success. The acceptance and introduction of employee well-being are now a subject that organizations use to open up channels of communication so that employees come forward to seek help. Due to the uncertainty of how long the pandemic will continue organizations, departments, and teams, in general, have been driven to add more flexibility into their processes to facilitate remote working, onboarding, team building, and meeting formats. This is helping with keeping employee morale and motivation levels high and assisting with maintaining high levels of efficiency. Courtney (2021) reports that the remote working survey shows that 65% of employees said they want to continue working remotely, 33% prefer a hybrid workplace environment, and 2% want to return to the office. Interestingly, 35% of respondents said they would switch jobs if they were forced back into an office working environment. This indicates that working from home and remote working is now a major influence on all organizations’ strategic thinking going forward. Smith (2022) predicts that the new trends for remote and hybrid workplaces and leadership styles will evolve because of new opportunities created through progressive organizational strategic planning. Even with all the initiatives taken by remote leaders to help and support remote employees, the challenges faced by employees moving forward are high. Courtney (2021) argues that employees largely prefer to work from home if given a choice but are stressed due to the expectations to prove that they are productive. Consequently, remote leaders need to strengthen the workplace environment by developing strong

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team cultures so that it cultivates trust through empowerment, flexibility, and highly motivated team members.

4.5 Impact of Technology on Remote Leadership During COVID-19 businesses have turned to remote working, this trend has resulted in businesses working either fully or partially remotely and in some cases from distant locations. Sokolic (2022) advocates that this has created both positive and negative impacts on business performance and with remote leadership. International (2020) identifies that one of the key negative impacts of remote leadership is the engagement of and with employees that occur with overall operations in organizations. One of the key negative impacts of remote leadership is the engagement of and with employees. International (2020) identifies that this occurs across all operations in organizations due to many employees not liking being supervised remotely and that this is predominantly because these employees feel isolated and lonely which leads to stress while working away from the work community and environment. Arunprasad et al. (2022) believe that this factor in turn hinders the ability of organizations to prioritize the well-being of their workforce and endure the worldwide issues imposed by COVID-19. Technology has come to the rescue by enabling organizations to achieve positive results with the forced remote work environment (Joshi 2021). The following issues highlight the impact of technology on remote leadership.

4.5.1 Reduction of Costs Sentika and Arissaputra (2022) argue that “knowledge sharing” is the key success factor to building competitive advantage and making profits, which is a core objective of all businesses. Sentika and Arissaputra (2022) also suggest that businesses, therefore, need to strive to gain a competitive advantage and that they should do this by utilizing various ways to gain more profit. Those who believe in the concept of remote leadership also believe that it plays a crucial role in the competitive advantage and profit-making of businesses by motivating employee engagement and reducing day-to-day costs. For this reason, Blitchok (2021) also points out that virtual work, with the help of technological tools such as zoom, eradicates the costs spent on renting office locations, and that this is not only beneficial in eliminating overhead costs, it also helps businesses digitize their operations. Bohrer (2021) advocates that digitalization is continuously growing and is overtaking some areas of conventional working worldwide, and that this, in turn, benefits employees by reducing transportation costs due to not commuting to the workplace.

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4.5.2 Productivity in Performance Technology is helping organizations manage remote working effectively, which results in greater employee engagement and increases productivity (Blitchok 2021). Effective remote leadership enables employees to be empowered and impacts task delivery through knowledgeable facilitation and good communication. This takes away stress in high-pressure roles where on-site micro-management can reduce motivation. Being supervised remotely becomes beneficial to the employee as it decreases nervousness and increases motivation and heightens employees’ satisfaction resulting in improved productivity. In addition to this, there are the benefits of reduced costs, which gain daily with effective remote leadership. Bloom et al. (2015) found that working from home resulted in a 13% increase in performance and hence in productivity from remote workers, and they attributed this to the effective usage of technological tools for remote leadership of employees.

4.5.3 Better Customer Service Sooreea and Sooreea (2022) identified that after the worldwide spread of COVID19, a large number of companies realized the importance of completely engaging with technology and remote working to ensure it, reduced the impact on clients. Marketing (2022) advocates that this was due to many businesses reducing their physical workspace presence and increasing the provision of services to customers online and that this would bring in additional income through customer spending when visiting the online marketplace and saving customer information and preferences using new digital tools.

4.5.4 Better Communication Bailey et al. (2022) argue that leaders can have better communication virtually by using digital tools such as “Slack”, which is beneficial in bringing together multiple communication tools such as online meetings, instant messaging, discussion boards, and email into a single sphere. Bailey et al. (2022) believe that Slack is an efficient tool in many aspects for collaborative team interactions. Joshi (2021), however, suggests that effective remote leaders need to use this kind of technology to communicate with various or all members of the team regularly. Joshi (2021) also suggests that another merit of this technology is that employees can avoid communication errors, since they have the option to correct typos and revise their messages and emails.

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4.5.5 Time-Consuming Hendrawan et al. (2022) advocate that although technology has its merits in terms of remote leadership of employees, it has, nonetheless, some limitations. For example, Hendrawan et al. (2022) recommend that many employees and leaders who are not familiar with web-based tools should request training from managements and normally this request would be granted as it would enable them to devote time to other important organizational tasks (Roe 2020).

4.6 Challenges for Remote Leadership The widespread usage of web-based tools and technologies has transformed the world and made it seem smaller, therefore creating a greater demand for virtual leadership. Many employees were familiar with a small range of web-based tools and technologies; however, some were not familiar with the work-from-home concept until recently. As a result, this trend of remote working was radical for those employees and very challenging to acclimatize to Olmstead (2020). Even though employees enjoy the freedom and other benefits of remote working, there are still several other key challenges that arise during the working-from-home process. A few of those challenges are listed below: a. Lack of Communication Communication is considered the key to success particularly while interacting with employees working from remote locations. Besides, it is a vital factor used to gather together the reports from each organizational department regarding the concern voiced by employees (Olmstead 2020). These results show that the employee voice confirms that there are still some employees’ performances that have dropped due to their inability to utilize tools and technologies for remote working. Kinsey (2019) states that communication is crucial for efficiency and productivity in a workplace and therefore, the lack of communication by some staff may cause drawbacks to organizational operation. Kinsey (2019) also states that the fast-track takeover of technology in the workplace, particularly remote working, has decreased conventional communication. Blitchok (2021) suggests that technology is changing the way people work from home, and this may negatively affect employees’ soft skills. b. Hindrance to Team building Rauch and Ansari (2022) argue that one of the significant challenges with remote work is to establish a team culture and then lead the team virtually. They also state that many managers find it difficult to bring about unity among employees, especially when they work remotely. Studies by Carstensen et al. (2022) reveal that employees working from remote locations most likely lack trust in each other based on what they tend to witness. Research by University (2020), however, shows that communication barriers occur which diminishes teamwork spirit. Then shifting to a virtual

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workforce should not be difficult to establish again with remote working providing senior management recognize the need to implement tools and technologies to enable good communications, provide online training for everyone in areas of need, effectively team lead through building relationships with team members and encouraging co-worker collaboration and activities. If this is strategically implemented then trust and confidence grow and motivation and focus enable good performance and greater productivity happens (Owen 2020). c. Tracking Employees’ productivity Gao et al. (2022) reveal that managers are used to assessing their employees’ performance using traditional methods but find it difficult when employees are remote working to keep track of their performance. Olmstead (2020) states that for newly hired managers who lead remote teams it is challenging to manage and evaluate the performance of individuals. Janofsky (2020) suggests that effective remote leadership comes from building trust, empowering employees and facilitating employee needs to deliver successful impact with tasks, therefore reducing stress and creating a positive culture of highly motivated staff. d. Following Corporate culture Arunprasad et al. (2022) recommend that for employees to follow the culture of their company is time-consuming; therefore, HR (human resource) employment procedures need to ensure the right fit of employees is always appointed, as this increases the probability of the employee following the culture of the company. Olmstead (2020) agrees with this and advocates that employing the right employees builds healthy communication and instils a productive working environment. e. Scheduling Virtual Meetings Overseas Arunprasad et al. (2022) propose that setting up virtual meetings with employees that are based overseas at the beginning of the process is a challenging task, because of time differences in various zones of the world. In addition, this can be further challenging with independent contractors and vendors who have dynamic work schedules (Arunprasad et al. 2022). Therefore, for employers, it is demanding to find a suitable time that will work well for everyone who is supposed to join the meeting (Olmstead 2020). Many corporate professionals name this issue “Zoom fatigue” as it is because it is one of the most crucial complications for finding convenient meeting times and dates in busy work schedules. As online meetings tend to be disproportionately easy to set up if you have the skills, knowledge, and experience of the tools and technologies to do so it should not be a problem, however, some corporate leaders and employers dislike the drawbacks they face during the process (Udoagwu 2020).

4.7 Effective Remote Leadership Remote work is still a new concept for some employees as well as employers. However, employees who worked for web-based companies like Amazon, eBay, etc.,

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are already familiar with the online world of work (Lindinger 2021). To achieve organizational goals, assuming that most organizations have already adopted the concept of remote working, they need to enhance employees’ skills and abilities to ensure effective impact with web-based operations. This is only effective when managing regular well communicated virtual meetings with employees. Businesses need to carry out organization-wide webinars, group chat sessions, and other motivational activities to support employees’ achievements and accomplishments. Studies by Contreras et al. (2020) found that companies that have effective virtual leadership can consider the practice of remote leadership as a fruitful opportunity. The authors claim that e-leadership is not only beneficial for smooth operations of companies, but also helps increase the productivity of employees. Additionally, the familiarity of companies with virtual leadership contributes to the environment as well as those who work from remote locations. Contreras et al. (2020) are also of the belief that conventional leadership may sometimes lead to posing considerable risks given the high demand for virtual leadership. This is because there is a strong tendency with remote leadership to plan and create a remote work atmosphere that the senior leadership engages with; therefore, committing everyone in the organization to get involved. This leads to a solid and reliant bond being established amongst all employees and strategically drives the accomplishment of organizational goals. Slade (2015) points out that the key competencies that are required for a manager to be an effective remote leader are greater than those demanded of a conventional leader. Azukas (2022) further emphasizes that corporate leaders, especially those working from remote locations, need to pay attention to the psychological needs of employees. Azukas (2022) also identified three core psychological needs of employees which are relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Azukas (2022) further focuses on employees’ dedication and commitment towards the assigned tasks and that it is also important for employers to create a shared vision in which all employees in an organization understand the shared vision of the organization. Additionally, Terkamo et al. (2022) found that many corporate leaders who do not wish to use virtual teams effectively bear the brunt of facing stiff competition in a rapidly dynamic global environment. Terkamo et al. (2022) also argue that the employees’ ability to work effectively from a remote location is considered to be a key element of all employees. This argument is further supported by Azukas (2022) and highlights those employees who belong to diverse backgrounds tend to work in teams and that these teams are considered to be more complex than those of the traditional working teams and if they are working virtually the challenge multiplies. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the concept of remote leadership was not a conventionally well-known concept. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, many employees had little or no experience with remote working, as it was not needed at that time. Organizations also had not to experience staff working remotely and how to manage off-site working. However, now organizations find their existing and prospective employees demand the opportunity to consider adopting working-fromhome practices (Kniffin et al. 2020).

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4.8 Conclusion The work from home imposed by the pandemic undoubtedly confined people to their homes and led managers to speculate about the possible challenges which included lack of supervision, employee isolation, lack of information access, low morale, etc. Remote leadership gained more significance and leaders across the world began formulating and redesigning strategies to ensure the productivity and wellness of employees. With repeated waves of the pandemic arising at regular intervals remote and hybrid workplaces have become the new normal and therefore a key challenge for most managers is to navigate the tools and technologies to communicate with team members and stimulate effective team working and task delivery. Following a variety of issues, HR professionals have realized that management and leadership of a distributed and remote workforce is an opportunity to enhance the way employees and leaders work. The opportunity is for hybrid management to focus on the things that matter, for example focusing on training that embraces the nuances of remote leadership and the key characteristics for achieving excellence when training team management.

References Arunprasad P, Dey C, Jebli F, Manimuthu A, El Hathat Z (2022) Exploring the remote work challenges in the era of COVID-19–19 pandemic: review and application model. Benchmark: Int J Assert (2022) Business against Corona: 10 Success factors for remote leadership. Assert.Pro. https:// www.assert.pro/10-faktora-uspesnog-remote-liderstva/ Avlani A, Charalampous M (2021) Exploring the significance of remote leadership competencies in the virtual workplace: a systematic literature review Azukas ME (2022) Leading remotely: competencies required for virtual leadership. TechTrends 1–11 Bailey DE, Faraj S, Hinds PJ, Leonardi PM, von Krogh G (2022) We are all theorists of technology now: a relational perspective on emerging technology and organizing. Organ Sci 33(1):1–18 Bhandari S, Hallowell MR, Scheve C, Upton J, Alruqi W, Quashne M (2022) Assessing the quality of safety-focused engagement leadership. Prof Saf 67(1):22–28 Blitchok A (2021) How technology is changing the way people work from home. Btod.com. https://www.btod.com/blog/technology-work-fromhome/#:~:text=Technology%20may%20a llow%20us%20to,through%20lunch%20and%20skip%20breaks Bloom N, Liang J, Roberts J, Ying JZ (2015) Does working from homework? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. J Econ. http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/ Bohrer L (2021) Can a company save money with remote work? Lano. https://www.lano.io/en/blog/ can-a-company-actually-save-money-with-remotework/#:~:text=For%20instance%2C%20calc ulations%20from%20Global,costs%2C%20reduced%20absenteeism%20and%20turnover Carstensen MB, Ibsen CL, Schmidt VA (2022) Ideas and power in employment relations studies. Ind Relat J Econ Soc 61(1):3–21 Conteras F, Baykal E, Abid G (2020) E-leadership and teleworking in times of COVID-19-19 and beyond: what we know and where do we go. Front Psychol 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg. 2020.590271

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Courtney E (2021) Remote work statistics: navigating the new normal. Retrieved from https://www. flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics/ Davidow WH, Malone MS (1992) The virtual corporation: structuring and revitalizing the corporation for the 21st century. Harper Business, New York Egitim S (2022) Challenges of adapting to organizational culture: internationalization through inclusive leadership and mutuality. Soc Sci Humanit Open 5(1):100242 Eikenberry K, Turmel W (2018) The long-distance leader: rules for remarkable remote leadership. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Gao J, Foong PS, Yang Y, Jiang W, Chen Y, Ying X, Perrault S (2022) From 996 to 007: challenges of working from home during the epidemic in China. arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.09045 Gingerich MM (2022) Why leadership is important to your remote teams’ success. MG Mike Gingerich. https://www.mikegingerich.com/blog/why-leadership-is-important-to-your-remoteteams-success/ Gonçalves D, Bergquist M, Alänge S, Bunk R (2022) How digital tools align with organizational agility and strengthen digital innovation in automotive startups. Procedia Comput Sci 196:107– 116 Hedberg B (1997) Virtual organizations and beyond. Wiley, New York Hendrawan K, Kristanto D, Kuncoro AW, Ipmawan H (2022) SWOT analysis of the implementation of work from home policies from the point of view of employees and leaders at budi Luhur University. J Econ Financ Account Stud 4(1):254–262 International H (2020) Leadership and the impact of long-term remote working. Horton Int Island H (2020) Remote leadership. Hyper Island. https://www.hyperisland.com/remote-leadership James A (2021) 10 Essential tools and apps for work from home employees. ITProPortal. https:// www.itproportal.com/features/10-essential-tools-and-apps-for-work-from-home-employees/ Joshi N (2021) How technology has redefined remote work and training amid the pandemic. Training. https://trainingmag.com/how-technology-has-redefined-remote-work-andtraining-amid-the-pandemic/ Janofsky A (2020) Retrieved from Protocol. https://www.protocol.com/remote-work-boss-trackingtools Kinsey A (2019) Importance of team communication skills. Chron. https://smallbusiness.chron. com/importance-team-communication-skills-3079.html Kirkwood J (2018) The 9 best online collaboration tools for remote workers. Vision. https://www. invisionapp.com/inside-design/online-collaboration-tools-remote/ Kniffin KM, Narayanan J, Ansell F, Antonakis J, Ashford SP, Bakker AB, Bamberger P, Bapuji H, Bhave DP, Choi VK, Creary SJ, Demerouti E, Flynn FJ, Gelfand MJ, Greer LL, Johns G, Klein PG, Lee SY, van Vugt M (2020) COVID-19-19 and the workplace: implications, issues, and insights for future research and action. Am Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000716[Pub Med][CrossRef][GoogleScholar] Lindinger M (2021) Forbes coaches council. Retrieved from Forbes https://www.forbes.com/ sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/02/18/five-ways-to-be-a-successful-remote-leader/?sh=3e94a1 db50d7 Marketing I (2022) How are remote jobs changing consumer behavior? Insights Market. https:// insightsinmarketing.com/resources/blog/how-are-remote-jobs-changing-consumerbehavior/#: ~:text=Consumer%20research%20by%20the%20US,more%20likely%20to%20work%20remo tely. Martin SR, Emich KJ, McClean EJ, Woodruff C (2022) Keeping teams together: how ethical leadership moderates the effects of performance on team efficacy and social integration. J Bus Ethics 176(1) Mayhew J (2020) Virtual leadership—essential skills for managing remote teams. Virtual Speech. https://virtualspeech.com/blog/virtual-leadership-skills Metallo C, Agrifoglio R, Maria F (2022) Effective management of a remote workforce for Covid19-19: a proposed research model toward smart working adoption within organizations. In: HR analytics and digital HR practices, pp 101–126. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

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Olmstead L (2020) Talent IMS. https://www.talentlms.com/blog/challenges-managing-remoteteam-how-overcome-them/ Owen J (2020) Overcoming the big five challenges of managing remote teams. CMI. https://www. managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/article/overcoming-the-big-five-challenges-of-man aging-remote-teams/ Rauch M, Ansari S (2022) Waging war from remote cubicles: how workers cope with technologies that disrupt the meaning and morality of their work. Organ Sci 33(1):83–104 Renz FM (2022) Building an inclusive workforce through ownership in crises. J Leadersh Acc Ethics 19(1):67–76 Roe D (2020) Why technology can still create obstacles to remote working. Reworked. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.reworked.co/collaboration-productivity/why-technologycan-still-create-obstacles-to-remote-working/ Sentika S, Arissaputra R (2022) Knowledge sharing is the key success factor to building competitive advantage in Indonesia: a review and hint for future research. Budapest Int Res Critics Inst (BIRCI-J): Humanit Soc Sci 5(1):3095–3103 Slade A (2015) The psychology of virtual leadership: a little trust in your virtual team goes a long way. TD Mag 69(3):12 Smith GS (2022) The new normal in IT: how the global pandemic changed information technology forever. John Wiley and Sons Sokolic D (2022) Remote work and hybrid work organizations. In: Economic and social development (Book of Proceedings). In: 78th international scientific conference on economic and social development, p 202 Sooreea R, Sooreea B (2022) The Impacts of COVID-19-19 on business practice: some key insights. Adv Soc Sci Res J 8(12):366 Terkamo-Moisio A, Karki S, Kangasniemi M, Lammintakanen J, Häggman-Laitila A (2022) Towards remote leadership in health care: lessons learned from an integrative review. J Adv Nurs 78(3):595–608 Udoagwu K (2020) Problems with virtual meetings that you can easily fix. Retrieved from wrike:https://www.wrike.com/blog/challenges-with-virtual-meetings-that-you-can-fix/ University N (2020) Retrieved from Norwich University. https://online.norwich.edu/academic-pro grams/resources/challenges-of-virtual-teams Vijaykar S, Karhade P (2021) Remote virtual workplaces in the pandemic: the case of IT-enabled service leadership. In: Pacific Asia conference on information systems Watkins MD (2007) Remote leadership: meeting the challenge of working for a virtual boss. Harv Bus Rev. https://hbr.org/2007/07/remote-leadership-meeting-the Xenikou A (2022) Leadership and organizational culture. Edward Elgar Publishing, In: Handbook of research methods for organisational culture

Dr. Ramandeep Saini is currently Director Principal (Business School) & Dean International Affairs, Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, Punjab, India. Her areas of expertise are Human Resource Development, Leadership, Organizational Behaviour and Organizational Change. Hamayun Khan is a Post Graduate in Business Management and an independent researcher based in Washington DC, USA. Dr. Stanley Oliver is a Professor of Management Learning and Management Practice, Dean & CEO of Doctoral College, UK. His areas of expertise are Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Research Rich Learning.

Part II

Responsible Leadership for Managing Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges

Chapter 5

Integrating Simplification in Integrative Contracting to Navigate VUCA: The Case of De Rechtmakers Sharda S. Nandram and Vanessa C. M. Englert

Abstract VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) perceptions encourage the search for inter-organisational collaborations within and between different sectors and can be positioned as a theme of partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this chapter, a special case of inter-organisational collaboration is presented: De Rechtmakers, which is focused on contracts. The literature on contracts shows the need for a new mindset in contract governance and presents developments towards including elements such as trust, reciprocity, relationship building, and long-term orientation. These latter are usually labelled as psychological contracts and are additional to formal contracts. The new contracting approach can be termed Integrative Contracting and is inspired by the Integrating and Simplification of collaboration processes, to pursue a higher purpose in partnership. Integrative Contracting incorporates the new elements found in other approaches, but it starts with a fundamental view of the world, and especially of human beings. Here, the intention of aligning the partners’ different perspectives and purposes forms a key starting point for partnerships. This alignment inherently creates space to realise human nature’s potential in the midst of uncertain, volatile, and unpredictable developments. When VUCA levels are high, a basic set of guiding principles form the root of partnership. These lead to the simplification of processes in partnerships, such that everyone involved feels ownership and the processes become interwoven, which prevents their disintegration. The pattern that emerged is described in five steps, using the metaphor of stepping stones. The principles of Integrative Contracting are Serving, Attuning, Trusting, Needing, Rethinking, and Common Sensing. They take place within the spaces of actions (Doing), interactions (Interbeing), and values (Being). The authors acknowledge and express gratitude to the founders of De Rechtmakers and Buurtzorg Nederland. S. S. Nandram (B) Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen & Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] V. C. M. Englert Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_5

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Keywords Integrative contracting · VUCA · Integrating simplification · Worldview · Appreciative inquiry The higher the speed at which a culture develops, the more we slow down the internal clock of our mind – otherwise, our system breaks. While the outside world races on faster and faster, the inside world of our mind builds a philosophical system of fixed points at rest. The faster the world changes, the more philosophical humanity will become – otherwise it will not be able to continue existing. That philosophical system begins with the understanding that everything is energy, as it always has been. The human mind converts energy into logical possibilities. (Arnold Cornelis, De vertraagde tijd: Revanche van de Geest als Filosofie van de Toekomst (The Delayed Time: Revenge of the Mind as Philosophy of the Future). 1999, p. 52, citation translated from the Dutch).

5.1 The Relationship Between VUCA-Phenomena and Contracts In their edited book Managing VUCA Through Integrative Self-management, Nandram and Bindlish (2017) ask and answer the following questions: What do we know about VUCA? Volatility: changes occur at high speed. Uncertainty: deterministic models that were appropriate for developing solutions do not work. Complexity: global access has made it easy to connect to every part of the world, yet this has also made the world very complex. Ambiguity: several views give meaning to things that happen around us. There is not simply one way to explain a certain event – people also bring their cultural backgrounds to the table (2017, p. 3). The connectedness and multiple perspectives they ascribe to the VUCA phenomenon call for more institutional partnerships that take an integrative viewpoint. The literature alludes to the growing degree of intra- and inter-organisational collaboration needed to achieve this, as a result of the effects of VUCA; for example, in higher education programming (Seow et al. 2019), in policy-making (Sturmberg 2021), and management (Krawchuk 2017). In the same vein, contracting, as the structural enabler of many joint efforts (Thouvenin 2015, p. 235), needs to respond to this requirement to enhance the extent and scope of collaboration. Looking more closely at the origins of this need, Gilson et al. trace it back to the fact that organisations are adapting to increasingly complex market demands, through what the authors call ‘vertical disintegration’ (2015, p. 158). This means that institutions rely on partnerships to fulfil market needs, rather than producing all aspects of a product or service themselves—something that increases the value of permanent relationships in contracting (Lamoreaux et al. 2003). Developments towards delivering value through networks increase the necessity of establishing healthy co-dependent partnerships and cross-organisational collaboration, which, in turn, demand negotiation and contracting approach that differs from the traditional, singleorganisation-centric, risk-management stance (Gilson et al. 2009, 2015; Lamoreaux et al. 2003). For example, VUCA-compatible contracts need to ensure reoccurring

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collaboration against a backdrop of constant uncertainty, by focusing on defining the process rather than the outcome. Furthermore, contracts need to induce behaviour that appreciates the mutual dependency involved, to curb individual-entity-driven, opportunistic behaviour (Alchian and Woodward 1988). In addition to enabling inter-organisational partnerships, the elements of uncertainty, which are so prevalent today, demand that contract theory and practice move from a focus on minimising risk to one on accepting uncertainty. The majority of contracts in use today are based on the logic of mitigating risks. For example, the risk that the other party will not fulfil their obligations, which is why the expected outcomes are often defined in as much detail as possible in the formal agreement (Hart 2017; Erikson and Knockaert 2021). In today’s, VUCA-heavy business climate, uncertainty is a prominent challenge for organisations, and one markedly different from simply mitigating risks, because it is often impossible to define results that can be committed to in advance. As a result, contracts must adapt to enable organisations to respond to uncertain, complex, and volatile environments (Frydlinger et al. 2021). Contract theory and practice have developed approaches to bridge the gap between the current focus on risk mitigation and the need to focus on uncertainty management; and between a unilateral and a network-centric view of contracting (Gilson et al. 2010; Howell and Potgieter 2021). One such type of agreement is the relational contract, based on the eponymous theory by MacNeil, which understands contracts as relationships rather than transactions (1969). This kind of contract defines principles that the participants commit to, as well as a unanimously agreed arbitration approach, which can be initiated unilaterally whenever one party feels the principles have been violated (Howell and Potgieter 2021, pp. 552–553). Another contracting approach called ‘braiding’ (Gilson et al. 2010, p. 1383) aims to enable inter-organisational collaboration in VUCA times by adding a formal governance component to the relational agreements1 : ‘(…) braiding is used to achieve these outcomes by relying on formal contracting to establish processes that make behaviour observable enough to support informal contracting over the substance of the (uncertain) collaboration.’ (Gilson et al. 2015, p. 159). Both of these approaches enable cross-institutional collaboration in uncertain environments by focusing on the process rather than defining the outcomes while relying on building and maintaining healthy relationships. Introducing this human factor invites thinking about how one views the role of humans in contract negotiations. It may be said that the demands of VUCA call for a new mindset in contract governance.2 At least, the mechanisms of relational 1

Another form of combining formal and relational contract execution is ‘formal relational contracting’, see, for example, Frydlinger et al. (2021). 2 As Grundmann et al. define contract governance: ‘As an umbrella term, contract governance, therefore, covers various and very diverse issues of governance in contract law and contract practise – just as corporate governance does for company law and finance. In this context, governance is defined as ‘the institutional matrix within which transactions are negotiated and executed’ (2015, p. 3).

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contracting and braiding welcome a change of mindset by which to approach contract matters.

5.2 The Need for a New Contract-Governance Mindset That Can Respond to VUCA Magen (2015), for example, considers how contract governance changes depending on the concept of humans that is applied. In other words, it makes a difference to the approach taken to contracting if humans are understood to be exclusively rational and selfish, as in the concept homo economicus, or if they are seen as being context-dependent, cooperation-driven, homo reciprocans. Looking through a homo economicus lens, contract negotiations are focused on gaining the most benefit for oneself, whereas if humans are understood as homo reciprocans, contracts will be designed according to the particular context and with fairness in mind (Magen 2015). As mentioned, economies are increasingly dependent on horizontal partnerships that create networks of value creation. The underlying worldview of a network economy is an organic one, in which the main principle of cooperation is collaboration, not competition (Ims and Jakobsen 2006). In an organic worldview ‘(…) the partners are perceived as integrated, through dialogical processes, and they share common long-term values and interests’ (Ims and Jakobsen 2006, p. 23). There is a sense of the interconnectedness of individuals and societies, and an appreciation of values as an inherent part of what it means to be human. This awareness directs attention to what people have in common and leads to behaviour that is in line with their shared goals (Ims and Jakobsen 2006). This appreciation of values and interconnectedness can also be found in the work of pioneers of transformational legal approaches, who expand the understanding of humans further, including spirituality. As the Belgian law professor, and former legal practitioner, Prof. Dr. Eric Lancksweerdt put it: Looking for a deeper and broader awareness is indeed what we have to do, in the legal world too. That may not be spectacular, but it is revolutionary. It is, on the one hand, an awareness of who we are as human beings and of what our human capabilities are, and, on the other, an awareness of our connection with the other and with all life. (Lancksweerdt 2014)3

In ‘Spirit of the Law: How Lawyers, Judges, Law Professors, and Legal Staff Bring Spirit to Work’, Sullivan (2013) interviews Kim Wright, Linda Alvarez, and several other pioneers of bringing spirituality into law. One reason for their integrating spirituality was the desire to transform contract law. As quoted by Sullivan, Alvarez 3

Translated from the original: ‘Op zoek gaan naar een dieper en ruimer bewustzijn is inderdaad wat ons te doen staat, ook in de juridische wereld. Dat is misschien niet spectaculair, wel revolutionair. Het gaat enerzijds om een bewustzijn van wie wij zijn als mens en van wat onze menselijke vermogens zijn, anderzijds een bewustzijn van onze verbondenheid met de ander en met alle leven. Het is een hele zoektocht om zulk bewustzijn ook in de wereld van het recht een plaats te geven’ (Lancksweerdt 2014, p. 19).

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states: ‘How much more wonderful if we can offer not only a frame of reference but also a framework for interaction that evokes, supports, and sustains interactions that are based in love, in spirit, and integrity’ (2013, p. 324). She highlights the potential to create trusting environments within the legal process: ‘If you shift your legal approach to helping clients discover the underlying needs and interests of everyone involved (whether it is in deal-making or conflict resolution), you can help them align their values so you can help create sustainable relationships and real safety’ (2013, p. 321). Acknowledging the spirituality of all people involved can create a space of trust, as all are allowed to be present with the values that are important to them (Sullivan 2013, p. 323). The demands of VUCA, essentially to make a necessary paradigm shift, call for new applications in contract practice that put trust-based and integrative approaches at the centre, while appreciating the interconnectedness of humankind and the need to simplify processes. In the following sections, we discuss the Rechtmakers Method as an alternative approach that can address these demands.

5.3 Methodology A qualitative research approach was followed to understand the case of De Rechtmakers, which for convenience will be labelled here as the Rechtmakers Method. The Rechtmakers is an organisation with its own methodology and it is a case for the new, needed way of doing contracts (connecting to the previous paragraph as a bridge). The context of De Rechtmakers is one of the inter-organisational formal collaborations through contracts. Governmental organisations, companies, investors, and public–private partnerships, can all be De Rechtmakers clients. The principles, in this case, were inspired by the Integrating Simplification Theory, which emerged from Buurtzorg Nederland based on a Classic Grounded Theory Methodology. This theory has been validated in a recent study (Nandram 2021). This current study is another validation of the theory. Following the Classic Grounded Theory Methodology for the processes and the Formal Grounded Theory Methodology for the principles (e.g., Glaser 2002), the Integrating Simplification Theory is applied to the case of De Rechtmakers, to further validate the theoretical framework found in previous studies of Buurtzorg Nederland. Several inputs have been used as is allowed by the Grounded theory. For Sect. 5.4.1 (Contract and Integrative Roles), three interviews with the founder of De Rechtmakers and one interview with the founder of Buurtzorg were used. In addition, the founder of Buurtzorg has performed both the roles of co-creator and client and has also applied the Rechtmakers Method in seven contracting projects with insurance companies4 and in a collaboration between a BuurtzorgT (a mental health provider) and an investor. Magazine articles on these contracting projects have 4

These seven contracts for healthcare insurance companies and Buurtzorg Nederland focus on a three-year integrative contract, which involves a total investment of about e1.5 million.

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been used for the analysis given in Sect. 5.4.2 (Steps in the Rechtmakers Method). Furthermore, observations of two processes of contracting cases were used.

5.3.1 Process-Related Sources and Analyses To understand the process two contracting cases were studied. One online session, with international parties who were willing to collaborate and wanted guidance in establishing their collaboration through contracts; here, only the first session was observed. The second case consisted of the following four online working sessions (which took place on 21 April, 12 May, 26 May, and 9 June 2021) and two working sessions at a central location (on 28 June and 12 July 2021). To understand the partners’ motivations for collaboration, in this case, their websites were also studied. We provide a brief description of the context. Due to confidentiality issues, we cannot mention too much about the setting. It is about a long-term contract between an insurance company in healthcare and a nursing home. The client, in this case, the nursing home, gets money from the insurance per patient residing in this home. Patients pay the insurance and based on several cycles of medical intake interviews it is decided by an external party which patient is eligible and which one is not. Those who stay in a nursing home have a variety of social and medical reasons to shift to a nursing home. In addition to the payment which is taken care of by the insurance company, the patient pays a certain amount per month. The contracts are made per year based on the number of patients that is expected and that depends on the availability of places. Since the number of patients is growing in the Netherlands partly due to ageing, the costs of health care are increasing. The insurance companies who get money through the government per patient have to reduce their costs. This puts pressure on rethinking the way nursing homes are organized and the type of services they provide. Instead of a yearly contract, it is more beneficial for the nursing homes to have longer-term, for example, 3–5 years contracts with these insurance companies. That will give them time to experiment with new services and new ways of organising which is humane driven and cost-driven. Yearly contracts will not help them in the transformations which they wish to make. The Rechtmakers is facilitating these kinds of long-term contracts. Such contracts are more integrative as more perspectives and purposes are taken into account than solely the law perspective. During the sessions, only notes were taken, as recordings were not allowed. Before each working session, the facilitator of De Rechtmaker shared preparatory documents by email; these were analysed too. The notes and documents were coded by ascribing keywords, using an opencoding procedure, to the phrases that appeared in them. The notes and documents were then read for a second time and reordered according to specific topics. After this, summary documents were prepared. The codes were then sorted and categorised, which led to the emergence of a five-step process. The process is explained in the next section, using the metaphor of building a journey through stepping stones.

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5.3.2 Principles Related to Sources and Analyses In the second part of the analysis, the data collection was aimed at understanding the principles behind the worldview that the Rechtmakers Method embodies. Here, the main question was ‘What are the basic principles that underlie the approach taken in the Rechtmakers Method, and how is it shaped by them in practice when used to create contracts for cooperation between parties?’. In total, six sessions took place with the founder of De Rechtmakers and the first author of this book chapter, to understand the concept before beginning field observations. These consisted of three email exchanges, involving a list of questions developed from the initial meeting, and three video calls, on 11 January, 5 March, and 22 April 2021. Several magazine articles on the method were also shared. On 16 April, a session was held with the founder of the community-healthcare organisation Buurtzorg Nederland, as the approach taken in the Rechtmakers Method draws on his organisational philosophy, which has been termed Integrating Simplification (Nandram 2015). In addition, the founder has performed both the roles of co-creator and client and has also applied the Rechtmakers Method in seven contracting projects with insurance companies5 and in a collaboration between a BuurtzorgT (a mental health provider) and an investor. The analyses in the second part also started by applying open coding following the Classic Grounded Theory Methodology of Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Glaser (2002, 2007). Both elements of the methodology were used: open coding and coding based on an existing template. The latter followed the formal, Grounded-Theory Methodology, where the six principles identified in the Buurtzorg Nederland organisational approach, under the label of Integrating Simplification (Nandram 2021), were developed into a template to sort and organise the open codes that were found. The six principles consisted of perspectives and purposes that express the worldview behind the approach. There were three perspectives: Serving, Attuning, and Trusting; and three purposes: Needing, Rethinking, and Common Sensing (see Nandram 2021, in press).

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These seven contracts for healthcare insurance companies and Buurtzorg Nederland focus on a 3-year integrative contract, which involves a total investment of about e1.5 bn.

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5.4 Results: The Case of De Rechtmakers6 Rechtmaker is a one-person company dedicated to a new way of contracting in the Netherlands. The founder of Buurtzorg Nederland (an award-winning social entrepreneurial foundation, which is known for its pioneering work in self-managed organisational innovation, and employs 14,000 people in community healthcare in the Netherlands) and the participants in the two cases of inter-organisational collaboration were examined for sharing their views on the new way of contracting. Here, we use the term The Rechtmakers Method to explain this way of contracting, which is a result of collaboration between, and co-creation by, both the founders mentioned above. The analyses for this chapter focused on the contract, the processes, and the principles involved in complex contracting situations, where partners intend to collaborate and express what they need, to: (1) be guided in building trust and grow in building relationships based on an understanding of what it means to work towards a common goal and (2) develop a formal written contract which is clear for everyone involved. The results of the analyses of the contract and roles, and the processes and related principles, are discussed in the next three sections.

5.4.1 Contract and Integrative Roles To understand the contracts and roles, two interviews were important: one with the founder of De Rechtmakers, and the other with the founder of Buurtzorg Nederland. In the Rechtmakers Method, two aspects of contracting are acknowledged and aligned: searching for, and agreeing on, the elements of a formal written contract, and creating an atmosphere to build a psychological contract. The final contract in the Rechtmakers Method aligns both the formal and the psychological contract into a single written contract. In other contracting processes, which result in ‘traditional contracts’, a lawyer carries out a type of ‘filling-in exercise’ based on a previously determined, legal framework. People, then, are led to think only about the content of the written document, not what was exchanged or discussed beforehand. Once the contract is finalised, it functions as ‘the manual’. Compared with such contracts, the Rechtmakers Method has several key differences, because it ensures: • Simple language: The language chosen should be understood by all partners. As a result, contracts are typically written mindfully, in six to ten pages, including only information that is needed and focused, and in such a way that they are understood by all stakeholders. Information that does not serve any purpose or 6

The Dutch name De Rechtmaker implies: (i) mending something that is not right and (ii) making and developing the contract afresh based on the social needs of participants, (iii) with an integrative intent to increase integration and simplification, focus on societal purpose, and decrease perspectives of disintegration that evoke wrong incentives to collaboration that is driven only by the instrumental orientations of participants.

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is not meaningful to stakeholders is not shared. Usually, traditional contracts are at least ten times longer and can contain many details seen as irrelevant by the parties involved. Generic agreements: By focusing closely on what the stakeholders need, space is created to agree on an open architecture that can generate a roadmap that expresses generic agreements and avoids including details of actions that relate to possible scenarios which are imagined at the start and framed in terms of ‘if this, then that has to be followed’-type formulations; in this spirit, the future is accepted as uncertain and unpredictable. Long-term relationships: The writing of the contract provides the space to grow with future developments and build trust. Integrative intent: The collaboration as expressed in the contract starts with an intention to work out things together, even if conflicts arise. This integrative mindset is an important starting point and is distinct from a competitive intent to gain as much as possible for oneself at the expense of the other participants. Equality-orientated collaboration: The collaborators who come to the table define the main elements of the contract together. They can be domain experts in their respective fields and can represent several levels of hierarchy in the organisation— without making any field or level more important than another, including the role of the facilitator.

The common ground is that a framework is set for how the partners will deal with real future circumstances; therefore, the Rechtmakers Method provides space for new scenarios to emerge that cannot be anticipated, or planned for, in advance. The written contract states in clear and binding language what has been exchanged during the process and what has emerged, as the essential building blocks of the collaboration. This way of working invites the integration of two different roles performed by the lawyer: 1. Acting as the legal expert who knows what the law dictates, and the relevant rules and regulations that must be incorporated. 2. Being the coach who guides the partners in finding common ground to build the relationship and develop trust for collaboration. This role takes a holistic approach that includes the expertise, experience, and observations of the coach, and the perspectives and purposes of the stakeholders involved in the contracting process. The roles of both legal expert and coach can be integrated under the label of facilitator. Therefore, when we explain the Rechtmakers Method, we use the term ‘facilitator’. The facilitator needs to take a neutral stance because they are tasked to serve all the partners. In some circumstances, the facilitator of De Rechtmaker works closely with lawyers from both partner organisations. The concept of the psychological contract was originally studied in an employment context, but it also seems to be applicable in the context of integrative contracting. Rousseau (1995) explains that an employment relationship consists of two parts:

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the formal employment contract and the psychological contract. The latter includes the mutual expectations and promises of employees and employers. Furthermore, Rousseau distinguishes between transactional contracts and relational contracts. In transactional contracts, the emphasis is on the short-term and monetary exchanges. In relational contracts, the emphasis is on the open-ended relationship. Fulfilling each other’s mutual expectations and promises is important, especially in a long-term employment relationship—if the willingness to invest in that employment relationship is to be maintained. When we apply psychological contracting in its original spirit to Integrative Contracting, the long-term orientation at the start of the collaboration, as well as the willingness to maintain the long-term relationship, are important. The facilitator of the Rechtmakers Method aspires to both during the process, as is explained in the section that follows. In the sections that follow, the process and principles used in The Rechtmakers Method are discussed in more detail.

5.4.2 Steps in the Rechtmakers Method—Walking the Stepping Stones The results of the analyses of the Rechtmakers Method are presented using the metaphor of walking across stepping stones. The five steps that emerged are illustrated with examples of the questions and issues discussed during the steps: • Preparatory work to define the horizon and stepping stones for collaboration; • Being empowered to walk the stepping stones with a solution-driven mindset; • Creating awareness of language to become attuned to the path set out by the stepping stones; • Summarising the possible elements of the contracts while walking the stepping stones; • Preparing to deal with stones that become flooded. 5.4.2.1

Preparatory Work to Define the Horizon and Stepping Stones for Collaboration

All the working sessions began with ‘homework’, to help participants prepare, and ensure the sessions were effective. Here, the facilitator asked the participants a series of questions aimed at clarifying: • • • •

The interests of each participant; The common interests of the participants; The conditions that would facilitate the collaboration; Any tensions or concerns.

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The questions were designed to open up these areas for discussion, to find ways through the challenges and link them to the shared vision the participants had defined. The questions also serve to create a ‘holding space’, where concerns can be shared. In addition, the facilitator leads people to agree on the ground rules that will make this possible and the conditions required for people to be open in a safe environment. The participants receive the ‘homework’ questions a week before the first session starts. If they have not submitted their answers 48 h before the session, they get a reminder asking them to submit at least 24 h before. In this way, the participants can read and think about others’ positions beforehand. The preparation sets a clear focus on content, vision, and strategy. It also helps ensure that time is not wasted on ‘power plays’, because the terms of the discussion are already set and all participants start from common ground. A range of issues arises including values, basic prerequisites for collaboration, core ideas, vision, common ground, nuances in language, opinions, alignment or misalignment on what should be achieved, specific interests, etc. These all serve as stepping stones that need to be arranged to lead in a particular direction.

5.4.2.2

Being Empowered to Walk the Stepping Stones with a Solution-Driven Mindset

During the process, participants draw on guidance, in the form of short notes that serve as the minutes of the meetings. They are also reminded of the next steps and asked what they need and from whom. A reminder to participants of the status of discussions after two sessions:

1. The contract facilitator tells them: ‘Let’s see how it goes when we meet again and how everyone feels. If everyone has a positive feeling, we can have additional meetings so that there is no pressure to get things done too quickly. The process needs to take its course and we shouldn’t force it. Pushing (and pulling) is generally counterproductive’. 2. The facilitator reminds the participants of the possibility of exchanging ideas on several themes, in subgroups. 3. The facilitator encourages the sharing of the results of the homework in the following session. 4. The facilitator reminds participants that the process is dynamic and open and that this requires an open and curious attitude if they are to find the best solution. 5. The facilitator asks whether other important stakeholders should be involved in the process.

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6. The facilitator reminds the participants that in addition to her guidance, a lawyer has been assigned to represent both parties. 7. The facilitator discusses the contract framework. 8. The facilitator also explains what is different about the process being followed compared with traditional contracting so that participants can take a view on whether they have made good progress or not.

5.4.2.3

Creating Awareness of Language to Become Attuned to the Path Set Out by the Stepping Stones

Participants are also given feedback on the perceptions and feelings that the facilitator experiences in the sessions, which address areas that relate to trust between the collaborators. Specifically, participants receive feedback on the kinds of language and words they used; for example: ‘commitment’, ‘trust’, ‘partnership’, ‘develop customer demand’, ‘give technology a place’, ‘simple agreement’, ‘the urgency to act’, ‘aspire to a higher goal’, ‘no option to go back to the old way of working’, ‘the ambition to agree on a good deal where both organisations win’, ‘shared image’, ‘exemplary behaviour and inspiration for others’, and ‘embed strategic partnership in agreements’. Such feedback serves as an alternative input when addressing the minutes of the previous session.

5.4.2.4

Summarising the Possible Elements of the Contracts While Walking the Stepping Stones

To continue the dialogue between the collaborators, the facilitator of De Rechtmaker summarises the possible elements of contracts over several sessions. Below is an example summary, which also serves as a list of actions.

This is the facilitator checking whether we can agree on the following homework for the coming sessions: 1. Take an in-context view of the process so far: What’s the current situation? How far along the road have we progressed? 2. What are the challenges? What are you up against now? Where are the points of tension? What leads to noise and/or irritation on both sides? 3. What are the perspectives and inspirations? Where would we like to go? What’s the ambition and how can we make it concrete? How, and in which areas, can we take a major step forward? How do we make this practical

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and create the conditions to achieve it? Is there room for experimentation? How do we measure the effects together?

5.4.2.5

Preparing to Deal with Stones That Become Flooded

Here, the facilitator further explains some of the conditions that need to be addressed to set up a draft contract and addresses the types of questions discussed below. The facilitator of De Rechtmakers, and the lawyer representing both organisations, propose an agreement on the collaboration process, by setting out the following ‘boundaries’: Addressing future setbacks:

‘How do we deal with setbacks?’. 1. It’s very important to have timely discussions with each other as soon as there are signals or tendencies that are difficult to explain, or where everyone appears to have a different interpretation. 2. In these situations, it’s important that you analyse things together: What is going on here? What is causing this situation? Who can influence it? Has it developed autonomously, or is something else going on? You may also want to seek expert guidance when doing this. 3. If you can agree on a diagnosis, the next step is to see if something needs to be done; and, if so, what and by whom. 4. The main pitfall is that, instead of being a dialogue, the analysis becomes an opportunity for confrontation by one party based on a particular representation of the facts; and then the other’s role becomes to refute this. This is not an equal conversation, and, worse, becomes simply about who is to blame and who should pay. In a setting of sustainable cooperation, you will want to avoid this. You need to ensure that you take individual responsibility, recognise that there may be different perceptions, and try to reach mutual understanding of them. 5. The bottom line is that if you can’t agree, or if, despite a positive discussion, you can’t find a way out of the resulting impasse, you may have to fall back on the traditional way of working. 6. Before proceeding to this step, it’s worth: • Reading the agreement again and reminding yourself how you started this journey together; • Reflecting on what you may gain or lose by holding to the ‘new line’; and perhaps even a slightly modified or supplemented version of it;

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• Understand what you may gain or lose by falling back on the traditional way of working; • Realise the impacts these choices may have on different stakeholders. 7. The above requires that you are aware of the old, existing patterns and that you always try to engage in a different, more equal way when talking to each other. In doing so, you have to be able to hold each other accountable for the manner, or a lack of, communication. 8. It always comes down to working from a different paradigm and letting go of old patterns, instead of punishing, and looking for a stick to beat the other party with or hold it financially responsible. Taking joint responsibility; being curious about what is going on; exploring how we can do this better (and not sparing yourself in the process); problem-solving and working from the content. The five steps explained above are followed in iterative cycles, to ensure that all partners are fully engaged and convinced that they have to work together if they are to be successful on the journey. The steps can be positioned within the Appreciative Inquiry Process, which is explained in the next section.

5.4.3 Using Appreciative Inquiry to Position the Process in the Rechtmakers Method Appreciative Inquiry has been developed by Dave Cooperrider, Ronald Fry, and their mentor, Suresh Srivastva (Grieten et al. 2018). The approach’s methods and philosophical underpinnings stem from an inherently strengths-based and socialconstructivist understanding of knowledge creation and change (Cooperrider and Whitney 2005; Reed 2007), which are two sides of the same coin for Appreciative Inquiry practitioners (Bushe and Kassam 2005, p. 166). Appreciative Inquiry shifts the focus from a problem-solving approach to one that centres on discovering the ‘positive core’ (Cooperrider and Whitney 2005, p. 75) of the situation, the parties involved, or the matter at hand—to then envision the development that is aspired to and plan its implementation as an answer to the guiding question. The following process expresses this positive orientation of the approach. Appreciative Inquiry uses the 4-D Cycle, which is an iterative four-step process that leads the participants from discovering their positive core, through the envisioning of potential states and choosing the best state for the specific question being addressed, to planning the concrete steps needed to reach the agreed future state (Ludema and Fry 2008). Bushe and Kassam summarise it as follows: ‘The cycle begins with discovery (appreciating what is), then goes on to dream (imagining what could be), which is followed by design (determining what should be), and then by destiny (creating what will be)’ (2005, p. 167).

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The discovery and dreaming steps can be positioned within the first step of the Rechtmakers Method—‘Preparatory work to define the horizon and stepping stones for collaboration’. The third step of the Appreciative Inquiry corresponds to the fourth step of the Rechtmakers Method, which is ‘Summarising the possible elements of the contracts while walking the stepping stones’. The fourth step of Appreciative Inquiry did not emerge as a significant separate step in the Rechtmakers Method as the process of ‘creating what will be’ is part of each of the steps in the Rechtmakers Method: In each session and step, the destiny is being addressed in the search for building blocks that are meaningful to the collaborative partners and can be included in the contract. Apart from the four steps corresponding to Appreciative Inquiry, three additional steps were found in the Rechtmakers Method: • Being empowered to walk the stepping stones with a solution-driven mindset; • Creating awareness of language to become attuned to the path set out by the stepping stones; • Preparing to deal with stones that become flooded. Appreciative Inquiry creates an environment of sincere conversation in which there is no need for hierarchical power structures and where existing negative frames can be replaced by dialogue-encouraging and relationship-building conversations that create meaning and interpersonal connection (Hung et al. 2018). The additional steps of the Rechtmakers Method reinforce the need for a sincere conversational environment.

5.4.4 The Worldview Principles in the Rechtmakers Method The integrative approach to dealing with VUCA (Bindlish et al. 2017) provides a foundation to approach Integrating Simplification Theory (Nandram 2015, 2021). This foundational base can be best described using the Serving-Attuning-Trusting principles to describe how the ‘world’ is perceived (perspectives), and the NeedingRethinking-Common Sensing principles to describe how to deal with the ‘world’ (purposes). In the context being discussed here, inter-organisational collaboration is the ‘world’. This basis can be described in more detail using these elements, which are set out in the sections that follow.

5.4.4.1

Serving Principle—Attuning Principle—Trusting Principle

1. Intrinsic motivation towards achieving coherence as a starting point—thus the intent, not the goal. This falls under the Serving principle. 2. Open to a dynamic process of interactions that form a continuous journey of adaptation, because the anchor is the intention. This falls under the Attuning principle.

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3. Building trust by developing an openness to being vulnerable. This is the basis of the intention of coherency—showing vulnerability towards others in the relationship, by trusting that the others will do what is being expected. This falls under the Trusting principle. 5.4.4.2

Needing Principle—Rethinking Principle—Common Sensing Principle

1. Focus on the content: What do you want to achieve together? This invites us to look at what is needed and falls under the Needing principle. It also invites the elimination of distractions that could lead to the disintegration of team dynamics, such as focusing on formal job positions and related roles in the organisations. In the contracting process, these are pushed into the background because the content is used as the starting point. 2. Building the ability to respect the outcome that emerges, which is based on the thinking process of the inter-organisational collaboration. It acknowledges a dynamic outcome rather than a pre-formulated mission approach, which fosters the development of good relationships. This falls into the Rethinking principle. 3. Allowing pragmatism using common sense, in addition to existing approaches for decision-making and ways of working that stresses the notion of collaborating as equal partners. Here, the emphasis is on acknowledging that the intent to achieve coherence lives on holistically, as it is based on experiences from the past and present, with a continuous link to a shared vision about the future. 5.4.4.3

Doing—Interbeing—Being

In an inter-organisational context, the interactive process is the foundation of the outcomes. These interactions can consist of explicit words and tacit cues that are expressed in the sessions. Following the Rechtmakers Method, such interactions can best be expressed using the framework of an iterative process of doing—Interbeing— Being. The interactions that take place in the sessions, and the type of questions asked by the facilitator, address the issues of what will we do, how and when, and the various cognitions that emerge when dealing with them (Doing); feelings that participants develop while working together (Interbeing); and deeper values such as trust and the addressing of deeper layers behind the images in the minds of participants (Being). In the interview, the founder of Buurtzorg Nederland7 stated: In the Rechtmakers Method, the agreement about the process for the inter-organisational exploration of collaboration, and the consequences of this process, are key foundational aspects; these evoke a different kind of relationship between the partners and more in-depth experiences of interactions than when things start with the partners’ positions and power. This makes space for the human aspects, and together with the content of collaboration, for 7

The Rechtmakers Method was inspired by the Integrating Simplification Theory at Buurtzorg Nederland and therefore studying this case is part of validating this theory.

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contracts based on a clear vision. Everyone considers each other as human beings rather than representatives of organisations in certain defined roles.

The interaction is a continuous process and it builds up relationships and opens up space for interventions. This was expressed by the Buurtzorg founder as follows: ‘There’s a need to keep the flame of interaction burning as, during the process, several issues will come up, such as vested interests and financial issues. But the important questions are: What do you need and where do you need each other?’. This integrative stance can foster interaction of Doing—Interbeing—Being, and the skills of the facilitator of De Rechtmakers serve to oversee the process. This requires a combination of knowledge about the legal aspects of contracts, the ability to understand and nurture the inter-relationships among the partners, and a personal state of mind that integrates the facilitator’s personal life experiences to connect to the level of one’s own ‘being’. This expresses itself by being present for the partners and connecting to the dimension of one’s own inner life. This inner life serves as a constant fuel for a detached perception of what is going on; to address the undercurrent of what is not being explicitly said by the participants in the sessions and to listen and address tacit knowledge and experiences that may be relevant for keeping the flame of interaction burning. The facilitator of De Rechtmakers explains as follows: ‘Identifying the undercurrent is part of the work I do as a facilitator; sharing observations about what I see happening and what it means. I do this to provoke a reaction and make more explicit what might (still) be holding people back from really stepping into the collaboration. I discuss the question: What do you need to do that?’. In one session, the facilitator of De Rechtmakers remarked: ‘Not knowing is inherent in this process. It’s a different way of talking; it takes time and you have to be present’. The facilitator of De Rechtmakers creates a conducive atmosphere during the sessions so that participants feel invited to share what they think should be included in the contract, what vision they have, and what they need to achieve that vision. The founder of De Rechtmakers expresses it as follows: ‘When you philosophise or dream about the future, the idea isn’t to pin it down. Remember, what you need is to allow yourself the freedom to speak’. There is space for humour and laughter, and, if required, meditation practices are introduced to evoke other levels than just the thinking mode of collaboration. The facilitator reminds the participants that the whole person is being considered so that conversations do not just take place at the cognitive level. These approaches bring more interconnectedness, and feelings of safety, which enable participants to express what they think and feel, what they care about, and what ener + gises them. The facilitator of De Rechtmakers co-creates the homework for the next meetings based on the needs that come up in the session but reminds the participants that it is their process and they should feel good about it. Over several sessions, the participants are reminded of the process of diagnosing and monitoring things together and agreeing on a shared vision. This detached position taken by the facilitator,

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which lets the participants take the lead rather than prescribing what they should do, encourages the participants to take ownership and prioritise tasks themselves. Interactions between the Doing—Interbeing—Being levels require a long-term commitment, which is discussed over several sessions. As a result, the contracts aim at longer term agreements, varying from three to five years. On average, the facilitation process for collaboration takes place over three to six months. It consists of four to six plenary sessions with all collaborators, and bilateral sessions on particular topics to arrive at the specific elements of the contract.

5.4.5 Positioning of the Rechtmakers Method in the Academic Field of Appreciative Inquiry Here, we compare the foundational principles that have emerged from the analyses of the Rechtmakers Method with the principles of Appreciative Inquiry. The Constructivist Principle: Reality, as we perceive it, is constructed by each person; for example, the perceived experience of a situation. But it is also constructed collectively; for example, through narratives of historical events. Hence, there is no ‘single truth’ out there, but diverse views of individuals that need to be listened to (Reed 2007). In the Rechtmakers Method, there is room for this principle, which falls under the Rethinking principle. The facilitator expresses the importance of deciding who will be at the table in the collaboration: ‘I would like people at the table who have knowledge of the content; so not (only) someone from Finance or Legal, or a senior manager who actually has no understanding of the essential content issues’. The Principle of Simultaneity: As Schein put it: ‘Everything you do is an intervention’ (Schein 1999, p. 22, No. 4). The synchronicity of action and effect stands in contrast to other research processes, such as in the action research process in which the effect is an outcome of the linear process of diagnosis, planning, action—and, only then, an effect (Bushe and Kassam 2005). In the thinking of Appreciative Inquiry, even a planning conversation can result in change. In the Rechtmakers Method, this principle occurs in another form: in the interactive principle of Doing-InterbeingBeing. However, in the Rechtmakers Method, it is not positioned as an intervention; instead, it inherently follows the integrative intent, to align towards coherence among the perspectives and purposes of the partner organisations. The Poetic Principle: The Appreciative Inquiry approach understands organisations as books ready to be interpreted and collectively rewritten. Cooperrider and Whitney explain: ‘Pasts, presents, and futures are endless sources of learning, inspiration, and interpretation—like the endless interpretive possibilities in good poetry’ (2005, p. 84). In the Rechtmakers Method, this principle occurs in the Common Sensing principle. In this method, however, there is space for the creative development of phrases or slogans to describe the underlying atmosphere of interorganisational collaboration. Some examples that were given by participants in the

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Rechtmakers sessions were: ‘Get out of it what’s in it’ or ‘It’s time for life to go on’ or ‘Let’s go out together and see’. An example from Buurtzorg Nederland is ‘eerst buurten dan zorgen’, which means first getting acquainted and then following the required tasks. In the Rechtmakers Method, these are linked to the specific inter-organisational partnership and they emerge during the process of collaboration. The poetic principle falls under the Common Sensing principle. The Anticipatory Principle: People and groups develop in the direction their attention gravitates towards. If a company bases its development efforts on its failings only, measures of improvement will always be tied to the negative frame of shortcomings, which may prevent the organisation from fulfilling its full potential (Reed 2007). In the Rechtmakers Method, there is a continuous focus on finding common ground and operationalising what the partners need to put the vision of the common ground into practice. This anticipatory principle falls into the Needing principle. The Positive Principle: Effecting and maintaining change requires healthy relationships and a shared, positive, emotional environment (Cooperrider and Whitney 2005). Additionally, positively worded questions aim to engage participants longer and more profoundly than neutral or negatively connotated prompts (Reed 2007). In the Rechtmakers Method, there is no dominance of the positive principle as it follows an integrative worldview inviting both positive and negative emotions and experiences. The use of language is an important aspect of the process of meaningmaking about what is going on during the sessions. Interestingly, it is not only about paying attention to positive experiences and developments. The facilitator of De Rechtmakers proactively invites descriptions of the undercurrents in the conversation. If these are not expressed in the process of preparing and walking across the stepping stones, several stones may become flooded, which disturbs the coherent outcome of the inter-organisational collaboration. Comparing Appreciative Inquiry principles with Integrating Simplification Theory principles reveals that the Principle of Simultaneity and the Positive Principle are lacking in the health forms described in Appreciative Inquiry Theory. The perspective of Integrative Simplification Theory, which is expressed in the Serving-Attuning-Trusting and the Doing-Interbeing-Being principles, are additional essential principles for inter-organisational collaboration in a VUCA context.

5.5 Conclusion The Rechtmakers Method provides insights on how ‘inter-organisational collaboration’ happens where the motivations are the foundations of a contract that has been developed consciously, together with the users, in a stepwise manner. It may serve as an alternative to formal, traditional ways of developing contracts between partners who have to operate in a high-VUCA context. The method confirms the principles of the Integrating Simplification Theory which were developed in a context of ‘intra-organisational collaboration’.

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Analysis of these findings reveals that the Appreciative Inquiry Approach, which is often used in understanding transformations in organisations, provides some additional understanding of the Rechtmakers Method. The 4-D process and Appreciative Inquiry principles open up new perspectives on partnership and its potential: Appreciative Inquiry involves, in a very artful and disciplined way, the craft of asking questions that elevate a system’s cooperative capacity, to apprehend strengths and positive potentials, unite around greater meanings and shared goals, and activate the kind of generative designs that serve to open those systems to better and more valued possibilities (Barrett et al 2005; Cooperrider and Fry 2020, p. 267). The Rechtmakers Method has its own expressions of the Appreciative Inquiry process and principles. In terms of inter-organisational collaboration, Appreciative Inquiry can contribute to the strengthening of cooperation by valuing the strengths that lie in partnership, rather than mapping shortcomings of ‘the other’, as well as by being as inclusive as possible in the journey of discovery. Both appreciation and multi-perspective conversation are aspects that nourish the partnership and foster collaboration (Laszlo and Cooperrider 2010). The Rechtmakers Method has been presented as an alternative to formal contracting. The method intends to navigate VUCA, making the process of building a contract for inter-organisational collaboration a more conscious engagement. To do so, it applies principles that encourage a worldview that is integrative by nature, because it is initiated by the coherent intent of inter-organisational collaboration.

References Alchian AA, Woodward S (1988) The firm is dead; long live the firm a review of Oliver E. Williamson’s The Economic Institutions of Capitalism [The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting, Oliver E. Williamson]. J Econ Lit 26(1):65–79. http:// www.jstor.org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/stable/2726609 Barrett FJ, Cooperrider DL, Fry RE (2005) Bringing every mind into the game to realize the positive revolution in strategy. Practicing organizational development. Guide Consultants 510–539 Bindlish PK, Nandram SS, Joshi A (2017) Integrative intelligence as the path forward. In Nandram S, Bindlish P (eds) Managing VUCA through integrative self-management. Springer Publishers, Switzerland Bushe GR, Kassam AF (2005) When is appreciative inquiry transformational? A meta-case analysis. J appl Behav sci 41(2):161–181 Cooperrider D, Whitney D (2005) A positive revolution in change: appreciative inquiry. In: The change handbook: The definitive resource on today’s best methods for engaging whole systems, vol 87 Cooperrider DL, Fry R (2020) Appreciative inquiry in a pandemic: an improbable pairing. J Appl Behav Sci 56(3):266–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320936265 Erikson T, Knockaert M (2021) Negotiating incomplete contracts. J Strateg Contract Negot 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/20555636211042093 Frydlinger D, Vitasek K, Bergman J, Cummins T (2021) Welcome to the contracting paradox. In: Contracting in the new economy: using relational contracts to boost trust and collaboration in strategic business relationships. Springer International Publishing, pp 3–19. https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-030-65099-5_1

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Gilson RJ, Sabel CF, Scott RE (2009) Contracting for innovation: vertical disintegration and interfirm collaboration. Columbia Law Rev 109(3):431–502 Gilson RJ, Sabel CF, Scott RE (2010) Braiding: the interaction of formal and informal contracting in theory, practice and doctrine. Columbia Law Rev 110(6):1377–1447. http://www.jstor.org.vunl.idm.oclc.org/stable/27896300 Gilson RJ, Sabel CF, Scott RE (2015) Contract, uncertainty, and innovation. In: Contract governance. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723202.003.0008 Glaser BG (2002) Basics of grounded theory analysis. Sociology Press, Mill Valley, CA Glaser BG, Strauss AL (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Aldine Transaction Glaser B (2007) Doing formal grounded theory: a proposal. Sociology Press, Mill Valley, CA Grieten S, Lambrechts F, Bouwen R, Huybrechts J, Fry R, Cooperrider D (2018) Inquiring into appreciative inquiry: a conversation with David Cooperrider and Ronald Fry. J Manag Inq 27(1):101–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492616688087 Grundmann S, Möslein F, Riesenhuber K (2015) Contract governance: dimensions in law and interdisciplinary research. In: Grundmann S, Möslein F, Riesenhuber K (eds) Contract governance: dimensions in law and interdisciplinary research. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10. 1093/acprof:oso/9780198723202.001.0001 Hart O (2017) Incomplete contracts and control. Am Econ Rev 107(7):1731–1752. https://doi.org/ 10.1257/aer.107.7.1731 Howell BE, Potgieter PH (2021) Uncertainty and dispute resolution for blockchain and smart contract institutions. J Inst Econ 17(4):545–559. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744137421000138 Hung L, Phinney A, Chaudhury H, Rodney P, Tabamo J, Bohl D (2018) Appreciative inquiry. Int J Qual Methods 17(1):160940691876944. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406918769444 Ims KJ, Jakobsen OD (2006) Cooperation and competition in the context of organic and mechanic worldviews: a theoretical and case based discussion. J Bus Ethics 66(1):19–32 Krawchuk FT (2017) Collaboration in a VUCA environment. In: Visionary leadership in a turbulent world: thriving in the new VUCA context. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp 133–154. https://doi. org/10.1108/978-1-78714-242-820171007 Lamoreaux NR, Raff DMG, Temin P (2003) Beyond markets and hierarchies: toward a new synthesis of American business history. Am Hist Rev 108(2):404–433. https://doi.org/10.1086/533240 Lancksweerdt E (2014) Menselijke kracht in het recht een ontwikkelingsgerichte visie op het recht en de rechtspraktijk, met speciale aandacht voor persoonlijke groei, samenwerking en creativiteit. Larcier Laszlo C, Cooperrider DL (2010) Creating sustainable value: a strength-based whole system approach. In: Thatchenkery T, Cooperrider DL, Avital M (eds) Positive design and appreciative construction: from sustainable development to sustainable value, vol 3. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp 17–33. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1475-9152(2010)0000003006 Ludema JD, Fry RE (2008) The practice of appreciative inquiry. In: Reason P, Bradbury H (eds) The SAGE handbook of action research, 2nd edn. SAGE Publications Ltd, pp 280–296. https:// doi.org/10.4135/9781848607934 MacNeil IR (1969) Whither contracts? J Leg Educ 21(4):403–418 Magen S (2015) Fairness and reciprocity in contract governance. In: Contract governance. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723202.003.0014 Nandram SS (2015) Organizational innovation by integrating simplification: lessons from Buurtzorg Nederland. Springer International Publisher, Switzerland Nandram SS, Bindlish PK (2017) Managing VUCA through integrative self-management: how to cope with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in organizational behavior. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52231-9 Nandram SS (2021) Humane organizing in a post-COVID-19 world: learning from Buurtzorg’s trustbased decentralization. J Manage Spirituality Relig 18(5). https://doi.org/10.51327/ZLJH5589 Reed J (2007) A brief tour of the history and principles of AI. In: Appreciative inquiry. SAGE Publications, Inc., pp 21–43. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983464

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Rousseau DM (1995) Psychological contract in organizations: understanding written and unwritten agreements. Sage, Thousands Oaks, California Schein EH (1999) Process consultation revisited: building the helping relationship. AddisonWesley. http://digitool.hbz-nrw.de:1801/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=901575&custom_att_ 2=simple_viewer Seow P-S, Pan G, Koh G (2019) Examining an experiential learning approach to prepare students for the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) work environment. Int J Manage Educ 17(1):62–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2018.12.001 Sturmberg JP (2021) Without systems and complexity thinking there is no progress—or why bureaucracy needs to become curious comment on “what can policy-makers get out of systems thinking? Policy partners’ experiences of a systems-focused research collaboration in preventive health”. Int J Health Policy Manage 10(5):277–280. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2020.45 Sullivan PM (2013) Spirit of the law: how lawyers, judges, law professors, and legal staff bring spirit to work. In: Handbook of faith and spirituality in the workplace. Springer, New York, pp 315–332. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5233-1_20 Thouvenin F (2015) Summary of the discussions in Part III: governance of networks of contracts. In: Grundmann S, Möslein F, Riesenhuber K (eds) Contract governance: dimensions in law and interdisciplinary research. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/978019 8723202.003.0013

Prof. Dr. Sharda S. Nandram a Full Professor Business and Spirituality at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit and a Full Professor Hindu Spirituality and Society at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is also an adjunct professor at Banasthali University in Jaipur, India Vanessa C. M. Englert works as an organization development professional in Germany and engages as a Ph.D. scholar at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research interests lie in collective spirituality and workplace spirituality from an integrative worldview.

Chapter 6

Circular Organising for Fuller Engagement and Sustainability Anil K. Maheshwari, Jyoti Bachani, and Ray R. Gehani

Abstract Circular organising is an egalitarian and flexible form for fuller engagement and resilience. Circular structures may be one possible innovative way to organise in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. Many functions in organisations and society are already organized as circles, such as quality circles, social circles, product life cycles, software development cycles and others. The UN (United Nations) Security council is perhaps the most iconic circular organising structure. Apple Inc.’s new global headquarters in California is another iconic circular structure. At the spiritual level, the Vedas and Yoga Sutras are organized as mandalas or circles. Leadership circles provide expression to a richly interwoven community to engender greater creativity and accountability. We systematically examine the features and potential benefits of organising based on circles. We illustrate circular organising with organisational stories as well as personal experiences of leading circles. This paper adds to the organisational sustainability literature from an Eastern perspective, drawing on practical experiences and wisdom from the scriptures, as practiced by the contemporary Indian diaspora. Keywords Circles · Engagement · Leadership · Organising · Spirituality

6.1 Introduction Organisations evolve by making use of contemporary capabilities to produce the products and services needed at the time. An ideal organisation would mobilise an unlimited number of people towards the creation of meaningful products, services and experiences—in ways that can help to fulfill the greatest aspirations of all its A. K. Maheshwari (B) Maharishi International University, Fairfield, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. Bachani Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, USA R. R. Gehani University of Akron, Akron, USA © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_6

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constituents and stakeholders. Such collaboration is best achieved by creating holistic mechanisms for organising, which are in evolutionary harmony with the laws of nature (Maheshwari 2021). Members at all levels of the organisation should feel appreciated and are genuinely proud of their meaningful contribution to the organisation’s purpose. Such a purposeful and synergistic collective organisation may be built as a coherent whole at many levels. A circular organisation would surround the subtle levels of power and decision-making in the organisation with layers of more surface level decision-making structures. The subtle layer at the centre of the concentric circles will contain the core and essence of the organisation. Industrial era organisations are organised predominantly as hierarchies with strict organisational control and command systems to monitor those lower in the hierarchy—to do what was dictated by the ‘scientific management’ techniques geared towards producing mass production and efficiency. To address the challenge of miscommunication and erosion of responsibility in tall organisational hierarchies, a matrix or rectangle-like lattice structure was developed. As the business environment has become yet more complex and interconnected, complex matrix structures simply don’t work anymore (McKinsey 2019). A few creative industries and endeavours use a networked or free-form of organising where the knowledge required to get the job done is mostly tacit, and relies on specific ‘star’ individuals, be it scientists running labs in R&D (Research and Development) divisions of the organisations, or the ‘creatives’ in advertising agencies. Such winner-take-all star-centric structures, however, have a tendency to erode human dignity and community (Hicks 2018). As the desire to live a fulfilled spiritual life grows, the challenge is whether spiritual life can be organized at all, and if so how. With the advent of computing, artificial intelligence and robotics, humans will be increasingly required to bring their full self and creativity to the workplace. As the internet enables anyone with talent to distribute their creative output, new forms of distributed organising are emerging and need to be better understood. The new jobs for the digital era will require trust-based systems, rather than command and control organisations. With an increase in the ability to passively monitor initiatives without having to be the focal point, a lot of companies are making the shift to a more circular or a decentralised management structure. Social expectations are changing in the digital era. Uber, AirBnB and other disruptors are changing social norms such that, whereas some of us grew up being told to never get into a car with a stranger, most people now routinely call a stranger and get in their car for their rides, as if they had a friend giving them a ride, with no physical exchange of cash for the transaction, as technology makes that seamless too. These trust-based networks operate with continuous feedback, so if an Uber driver misbehaves or AirBnB host or guest has issues, they report it online and the rating allows future users to be aware of what they are likely getting into. This kind of a VUCA world needs new forms of organising at all levels. A more robust and sustainable organisation design demands distribution of leadership and decision-making across different segments to shape their own destinies, rather than concentration of leadership at the sharp pointed peak of a pyramid. Confidence, creativity, compassion, and consciousness at all levels of the organisations are of the

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essence to respond proactively and create new value in a rapidly changing era of abundance (Maheshwari 2021). Old disciplinary boundaries may have contributed to the problems and need to be transcended if solutions are to be found. For example, climate change regulations are set mostly by country governments, with possible solutions attempted at the global level with treaties between countries. At the UN security council, countries sit around in a circle proposing, listening and debating important issues. This chapter presents the principles and practices of circular organising.

6.2 Principles of Circular Organising A circle offers an alternative to the pyramidical form of organising. A circle is a ubiquitous natural geometric form. A circle is both an image and metaphor of unboundedness, completeness and equality. Circle is a way of life, not just a strategy or a technique. All stars and planets are organised as circles of spheres. Their orbits are also organized as circles, perfect or ovals. There is both protection and democracy within a circle as people face each other without any sense of visual hierarchy. Families naturally gather in circles often around the kitchen table. Campfires are some of the oldest forms of organising as circles to share experiences and discuss new initiatives. Circles provide the healing power of peers and friends. There is also great wisdom in circles. Circular organising has been written about in spiritual traditions. Indian spiritual principles of wholeness are similar to Chinese Yin-Yang circles. The concept of zero brings form to the emptiness or nothingness by drawing a visible line around it. The wheel from Buddhism and circle from Zen are similarly operating out of sacred nothingness. The Vedic concept of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam is a holistic and inclusive circle in which, there is no other. The whole earth itself is a circle in human experience. Inspired by Indian/Eastern thought, we present a few key principles of circular organising. The first feature of a circle is that it includes an infinite number of points, while bringing attention to each one of them and to the Totality. A second feature is that the unmanifest center of a circle holds the energy of the whole. The third feature is the flexibility and resiliency of the circle as it moves and morphs, and it grows or shrinks. These features have implications for the design of organising mechanisms.

6.2.1 Principle 1: Circle Represents Wholeness The primary principle of circular organising relates to the infinity or wholeness. To complete the circle is to reach back to where one began. The Mundaka Upanishads say:

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It means: That world (outer) is wholeness. This inner world is also wholeness. From wholeness springs wholeness. Taking wholeness from wholeness, what remains is also wholeness. May there be peace in the world! Wholeness provides context. Without wholeness, the parts don’t illuminate much, and only add to stress and confusion in the world. Wholeness alone is blissful and there is no joy in parts. Wholeness produces wholeness without the original wholeness becoming any less. The circle is considered to be an invincible form of organising as the Vedas are organised in circles or mandalas (Maharishi 1978). A circle is a whole as every point on the circle is directly connected to its neighbours, with a direct line of vision to every other point. Ideally, a circular structure promotes communication and free flow of information between different parts of the organisation, as the circular structure depicts all divisions as being part of the same whole. It is about leaderless organising—as anyone can be a leader and, those who take the lead learn they are leaders. Small actions can become powerful and each person can be empowered by seeing their actions reverberate throughout the community. Sometimes we hold a circle and sometimes the circle holds us. The points on the opposite side of a circle are said to support or balance one another. The way each individual is incorporated into the larger group can be a model for circular organising. An individual is a whole by himself/herself. They are also whole as part of the family, which is a whole by itself. The family belongs to a community and is a whole at that level too. A self-similar pattern of wholeness exists in a fractal manner. As one zooms in or out, one can experience similar patterns of individual-group bonding. Each family occupies a unique position in the community, and community in the society. A vibrant circle represents the self-referring dynamics of the universe. The points of a polygon are an embodiment of separateness. They lead to friction inside the organisation. The circle has no sharp points and edges. The relationship between the circle and the diameter line is represented by an irrational number pi. The circle is a simple but irrational structure that cannot be understood through the rational mind alone. The centre is the invisible but powerful locus of self-referral organising.

6.2.2 Principle 2: Center Holds the Whole Together The second principle of circular organising is about the unmanifest, symbolic, allpowerful Center of the circle. The centre holds the circle together even as the circle grows. The centre is accessible to all points and vice-versa. A circle thus concentrates its total energy in the unmanifest centre. The centre is like the vibrant hollowness of the banyan seed that contains within itself, the potential of a huge dynamic tree structure. It is akin to the ‘strange attractors’ of complexity theory, and the centre acts like that to help with the self-organising that occurs. It is easier to experience

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the centre than to write about it, as describing it is just boring. One needs to develop the sensitivity to perceive the powerful centre. The centre is the place where there is non-judgmental acceptance for all, who make up the circle’s circumference as no one owns the centre more than others. It has the quality of equalising everyone, and holds people together as they speak into the centre of the circle, and not one-on-one to anyone in particular, and everyone is equally vulnerable/exposed and secure/held. A true leader understands and holds that centre in subtle ways. Circular organising works even when the leader putatively, as just another participant, stands on the periphery of the circle. On the other hand, the circle makes it easy for other potential participants to feel and hold that centre, and become leaders of the organisation as the need arises in a particular moment or context. The leaders in a circular organisation aren’t usually seen as operating in a command-and-control model. They use their position at the centre of the organisation to spread their vision and ideas outward.

6.2.3 Principle 3: Circle is Flexible and Resilient The third principle of circular organising is about the circle’s dynamic flexibility and resilience. The circle is a shape with no sharp edges (unlike finite-edged structures like polygons). The circle can move; can change shape and size without breaking. It can re-form into a circle after a rupture. The circle is resilient as it can repair itself. The circle can morph into an oval and other structures, adaptively. It can also morph into a collection of concentric circles, or of circles contained within circles. Just like water and dew drops form to lower the surface tension of the liquid, and although we are not talking of spheres, there is a circular angle to this lowered tension and stress and more natural flexibility. When the number of constituent points increases, a circle can morph into multiple concentric circles. The multiple concentric circles can dynamically move and rotate in opposite directions and create innumerable points of connection. A concentric circular structure relies on a hierarchy of some sort though, with higher level employees occupying the centre points and the inner rings of the circle, while the lower level employees occupy the periphery. Security arrangements for VVIPs (very, very important persons) such as national Presidents also work on the organising principle of rings. Each ring does not know much about the other rings. The ancient Indian scriptures of Vedas that were cognised by seers over 3000 years ago are also organised as concentric circles. The 40 inter-related branches of Vedas unfold like a lotus flower, from the highly abstract to the more practical knowledge. The first syllable of the first verse of the first Veda, called Rig Veda, is said to contain the essence of the knowledge of the whole universe in the most abstract form. The knowledge becomes more specific in the outer layers of the Vedas. Finally, there are specific domain-centred Vedas such as on health (Ayur Veda), music (Gandharva Veda), architecture (Sthapatya Veda), defense (Dhanur Veda) and so on.

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6.3 Circular Organisation Models and Examples A circular organisation is an alternative to the typical western models of hierarchies or networks. In a circular organisation, there is an egalitarian distribution of influence shared with all those forming the circle of influence. Circles can expand to invite inputs from many stakeholders inside and outside the organisation. In such circular organisations, the quality of the invisible constitution and values of the organisation at the centre of the leadership circle play a crucial and sustained leadership role. Sometimes, the constitution of such an organisation may not specifically mention leadership or a specific leader.

6.3.1 Braided Organisation An example of a circle-like human-centric organisation is the so-called braided organisation (Zarka et al. 2019). A “braid” is a new form of organising—with an intertwined network of contributors with different capabilities, not controlled or managed by a formal hierarchy, who work together to invent ways to accomplish a common purpose in line with organisation’s mission and strategy. This new approach for digitally enabled collaboration transcends the edge of an organisation’s boundaries, and extends beyond it in space and time. Braids allow significant advantages in terms of access to rapid knowledge and capabilities that are key to achieving breakthrough levels of performance; improved coordination among individuals and groups performing interdependent tasks; increased organisational agility; enhanced knowledge-processing as experts contribute more directly to the most important technical and strategic decisions; and greater motivation, as people team together to leverage their capabilities to innovate and accelerate performance.

6.3.2 Helical Organisations McKinsey (2019) promotes a Helix organisation to resolve deep-rooted organisational dysfunction. The helix has been around for decades in professional-service firms, and in agile enterprises. Helix organisation is a mix of flexibility and stability. It disaggregates the traditional hierarchy into two parallel but fundamentally different lines of accountability: value-creation and capabilities management. A helix is like a circular form of organising. Circular organisations shun hierarchy and often function as networked groups of people, who might even enjoy the freedom to volunteer for the causes and skills they can bring to the shared task. This leads to organising that naturally relies on building communities of practice (Brown and Duguid 1991), with shared or similar values and care and collaborative attitude towards the shared cause or mission of the organisation. Circular structures may offer greater

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learning in the organisation as a facilitating infrastructure for exploring the structural opportunities and key competencies, people need to participate in making wellinformed choices about policies and objectives (Romme and Van Witteloostuijn 1999). A circular organisation disperses leadership and influence much more than that in a typically tall pyramidal organisation design. It disperses authority as well as legitimacy to different domains in a workplace organisation, and to some of its external constituent stakeholders as members of the circle. There are seldom executive powers for anyone to offer rewards or punishment or worse things such as fire people, who may be volunteering at will anyway. The charter, constitution, or shared value system mitigates or counterbalances the power grab commonly observed in pyramidal organisations. The leadership for the circular workplace organisation is provided by multiple leaders dispersed all along the circle. In the non-profit social entrepreneurship world, for example, the leaders of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are not like the business leaders (Fig. 6.1). Instead of being at the top of hierarchy, they are at the centre of a circle and use influence, rather than power—to take along all their members—volunteers as well as donors and clients (Bachani and Vradelis 2012a, 2012b). Steve Jobs, a regular practitioner of Zen Buddhism, used a circular metaphor for the futuristic headquarters for Apple, often referred to as Spaceship, which was later renamed, Apple Park. It was budgeted for $5 Billion. Instead of the usual rectangular and boxy high sky-rise buildings, Jobs chose the circular design inspired by Buddhist Shunyata. Just before passing away in October 2011, Jobs highlighted, “It’s got a

Fig. 6.1 Circular management structures. Source Bachani and Vradelis (2012a, b)

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gorgeous courtyard in the middle, and a lot more. It’s a circle, so it’s curved all the way round.” Jobs also admitted, “This is not the cheapest way to build something.” In April 2017, Spaceship renamed Apple Park opened, and replaced Apple’s Infinite Loop. Jobs also used the navigational wheel to innovate iPad, a radical departure from the square gadget-like look of MP3s (Gehani 2016).

6.3.3 Vedic Leadership as Circles of Care Vedic leadership, from Vasudhaiva kutumbakam, is an inclusive and holistic approach to organising that engages the wholeness of Being and totality of knowledge for mistake-free action (Maheshwari and Gupta 2018). Inclusion reflects the understanding that all beings in nature are interdependent, even though not identical. It refers to the practice of affiliating with, and caring for, other people. Inclusion entails inviting every individual to engage with the social process in the fullness of her capacity. A relationship begins when two (or more) people come into each other’s experienced presence. Inclusive relationships develop as a result of congruent and empathic attunement between two or more individuals. This calls for the individuals to get along, while recognising their respective faults as well as gifts. Effective inclusion involves sensitivity towards individual needs and differences. A variety of members adds to the richness of the experience for all, and hence it leads to the inclusiveness quality of circles. The core of organising is that individuals have a place, and the community of connected individuals has its own place. This is organising without controlling. Circular organising is a dynamic self-referral action-oriented term. We can transition away from a static view of organisations to a dynamic view of organising. The quality needed to organise circular formations is trust. When we trust each other to help lead parts of a joint program it feels less risky, as it is a volunteered commitment, spontaneous and hence more effective and efficient, as there is no need for the host to worry about whether someone is going to become a free-rider. This trust-based organising gets rid of controls and contracts and yet works brilliantly, just as a small pebble thrown into a pond creates circular ripples that reach and is visible to everyone right up to the edges.

6.3.4 Buurtzorg as a Circular Organisation The Dutch healthcare organisation Buurtzorg is a famous case of inspiring the employees to do the “right” things in local decision-making (Nandram 2015; Bindlish and Nandram 2017). Laloux (2014) describes this company as one of the early instances of a Teal organisation, as the top level in the development of Integral Leadership capability. Buurtzorg serves about 70,000 clients per year through 10,000 nurses, who are organised in about 1000 small teams that operate autonomously in

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small geographical areas close to their client communities. At Buurtzorg, the nurse members, who are conducting primary tasks, are in the lead, and the head office follows. The head office of the organisation consists of only two directors and a small team of staff members and coaches. Their main principle is that the client is at the e focus point of care and therefore nurses should be close to the client and lead the engagement as they see fit. The founder’s trusting vision is expressed in his mantra: humanity above bureaucracy. By focusing on caring for the client’s needs, and by having a high degree of autonomy in decision-making, the nurses are highly intrinsically motivated. This way of being has resulted in this company being ranked the best employer of the year for several years, with a high nurse satisfaction score, a high client satisfaction score, high growth in the number of clients, and high productivity, as compared to similar home healthcare organisations. This organisation’s simple procedures and processes follow an approach of integrating simplification (Nandram 2015), consisting of three simple principles to structure effective and productive ways of organising. These principles are labelled as: needing, rethinking, and common sensing (Nandram 2015). Needing is about finding out what the client needs. Rethinking is about how to meet that need, with the nurses adapting their approach in specific cases with full autonomy. Common-sensing is about influencing the flow of behavior to be in alignment with other commonly held values. It encourages the use of common sense to solve problems in a pragmatic solution-oriented way, using several sources of knowledge that come up naturally, in addition to professional knowledge. In the case of nurses, professional knowledge is their clinical reasoning. The primary drivers for this company were trust in the nurse performers at the point of action with integral simplification of processes, with full autonomy, and with intrinsic motivation to develop their confidence.

6.3.5 Agile Product Development as a Circle The Agile product development is one example of circular organising. In this model, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is first launched so that the customers engage with it. The company adds new features to the newer releases and versions of the product by studying, how the customers are using the product and what they care about. Software development with agile methodology is an example of circular organising. It is dynamic, effective and self-organising, with a few principles that everyone agrees to operate by, voluntarily. The principles free up human beings to operate by bringing their whole self to the task, rather than be controlled by someone higher up a pecking order hierarchy. This humanistic approach to work is good for the individual and increasingly an imperative for the gig economy and future of work. Many organisations have aimed to decentralise areas that were creating a bottleneck and empower lower-level management to make agile decisions themselves, which would typically have to go through upper management. Employees feel empowered through the additional responsibilities and roles in which they are in charge of execution. Knowing

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that their input is an element that is driving the direction of the organisation is critical for empowerment to be effective. There are quality circles as well as social circles. The circle way of organising is critical for both the pattern of interactions, and also for the content—as new things emerge from the process, similar to appreciative inquiry. It also helps respond to the volatility and uncertainty in the changes in customer needs and aspirations.

6.4 Circular Product Life Cycles The US economy uses about 100 billion tons of raw materials as inputs. Of this, about 90 billion tons are discarded as waste after extraction processes (Senge et al. 2008). Closed-loop manufacturing is based on the principle of no waste. The output of one activity is absorbed as input in another activity. A product’s manufacturing and use life cycle take it from the creation to use to reuse to recycling. This helps with cost efficiency, reduced waste management, and sustainable economic development. Every element in the manufacturing and use process is seen as useful in some way. Similarly, biologically there are cycles of birth and death and rebirth in another form, as seen in trees and plants. These dynamic feedback cycles are sensitive to the volatility in the overall environment, such that any element in the cycle can transform it from a steady state functioning to a runaway cancerous lopsided vicious cycle.

6.5 Circular Organising for Care Systems Management seminars are often organised as circles (Bachani and Vradelis 2017). When some of us attended Ph.D. seminars, we were organised as circles. We were encouraged to put food or a favourite book in the middle of circle as an offering to all. People would contribute thoughts ideas suggestions to the circle in a respectful way, when they had something to offer. Everyone would give full attention to the circle even when there were long pauses of silence. Peer workshops among the MSR interest group are similarly organised as circles. The centre of the circle is a sacred place. Everyone is encouraged to bring something sacred to add to the centre table. Members of the circle take turns in speaking. Most teachers however refuse to teach in a circle, as they want to be upfront, leading from the front. There is a lot of resistance to circle as it can feel like the loss of power.

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6.5.1 Alcoholics Anonymous as Circles of Care Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and similar programs use circular organising. They have a ritual of starting with ‘I am an addict’ statements so that there is someone, who has been sober for 20 years, is at par with someone, who has trouble being sober for 20 h or 20 days. They do not claim to be successful or know any better—as they can fall back anytime into the disease, and they have their own journey, as does the person who is struggling at the start of their sobriety journey. The AA-like programs recruit ‘mentors’ as those with more experience in the circles get to have one-on-one hand-holding duties to support those who are new to the circle. Reflecting on what is spoken into the centre of the circle, will be sure to surprise even those who speak it—as the process itself has that quality to surprise the participant, when they least expect to be surprised.

6.5.2 Awaking Circles for Social Organising One of the authors has had many years of formal experience with Awakin circles in Silicon Valley, India and the UK. Today, Awakin Circles have organically rippled to eighty cities around the globe. People meditate for the first hour, engage in a circle of reflective sharing in the second hour, and conclude the night by receiving a delicious home-cooked meal. A palpable sense of gratitude and community weaves through it all. The ripples of inner transformation are countless—and continue on. People new to the Awakin circle—immediately feel the ‘welcoming vibe’ even without anyone saying anything. There are also no formal rules about ‘don’t check cell phones in the circle or do not have a cross talk when in the circle’—yet these desired behaviors naturally emerge and people do not break up the energy of the circle, for the most part. Each individual who stands/sits in a circle—benefits from the ‘strange attractor’ that is the centre of the circle, as all individuals are equal in a leaderless circle. As a host for an Awakin circle (awakin.org), we found that there was a clarity of vision that needed to be open to whatever shows up. This declaration of intent is a power quality in individuals, who create and work with circles that are often missing in the insecure, rush to climb an imagined corporate ladder. From running the Improv workshops at the Academy of Management over the past few years, we found the circle very useful and flexible as an organising structure. Everyone gets the power to interrupt, disrupt or otherwise change the course of action for the group. This activity works well, when the rules of activity are simple, and the attention of the circle is engaged. In the Improv session, we always begin and end with a circle. We break away into randomised dynamic activity, but again return to the circle structure for sharing experiences. Many of the sharing and passing exercises are done from within the circle structure. Hosting a circle requires preparation and clarity of intent, but after that there is also a necessary condition to let go—and trust the process—to hold space for whatever emerges from it. There are no ‘rules’ for

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insisting on how the circle ‘should’ emerge—as it is very organic and trust based. Each person in the circle may speak for a few moments, but the value of being heard in a circle is enough that they patiently listen to everyone else in the circle. Speaking time may be just 10% while listening time in the circle process can be 90%.

6.5.3 Yoga Sutras as a Circle of Moral Development Yoga Sutras is a Vedic scripture that describes the path to union with unbounded Consciousness. Yoga is defined here as the cessation of the proclivities of the mind. The eight limbs of the path to union are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyan and Samadhi. These limbs range from the most gross level of social behaviors (Yama) to being the subtlest limb of establishment in the nondual consciousness (Samadhi). These limbs are not sequential steps; one can start with any limbs, as all the limbs support the others. Success in one limb leads to success in the others. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi emphasises that the eight limbs of Yoga are interconnected and grow simultaneously; these are not eight steps that need to be followed sequentially like a ladder. They are like eight legs of a table; pulling any one leg can pull the entire table. Maharishi further says that one cannot have samadhi without having some accomplishment in yama and niyama and one can’t totally accomplish yama and niyama without some support from samadhi. In fact, the last limb, samadhi, is identical to the first yama, or Truth. That is, Truth is a state of samadhi from where only truth emerges in thought, speech and action. Thus, the limbs of Yoga Sutras are like the many legs of a chair; pulling the chair by any of its legs moves the whole chair. However, pulling different legs of the chair may be more convenient in moving the chair in different directions. Similarly, different limbs of Yoga Sutras help different fields of human life. Every limb enlivens a different field of life. An integrated circular view of Ashtanga Yoga is shown in Fig. 6.2. It is a self-reinforcing cycle that may promote stability in the practitioner’s life.

6.6 Conclusions and Implications This chapter draws upon Indian and Eastern scriptures to present circular organising as a viable mode of creating holistic organisational structures for greater inclusion and happiness. Circles are holistic and dynamic. Circle also offer a handle to hold the whole, in the form of its center. Circles are resilient and can dynamically grow and shrink as the need arises. Circles enable dynamic stepping up to leadership from the periphery. Circular organising is one possible answer to meeting the dynamic challenges of a VUCA world. Circles are already in use in social and educational settings such as family, peer campfires, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), management seminars, quality management and so on. Companies are experimenting with circular organising for rapid decision-making without burdening senior leaders.

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Fig. 6.2 Ashtanga Yoga Sutras as a circular structure. Source Maheshwari and Pandey (2022)

Circular structures tend to bring about greater empowerment and engagement among the employees. Circular organising also offers a disruptive tool for courageous and inclusive leaders, who wish to build agile and engaged organisations. The sharing of ideas and insights in circular structures can be very helpful in cross-fertilising vibrant minds and lead to effective initiatives. Thus, circular organising has the flexibility of structures to meet different objectives. Many startup organisations work on an agile model, allowing networks of communication. Circles have the potential to enable care, compassion, collaboration and creativity to help organise for a more fulfilling life and a flourishing society.

References Bachani J, Vradelis M (2012a) Strategy making in nonprofit organizations: a model and case studies. Business Expert Press Bachani J, Vradelis M (2012b) Nonprofit leaders and listening. Great Lakes Herald J 6. https:// www.greatlakes.edu.in/pdf/Herald/Vol6/sep2012b_v6_c1.pdf Bachani J, Vradelis M (2017) Listening and engaging to lead responsibly. Beyond the bottom line: integrating the UN. Global compact into management education. Greenleaf Publishing Bindlish PK, Nandram S (2017) Leadership and authenticity: the case of Buurtzorg Nederland. Leadership today. Springer International Publishing, pp 89–109 Brown JS, Duguid P (1991) Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organ Sci 2(1):40–57 Gehani RR (2016) Sense-making corporate brand values in the smart phone industry. SAM Adv Manag J Autumn:37–46 Hicks D (2018) Leading with dignity: how to create a culture that brings out the best in people. Yale University Press

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Laloux F (2014) Reinventing organizations: a guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage in human consciousness. Nelson Parker Maharishi MY (1978) Enlightenment to every individual. Invincibility to every nation. MIU Press, Fairfield, IA Maheshwari AK, Gupta RK (2018) Vedic leadership: theory and practice of operating from natural law. The Palgrave handbook of workplace spirituality and fulfillment, pp 491–511 Maheshwari AK (2021) Higher consciousness management: transcendence for spontaneous right action. J Manag Spirit Relig 18(6):77–91 Maheshwari AK, Pandey N (2022) Yoga Sutras and spiritual entrepreneurship. In: World scientific Encyclopedia of business sustainability, ethics and entrepreneurship, pp 291–314 McKinsey (2019) The Helix Organization. McKinsey Quarterly, October 2019 Nandram SS (2015) Organizational innovation by integrating simplification: learning from Buurtzorg Nederland. Springer Romme AGL, Van Witteloostuijn A (1999) Circular organizing and triple loop learning. J Org Change Manag 12(5):439–454 Senge PM, Smith B, Kruschwitz N, Laur J, Schley S (2008) The necessary revolution: how individuals and organizations are working together to create a sustainable world. Currency Zarka M, Kochanovskaya E, Pasmore W (2019) Braided organizations: designing augmented human-centric processes to enhance performance and innovation. IAP

Anil K. Maheshwari is a Professor of Management and Information Systems at Maharishi International University, USA. He has published over 25 research papers and book chapters on Consciousness-based approaches to Leadership, Management, Education, Architecture, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Well-being, and World-Peace. He has also published textbooks on Big Data and Data Analytics. Jyoti Bachani Strategy making in business and non-profit organizations, management of technology and innovation with creativity, mindful use of technology for creating sustainable futures, Humanistic Management, experiential pedagogy, simulations and case-studies, are some of the words to describe Prof. Jyoti Bachani’s interests in teaching and scholarship. Dr. Ray R. Gehani has acquired this expertise from two terminal doctorates: Dr. of Engineering in polymer engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a PhD in Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation from the City University of New York. He has chaired Technology Management Section of INFORMS. He solo authored a book on Technology management and Operations (John Wiley & Sons). He has written many papers on Gandhi and Lord Rama.

Chapter 7

Decoding 4Ps of Social Capital: How Organizations Survive, Thrive Inclusively in Uncertain Times Prabhjot Kaur and Tanuja Sharma

Abstract The economic instrumentality of organizations has amplified since the industrial revolution. However, more recently, globalization and disruptions in the business environment have added new dimensions of complexity and uncertainty. This paved way for social capital from community studies to management by viewing it as a resource that can be leveraged by multiple stakeholders for sustainable advantage in organizations. The chapter focuses on understanding the multi-dimensional concept of social capital in organizations by systematically reviewing literature over the past decade (2011–2020). Insights have been presented using the 4P framework: Purpose, Product, Place, and Price of social capital. Taking a perspective of social exchange and social embeddedness, social capital has been shown to positively impact the business ecosystem, communities, minorities, businesses, and employees. Also, during uncertain times, social capital acts as a rainy-day investment that can be used to construct, convert, transfer, or complement needful resources. Findings from the study can be leveraged by both practitioners and academicians to drive organization success. Keywords Social capital · Systematic literature review · Evidence-based · 4P Framework · Uncertain times · Inclusive growth

7.1 Introduction In ‘Confronting Dystopia: The New Technological Revolution and the Future of Work’ (Paus, 2018), various eminent sociologists and economists analyse macroeconomic trends over the past 30 years to suggest that conjecture of globalization and emerging technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital disruptions are likely to impact organizations. While it may be hard for us to P. Kaur (B) · T. Sharma Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] T. Sharma e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_7

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find a way out from the inevitable uncertainty in the macro-environment, alternate paths embracing shared prosperity and new social contracts may emerge. Technology can surely offer efficient, comfortable, and effective solutions, but it may also take away the joy of meaningful work and instil dissatisfaction in people, nudging them to reclaim back their humanity and human connections (Kling 2005). The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, termed human beings as social species as they rely on social interactions to survive and thrive. Also, Durkheim, one of the great sociologists, proposed the concept of collective consciousness which binds the society together (Glover and Hemingway 2005). With its origin in community studies, this valuable resource embedded in social norms, values, beliefs, and relations which bring coherence and act as a lubricant for smooth functioning amongst members of family, institution, or community has been defined as ‘Social Capital’ in the literature (Ansmann et al. 2020; Bourdieu 1986; Dörhöfer et al. 2011; Jacobs 1965; Wang et al. 2020). More recently, uncertainty due to the pandemic has paralyzed some businesses and for others, it has presented a unique opportunity. While the future remains yet to be seen, many researchers feel that this big bang is not an aberration but a new normal (Carroll and Conboy 2020). In such scenarios, one of the key cornerstones of organizational success would be to focus on multiple stakeholders and drive inclusive growth by focusing on the social fabric of the organization (Carnevale and Hatak 2020; Zhang et al. 2021). Equally important is to proactively embrace the uncertainty by strategically investing in relations and harnessing the same in times of need to have a resilient business (Chowdhury et al. 2019). Thus, today’s context of an unpredictable, turbulent, and dynamic business ecosystem makes it imperative to put a spotlight on studies around social capital in organizations. Research trends show that the multi-disciplinary concept of social capital has received extensive attention from scholars and researchers. Just a simple title search of ‘social capital’ in Scopus shows 10,687 records with nearly two-thirds of them being published in the past decade between 2011 and 2020 (Fig. 7.1). This rising interest shows that social capital has blossomed from a mere concept to a full-fledged research field (Kwon and Adler 2014). The roots of social capital are embedded in the field of social sciences and psychology; however, the concept has now penetrated various other fields. It has rapidly galvanized researchers from the sphere of business management with nearly a quarter of records emerging in this discipline (Table 7.1). This rising importance of social capital in the field of management calls for a much deeper understanding of the concept. However, to date, there has been no systematic review that consolidates and assimilates the existing evidence base to strengthen the understanding of social capital within organizations. This chapter aims to bridge this gap by systematically reviewing and synthesizing the existing body of literature in the field of social capital in organizations to understand how organizations survive during uncertain times and thrive by inclusively focusing on multiple stakeholders.

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1975

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Fig. 7.1 Research trends in social capital. Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published research for a decade

Table 7.1 Spread of records with ‘Social Capital’ in title across various research fields

Research field

Percentage of articles (%)

Social sciences, psychology, and humanities

46.57

Organization, management, finance, and economics

25.60

Health and medicine

10.87

Science and engineering

10.14

Environment and agricultural science

6.23

Multi-disciplinary

0.59

Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published researches for a decade

7.2 Research Methodology The study uses systematic review and narrative evidence methodology to identify, evaluate, and interpret existing research pertinent to our research topic and phenomenon of interest, i.e. social capital within organizations. Guidelines established by Briner and Denyer (2012) have been followed for a rigorous, reliable, and transparent approach to summarize the existing evidence, using the fit-for-purpose process presented in subsequent sections.

7.2.1 Planning Review To develop a rigorous review proposition, the CIMO framework was used (Denyer and Tranfield 2009). It draws upon Pawson’s (2006) work on evidence-based practice for research in the field of social sciences and management. The research questions

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were examined and refined for the Context of the evidence, Interventions to be evaluated/tested; Mechanisms that are triggered to create the expected result, and the Outcomes in the form of observable effects. In line with recommendations by Popay et al. (2006), both the researchers deliberated and refined research questions through an iterative process to arrive at a set of relevant and answerable questions. To put a structure to these questions, we took inspiration from the 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) of marketing (Borden 1964). In the past, various researchers have leveraged a modified version of 4Ps in their studies to suit their context, such as to study air quality, fund selection, speech courses, etc. (Engleberg 1975; Fedeli 2015; Skaer 2005). We adapted these 4Ps for our context and looked at the purpose, product, and price of social capital using an evidence-based narrative synthesis approach. Firstly, the abstract review was used to map available literature on social capital in organizations over the last decade (2011–2020) for answering the following research question: Research Question 1: What is the purpose of inquiry in the existing literature on social capital? (Purpose)

Thereafter, the authors articulated the following research questions for further deep-dive by conducting a full-text review of the articles. Research Question 2: What is social capital? (Product) Research Question 3: Where is social capital formed? (Place) Research Question 4: Why is social capital labelled as ‘capital’? (Price)

7.2.2 Evidence Collection and Shortlisting A systematic review was conducted to find as many studies related to the research questions as possible using an unbiased search strategy based on PRISMA Guidelines (Johnson et al. 2020). Full-text articles from scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals in the English language were selected. Using the structured methodology depicted in Fig. 7.2, 112 articles were shortlisted for abstract analysis. For the next phase of the detailed full-text review, the relevance criterion was agreed upon upfront by both the authors to reduce selection bias (Briner and Denyer 2012; Wolfswinkel et al. 2013). It was decided to shortlist all the articles which studied social capital as their primary concept and would help in addressing at least one of the research questions of this study. Both the authors agreed to keep the definition of organization broad enough to include different types of organizations including corporates, family enterprises, start-ups, religious organizations, sports organizations, NGOs, and even the business environment in general. Due to the focus on evidence-based research, 17 conceptual papers were excluded to arrive at the list of 95 articles and their abstracts. After an independent and rigorous process, both the authors agreed to include 65 articles. However, 3 full-text articles could not be retrieved and finally, 62 articles were

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Fig. 7.2 Search Strategy using PRISMA Guidelines (Page et al. 2021). Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published researches for a decade

considered for final review. The entire process has been summarized in the following Fig. 7.2.

7.2.3 Evidence Analysis and Reporting This step aims to analyse and extract information from individual articles to arrive at useful insights, which provide a good summary of the field. Firstly, the grounded methodology of literature review, suggested by Wolfswinkel et al. (2013), was used to analyse abstracts and categorize them using the coding process. This abstraction process helped in surfacing concepts and meta insights. Thereafter, the big picture was presented using the narrative synthesis process (Briner and Denyer 2012). The insights have been presented in the subsequent section.

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7.3 Purpose: Inquiry into Past Research on Social Capital We started by exploring the research objective and primary purpose of studies conducted by researchers over the past decade on social capital in organizations. Thematic analysis was used to categorize articles instead of categorizing sets of ideas across articles (Webster and Watson 2002) to understand how multiple stakeholders are impacted. These have been presented in Table 7.2. As depicted, social capital has been shown to create impact at multiple levels in uncertain contexts. Social capital is a key asset to support recovery from uncertainty during natural disasters. Bridging social capital, i.e. receiving support from the community and linking capital, i.e. receiving support from institutions, help in improving economic resilience during a crisis. It also empowers women, who are impacted by disasters, by overcoming their unique vulnerabilities and reinforcing their capabilities. Social capital is also shown to have a therapeutic nature, which helps in the collective action of the community and helps in evading the stigma of seeking assistance during volatile times. A lot of business decisions that involve uncertainty such as investment choices, new product development, implementation of complex knowledge management systems, customization of professional services, etc., have shown to be positively impacted by social capital. Even at a team and individual level, it helps in navigating through uncertain and volatile project context, drive extra-role behaviours and support employee well-being. Social capital is a phenomenon of human behaviours and is embedded in social relationships (Davenport and Daellenbach 2011; Dill and Ozer 2019; Dörhöfer et al. 2011; Tacon 2016; Wang and Steiner 2020), and hence context is extremely important. As the ubiquitous uncertainty looms in the business ecosystem, social capital can present opportunities for cautious optimism and driving sustainable performance. Figure 7.3 highlights these contexts for 95 empirical articles, which have been studied across different business environments such as communities, indigenous businesses, during crisis or disasters; and organization types varying by ownership structures, growth phases, minorities, growth phases, etc. The figure highlights the flexibility of the social capital concept with its application in varied contexts, where uncertainty is high such as start-ups, immigrant businesses, small enterprises, complex projects, virtual organizations, etc. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as the number of studies, focusing on social capital in uncertain contexts, is rather scarce.

7.4 Product: Understanding Social Capital The term ‘social capital’ originated from community studies, which emphasized a network of strong personal associations built over time signifying trust, cooperation, and power of collective action amongst local community members (Jacobs 1965). It has been shown to help alleviate the negative effects of uncertainty by promoting reciprocal help and willingness to cooperate. Social capital is a multi-dimensional

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Table 7.2 Research on social capital focusing on the multi-stakeholder impact Community and business ecosystem

Business resilience after a natural disaster

Fitrimawati and Jafrinur (2020), Liu et al. (2020), Mcgowan et al. Investment decision in livestock (2015), Joo et al. (2017), Lins and Tamayo (2019), Tchorek in case of unsure returns et al. (2020), Wang and Steiner Empowers women impacted (2020), Zhang et al. (2020) during disasters due to its therapeutic nature Probability of healthcare service availability to communities Impact of International NGOs on community wellbeing in developing countries amidst financial scandals Community social capital as a predictor of business performance New product co-creation between customers and firm and its likely business impact Investment in CSR to support firms during the financial crisis CSR as an investment for sustainable business ecosystem

Organization

Bridging and bonding social capital as a stimulator of entrepreneurial innovation for the revival of a declining industry Successful implementation of complex knowledge management Creation and sustenance of learning culture in an evolving IT organization

Al-Omoush et al. (2020), Aldecua et al. (2017), Chavoshbashi (2018), Chollet et al. (2014), Laužikas and Dailydait˙e (2015), Lee et al. (2018), Lindstrand et al. (2011), Madhavaram and Hunt (2017), Oliveira (2013), Srirama et al. (2020), Wang (2016)

Collaborative knowledge creation for proactiveness in organization agility during COVID-19 crisis Drive dynamic capabilities of business in a multi-faceted cross-cultural context Positive business impact for SMEs through the access of valuable information by entrepreneurs (continued)

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Table 7.2 (continued) Capital and credit choices for the uncertain and informal context of household businesses Survival of family businesses in a dynamic environment Customization of professional services for clients in the B2B sector Positive business referrals despite negative signals of CEO Business expansion and volatile internationalization of SMEs Transformation of business from conservative efficiency-driven to avant-garde innovation-driven Team

Alignment between business and IT department, despite friction and different perspectives

Bartsch et al. (2013), Di Vincenzo and Mascia (2012), Van Den Hooff and De Winter (2011), Wagner et al. (2014)

Enable project teams to overcome learning barriers in uncertain scenarios High performance of complex projects in the volatile construction sector Individual

Employee work attitudes of commitment and engagement

Fujino et al. (2013), Kroll et al. (2019), Mirsafian (2018)

Positive impact on extra-role behaviours of employees Overcome financial constraints by small business owners Well-being and systolic blood pressure of employees at workplace (continued)

construct and different researchers have taken varied perspectives on its definition (Albin Shaikh et al. 2019; Ganguly et al. 2019; Oliveira 2013). Also, various theories underpin these definitions as described in the sections below.

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Table 7.2 (continued) Minorities

Prospects of young women entrepreneurs in an insufficiently resourced society Predictor of competitive advantage for SMEs owned by women entrepreneurs

Blount et al. (2013), Dill and Ozer (2019), Katila and Wahlbeck (2011), Lee (2015), Mcgowan et al. (2015)

Value of participating in minority network by minority business firms Opportunities for youth of colour in the distressed urban context Start-up of immigrant businesses in new territories Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published researches for a decade

Fig. 7.3 Academic research on social capital over the past decade (2011–2020). Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published researches for a decade

7.4.1 Definition Adler and Kwon (2002) made a key contribution by articulating ‘internal’ and ‘external’ variants of the definition of social capital. While the former takes a ‘social embeddedness view’ and looks at it as a shared and collective resource that is

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embedded in the network, the external variant perspective takes ‘social exchange view’ and looks at social capital as a private resource that can provide support or enable the differential success of individuals or organizations in unpredictable times (Chollet et al. 2014; Rouziou et al. 2018; Scheinbaum and Wang 2018; Xin et al. 2020). This classification allows for a good understanding of social capital at a conceptual level. For the sake of simplicity and ease of understanding, we have clustered definitions into three broad categories to understand variations in definitions. It is important to note that internal and external perspectives were observed in each of them. Also, these categories are not mutually exhaustive, and some overlap is inevitable. First is ‘Outlook-based’ in which researchers have taken different perspectives or lenses while defining social capital. The most predominant ones are resource-based view (Lee et al. 2018; Prasad et al. 2013; Ramezan 2016; Srirama et al. 2020; Xin et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020) or a network view (Alqithami et al. 2020; Bastié et al. 2016; Dill and Ozer 2019). The most predominant definition borrowed by researchers, has been from Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998), who defined social capital as ‘the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit. Social capital thus comprises both the network and the assets that may be mobilized through that network’. Others have defined as per their research context. Such as Xin et al. (2020) viewed social capital as a resource for small enterprises, which are faced with fierce competition and market volatilities. Through social networks, these firms can assist their innovation process and diminish barriers to sustainable growth. Few researchers have taken adjoining views such as social capital as functional (Zarea 2012), intangible-asset (Zarei et al. 2014), or resource-dependence view, highlighting that organizations don’t have all the resources and depend on their network in crucial times (Alqithami et al. 2020; Blount et al. 2013). Other perspectives adopted are the goodwill view, confidence view, internal view, inward–outward view, a component of intellectual capital, collective membership view, economic view (Barron et al. 2017; Chavoshbashi 2018; Davenport and Daellenbach 2011; Donate et al. 2020; Dörhöfer et al. 2011; Hoogesteger 2013; Madhavaram and Hunt 2017; Moore et al. 2018). To share an example, Blount et al. (2013), referred to social capital as ‘benefits from social structures, networks and memberships’ for minority-owned businesses that operate in an ambiguous environment. Membership in minority business networks can help in trust formation despite specific information on each of the members and is based on overall reputation. Social capital in these networks can provide access to beneficial, exclusive, and reliable information to minority businesses, which in turn is likely to advance the likelihood of success. In a remote working and dispersed setup of virtual organization, Davenport and Daellenbach (2011) viewed social capital as an ‘attribute of collective relationships and is inherently linked to the existence of shared norms and values and the ability to work towards collective goals’. Second is ‘Context-based’ in which researchers have looked at a specific context of the social capital while defining such as organizational social capital, family social capital, institutional social capital, personal social capital, intra-organizational social capital, guanxi, communal social capital, project social capital, etc. (Ansmann et al.

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2020; Deller et al. 2018; Di Vincenzo and Mascia 2012; Fahmi 2019; Kroll et al. 2019; Scheinbaum and Wang 2018; Wang 2016). For example, Di Vincenzo and Mascia (2012) studied project-based organizations, which are fluid structures created to swiftly respond to complex and rapidly evolving sectors led by innovation. They have defined project social capital as an ‘overall web of inter-personal and interproject relationships, in which single project units are embedded, and through which important resources can be accessed’, which positively impacts the cost and quality of projects. The socialization process helps in the formation of informal and formal ties which act as a conduit for the seamless flow of project social capital and knowledge integration. Lins and Tamayo (2019) have viewed community social capital as an insurance policy for organizations that pays off during crisis and uncertainty, when being reliable is more valuable. Scheinbaum and Wang (2018) highlights the prevalence of personal relationships (Guanxi) embedded cultural context of the firm can act as a sustainable advantage and help in driving firm competitiveness. The third is ‘Constituent based’ in which researchers have looked at a specific type or kind of social capital such as norm-based, bridging ties, bonding ties, relationships, communication-based, trust-based, structure-based, etc. (Aldecua et al. 2017; Gill et al. 2016; Mirsafian 2018; Moore et al. 2018; Sias and Duncan 2020; Tchorek et al. 2020; Wang and Steiner 2020). For example, the bonding view of social capital by Coleman (1990) has been leveraged by Moore et al. (2018) to define social capital as ‘an appropriable capital resource—in the form of obligations and expectations, trust, information channels, and norms—embedded in a social structure that is characterized by densely connected networks with repeated exchanges between actors’. While another popular view has been of bridging social capital by Burt (2000) who defined social capital as ‘function of brokerage across structural holes than closure within a network’. Tchorek et al. (2020) used social capital and social trust interchangeably in the context of the shared economy to emphasize that the intensity of dialogue enhances social assets to drive collective action and overcome regulatory uncertainty. Mirsafian (2018) took a norm-based view to highlight visible and invisible social bonds in a complex organization and defined social capital as a ‘set of norms in social systems that enhances collaboration between members of the system and decreases the costs of exchanges and communication’. Also, some researchers (Aldecua et al. 2017; Alqithami et al. 2020; Bastié et al. 2016; Dill and Ozer 2019; Fahmi 2019; Sözbilir 2018; Tacon 2019) have taken structural or network view of social capital. For example, Bastié et al. (2016) studied uncertainty surrounding decision-making and defined social capital as the ‘ability of actors to extract benefits from their social structures, networks, and memberships’.

7.4.2 Underpinning Theories Various theories have been used to mobilize the concept of social capital across various studies in different contexts. These can be clustered into economic theories, social theories, and organizational theories. Most of the articles use either a single

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theory that is fit for the purpose; or a combination of two theories as per the research objective. Economic theories primarily focus on the value derived from social capital in uncertain contexts. This is one of the predominant views adopted by researchers, especially used while establishing or understanding the impact of social capital. Some examples include resource-based view, resource-dependence perspective, value cocreation theory, and transaction cost theory (Blount et al. 2013; Moore et al. 2018; Zhang et al. 2020). Social theories highlight the relational or social side of social capital to draw resources as per need. These have been typically used to understand the phenomenon of social capital in peculiar contexts, study-specific constituents of social capital in complex scenarios or explain a particular phenomenon. Some key theories used are social exchange theory, social resources theory; network theory; trust; social capital theory; relational perspective, social cognitive theory (Ganguly et al. 2019; Madhavaram and Hunt 2017; Sias and Duncan 2020; Sulaiman et al. 2015). Finally, a wide variety of organizational theories have also been used in the ambiguous and volatile milieu. However, the frequency of each of these is thinly spread as these are dependent primarily on the context and purpose of the study rather than the concept of social capital. Some examples are management by values theory, leadership theory, contingency theory, triple bottom line, engagement theory, employee motivation, knowledge management, dynamic capabilities, human capital theory, job demands-resources and leader-member exchange (Joo et al. 2017; Kroll et al. 2019; Prieto-Pastor et al. 2018; Xin et al. 2020). In a few of the articles, theories from adjacent fields which link with research objectives were also observed such as Hofstede’s culture, feminist theory, etc., (Fahmi 2019; Prasad et al. 2013) for minorities.

7.5 Place: Formation of Social Capital The social capital formation can happen across different levels, i.e. micro (individual), meso (teams, units, projects), and macro (organization or communities) as shown in Table 7.3. Social capital can also be formed in different contexts such as minorities, crises, and firm types. Minorities are the individuals or organizations who have been subjected to gender, racial, cultural, or ethnic biases. Owners of small minority businesses typically have lower seed capital or education levels and hence they tap into professional or social networks to gain access to information, customers, financial support, etc., and accumulate reputational capital (Blount et al. 2013). Similarly, women entrepreneurs in patriarchal societies value their family social capital for overcoming cultural biases and promoting entrepreneurial perseverance (Prasad et al. 2013). Natural disasters or crises have also been considered ripe for the formation and leveraging of social capital as it supports business resilience and responsiveness (Al-Omoush et al. 2020; Chowdhury et al. 2019). From an organization type perspective, public sector organizations (Kroll et al. 2019; Sulaiman et al. 2015; Zarea 2012), NGO or community organizations (Chavoshbashi 2018; Dill and Ozer 2019; Hoogesteger 2013; Mikovi´c et al. 2020; Tacon 2019) and business-to-business

6

Source Authors’ work based on ABDC and SCOPUS published researches for a decade

40

6

Grand total

5

3

4 3

3

1

4

1

17

Meso (team/group)

2

Macro (Organization)

24

Multiple

5

Both external and internal resource

1

Meso (team/group)

1

1

Macro (organization)

Multiple

4

Macro (community/business ecosystem)

8

2

1

3

1

3

1

1

2

1

1

62

9

7

21

38

1

2

2

5

10

1 1

14

Grand total

Multiple

1

Multiple

Internal resource

4

Micro (individual)

13

1

Meso (team/group)

3

1

10 10

External resource

Macro (organization)

Micro (individual)

Macro (community/business ecosystem)

Table 7.3 Generation of social capital: evidence-based analysis based on the full-text review of selected articles from 2011–2020

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organizations (Madhavaram and Hunt 2017; Rouziou et al. 2018; Scheinbaum and Wang 2018) have also been widely studied by researchers. As previously shared in this article, social capital has been viewed either as an ‘internal resource’ that is embedded collectively with a group or an ‘external resource’ that is embedded in the egocentric view of a focal actor with structural network linkages or both internal and external (Adler and Kwon 2002). This impacts the place of social capital formation as described in the sections below. In some of the articles, a combination of these two views has also been adopted by the researchers.

7.5.1 Internal ‘Embeddedness’ View With the internal view, researchers have studied the accumulation of social capital in the entire business ecosystem in which the organization operates which comprises customers, sellers, associations, communities, etc. (Joo et al. 2017). This accrued social capital has also been looked at as a public asset that can be leveraged in uncertain times to positively impact business activity or economic development of the entire region (Abili 2011; Deller et al. 2018), support innovation in indigenous industries with unsteady future (Aldecua et al. 2017), access to scarce employment opportunities (Katila and Wahlbeck 2011), etc. Few studies have highlighted the crucial role of community organizations, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), etc., to pivot during crises or disasters and drive inclusive growth (Dill and Ozer 2019; Hoogesteger 2013; Mikovi´c et al. 2020). Others have highlighted the role of active communication, sustainable community practices and meaningful connections to help in creating trust and overcoming barriers to growth in turbulent times (Chia 2011). At an organizational level, few researchers have highlighted the embeddedness of firms in this local ecosystem due to the inherent interwoven connection between them (Dörhöfer et al. 2011). Similarly, for teams that operate in complex and disruptive environments, relational resources such as trust and norms drive cooperation and tacit knowledge sharing; while bonding and cohesion of project teams enable collaboration and reduce transaction costs (Di Vincenzo and Mascia 2012; Moore et al. 2018).

7.5.2 External ‘Ego-centric’ View With the external view, researchers have deliberated on social capital formation at the micro-level of an individual or employee (Kroll et al. 2019; Sias and Duncan 2020; Tacon 2019), across groups (Albin Shaikh et al. 2019; Ganguly et al. 2019; Wagner et al. 2014), which can be beneficial for a varied section of employees during stressful times. The ability of employees to internalize positive externalities, extract knowledge and form associative connections to generate new insights play an important role in sense-making in complex scenarios (Mikovi´c et al. 2020; Zhang

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et al. 2020). Entrepreneur or founder’s network of their ethnic communities (Katila and Wahlbeck 2011), personal network of the family (Prasad et al. 2013) or their entrepreneurial network can be various sources of social capital (Bastié et al. 2016; Lindstrand et al. 2011; Oliveira 2013). Similarly, relational resources present in external bridging ties of the board members and CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) can also act as a key resource (Chollet et al. 2014). External social capital can also be formed at an organizational level during a reciprocal exchange between firms (Chowdhury et al. 2019) or at an intersection of the firm and dynamic external environment (Mikovi´c et al. 2020; Wang and Steiner 2020) to navigate uncharted pathways for sustainable business growth.

7.6 Price: ‘Capital’ in Social Capital The purpose of this section was to understand the value of social capital and understand capital-related aspects of social capital during uncertain times and for inclusive growth. Looking at the various studies, we found that unlike family social capital, which is governed by unconditional loyalty and no expectation of reciprocation, ‘capital’ aspects of social capital, are more predominant in the organizational context. Adler and Kwon (2002) highlighted four key characteristics which qualified this resource as a ‘capital’, as shared below.

7.6.1 Constructible This is the most studied feature of social capital across more than one-third of the studies, wherein social capital is viewed to have returns in the future and for inclusive growth. While some researchers have studied social capital as an aggregate concept to understand its positive impact on small business activity, businesses of immigrants etc. (Deller et al. 2018; Ganguly et al. 2019; Katila and Wahlbeck 2011; Wang and Steiner, 2020); others have studied specific components such as relational, cognitive, structural, bridging/ bonding ties, trust, etc., to effectively utilize a budget in highvalue projects, strengthen the sense of belongingness, generate returns from new product development, etc. (Albin Shaikh et al. 2019; Mikovi´c et al. 2020; Oliveira 2013; Sias and Duncan 2020; Srirama et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020).

7.6.2 Convertible The convertibility of social capital has been studied by researchers by exploring its liquid nature during uncertain times. The most commonly observed conversion is to economic capital through business performance, innovation, learning, performance,

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dynamic capabilities, efficiency, liquefying knowledge, etc. (Mikovi´c et al.2020; Srirama et al. 2020; Wang and Steiner 2020; Wang 2016; Zhang et al. 2020). Few others have also looked at conversion to human capital by supporting education, new learnings, creation of intellectual capital, collaborative knowledge, etc., (AlOmoush et al. 2020; Dill and Ozer 2019; Donate et al. 2020) or cultural capital by the preservation of culture, pride in heritage, belongingness (Dill and Ozer 2019; Fahmi 2019; Sias and Duncan 2020). Some of the researchers have also emphasized the sustainability aspect of economic capital by actively engaging with communities (Abili 2011; Joo et al. 2017).

7.6.3 Appropriable Few studies have explored whether social capital generated in a particular context, time or set of connections can be used in another time, context or connections. Let us look at each of them. Firstly, social capital formed during good times could be leveraged in times of need or crisis resulting in access to resources that expedite recovery and promote resilience (Chowdhury et al. 2019). Also, it can be preserved and inherited across generations, especially in indigenous businesses (Fahmi 2019). Secondly, social capital can also be transferred from personal to professional context as in the case of guanxi in China, where personal relationships embedded in a cultural context underpin high-stakes B2B relationships (Scheinbaum and Wang 2018) or family to professional context by leveraging political and bank connections for access to lowcost debt financing (Gill et al. 2016). Thirdly, social capital can also be transported across different levels of connections such as community to the firm or vice-versa, depending on the need.

7.6.4 Complementary Few studies have explored whether social capital can supplement or substitute other forms of capital in volatile times and uncertain contexts. When financial resources are scarce during difficult times or when small businesses in emerging economies are wanting to overcome financial constraints, social capital can act as a good complement and allow access to capital, information, labour and skills (Katila and Wahlbeck 2011; Prasad et al. 2013). In the case of complex work teams, social capital substitutes transaction costs by improving efficiency and productivity (Moore et al. 2018; Sözbilir 2018; Tchorek et al. 2020). During difficult times, it can also complement innovation capital (Donate et al. 2020), human capital (Laužikas and Dailydait˙e 2015) or the economic capital of a region (Dill and Ozer 2019). During a crisis, it can supplement other forms of capital through accumulated reputational capital (Blount et al. 2013), and also, when required, it can compensate for the adverse reputational consequences (Chollet et al. 2014).

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7.7 Conclusion The chapter attempts to decode social capital during uncertain, ambiguous and complex contexts using the 4P framework, i.e. understand the purpose, product, place and price of social capital. Deeply embedded in interactions and reciprocal exchanges, social capital is an intangible resource that emerges amongst a group of people coming together to form a metaphysical entity of organization. The chapter presents insights into how organizations leverage social capital to thrive inclusively and survive during uncertain times. In nutshell, social capital is a resource worth preserving and promoting in organizations so that they can face abrupt exigencies. It can assist organizations during uncertain contexts with resilient, inclusive, and sustainable advancement using two perspectives. Firstly, taking the ‘social exchange’ perspective, social capital is likely to give positive returns and act as a substitute for limited resources for minorities and in an uncertain context. Various studies in the literature have taken this view by studying the ego-centric view of social capital such as bonding, bridging, linking etc., which can benefit an individual. Secondly, taking the ‘social embeddedness’ perspective, it is immersed in the network and can be transferred to different contexts and convertible to relevant resources as per need. Various studies in the literature have taken this view by studying norms, relationships, values, etc., which can collectively benefit a group of individuals. In today’s turbulent and uncertain environment, when it is inevitable for organizations to circumvent disruption, social capital has shown to dampen the impact of uncertainty. However, what remains to be seen is whether the ‘capital’ side of social capital dominates in this era of capitalism or whether organizations can behold its ‘social’ essence by being distinctly human at its core?

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Prabhjot Kaur is Global People Business Partner APAC & North-east Asia for Group Function Supply in Ericsson and currently pursuing an Executive Fellow Program in Management from MDI (Management Development Institute), Gurgaon, India. Her previous experience includes Talent, L&D Head for APAC Networks business in Ericsson, Associate Director—People & Change Advisory in KPMG and Senior Consultant at Aon Hewitt. Her research interests include social capital in organizations and strategic HR. Tanuja Sharma is Ex-chairperson, HR area, MDI Gurgaon and Head, Center of excellence for Ethics, ESG and Responsible Organizations. Her research interests include Performance Management, Happiness, Dignity, Gender across generations and Sustainability. She has published in numerous peer reviewed journals, authored book chapters, cases and presented in international conferences. Her Doctoral work received “Mercer Award Asia 2005” for innovative research.

Chapter 8

The Revelio Charm: The Invisible Migrant Labour of India Saurabh Upadhyay and Madhushree Nanda Agarwal

Abstract The COVID-induced lockdowns in India caused significant social, psychological, and economic dents in the nation’s growth. The suddenness and lack of warning of the March 2020 lockdown announcement failed to consider the implications for 456 million migrant workers in the vast informal sector in India. This massive reverse migration in India posed several questions that demanded immediate answers and long-term revamping of the institutional setup and policies regarding migrant workers. Global and local discourse around the issue revealed that the implications of the sudden lockdown for the millions of migrant workers had not even been considered, revealing that this segment of India’s population was virtually “invisible” to policymakers. The current study employs a two-phase empirico-inductive approach to further explore the concept and dimensions of such “invisibility” of migrant workers in India. First, the research identifies the different ways in which Indian migrant workers are invisibilized from the narratives of 15 domain experts. The second phase of the paper uses fsQCA to compare 24 narratives of migrant labour experiencing distress due to invisibility. Finally, we establish two multicausal paths for the acuteness of invisibility experienced by the migrants during the lockdowns. Structural, Social, Political and Economic invisibilities are treated as the causal factors for the plight of the migrants during the pandemic. The implications call for more inclusive, rather regionally regulated State structures to provide visibility to the migrant workforces. Keywords Social invisibility · Structural invisibility · Economic invisibility · fsQCA · COVID · Migrant workers

S. Upadhyay (B) · M. N. Agarwal Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected] M. N. Agarwal e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_8

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8.1 The Revelio Spell “Before we go any further, I think we’d better check,” whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, “Homenum revelio.” Nothing happened. “Well, you’ve just had a big shock,” said Ron kindly. “What was that supposed to do?” “It did what I meant it to do!” said Hermione rather crossly. “That was a spell to reveal the human presence, and there’s nobody here except us!” “And old Dusty,” said Ron, glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.”—J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Borrowing from Harry Porter’s “headless hats,” the Invisibility Spell is potent and has the power to make any object invisible. The spell creates a field of invisibility around the object, and the field of invisibility extends beyond the hat itself to the head under the hat. As the March 2020 lockdown forced millions of migrant labourers to walk back to their hometowns due to lack of food, fear of survival, and sheer negligence and lack of support from the State, the world was forced to sit up and take notice. As reports appeared in local and global media about the plight of these “invisible” workers, much of that invisibility itself became visible. Policymakers, academicians, and the common man in India were not ignorant of the fact that migrant workers have always been among the most deprived segments of the population in India, but it took a pandemic for them to understand to what extent, and in what ways they have been deprived. In other words, the spell of invisibility that extends beyond the individual migrant worker to the entire segment of our population had been lifted, and the plight of the invisible was made visible. As the media reports revealed the brutal realities of the “invisible” workers, the questions that arose were: What does the term invisibility mean in the context of migrant workers? What are the mechanisms of invisibility of Indian migrant labour? How are these experienced by the migrant workforce?

8.2 The Concept of Invisibility and Invisible Work When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope…. —Sonnet 29, William Shakespeare, 1592.

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Invisible work is not new to the scholarly world. It has been studied in many forms and under multiple assumptions. Daniels (1987) introduced the term to distinguish between paid work and invisible, or unpaid work at home, particularly by women. Scholars have also adopted multiple definitions for the concept. For instance, Star and Strauss (1999) adopted the following mechanisms of invisibilization: (a) concocting a pseudo-personal identity as in the case of the domestic help, (b) extricating the “behind the stage” work, for instance, the work of the nurses masked by that of the doctor’s and (c) selectively re-conceptualizing indicators to camouflage the existence of the formal contributions of any particular group of workers (Star and Strauss 1999: 9). Since then, researchers have used the term invisible work to include various categories of work and workers that are overlooked or neglected by mainstream researchers in the areas of work and employment, including work that is physically out of sight like domestic help, economically or culturally devalued e.g., sex work, or legally unprotected and unregulated e.g., work in the informal sector (Hatton 2017: 337). Hatton (2017) also suggested that a more analytical understanding of invisibility would be useful in theory building. Unlike Hatton (2017), who starts with a predetermined and theoretically determined conceptualization of the sociological mechanisms that constitute invisibility, we adopt an inductive method to understand the concept and its mechanisms in its specific context. Therefore, in this paper, we try to understand the concept of “invisibility” from the point of view of the invisible migrant workers, by exploring the various ways in which invisibility is experienced.

8.2.1 Invisibility of Migrant Labour in India Worldwide, secondary labour markets often employ “outsiders” in poorly paid jobs to offset the uncertainties of the market (Stoikov et al. 1972). The literature on migration has explored international migration and the common reasons for the rise in the migrant workforce globally. The global rise in population (Zlotnik 2004), political and economic transitions (like growing collaboration between sending and receiving countries, diversified socio-economic origins of the migratory population) (Okólski 2004), inflow of highly skilled workforce in the Asia–Pacific Region (Hugo 2004) and the increased preference of the “desired outsiders” over the “reluctant locals" (Anderson 2010) has influenced migration the most. The work on Central Eastern European (CEE) labour migration and the CEE refugees has also highlighted the evident disparity in the rights of, and problems faced by the migrant workers (Ciupijus 2011). There has been sufficient debate on the “good migrant workers” (MacKenzie and Forde 2009) and the deemed attributes of the good migrant worker. However, the literature remains silent about the (in)visibility of these “good migrant workers”. There are specific structural and spatial invisibilities of these migrant workers highlighted by Anderson (2000) in his work on domestic labour and care workers. There are specific instances of mistreatment and ostracization of the migrant class,

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both socially, and structurally (Lever and Milbourne 2017). There is evidence that these conflicts are a part of a prolonged process of an outsider group or individual aligning him/themselves to the prevalent social orders and desired characteristics of the receiving state (Elias 2012). Then there is the compartmentalization of a particular section of the society, invisibly and systematically, which alienates, and at times (of decivilized political regimes), annihilates the invisible section in these “spaces” (De Swaan 2001). Similarly, in India, socio-economic disenfranchisement, urbanization, and aspirations for better livelihoods and socio-economic mobility drive the increasing number of migrant workers who move from rural to urban areas (ILO Report 2020). However, unlike migration in developed countries where migration is in pursuit of prosperity and freedom, much of labour migration in developing countries is driven by push factors like poverty, unemployment, marriage (mostly for women), and natural calamities (Kumar and Choudhury 2021). The 2011 Census approximated 455.8 million migrants in India, but it is widely accepted that the Census grossly undercounts the number of poorer migrants in the informal sector, as well as seasonal and cyclical migrant workers (Srivastava 2020; Dandekar and Ghai 2020). In the absence of reliable data, estimates of temporary migrant workers vary from 15 to 100 million (ILO Report 2020). Workers may migrate from their hometowns to bigger cities in the same state (intra-state migration), or different States within the countries (inter-state migration). Almost 50% migrant workforce is from the 4 states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in India (Jadhav 2021). Most migrant workers from these four states migrate to urban cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. Almost one-third of the combined population of these cities comprises migrant workers (9.9 million out of 29.2 million-Census 2011). These workers are largely employed in the construction, manufacturing, services, and farm sectors, which are extremely critical sectors for the rapidly expanding economies in these cities (Ajeevika 2021). They are also employed as sanitation workers, street vendors and domestic help. Although they are essential to the smooth functioning of the commercial growth in the cities they migrate to, most of them are employed as casual workers, or in the informal sector, live on meagre incomes, unsanitary residences, and without the social security benefits either from their source state or from the destination state. They are generally unable to access government schemes like PDS, healthcare facilities, and employment guarantee schemes as their registration and documentation, if available, are related to their home states (Kumar and Choudhury 2021). Migrant workers are largely absorbed in the informal sector in India, which constitutes about 90% of India’s workforce. Since they are employed as casual or informal workers, they have little job security and are not protected under labour laws. They are therefore subjected to lower wages, exploitation and poor working conditions (Srivastava 2020). Since most social security schemes in India lack portability across states (Srivastava 2020), these workers lack a safety net of any kind. They also often lack civic identity and voting rights in the destination and have lower access to housing, and no community or social support, which makes them among the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of our society (Srivastava 2020; ILO Report 2020).

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Moreover, since many of them travel long distances, often between states for work, this makes them particularly vulnerable during times of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, since they cannot easily return home (ILO Report 2020). The migrant workforce is visible in our daily lives as they clean our streets and homes, construct our houses, and wait on us at restaurants. At the same time, their vulnerability and disenfranchisement as a section of our society rarely enter the consciousness of the middle class, and this constitutes their invisibility. The question is that in what ways and by whom are they ignored or rendered invisible?

8.2.2 The Migrant Workforce in India and the Pandemic-Induced Lockdown April is the cruelest month, breeding. Lilacs out of the dead land…. — from The Waste Land (The Burial of the Dead-T.S. Eliot).

Many countries across the globe, including India, imposed a nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the deadly coronavirus (Nigam 2020). India went into a nationwide lockdown from the end of 24 March 2020, and the lockdown extended until 7 June, post various extensions. The lockdown averted a global health crisis but caused severe economic depression for the migrant workers, one of the most vulnerable groups in society (Aragona et al. 2020). Although the lockdown proved somewhat successful in initially arresting the spread of the virus (Vaidyanathan 2021), the darker side of this lockdown emerged within a few days of the announcement. The multiple failures of the lockdown and its implementation in India have been widely documented (Kumar and Choudhury 2021). As the lockdown was announced and ruthlessly enforced on March 24, 2020, at just four hours’ notice, most migrant workers were stranded. During the sudden lockdown, with the deepening economic crises, looming uncertainty, and panic in the environment, (Slater and Masih 2020), millions of migrant labourers in India and their families suffered due to the unavailability of food, sanitation, and at times, drinkable water (Abi-Habib and Samee 2020). Many workers struggled to feed themselves and their families due to the loss of daily jobs and income. Many faced evictions from landlords due to an inability to pay rent. Having no community support to fall back on, and no organized transport to get them home, millions of migrant workers were forced to walk back thousands of kilometres to their hometowns and villages in the April summer, as there were no means of organized transport available for them (Rashid, Anand and Mahale 2020). Many migrant workers are employed in the informal sector (Bhowmick 2020) and rely entirely on employers to meet their basic needs and reside in the factory dormitories. These workers are from the rural areas of India and have minimal savings, with incomes that are just sufficient to make ends meet. When the lockdown was imposed,

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the income support from the employers was curtailed and ultimately stopped (Frayer and Pathak 2020). Despite the presence of specific laws like the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, coined for protecting the welfare of the migrant workers, there was not even a central repository maintaining and tracking the migrant workforce in India (Srivastava and Nagaraj 2020). Migrant workers from other states are not eligible for PDS benefits in the destination state, as there is no portability of ration cards across states. National-level schemes like the “One Nation One Ration Card” had not been adopted or implemented by a majority of the states (Gunjan 2020). Thus, even with sufficient food grains stocked in FCI storages, migrant workers were left without food. Intense relief work by CSOs and NGOs provided relief to thousands of migrant workers after the lockdown. Many could not avail their due quota of rations which was distributed by the Government’s disaster relief teams, as they did not have the Government issued unique identification AADHAAR cards. Some states also reported that the biometric authentication required to avail AADHAAR associated benefits could not be completed due to the COVID mandated protocols (Vadlamudi 2020). The union minister for Labour and Employment made an official statement on 14th September 2020, in the Indian Parliament, that almost 10 million migrant workers had attempted to return home by 14 September 2020. He further added that there was no data available on the number of migrant workers who had lost their lives or were rendered jobless due to the pandemic. However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that almost 400 million workers would be poverty-stricken due to the pandemic (Nair and Verma 2020). During the COVID-induced lockdowns imposed in India, migrant workers were deprived of their rights to adequate healthcare, nutrition, housing, and sanitation (Nair and Verma 2020). Hungry, homeless, and helpless, many migrant workers walked thousands of kilometres, sometimes with their children tied on their backs, for their survival. Yet, there were incidents of agitation and violence when they reached the borders of their home states, as they were held in contempt of the stringent lockdown protocols imposed by the National and the State governments.

8.2.3 Government Response to Crisis and Effectiveness of Measures The Indian Government took several remedial steps to help the migrant workers during the lockdown. These included ordering the states to use the National Disaster Relief Funds for providing food and shelter to the migrants, directives to landlords to not ask for rent during the lockdown, and to employers to pay wages without deduction (withdrawn later after a court appeal). Instructions were given to State governments to set up immediate relief camps for the returning migrants. National Migrants Information System (NMIS) was announced. It was an online database created by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to help track and streamline

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the movement and track and help the migrant workers. Arrangement of buses and “Shramik” Special trains, facilitating transportation was made. A spending plan of US$23 billion (Beniwal and Srivastava 2020) and an additional US$ 460 million for the poor in terms of direct account transfers and providing free food and shelter were made. States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat immediately modified the labour laws, hoping this would facilitate the migrant workers and also attract investment in the states. However, the implementation of many of the measures was severely delayed, disorganized, chaotic, and in many cases, impossible to monitor. For instance, there was no way to monitor whether landlords were demanding rent from migrant workers at a time when they had no daily income and little savings. Despite these immediate and elaborate measures by the Government, there were more than 8700 reported deaths of migrant workers between January 2020 and December 2020 on the railway tracks alone (Indian Express 2020). The response to an RTI shows railway officials accepting that these were the migrant workers who chose to follow the railway tracks to their hometowns and villages, as the lockdown did not permit them to be seen on the roads (Indian Express 2020). Many amendments and addenda to the labour laws were more pro-employer and less welfare-oriented. 10 of the 12 major central unions have written directly to the ILO, and the ILO has expressed deep concern about the tweaking of the labour laws in India. They claim that the implementation of these amendments directly leads to ceasing the application of the Trade Union Act, 1926, which, in turn, is the fulcrum for the Freedom of Association and Industrial Disputes Act, which provides a collective and substantive bargaining power to the workers (ILO Report 2020). The formulation of these remedial measures also was selectively myopic. It assumed that a migrant worker, who is hungry and in dire straits, and often illiterate, would have the time and awareness to read, understand and get oneself registered under these new schemes. These policies also assume the holistic inclusion of the migrant workers under the informal sector, under the law’s various provisions. Also, like any other public policy paradox, the problem is not with the allocation, but rather, it is the distribution and monitoring that is a steep climb. The pandemic and the “Migrant March” revealed the complete indifference in Indian policy formulation under crisis to an entire segment of the population. The quality of their reception in their home states raised questions about their invisibility and negligible significance to both their source states and their destination states. It was almost as if the migrant workers belonged to neither place and were invisible in both places. The crisis raised pertinent questions on the nature of inclusive practices followed by the policymakers and the very policies in action in the country. This paper tries to understand in what ways the migrant workforce remains “invisible” in the country. What primary forms of invisibility exist, and how did they contribute to the experiences of migrants during the pandemic? What can we learn about this that may be useful in addressing the needs of this section of our population? This study takes an emperico-inductive to address these questions.

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8.3 The Study The concept of invisibility in the context of the migrant workforce in India has not been explored much in literature. Invisibility, being a socially constructed phenomenon, warranted a closer look at exploring “what’s going on there?”. Inductive, emergent and exploratory methods are warranted for the phenomenon that has a dynamic and contingent nature. These methods allow for new properties of the studied phenomena to surface and change the conditions and consequences to be studied. Owing to the under-researched, moderately documented and dynamic nature of the phenomenon of invisibility, a primary inductive exploratory approach was mandated. The study uses an inductive, exploratory approach in two phases. First, it considers inputs from experts on several domains like labour laws, urban infrastructure, informal work, and civil society organizations, who were extensively involved in the migrant labourer’s crises, to explore the forms and mechanisms of invisibilization practices in the Indian milieu, and gain some understanding of how it became a permanent blind spot for the Indian policymakers. The second phase examines the experiences of migrant workers to understand what invisibility means to them. We use in-depth interviews and Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to find equifinal causal roots to the invisibility of the Indian migrant workers. The invisibility of the migrant workforce is the culmination of the complex interactions between several causal social factors. fsQCA has a unique edge when it comes to capturing the complex causal nature of social phenomena (Mena et al. 2022). The Boolean algebra and fuzzy set-theoretical approach to answering complex causal conditions (both necessary and sufficient) make fsQCA a potent method to understand in what way various social factors combine to lead to the invisibility of the migrant workforce in India. Sometimes, the absence of a few identified causal factors may also lead to the presence of an outcome. fsQCA allows the researchers to investigate and compare similar cases to evaluate the combinations of factors, their absence or presence, at the same time, which lead to the outcome of invisibility. The following sections will discuss the methodology, outcomes, and practical implications of the study. As Fig. 8.1 suggests, this study employs a two-phased, sequential empericoanalytical design. In phase I, the study analyses the opinions of 15 experts who participated in a 3-part webinar series on the covid-19 migrant workers crisis. This was part of a broader initiative called Conversation on Gurgaon, a series initiated by the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (both the authors are affiliated to the Institute). This initiative is aimed at the holistic development of the city of Gurgaon and provides a platform for the various stakeholders to collaborate, discuss and achieve quantifiable and desired outcomes. This 3-part seminar focused on the social welfare architecture for the informal sector, especially in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. The expert panellists were invited to share their experiences and opinions on the migrant worker crisis during the lockdown of April 2020. Eminent panellists included prominent academicians, policymakers, CSOs, and worker representatives.

8 The Revelio Charm: The Invisible Migrant Labour of India Fig. 8.1 The layout of the study

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Phase I: 15 Semi structured Expert Opinions - Themes Identified- Types of Invsibility identified

Phase II: 24 case studies of Migrant workers and fsQCA conducted

Equifinal Causal Pathways for Invisbility identified

The detailed profiles of the 15 experts (practitioners, policymakers, and academicians) are provided in Table 8.1. A qualitative design is used, and the inputs from the experts are coded using the (Gioia et al. 2013) approach. These were used to identify the constituents and types of invisibility faced by migrant workers in India. Phase II of the study used the Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) Analysis Technique to identify the causal relationships between the types of Invisibility and the severity of the outcomes faced by the migrant workers. This phase included conducting 24 case studies of migrant worker depots spread across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India. The fsQCA bridges the qualitative case-based approach and the quantitative statistical methods (Kirchherr et al. 2016). A detailed description of fsQCA is provided in the following sections.

8.3.1 Phase I One of the primary assumptions that we make in this study is that the world is socially constructed, and thus all its processes and transactions are socially constructed (Berger and Luckmann 1966; Weick 2015). Therefore, this study takes an inductive approach and explores “what’s going on there” (Manning and Kunkel 2013). We thus go out in the field and study what respondents consider as the factors responsible for the invisibility of the migrant workforce in India. The choice of emergent methods becomes evident when the phenomenon of study is both dynamic and underexplored. The topic of this study qualifies for the same.

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Table 8.1 List of experts for phase I Expert

Profession

Experience (yrs)

Area of expertise

Expert 1

Academician and Researcher

30

Sustainable development

Expert 2

Academician and Member of Domestic Workers Union

10

Labour law, Workers Rights

Expert 3

Construction Workers Union Representative

20

Labour law, Workers Rights

Expert 4

Representative, Street Vendor Association

10

Worker Rights

Expert 5

Member, Garment Workers Rights Consortium

10

Labour law, Workers Rights

Expert 6

Academician

30

Industrial Relations, HRM

Expert 7

Senior bureaucrat, Gurgaon District

10

Public Administration

Expert 8

Academic, Researcher and writer

38

Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Globalization

Expert 9

Researcher

20

Urban Planning, Labour Migration

Expert 10

CEO and Founder, Head of Industry Associations

40

Private sector performance, Environmental issues

Expert 11

Academic

30

Industrial Relations

Expert 12

Founder, Grassroots CSO, Independent Filmmaker

30

Social activism

Expert 13

Senior executive, Leading Automobile manufacturer

30

HRM, CSR

Expert 14

Retired Army Officer, Member, CSO

8

HRM, Social Activism

Expert 15

Founder, Integrated Water Management Initiative

8

Sustainability

We aim at developing a systematic, inductive, and interactive approach to theorizing, and hence, we use the method proposed by Gioia et al. (2013). The approach adopts an inductive logic, to begin with, and gradually, as a new understanding of the emerging themes is developed, moves into an abductive logic. This methodology gives sufficient “voice” to the respondents, which is reflected in the data coding and analysis part of the methodology.

8.3.2 The Sample During phase I of the study, the voice of domain experts was captured. We started with a purposive sampling approach as the sample comprised 15 experts who were members of the labour unions, CSOs, academicians and policymakers. The study,

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however, progressed on a cyclic process simultaneously analysing transcripts from one respondent, and then moving ahead to the next informant, with back-andforth movements between the transcripts and the literature (Corbin and Strauss 1990). Theoretical saturation was aimed for and attained after 12 interviews through incremental sampling (Glasser and Strauss 1967).

8.3.3 Procedure The researchers had help from the faculty at MDI, Gurgaon, involved in the Conversations on Gurgaon initiative of the Institute. The inputs from all respondents were recorded in toto and transcribed. Skewed responses of single respondents were given less weightage; however, if a particular point was stressed by most of the respondents, it was considered and clubbed under the emerging themes. The respondents also recalled and narrated incidents to explain what they meant when they answered an actual question (Glaser and Strauss 1967). The responses in Hindi were translated from Hindi to English by a person highly proficient in both languages (Brislin 1970), unaware of the purpose of the interview. The respondent’s voice was maintained, and the tone and contextual undertone were held in the 1st order analysis leading to a load of developed codes. The coding was generally done on “as is” or “in vivo” phrases to preserve the voice of the respondents (Charmaz 2008). Thus the 1st order analysis is done using the informant-centric codes, whereas the 2nd order analysis calls for researcher-centric concepts, themes, and dimensions. The 2nd order analysis takes place in the theoretical realms, and the researcher needs to ask whether the concepts in the literature can explain the emerging themes. These codes provide abstractions at a higher level (Martin and Turner 1986). When theoretical saturation was achieved (similar to Glaser and Strauss 1967), we looked at whether these could be filtered further to make a pool and bring in the aggregate dimensions. The detailed analyses are presented in the next section.

8.3.4 Findings from Phase I Figure 8.2 captures the responses of the experts and reveals how factors like the invisibility of migrant workers in the informal sector along with the lopsided power dynamics of the informal sector in India lead to Social Invisibility for migrant workers in the informal sector. The experts highlighted the power imbalance in the informal sector and said that “… the bargaining power of the migrant labour in the informal sector is low as they are fragmented…”; ”…low number of unions…” and “… the owners mistreat and exploit the migrant workers…”. The experts also highlighted the lack of voice of the informal migrant worker. They said, “…if a house help worker

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Fig. 8.2 Social invisibility

files a complaint, the police are usually reluctant to accept her complaint…even the media is least interested in their rights…”. The migrant workers are rather invisible to both the respective employers and the higher strata of society. The experts expressed their concern and said that “…we must learn to respect them as well… they are a part of this society…”; “… the discrimination based on origin, place of birth and languages spoken needs to stop now…”. Figure 8.3 indicates Structural Invisibility emerging as a theme. These are the glaring blind spots in the policy-making and allocation and distribution mechanisms of State institutions. As per the respondents, these loopholes were highlighted by the COVID pandemic, and the policies fell short of providing the necessary help and relief to migrant workers. The experts said “…government support was not adequate…”; “…whatever support was given, did not reach the needy…”. To add to this situation, the public distribution systems (PDS) were not aligned to cater to migrant workers as ration cards were not portable across states. The experts also expressed concerns over the governments adopting the me-too type of labour reforms. They added, “…none of the amendments benefits migrant workers…rather they are contradictory and damaging…”. The experts also emphasized that both source and destination states cannot be absolved of their responsibility towards the migrant workers. They said: “…basic type of citizenship must be given to all… political rights must be provided… right to vote, etc.”. Figure 8.4 shows the various factors that constitute the Economic Invisibility of the migrant workers in India. The “low wages and the seasonality of demand” make them highly vulnerable. Some experts said that “…at times, even living minimum wages

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Fig. 8.3 Structural invisibility

are not paid…”. Over and above this, migrant workers could not avail themselves of many social security benefits either in the source state or in the destination state, because of portability issues. This lack of any safety net increases their economic vulnerability. During the lockdown, government policies and benefits announced never reached the migrants. The majority of them survived on their own or had to depend on food kitchens or dry ration distribution by CSOs and volunteer organizations. There is also low financial and digital awareness and lower economic inclusion of the migrant workers in the mainstream (Fig. 8.5). Experts expressed concerns over the political and constitutional rights of migrant workers. “Any migrant in the host state is not considered eligible to vote and thus, they are rendered politically insignificant…” such concerns were raised as this leads to a deprivation of the migrant workers from the attention of elected policymakers, and, therefore, the benefits of policies of destination states as well as source states.

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Fig. 8.4 Economic invisibility

The weakness of labour laws in the informal sector, the regionally segregated workforce, and the extreme economic vulnerability make it hard to achieve the benefits of collectivization for the higher bargaining power of migrant workers.

8.3.5 Phase II of the Study Phase II of the study uses the aggregate dimensions that emerged out of Phase I and try to explore how these interacted and manifested in the experienced outcomes of invisibility. This phase involved interacting with migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (both account for the highest number of migrant workers in India). 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant workers who experienced distress during the COVID lockdown. Snowball sampling was used to contact the

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Fig. 8.5 Political invisibility

next respondent. This was one of our critical selection criteria as the comparative analysis must focus more on comparable cases (Lijphart et al. 1971), which in our case, are migrant workers who have faced varying degrees of distress and hardships as a result of the various types of invisibilities. The second criterion for selection is to ensure that the overall sample differed in terms of causal conditions (Kirchherr et al. 2016). For instance, we included both the cases where the migrants had experienced structural invisibility on accounts of zero or minimal documentation and cases where social invisibility was experienced. The entire calibration and the coding process are explained in the following sections. First, we present a brief description of the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in a nutshell.

8.3.6 The Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) Methodology Comparative research has gained dominance in recent years (Thiem et al. 2016). Charles Ragin introduced QCA in his work “The Comparative Method: Moving beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies” in 1987. It is a set-theoretic approach that distinguishes itself from other similar techniques to provide a causal interpretation using Truth Tables (based on Boolean Logics). This helps the researchers obtain equifinal solutions and conjunctural causation (different conditions combine to cause an outcome and cannot cause an outcome alone). QCA also achieves logical minimization by expressing empirical information more parsimoniously and retaining its

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logical robustness (Schneider and Wagemann 2012). In its initial form, QCA was only beneficial for dichotomous conditions, representing the complete association or disassociation in a particular set, and thus, it was called Crisp Set QCA (csQCA). However, later, Ragin introduced fuzzy set QCA (fsQCA) in 2000. The fsQCA used Boolean Logic and fuzzy logic (Zadeh 1965). This new version could capture the different levels of associations of cases in a particular set. For instance, the 4-point fuzzy set scale can capture associations: completely in: 1, more in than out: 0.67, more out than in: 0.33, and completely a non-member: 0. These help us capture “different shades of grey” (Schneider and Wagemann 2012) in real-world data, that is never completely black or white. For the analysis part, fsQCA provides causal conditions that are necessary and sufficient (Thiem et al. 2016). A condition is deemed necessary if its presence guarantees the presence of the outcome variable, i.e., it is the superset of the outcome. In contrast, a sufficient condition is the one that is present whenever the outcome is present (Kirchherr et al. 2016). Furthermore, the concept of equifinal causal combinations is unique to QCA. Equifinality means that different causal formulae (combinations) can lead to the same outcome. The asymmetric nature of causality is also unique in QCA as the presence of particular combinations of conditions resulting in an outcome never guarantees that their absence shall lead to the absence of the outcome (Schneider and Wagemann 2012). All the outputs were generated using the fsQCA software, version 3.1b. Since the calibration phase of QCA analysis is most vital, the following section explains the fsQCA calibration in detail.

8.3.7 Calibration of the Data When the primary data source for the fsQCA is interview-based, a robust protocol must be formulated for calibrating the data to depict and justify the varied levels of associations and disassociations among the cases chosen (Basurto and Speer 2012). We, therefore, adopt the six-step methodology proposed by Basurto and Speer (Basurto and Speer 2012). Step I: Identifying Measures of the Conditions and the Outcome For each type of invisibility identified in Phase I of the study, we identified the measuring indicators and associated them with the respective type. Some indicators were modified when we conducted the field visits. Table 8.2 shows types of invisibilities and their respective indicators. The outcome, distress due to invisibility (DI), was measured using varying degrees of hardships faced by the migrant workers, measured by whether they led to Exodus only (1), Regular Hardships (2), Depression (3) or Life-changing, and Catastrophic (4). Step II: Developing Anchors and Interview Guidelines

8 The Revelio Charm: The Invisible Migrant Labour of India Table 8.2 Selected Indicators for each type of Invisibility

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Type of invisibility

Indicators

Social

Powerlessness Lack of voice Low dignity No family or community support in host state

Economic

High economic vulnerability Deprived of government benefits/social security Low economic inclusion Rent seeking behavior of landlords

Structural

No documentation Poor policy support in host state Low labour law protection

Political

Low bargaining power No voting rights in host states Low collectivization

This step comprised of providing mental anchors and tentative mental threshold scores to each of the indicators. This also guided us to ask specific probing questions to clarify the complete association and disassociations with a particular indicator level. For instance, in social invisibility, when the respondent mentioned feeling powerless, further probing questions like “How exactly do you say so?” or “can you give me an example?” were asked. The clarifying answers often led the outputs to be coded under the “Lack of voice” of the migrant workers in the analysis phase. Table 8.3 shows a sample of the social invisibility coding. Step III and IV: Interview Coding and Adding data to Qualitative Classification This is a vital step, and we use the inductive Gioia et al. (2013) approach. This helped us amalgamate the two steps and reach the final dataset as desired. Examples of the coding process for obtaining the lack of voice indicators are given in Table 8.4. Step V: Defining the precision of fuzzy sets and defining their values

Table 8.3 Anchors for Measuring the Indicators

Type of invisibility

Indicators

Anchors (mental)

Mental thresholds

Social

Lack of voice

Allowed to speak freely

1

Speak under fear 0.5 Not allowed to speak at all

0

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Table 8.4 Coding of Interview Data Type of invisibility Indicators Social

Questions asked

Lack of voice Why didn’t you ask your employer to provide extended support? Or Did you ask for the extended help required in lockdown?

Replies “…if we speak, thrown out, better shut up….” “…we can always request, but ultimately owner decides….” “…we make demands, some are accepted…some rejected….” “…we get whatever is justified….”

Table 8.5 Defining Fuzzy set values for Interview Data Type of invisibility

Indicators

Redefined levels

Fuzzy values assigned

Social

Lack of Voice

Can’t even speak, highly threatened

1 (fully in)

Sometimes request meekly

0.67 (more in than out)

Make demands periodically 0.33 (more out than in) Claim and get whatever is demanded

0 (completely out)

The degree of accuracy of our fuzzy set was chosen ahead of assigning a value to each of the replies. This is also contingent upon the clarity of the qualitative data collected. We decided on a four-point fuzzy set association scale for our data and defined it as shown in Table 8.5. Step VI: Assigning and Revising Fuzzy Set Values We deliberated the assigning of fuzzy values to indicators and finally reached a collective common ground. Table 8.6 shows the coding and assignment for social invisibility in detail: Similarly, Economic invisibility was identified through High Economic Vulnerability, Deprived of Government Benefits, and Low Economic Inclusion. Structural Invisibility was identified through No Documentation, Poor Policy Support, and Low Labour Law Protection. The overall Fuzzy value assigned to each case was arrived at, after taking the average of the Fuzzy values in all the indicators, as per the following grading system: Distress due to Invisibility during COVID, was calculated separately from the transcripts. Table 8.8 below shows the outcome variable. Social Invisibility was measured using Dominant Power Structures (PD), which is a composite factor calculated from the four indicators of social invisibility (refer to Table 8.6). Similarly, Political Invisibility was measured using the indicators of No Voting Rights at Place of Work (NVR) and Low Collectivization (NC). Structural

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Table 8.6 Assigning Fuzzy Set Values to the Indicators Type of invisibility

Indicators

Redefined anchors Fuzzy values

Excerpts from transcripts

Social

Powerlessness

No rights provided

1

“…nothing is asked, it is always forced upon us…”

Social security low with some rights

0.67

“…we are scared of ending in jails even for no fault of ours…”

No social bullying 0.33 faced

“…no, never experienced hate that much…”

No discrimination 0

“…we are treated as equals.”a

Basic health and hygiene not available

1

“…we were not even provided water…”

Feels like second class citizen

0.67

“…we are treated as second or third class in our cities.”

Basic shed and washrooms provided

0.33

“…we have basic dorms and washrooms.”

Decent lifestyle

0

“…we live like we earn, no issues…”a

Can’t even speak, highly threatened

1

“…if we speak, thrown out, better shut up…”

Sometimes request meekly

0.67

“…we can always request, but ultimately owner decides….”

Make demands periodically

0.33

“…we make demands, some are accepted…some rejected….”

Claim and get whatever is demanded

0

“…we get whatever is justified….”

Low dignity

Lack of voice

(continued)

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Table 8.6 (continued) Type of invisibility

a Hypothetical

Indicators

Redefined anchors Fuzzy values

Excerpts from transcripts

No family or community support at place of work

No support extended whatsoever

1

“…we had nowhere and no one to look for help…”

Some support extended

0.67

“…some NGOs contacted once in a while…”

Almost complete support received

0.33

“…we had distant relatives who helped us remain afloat…”

Complete support of family or community at place of work

0

“…complete support from family and community members helped us…”a

ideal statement, not present in the transcript

Table 8.7 Calibration of the Outcome Variable from Data

Average fuzzy score

Assigned fuzzy value

Above 0.80

1

0.67–0.79

0.67

0.33–0.66

0.33

Below 0.33

0

Table 8.8 Truth Table Representing Case Assignments Outcome

Indicators

Redefined Anchors

Fuzzy values

Excerpts from Transcripts

Increase invisibility experienced

Effects of invisibility experienced

Catastrophic effects on life, like loss of life, no livelihood, etc.

1

“…we were not even considered as human beings…”; “treated as if we were insects… lost everything.”

Depression, life-changing

0.67

“…shocked for life. Still recovering…”

Increased but like regular hardships

0.33

“…a part of our life… very tough times…”

Exodus only

0

“…we were forced to leave and return home…tough but let’s see…”

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Table 8.9 Causal Pathways with Covergae and Consistency PD PEI DGB LLP ND NC NVR number Increased Raw invisibility consist

PRI consist

SYM consist

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

10

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

0

1

3

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

0

1

1

4

1

0.931864 0.855319 0.855319

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

1

0

0.795181 0

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

1

1

0

0.744361 0

0

a PD:

Dominant Power Structures; NVR: No Voting Rights at Place of Work; NC: Low Collectivization; ND: No Documentation; LLP: Low Protection under Labour Laws; DGB: Deprived of Government Benefits; PEI: Poor Financial Inclusion

Invisibility was represented by No Documentation (ND) and Low Protection under Labour Laws (LLP). Finally, Economic Invisibility was measured by Deprived of Government Benefits (DGB) and Poor Financial Inclusion (PEI).

8.3.8 Findings of Phase II The truth table presented in Table 8.9 was obtained using the fsQCA software version 3.1b to analyze the data and get the outcomes. The Truth Table 8.9 represents how the presence and absence of the various causal variables lead to the presence or absence of the outcome variable Increase in distress due to invisibility. The table shows that out of 24 cases, 10 support the first row and combinations and so on. There were two cases (Case 7 and Case 15) where the increase in distress was not evident. The Intermediate Solution from the output of the truth table analysis in fsQCA is reported in the table below. Table 8.10 reflects the 4 causal pathways explaining the Increase in Distress due to Invisibility. The pathways show the presence of all four invisibilities leading to increased Distress due to Invisibility. For instance, the solution PD*PEI*LLP*ND*NC*NVR shows that the Social invisibility, through the presence of causal conditions Dominant power structures (PD), Political Invisibility through No Voting Rights (NVR) in the Host state and Low Collectivization (NC) of the migrant workers, along with Structural invisibility through Low Labour Law protect (LLP) and No Documentation (ND) and Economic Invisibility through Poor Financial Inclusion (PEI), collectively lead to increased distress due to Invisibility. The

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solution consistency and coverages are well above acceptable thresholds (Figs. 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8). The solution above reveals four causal paths leading to increased distress due to invisibility experienced by the migrant workers during the lockdowns. The necessary condition analysis revealed the type 3-“OR” relationship (Vis and Dul 2018) between the types of invisibility leading to increased invisibility experienced by the migrant workers during lockdowns. Figure 8.7 shows the consistency and coverage of all the indicators for all four types of invisibility as acceptable and thus, makes all 4 types of invisibility necessary conditions for an increase in distress due to invisibility. The solutions indicate that all the four forms of invisibilities interact and increase the distress of the migrant workers in India. The solutions indicate that the various facets of the social structures, the dominant power structures of the social order, along with the low collectivization and absence of the basic voting rights of the migrants (in the home and the destination States) ensured high economic invisibility, i.e., deprivation of government benefits through ration cards or any other such government document. The power structures, along with the poor protection under the labour laws (due to structural invisibility) enhanced the distress during the pandemic. Table 8.10 Causal Pathways Raw coverage

Causal pathway

Unique coverage

Consistency

PD*PEI* ~ LLP*ND* ~ NC*NVR

0.235839

0.0740741

1

PD*DGB*LLP*ND*NC* ~NVR

0.162854

0.0370371

1

PD*DGB*LLP* ~ ND*NC*NVR

0.307734

0.0740741

0.943239

PD*PEI*LLP*ND*NC*NVR

0.635076

0.257625

1

Solution coverage: 0.820261 Solution consistency: 0.977922

Causal Pathway

Dominant Power Structures (PD)

Deprived of Government Benefits (DGB)

Low Labour No Law Documentation Protection (ND) (LLP)

No Collectivization (NC)

No Voting Rights at Place of Work (NVR)

Poor Economic Consistency Coverage Inclusion (PEI)

PD*PEI*~LLP*ND*~NC*NVR

1 0.235839

PD*DGB*LLP*ND*NC*~NVR

1 0.162854

PD*DGB*LLP*~ND*NC*NVR

0.943239 0.307734

PD*PEI*LLP*ND*NC*NVR

* - is the Boolean Operator AND; ~- is the Boolean Operator NOT;

Fig. 8.6 Causal pathways

1 0.635076

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Outcome variable: IncreasedInvisibility Conditions tested: Consistency Coverage NVR+~NVR+NC+~NC 1 0.775665 ND+~ND+LLP+ ~LLP 1 0 .8 0 9 5 2 4 DGB+~DGB+PEI+~PEI 0.928105 0.823188 P D+ ~P D 0 .9 4 6 0 7 8 0 .8 5 2 7 2 5 NVR+NC+ND+LLP 1 0.765

PD

NV

NC

PEI

LL

ND

PD

NV

N

DG

LL

ND

PD

NV

NC

DG

LL

ND

PD

NV

NC

PEI

LL

ND

SOCIAL POLITICAL

COMPLETE

ECONOMIC STRUCTURAL

INCREASE IN DISTRESS DUE TO INVISIBILITY

Fig. 8.7 Necessary conditions for increased distress due to invisibility

PARTIAL MEMBERSHIP

Fig. 8.8 The causal paths for increase in distress due to invisibility

8.4 Discussion and Lessons for the Future ’Invisibility’ as a concept, is rather eclectic and thus, more ambiguous and thus, can be used to explain a bouquet of work-related discrepancies. This article, while acknowledging the same, also establishes that invisibility can be deployed as a precise rational category. The study seeks to operationalize ‘invisibility’ in the milieu of migrant labour issues. The study engages with the extant literature on invisible work and workers simultaneously. The article synthesizes a definition of ‘invisible work’ through the amalgamation of cultural, legal and spatial forces, in varying degrees, rendering the migrant workforce as economically, socially, structurally, and politically devalued. The analysis above revealed the presence of three types of invisibility in the overall distress due to invisibility experienced by migrant workers. Economic invisibility marked by the high economic vulnerability of the migrant labour was exposed during the lockdown. This is also evident as Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh states rank high in the economic vulnerability index (Bhattacharya and Banerjee 2021). The majority of the migrant labour population is from these states in India. The majority of the informal sector-employed migrant workers are deprived of basic social security provisions (Ashwin et al. 2020). A disaster’s general nature is that there is always a disproportionate impact on developing and poorer states or countries and segments

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of society (Rose and Chmutina 2021). Uttar Pradesh and Bihar rank among the bottom-most states as per the Human Development Index (HDI 2020). The migrant labour experiences the banes of non-inclusivity in the mainstream, in multiple domains. Economic and Structural invisibility is experienced when the workers are deprived of their fundamental rights to access Government-subsidized food for their families on the grounds of their data not being uploaded in the government servers or their ration cards not being portable across states. Such economic invisibilities and low economic inclusions can lead to debt-dependency and overdependence on the contractors (Breman 1996). The majority of this segment is from low educational backgrounds, and thus the awareness towards the government schemes and inclusive practices are minimal. There is also substantial evidence that rapid urbanization and uneven development influence developing economies’ migration (Lucas 1997). The political invisibility of migrant workers in India is evident as both the indicators of political invisibility were identified as necessary conditions for experiencing distress during the COVID lockdown. The migrant labour is caught in limbo between the source and the destination state. Thus, a majority of these migrant workers are deprived of the basic constitutional right to vote, as they are treated as dispersed settlements in the host states (Lenard 2021).

8.5 Recommendations for Responsible Leadership i.

The majority of migrant workers are vulnerable to the seasonality of market demand. In the absence of job securing government policies, seasonality forces the workers to migrate and make temporary arrangements and reside in the cities, at the mercy of their employers. This not only reduces their bargaining power but simultaneously makes them highly vulnerable. The effects on these migrants are manifold and intersectional (Shah and Lerche 2020). Women, Dalits, and Adivasis work the most and earn the least in India. Moreover, the prevalent social structure in the country treats them as outcasts (Javaid and Majid 2014). The need for developing economies is to make inclusive policies supporting the “circularity of labour migration” (Srivastava 2020). ii. There is also evidence that some sort of cultural turbulence, if not shock, is experienced by inter-state migrants. This forces the migrants to find “their kinds,” and thus, almost all the migrants end up occupying the same regions in the urban locales (Sassenberg and Vliek 2019). The irony is that these localities are constructed by the dominating social and economic structures in the destination cities. Capitalism rules in these cities and uses this to attribute a permanent “outsider” marker on the migrant’s identity. This leads to systemic discrimination, deliberately enacted to enforce discipline and curtail the voices of migrant workers (Lerche and Shah 2018). iii. A typical city in India is always surrounded by evolving peri-urban landscapes and these landscapes are diversified accumulations of migrant workers from

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various states (Hanu´sin 2021). These settlements are neither part of the original cities nor are they declared as special zones requiring attention for the habitation by the migrant workforce. This leads the migrant workers to form smaller clusters, divided into the lines of regionalism, state-ism, and languages. The “regulatory regionalism” approach (Nguyen 2022) might be a solution to this, but the apt frameworks and actionable key areas are far from realistic in the Indian context. Regulatory regionalism is the process of transformation of a State from provider to regulator of expanding regionalization. This transformation affects the State’s power three-dimensionally. There is an evident shift in the location of actual governance structures, the kind of actors exercising these powers and the ideologies employed to legitimize this power (Hameiri and Jayasuriya 2011). The regulatory regionalism, in the context of this study, might warrant the shifts in the location of governance structures from the home states to the host states for the migrants. The migrants need to be accepted and included in the local municipal level committees or boards and thus, the legitimization of the use of the host State’s powers might need an additional nod from the migrant population as well. iv. There are very few policies aimed at collectivization of the migrant workers for their sustainable lifestyles in the host cities. Rather, the amendments in the labour laws aim at diminishing the scope of collectivization in many ways. Similar examples are available across the globe where the dominant sociopolitical structures of power, curb the basic rights of the migrants (see Dutta 2021). v. There is a requirement to understand the spatial aspects of structural invisibility on the migrant workers. The literature on invisibility needs to focus on the structural reasons for the exodus of the migrants from the home state. These could be a lack of percolation of government benefits, or opportunities to sustain. The spatial aspects of the host states need to be considered as well. Whether the host states are capable and conducive to handling the inflow of migrants also needs to be considered. The need of the hour is to break the age-old gap between the government’s allocation and achieved distribution at the ground levels. The institutional inertia needs to be shed, and alignment should be more towards the inclusion and upliftment of the migrant workers as one of the most vulnerable sections of society. There are laws in place in the Indian constitution; however, the enactment is far from intended. The development models adopted by the States during COVID were far from inclusive. A very favourable review will classify them as myopic, if not oppressive. The amendments to the labour laws took away the labourers’ fundamental rights to form unions and bargain for their welfare. We, as a nation, need to realign our priorities. The results of this study highlight the Social, Structural, and Economic Invisibility and their catastrophic effects on the migrant workforce. Then maybe one day, not far from today, we may achieve what the great Rabindranath Tagore had thought of our nation: Where the mind is without fear.

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and the head is held high. Where knowledge is free. Where the world has not been broken. up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depths of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way. into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward. by thee into ever-widening thought and action. into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

References Abi-Habib M, Sameer Y (2020) India’s coronavirus lockdown leaves vast numbers stranded and hungry (Published 2020) [online]. Nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/world/ asia/coronavirus-india-migrants.html. Accessed 9 Dec 2021 Ajeevika (2021) [online] Aajeevika.org. https://www.aajeevika.org/labour-and-migration.php. Accessed 20 Dec 2021 Anderson B (2000) Doing the dirty work? The global politics of domestic labour. Zed Books, London Anderson B (2010) Migration, immigration controls and the fashioning of precarious workers. Work Employ Soc 24(2):300–317 Aragona M et al (2020) Negative impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on mental health service access and follow-up adherence for immigrants and individuals in socio-economic difficulties. Public Health 186:52–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.06.055 Ashwin M, Parasa R, Sneha P (2020) Assessing socio economic vulnerability of occupations in India [online]. IDFC Institute. https://www.idfcinstitute.org/blog/2020/august/assessing-socioeconomic-vulnerability-of-occupations-in-india/. Accessed 2 Dec 2021 Basurto X, Speer J (2012) Structuring the calibration of qualitative data as sets for qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). Field Methods 24(2):155–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X1 1433998 Beniwal V, Srivastava S (2020) Bloomberg [online]. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomb erg.com/news/articles/2020-03-26/india-unveils-22-6-billion-stimulus-to-counter-virus-fallout. Accessed 16 Mar 2022 Berger P, Luckmann T (1966). The social construction of reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Penguin Bhattacharya M, Banerjee P (2021) COVID-19: Indices of economic and health vulnerability for the Indian states. Soc Sci Hum Open 4(1):100157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100157 Bhowmick N (2020) ‘They treat us like stray dogs’: migrant workers flee India’s cities [online]. History. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/they-treat-us-like-straydogs-migrant-workers-flee-india-cities. Accessed 1 Dec 2021

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Breman J (1996) Footloose labour: working in India’s informal economy, Contemporary South Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Brislin RW (1970) Back-translation for cross-cultural research. J Cross Cult Psychol 1(3):185–216 Charmaz K (2008) Grounded theory as an emergent method. Handb Emergent Methods 155:172 Ciupijus Z (2011) Mobile central eastern Europeans in Britain: successful European Union citizens and disadvantaged labour migrants? Work Employ Soc 25(3):540–550. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0950017011407962 Corbin JM, Strauss A (1990) Grounded theory research: procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qual Sociol 13(1):3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988593 Dandekar A, Ghai R (2020) Migration and reverse migration in the age of COVID-19. Econ Polit Weekly 55(19):28–31 Daniels AK (1987) Invisible work. Social problems 34(5): 403–415 De Swaan A (2001) Dyscivilization, mass extermination and the state. Theory Cult Soc 18(2– 3):265–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632760122051733 Dutta MJ (2021) Singapore’s extreme neoliberalism and the COVID outbreak: culturally centering voices of low-wage migrant workers. Am Behav Sci 65(10):1302–1322. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 00027642211000409 Elias N (2012) On the process of civilization. Collected works of Norbert Elias. UCD Press, Dublin Frayer L, Pathak S (2020) Coronavirus lockdown sends migrant workers on a long and risky trip home [online]. Npr.org. 50 years)

4.23333

1.15778

Work experience (10–30 years)

4.36667

1.27485

+0.017458814

Insignificant difference

Work experience (>30 years)

4.49444

1.53829

Senior leadership

3.87222

1.39464

+0.3555051619

Insignificant difference

Members of the board/members of board and top management

3.88222

1.48730

Size of the organization (1000 employees)

4.07443

1.49512

Men

4.303030

0.634205

+0.053750599

Insignificant difference

Women

3.88889

0.570221

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with less than 100 employees to large organizations with more than 10,000 employees there is no significant difference. Leaders across all these variables share the same beliefs and approaches regarding leadership values and their commitment to sustainability in the context of this study.

10.2.4.8

Examples of Conflict in Organization and Sustainability

The last question was on citing an example that showcased a conflict situation in the organization related to sustainability. A word cloud analysis on MAXQDA software was conducted. The code frequency chart is in Fig. 10.5. The word ‘no’ and its variations like ‘never’ and ‘none’ had a frequency of 52.8% among all the responses for this question. This means more than half the respondents never faced a conflict situation related to sustainability. This seems quite unlikely. 25% of the respondents used the word ‘organization’ while more than 16% used ‘our’. All respondents with more than 40 years of experience did respond positively to the question. The responses to this question can be summarized as follows: Most responses emphasized mutual discussions and regular interactions. Many responses were given as ‘we’ which alluded to the ‘group’ nature of sustainability initiatives. Few respondents pointed out how pursuing sustainability in the organization conflicted with cost-cutting measures, P&L commitments, work-life balance and the idea of business over people. Recycling, racial diversity, employee welfare, water conservation, ethical behaviour and technological adaptation were some of the pathways through which sustainability measures were undertaken. Many respondents did not address this question. This leads us to believe that sustainability may not have been a big issue in their organizations or they were not involved in these decisions or they have chosen not to disclose. “Broader organization can sometimes see sustainability akin to “doing good for the world” and not linked to business success. However, I believe that sustainability strategies have

Fig. 10.5 Frequency of documents with the code based on word cloud analysis

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to be an integral part of business… how companies can be Force for good and Force for growth.” (Respondent)

10.2.4.9

Result Analysis

Question 10 points to the lack of consensus and probably reluctance to share or exposure to decision making on questions related to sustainability among the leadership team itself. Many sustainability initiatives may come in conflict with keeping the company afloat and may be deemed as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. In some cases, payback for high capital expenditure investments could be a challenge. However, many respondents have also highlighted the progressive nature of their organizations and the support they have received which leads one to believe that sustainability has found takers among organizations as well.

10.3 The Leadership Interview Questionnaire The leadership interview questionnaire was administered to five senior leaders in industry and government. These leaders are well known in their respective areas and have 25–45 years of experience in their sectors. The leaders were drawn from diverse sectors such as Energy, Government, Automobile and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). This ensured inputs from a truly cross-sector multi-polar lens with specific reference to India. These respondents were: • Dr. Pramod Deo, former Chairperson, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and the longest-serving electricity regulator in India. • Mr. Kiran Deshmukh, Chief Technology Officer at Sona Comstar, Gurgaon, India. • Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis, former Assistant General Manager, Business Excellence Services, Tata Motors, Pune. • Mr. A, Senior Position in Information Technology, Government of India. • Ms. V, Senior Vice President, Marketing Head, in one of the biggest FMCGs. (We have not disclosed the identities of two respondents as per their requests.) Mr. K C Girotra, former Vice President (Operations & Fully Built Vehicles), Tata Motors and a member of the Board of Directors of Tata Marcopolo, Tata International DLT, and Tata Johnson Controls. Has more than two decades of experience in Business Process Reengineering and Business Excellence in the Tata Group. His inputs were used for an overall understanding of the Core Values and Leadership system and how sustainability is understood in the Indian context. The responses received in the Leadership Interview Questionnaire were analyzed using MAXQDA software as well as the expert’s interpretation of the recurring themes and issues. For the qualitative responses, word cloud analysis on MAXQDA software was used. There were 6 questions and 5 respondents. The word cloud analysis showed that

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Fig. 10.6 Interview segments with codes

‘we’ had the maximum hits, followed by ‘business’, ‘sustainability’, ‘organization’, ‘company(s)’ and ‘cost(s)’ (See Fig. 10.6). ‘Social responsibility’ and ‘sustainability and social responsibility’ along with ‘sustainability’ had a high frequency as well. ‘Core’, ‘help’ and ‘goals’ are some of the other terms that came up. These terms indicate the strong emphasis that most experts placed on some of the sustainability measures being key to organizational growth and profits, but they also pointed out the cost rationale. In my decades of experience in business, I have found that ethical behaviour, transparency, and being socially responsible keep all the stakeholders happy and satisfied in the long term. These three principles always maximize the company’s economic and business objectives… it is a myth that sustainability and social responsibility initiatives negatively affect a company’s bottom line. Instead, they mitigate risks, promote innovation, and reduce costs. (Mr. Kiran Deshmukh)

All respondents underlined the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders to drive sustainability in their organizations and addressing the concerns of each of them to implement changes. Mr. Kiran Deshmukh cited an example of the automotive supply chain which consisted of a tiered structure, where any weak link could disrupt the entire value chain. His company, Sona Comstar decided to initiate a program for strengthening the supply chain by upgrading their small and medium scale suppliers. However, implementing the lean concepts and best practices in these companies first needed a change of the mindset of their owners and this was accomplished by using the principle of ‘do-and-demonstrate’. Sona Comstar first demonstrated the tools and techniques in their own ‘model lines’ and then carried out improvement activities at the supplier with Sona’s engineers. Once the supplier’s top management saw the benefits of these actions, the widespread implementation in their plant was smooth. This example showcases how involving each stakeholder is critical, but it has to be done in a phased and well-planned manner. They stressed on having sustainability as an inbuilt business strategy, giving compelling reasons for change and having ownership and timelines when implementing those changes. At the government level, the federal structure provides

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the multi-stakeholder perspective where there is a ‘core’ project which is then contextualized depending on the socio-economic-political environment of a region. The reasons for including sustainability as a part of business strategy and planning was cited as important due to three reasons- mitigating risk by ensuring uninterrupted supply chains, encouraging innovations and cost reduction through waste minimization. However, there are serious cost implications emanating from sustainability initiatives that should not alter the core values. Dr. Pramod Deo brought up how risks from sustainability manifest themselves over time, so he termed such initiatives as ‘capability building’ rather than mere spending. Respondents also discussed the emerging significance of ESG to drive business excellence. ESG needs to be linked to core business values and each action in this area needs to ultimately be linked to the traditional shareholder or profits. Governance was defined by Ms. V as a “cost avoidance for future disruption. Hence all costs required to ensure strong governance has to be budgeted in the business model at the onset.” The role of the government was brought up through a need to have strong regulatory mechanisms and mandates and commonly accepted standards of measurement. “The core function of the government is to be socially responsible.” (Mr. A)

The benefit from investing in sustainability and social responsibility was brought up by Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis. Benefits from sustainability accrued over a long period while social responsibility helped in forging relationships and building bonds between the employees and the employers. He gave the example of the work done by the Tatas especially by Mr. Ratan Tata during the COVID pandemic which has created a positive vibe about the brand among not only its workers but also customers in general. Ms. V brought up how organizations facilitated flexible work hours during the pandemic even when there was no lockdown. Here, the organization valued a core value which was ‘safety of employees’ over other considerations. Mr. Deshmukh gave an example of how his company discovered that a mix-up of steel coils at a steel supplier had caused the malfunctioning of a component, and a few thousand defective parts might have gone in the market. While their company tests showed that this would not have resulted in any serious accident on the road, the organization believed that the suspect parts were out of the specs and, therefore, should not have been shipped out. The senior management informed their OEM customer, which resulted in one of the first recalls in the history of the Indian automotive industry. Although there was a risk of erosion of the organization’s reputation and a financial burden, this decision helped build long term trust with the society and enhanced the company’s reputation. This analysis reveals that there is a strong consensus on the positive role that corporations play in promoting sustainability and social responsibility in their organizations. It also points to the need to consider sustainability as an investment/ capital expenditure that has long term payoffs. The need to integrate employees in decision making and respect the core values was also given significance. A summary of the recurrent themes is presented in the Tables 10.4 and 10.5 below.

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Table 10.4 Recurring themes connecting sustainability with stakeholder expectations, cost implications and the way forward Sustainability Respondent and sector details

Multiple stakeholders’ Way forward expectations

Cost implications

Dr. Pramod Deo (Energy)

Collaborate and look at alternatives. Engaged young engineers on contract to implement green energy (with no sanctioned positions) and successfully established Maharashtra Energy Development Agency and Energy Management Centre

Converge goals with Will be future assets profitability objectives

Mr. Kiran Deshmukh (Automobile)

Engage all stakeholders and address their perspectives. Implemented lean concepts using the ‘do-and-demonstrate’ principle for the entire value chain

Ethical behaviour, transparency and being socially responsible

Optimize use of natural resources and waste elimination. It is a myth that sustainability and social responsibility initiatives negatively impact the bottom line of the Company

Mr. A (Government of India)

Keep in mind the multiple stakeholders and the federal structure. Pay attention to the geopolitical and socio-economic situation

Specific goals and check deviations for all stakeholders. Ethical behaviour from top to bottom

Social responsibility might increase the cost but it is a core goal

Ms. V (FMCG)

Communication of shared vision with all stakeholders and build ESG in the business plan so that it is not “bolted on.”

Identify why ESG should be a focus, leaders to champion the vision, build a strategy and link ESG results to traditional shareholder returns

Governance is a cost avoidance for future disruption and all costs for strong governance has to be budgeted in the business model at the onset. Many examples where Social and Environmental sustainability can be win–win (continued)

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Table 10.4 (continued) Sustainability Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis (Automobile)

Communicating with stakeholders. Replaced wooden boxes with reusable foldable bins for suppliers

Conserving natural resources and focusing on the environment will increase

Will save money in the long term and giving back to society is a goal

The analysis reveals that the approach across business sectors and the Government and Regulatory Sector in India merges. There are three recurring themes: 1. Communication is the key to managing multiple stakeholders. 2. There is a need to invest now and it will be an asset in the future. 3. Focus on ethical and socially responsible behaviour and converging sustainability to profitability goals is the way forward. The themes converge completely across sectors. The primary themes: Sustainability, Core Values and Business Excellence are connected. In the future, sustainability will be essential but there is a need to have more robust fundamentals and stricter government-enforced regulations. The leadership was able to provide many examples of how the Core Values had been implemented in the Indian context.

10.4 Conclusion This study underscores the prima donna status of leadership in steering organizations to adopt sustainability. It establishes in India, the interrelationship between valuebased leadership at the top management level which in turn drives sustainability in organizations. Value-based leadership ensures a leader’s commitment to the ESG mandate. Leaders with a belief in sustainability, adhere to all aspects of the sustainability mandate within and outside the organization. Business leaders, those in senior governmental positions and regulators are crucial linchpins in achieving sustainable development. The study indicates that commitment to one aspect of ESG ensures the leader’s commitment to all three pillars of sustainability viz. environment, social and governance. Leaders are faced with the conundrum of balancing social, environmental and financial goals at the same time. Social and environmental initiatives may be beneficial in the long term, but they can sometimes conflict with financial goals in the near term. There is a need to integrate corporate, social, environmental, and financial implications in day-to-day operations and investment decisions. “Link ESG to existing business priorities so that it is not “bolted on” but built-in as business strategy. Link back ESG results to traditional shareholder return or profits.” (Ms. V)

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Table 10.5 Recurring themes linking sustainability to core values and long term implications Sustainability Respondent and sector details

Link with core values and business excellence

Example of implementation of core value

Long term implication

Dr. Pramod Deo (Energy)

Two sides of the same coin and both elements are essential

Partnering with Industry to use energy conservation practices instead of having a large team of Energy Auditors

Will be essential elements

Mr. Kiran Deshmukh (Automobile)

Best practices must also consider the impact of actions on society and the environment and the two must be integrated

A few thousand defective parts were in the market and although would not result in an accident informed OEM for a recall

Unlike the conventional business, risks reveal themselves over time and therefore should focus on long term capability building

Mr. A (Government of India)

Sustainability drives business excellence

In a committee, one of the A core function of the stakeholders diluted the Core Government is to be Value. socially responsive Finance-Planning-Operation must be in sync. And there should be some checks to ensure that there is no dilution at any level

Ms. V (FMCG)

ESG drives business excellence, build diverse teams

Implemented and ensured “value of safety and health” during the pandemic

Integrated and robust organization fundamentals and stricter government-enforced regulation and mandates

Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis (Automobile)

Business excellence is an umbrella under which sustainability and core values of leadership are included

How the Leadership dealt with the Internal Union during a dispute. Withdrew legal action against their workers and gave them one-time payment against lost salaries even after Management won the matter in the Court and Government supported the Management.

If the planet survives, then we survive so initial investment is required to bring in green technologies

In the Indian context, there are some win–win situations, such as reduced waste and emissions in water conservation projects, that save costs and environmental damage. However, middle managers through the business units and facilities struggle to evaluate sustainability impacts and are more focused on regulatory and financial aspects.

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“The trade off between budgets versus value created through ESG investment is often a subject of debate.”—Survey Respondent

Today’s senior leadership is convinced about the need to incorporate sustainability issues (environmental, social and governance) within the business framework at the blueprint stage. In India, the call for sustainability has moved from a moral to a business case and will soon be non-optional. Sustainability is a long term capability generation with a short term impact on the balance sheet. These in the long run protect supply chains and reduce wastage. Thus, the business rationale for sustainability lies in reducing uncertainty and managing future costs. “What appears as costs today will be tomorrow’s assets. Long term vision only can see this convergence.” (Dr. Pramod Deo)

The “sameness” in the leadership’s commitment, approach and belief in sustainability is striking across different age groups, gender, number of years of work experience, size of the organization, position etc. in the Indian context. Senior leaders accentuated the need to communicate, have regular two-way interactions with multiple stakeholders and emphasized that sustainability initiatives can only be achieved through collaboration. The role of stakeholder participation is paramount. Leaders shared numerous examples of innovative methods and diverse pathways through which sustainability goals can be achieved. The need to align behaviour within the organization was stressed. Value-based and ethical leadership is essential for dealing with complex issues that characterize sustainability. “Demonstrate ethical leadership from Top to Bottom and Bottom to Top will follow.” Mr. A

There are, however, some missing links. The role of initial investment to promote sustainability initiatives cannot be overlooked. These do affect the P&L (profit and loss) statements of companies and can have huge bearings on operations and bottom line. How far do organizations go to accommodate these investments is worth investigating. Moreover, the cost is not just an initial allocation of resources, it is also a tradeoff. It necessarily implies that funding for other areas of operation have been cut or it has come from shareholder profits or salaries or spending on welfare measures. Another tradeoff occurs when one kind of product is replaced by more sustainable or cleaner ones. The manufacturers and the ecosystem associated with these earlier products and processes are suddenly debarred and excluded which in turn impacts their employees, ancillary units, vendors etc. While it is essential to have new products and processes to encourage sustainability, there should be some recourse for those who are rendered jobless and thus left behind. Otherwise, we will end up creating a greener but a lesser equal planet. “Often interests of one stakeholder conflict with the interests of others. Understanding and addressing each stakeholder’s perspectives is the key to successful and sustainable business objectives.” (Mr. Kiran Deshmukh)

It is also worth noting that corporate social responsibility spending is a government mandate in India. Firms (satisfying specific size or profit) need to spend a

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minimum of 2% of their profit on Corporate Social Responsibility as per Section 135 of India’s Companies Act of 2013 (Dharampala and Khanna 2018). This provision of compulsory spending on Corporate Social Responsibility has been a subject of an ongoing war of words ever since this was suggested in 2009. The provision met with considerable resistance and opposition from the industry (Majumdar 2014). Some organizations have taken their CSR activities seriously and have made laudable contributions to the larger society. On the other hand, many organizations try to bring components of their daily operations and any employee welfare activity as part of their CSR spending. This packaging of certain actions as CSR creates a false sense of confidence and complacency among those monitoring such activities that much is being done in social responsibility while in reality, it does not amount to any significant spend or effort. “In the case of Social Responsibility, it is the duty of every organization to return to the society where their business is thriving and people are buying their products and services. Such initiatives not only build long term relationships with people but also help in building brand value which in turn help in increasing the sales.” —Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis

The continuum of corporate social responsibility and sustainability presents some challenges and there may be a lack of willingness or readiness among Indian Companies to monitor and measure. It should not become a customary exercise or rhetoric and we must find a robust way of committing to sustainability (Singh et al. 2018). “Stricter Government enforced regulation and mandates, more commonly acceptable standards on measurements, KPIs for companies evolve to include ESG.” (Ms. V)

According to the World Economic Forum Report of 2020, expectations from senior management including CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) are changing with the emergence of sustainability as a leadership issue. CEOs need to encourage sustainable leaders at all levels (Murphy and Kingo 2020). Sustainability and social responsibility should be rooted in the structure and execution of organizations to promote efficiency, equity and overall excellence. Finally, for future researchers, some areas need to be explored. First and foremost, the study needs to include leaders at middle management levels since impact of sustainability initiatives are more local and a large number of decisions are made at that level which are aligned to the overall strategy prepared at headquarters. Furthermore, how senior leaders face the challenge of balancing short term goals and supporting some stakeholders that may conflict with long term commitment to sustainability will be an interesting area of further research. A study focusing on sustainability awareness across organizations and major stakeholders will enable us to understand specific challenges in the Indian context. There is also a need to study the formal processes that include sustainability as a core process of institutions such as strategy development, rewards and incentive processes and the role of regulations.

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Appendix See Tables 10.6 and 10.7.

Table 10.6 Eleven core values of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Visionary leadership

Senior leaders set a vision for the organization, create customer focus, demonstrate clear and visible organizational values and ethics and set high expectations for the workforce

Systems perspective

Managing all the parts of your organization as a unified whole to achieve your mission and strive towards your vision

Customer-focused excellence

Customers are ultimate judges of performance and product or service quality. The organization must consider all product and service characteristics and modes of customer access and support that contribute to customer satisfaction, loyalty, positive referrals and ultimately to the organization’s ongoing success

Valuing people

A successful organization values its workforce members and the other people who have a stake in the organization which includes customers, community members, suppliers and partners and other people affected by their actions

Agility and resilience

The capacity for rapid change and flexibility in operations and the ability to anticipate, prepare for and recover from disasters, emergencies and other disruptions. The ability to protect and enhance workforce and customer engagement, supply network and financial performance, organizational productivity and community well-being

Organizational learning

This includes continuous improvement of existing approaches and significant change or innovation leading to new goals, products and markets

Focus on success and innovation Understand the short- and longer-term factors that affect your organization and its environment which in turn ensures your organization’s success now and in the future. The ability to drive organizational innovation. Innovation includes making meaningful changes to improve your products, services, programs, processes, operations, and business model, to create new value for stakeholders Management by fact

The ability to measure and analyze your organization’s performance, both inside the organization and in your competitive environment. Analysis of performance measures and indicators should support organizational evaluation, alignment, and decision making

Societal contributions

Leaders should stress contributions to the public and the consideration of societal well-being and benefit. Your leaders should be role models for the well-being of your communities (continued)

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Table 10.6 (continued) Ethics and transparency

Stress ethical behaviour by all workforce members in all stakeholder transactions and interactions. Senior leaders should be role models of ethical behaviour, including transparency, characterized by candid and open communication on the part of leadership and management and by the sharing of accurate information

Delivering value and results

Your organization should choose and analyze results that help you deliver and balance value for your key stakeholders. Thus, results need to include not just financial results, but also product and process results; customer and workforce satisfaction and engagement results; and leadership, strategy, and societal performance

Source https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige-criteria-commentary Table 10.7 Demographic details of the respondents of responsible leadership and sustainability questionnaire Sample Gender Age band

Details

Numbers TOTAL

Male

37

Female

13

31–40 years

1

41–50 years

24

51–60 years

16

61–70 years

6

71 and above

3

Work 11–20 years experience 21–30 years

25

31–40 years

13

40 and above

4

India (e.g. NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Jammu, Pune, Thane)

35

Abroad (e.g. US, UK, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Luxembourg, UAE, Oman)

15

Location

Position

Sectors

Board member

5

Both

13

Top management

32

Manufacturing/Automobile/Technology/Construction/Ports/Aviation 12 Government/Education/Medical/Mental health

Location

8

50 50

50

50

50

50

10

Banking/Finance/Management/Consulting

9

FMCG/Pharmaceutical/Retail/Agro-processing

5

Renewable energy/Logistics/Conglomerates/Others

14

Worked in one location

8

Worked in multiple locations

42

50 (continued)

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Table 10.7 (continued) Sample

Details

Less than 100 No. of Employees 101–999

Numbers TOTAL 13

50

9

1000–5000

8

5000–9999

2

More than 10,000

18

References Adams CA (2013) The role of leadership and governance in transformational change towards sustainability. Glob Respons 9:9–12 Bhattacharya C (2018) How to make sustainability every employee’s responsibility. [online] Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-to-make-sustainability-every-employees-respon sibility Brundtland G (1987) Report of the world commission on environment and development: our common future. United Nations General Assembly document A/42/427 Dahlgaard SMP, Dahlgaard JJ, Edgeman RL (1998) Core values: the precondition for business excellence. Total Qual Manag 9(4–5):51–55 Dharmapala D, Khanna V (2018) The impact of mandated corporate social responsibility: evidence from India’s companies act of 2013. Int Rev Law Econ 56:92–104 Enquist B, Johnson M, Rönnbäck Å (2015) The paradigm shift to Business Excellence 2.0. Int J Qual Serv Sci Goswami A, Das A, Jain A (2021) An introduction of ESG disclosures in Indian regulatory space— part 1. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. https://corporate.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2021/12/an-int roduction-of-esg-disclosures-in-indian-regulatory-space-part-1/ Kanji GK, e Sá PM (2002) Kanji’s business scorecard. Total Qual Manag 13(1):13–27 Kiesnere A, Baumgartner R (2019) Sustainability management in practice: organizational change for sustainability in smaller large-sized companies in Austria. Sustainability 11(issue 3):572. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030572. Accessed 5 Jan 2021 Kramer MR, Porter M (2011) Creating shared value, vol 17. FSG Lusch RF, Webster FE Jr (2011) A stakeholder-unifying, cocreation philosophy for marketing. J Macromark 31(2):129–134 Majumdar AB (2014) India’s journey with corporate social responsibility—what next. JL & Com 33:165 Metcalf L, Benn S (2013) Leadership for sustainability: an evolution of leadership ability. J Bus Ethics [online] 112(3):369–384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1278-6 Murphy L, Kingo C (2020) How to build sustainable business leadership in a post-COVID world. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/how-to-build-sustainablebusiness-leadership-in-a-post-covid-world/ NIST Website. Baldrige criteria commentary. Baldrige performance excellence program. https:// www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige-criteria-commentary. Accessed on 18 Feb 2022 Pearce D, Atkinson G (1998) The concept of sustainable development: an evaluation of its usefulness ten years after Brundtland. Revue Suisse d Economie Politique et de Statistique 134:251–270 Shriberg M (2000) Sustainability management in campus housing: a case study at the University of Michigan. Int J Sustain High Educ 1:137–154 Singh S, Holvoet N, Pandey V (2018) Bridging sustainability and corporate social responsibility: culture of monitoring and evaluation of CSR initiatives in India. Sustainability 10(7):2353

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Sitnikov CS (2013) Triple bottom line. In: Idowu SO, Capaldi N, Zu L, Gupta AD (eds) Encyclopedia of corporate social responsibility. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3642-28036-8_465 Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2014) Service-dominant logic: what it is, what it is not, what it might be. In: The service-dominant logic of marketing. Routledge, pp 61–74 World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Bidisha Banerji is Associate Professor and Deputy Director at Amity Institute of Public Policy, Amity University, Noida. She has a Ph.D. in Public policy and Public Administration from The George Washington University. Dr. Banerji is the editor of the book Universities as Living Labs of Sustainability (2022) and Reimagining Sustainable Futures: The SDG Framework (2019). Pallavi Maitra is the COO and Head Research at Index Advisory with 25 years of extensive experience in Human Resource including 14 years with Tata Motors. She works in Strategy, Planning and Execution, Talent Acquisition Lifecycle, Performance Management, Learning and Competency Development, Career Planning and Assessment and Audits. Her current interests include Psychometric Tests and Digital Quotient Profiling.

Chapter 11

Climate Change and Responsible Business Leadership S. N. Mishra and Ritu Srivastava

Abstract Climate change is bringing unprecedented misery to humans across the world. Its consequences are evident with an increase in extreme weather events both in frequency and intensity, resulting in substantial damage to property and human lives. This threat needs to be dealt with at two levels, first by adapting to the changing climate and second to decelerate the rate of warming. The Paris agreement on climate change is to ensure that global mean warming stays below 2 °C above preindustrial levels and for efforts to be made to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 °C. The 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released in August 2021 confirmed that human influence is responsible for the global warming of the planet Earth. It is a warning sign for leaders and policymakers all over the world to act urgently and immediately for the mitigation of climate change. The companies are strategically aligning their businesses towards smart climate practices, products and portfolios. The responsible business leadership is bringing transparency in their decision making and communicating effectively with all stakeholders to reduce their carbon footprints. Most big Indian business houses have committed huge funds and made ambitious programmes in clean energy production and storage technologies. The responsible businesses are looking at sustainability as an opportunity rather than a challenge and seem to be on right track to help achieve net carbon neutrality in India by 2070. Keywords Climate change · Sustainability · Responsible business · Responsible leadership · Greenhouse gas emissions · Net carbon neutrality

S. N. Mishra Ex- Indian Air Force, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] R. Srivastava (B) Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_11

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11.1 Introduction Climate change is real. Its impact is felt as increased occurrences of extreme weather events, severe droughts and more frequent and intense heatwaves. It is creating severe damage and is already impacting the livelihoods of billions of people around the globe. This threat needs to be dealt with at two levels, first by adapting to the changing climate and second to decelerate the rate of warming. These two challenges of our generation, if tackled properly would also determine the sustenance of future generations. The Paris agreement on climate change (United Nations 2015) is to ensure that global mean warming stays below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and for efforts to be made to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 °C. This can only be achieved by swiftly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the entire globe. Businesses are responsible for most of the GHG emissions and thus businesses must bring their carbon footprints down. The fossil/coal-based fuel and energy must change to renewable energy, green fuel such as green (Hydrogen) H2 and transportation must change into green (Electric Vehicle) EV mobility. Milton Friedman’s economic theory which states that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits is now no longer valid. The business will no longer be “business as usual”. Maintaining the status quo of business operations is not an option anymore as was reiterated during World Economic Forum, 2016 by Director-General Michael Møller while discussing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (United Nations 2015). To survive, all businesses will have to perform a carbon audit of their business’s full life cycle, make themselves gradually net carbon neutral or carbon deficit, and contribute towards mitigation of climate change. In addition, businesses must align with the sustainable development goals to build a resilient, sustainable, and responsible business.

11.2 Climate Change Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather patterns and temperatures. These shifts could be natural due to long-term variations in solar cycles as well as continuous changes in the magnetic orientations of Earth. However, since the early eighteenth century, it is human activities that have been the main contributor to climate change. The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas has been mostly responsible for climate change. GHGs are the main emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, which in turn traps the incoming Sun’s solar radiations resulting in the warming of the earth’s atmosphere. Main GHGs that are responsible for climate change are carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and recently discovered potent Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6 ) gases that stay for thousands of years in the atmosphere. These come from the generation of energy through coal, using petroleum products for transportation and SF6

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is produced from semiconductor and aluminium manufacturing. The main sources of GHGs emissions are energy generation, transport, industry, buildings, land use, agriculture, and garbage landfills. Presently GHGs concentrations in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in the past two million years. This availability of GHGs and its continuously rising trend in the atmosphere is responsible for global warming. This has resulted in the warming of Earth by about 1.1 °C warmer as compared to the pre-industrial era (late 1800–1900). The last decade (2011–2020) has been recorded as the warmest decade on record. The basic understanding that climate change is only warming the earth’s atmospheric temperatures seems misplaced. The dynamics of the earth’s atmospheric system is complex, and everything is interconnected. Changes in one element can have rippling effects on multiple environmental phenomena. For example, consequences of global warming are now manifesting in intense and frequent heat waves, droughts, increased and severe forest fires, rising sea levels, flash floods, very heavy rainfall incidents, melting of glaciers and polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. An increase in GHG emissions is resulting in worsening of climate change and consequently dangerous weather events, called “Extreme Weather Events” are becoming more frequent and severe. Climate change has now become the biggest challenge for humanity and resulted in a crisis that the United Nations now considers a major global concern that requires humongous and urgent steps by all countries and businesses worldwide to make the Earth safe, sustainable, and habitable for humans. The UN has proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) out of which 5 SDGs are directly related to climate change.

11.3 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) (United Nations 2015) The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were embraced by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to protect the planet, end poverty, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others and that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability. However, the SDGs directly linked to climate change and businesses are given below.

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11.3.1 Goal 7—Affordable and Clean Energy (United Nations 2015) Coverage of electricity has increased from 78 to 90% in the past two decades from 2000 to 2019 and the number of people without access to electricity has reduced to 788 million. The population will continue to increase till about mid-century i.e., 2050 and thereafter likely to stabilize. Therefore, demand for easily accessible cheap energy would continue to grow. Demand for such energy needs is more likely to be met through easily available fossil fuels-based energy, which is the main emitter of (Carbon Dioxide) CO2 and is leading to climate change. Thus, heavy investment in solar and wind renewable energy, green hydrogen, adoption of new technologies, improving energy productivity, and ensuring clean energy for all is the main objective which is vital to achieving SDG7 by 2030. Fossil fuels are the main contributors to carbon and most of the energy is coal-based. Hence expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean, green, and more efficient energy in all countries will encourage growth, provide long-term reliable, renewable sources of energy, and lead the world towards net-zero carbon and thus, will help mitigate climate change.

11.3.2 Goal 9—Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (United Nations 2015) Urbanization is on the rise with more and more people migrating to urban centres for a better life and job opportunities. The development of smart cities, climate-resilient infrastructure, and innovation in the existing technologies are crucial drivers of having sustainable long-term economic growth and will provide solutions to aspirational people. New urban centres are getting equipped with efficient electric public transport systems, sources of renewable energy, smart housing, sustainable industries, information, and communication technologies. Technological creativity and innovation are also key to finding sustainable and profitable solutions to both economic and climate change challenges, such as providing jobs and promoting renewable energy to have a cleaner environment.

11.3.3 Goal 13—Climate Action (United Nations 2015) All countries are experiencing the catastrophic effects of climate change without any exception. GHG emissions are more than 50% higher than in 1990. Developed countries had pledged to invest USD 100 billion annually by 2020 in developing countries for providing them with low carbon and renewable energy which will help them to adapt to climate change. However, delivery on these pledges is nowhere close to what

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was agreed upon by developed countries. Supporting vulnerable regions will directly contribute not only to Goal 13 but also to other SDGs. These actions must also go simultaneously with efforts to incorporate disaster risk measures, sustainable natural resource management, and human security into national development strategies. It is still possible that with strong political resolve, increased investment, and using new and innovative technology, the increase in global mean temperatures can be limited to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels to curtail it at 1.5 °C. However, this will need strong resolve and action by all global leaders.

11.3.4 Goal 14—Life Below Water (United Nations 2015) Temperature, chemistry, oceanic currents, and life in the oceans drive global systems that make our planet Earth habitable for humans. Management of this crucial resource is vital for sustaining humanity. It aims to sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems from pollution, as well as address the impacts of ocean acidification as more than three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihood. Therefore, the oceans must not be overexploited. The current trend indicates that 30% of the world’s fish stocks are overexploited and are reaching below the level at which they can produce sustainable yields.

11.3.5 Goal 15—Life on Land (United Nations 2015) Human life depends on the Earth as much as the ocean for our sustenance and livelihood. Our reliance is primarily on agriculture and thus it is an important economic resource. Plant life provides 80% of the human diet. Forests cover 30% of the earth’s surface, provide vital habitats for millions of species, and are considered an important source of clean air and water. These forests are crucial for combating climate change as they are a major sink for CO2 . Every year 13 million hectares of forests are lost. The persistent degradation of drylands is leading to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares, and this is disproportionately affecting poor communities.

11.4 The Paris Agreement (United Nations 2015) The world’s first serious effort towards implementing UN SDGs on climate change was made during the Conference of Parties (COP21) in 2015 by forming a legally binding international treaty which is famously known as the Paris Agreement. The Paris agreement was adopted by 196 parties on 12th December 2015 to be effective from 4th November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 °C, preferably to 1.5 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

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The countries are to aim for global peaking of GHG emissions as soon as possible and aim to achieve a climate-neutral world by 2050. The Paris Agreement is the most important milestone in the complex climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

11.4.1 Nationally Determined Contributions (United Nations 2015) To achieve the long-term goals of climate change, each country has made some pledges. These pledges are known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These are at the heart of the Paris agreement and towards achieving these long–term goals. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce (GHGs) national emissions. In NDCs, countries also declare actions to be taken to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of rising temperatures.

11.4.2 India’s NDCs and Commitments (United Nations 2015) India has committed to reducing its emissions intensity by 33–35% between 2005 and 2030. However, these actions towards climate change mitigation have a strong development impact on India. To this effect, it is focusing on accelerating the use of clean and renewable energy to 40% by 2030 and promoting the efficient use of energy. It is noteworthy that India has emerged as a leader in renewable energy production, especially in solar power and is on its way to achieving its Paris NDCs before time. India has raised its ambition and has set an ambitious target of 450GW of renewable energy by 2030. “On 25th September 2021”, while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to achieving 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030, along with other actions to decarbonize India’s economy “(World Resources Institute 2021). The Government’s previous policies have succeeded in making solar and wind energy cost-competitive compared with fossil fuels. Going forward, this target would bring the share of renewables to 40% of electricity generation, which will require major investments in energy storage and grid integration. The Prime Minister also announced a bold new vision to make India the world’s largest hub for green hydrogen. Industry switching from fossil fuels to green hydrogen would powerfully complement the greening of grid electricity. This would be the key to the long-term decarbonisation of India’s economy. Reflecting these important ambitions in an updated NDC will give a clear signal to the international community

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about India’s commitment to combating climate change” (World Resources Institute 2021).

11.4.3 Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (United Nations 2021a, b, c) The IPCC Working Group I report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis, is approved by 195 member governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that was held over two weeks starting on 26th July 2021. It was released on 9 August 2021 after being approved by 195 members through a virtual session. The report has flagged the unprecedented changes observed in the climate in the past couple of 100 years. However, strong, and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and other GHGs would limit climate change. The immediate strong climate action could take 20–30 years for global temperatures to stabilize whereas benefits for air quality could be realized quickly. The report projects that in the coming decades’ warming led climate changes will accelerate in all regions. The report has brought out the following changes. • Climate change will lead to more frequent and intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions. This will intensify the water cycle. • There will be a change in rainfall patterns due to climate change. Precipitation is likely to increase in high altitudes whereas it is expected to decrease over large parts of the subtropics. The precipitation pattern of the monsoon is also expected to change and will show temporal and regional variation. • The sea-level is expected to continuously rise throughout the twenty-first century and will result in coastal flooding. Coastal erosion and coastal flooding in low lying areas will be more frequent and severe. The extreme sea-level events will be more frequent and the events which previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century. • Further global warming will accelerate permafrost thawing. In addition, it will result in the loss of seasonal snow cover, melting of glaciers, ice sheets, and loss of summer Arctic Sea ice. • Warming will adversely impact the entire ocean ecosystem and the people who rely on them. Oceans are expected to be affected in the form of frequent marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and reduced oxygen levels and such changes will continue throughout the rest of this century at least. • The impact of climate change will be felt more in urban cities in the form of intense urban heat islands, intense and severe flooding due to heavy precipitation, intense cyclones, and sea-level rise in coastal cities. The new IPCC report for the first time provided a detailed regional assessment of climate change. The report has provided a new framework that will help translate

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physical changes in climate i.e., heat, cold, rain, drought, snow, wind, and coastal flooding into their impact on society and ecosystems.

11.4.4 Implications for Asia and India (United Nations 2021a, b, c) The latest IPCC report has indicated that climate change will have multiple impacts over South Asia and particularly over India. It is for the first time that a regional fact sheet has been given by IPCC for the Indian Ocean region including India. It is as follows• The annual mean temperatures are expected to increase by 1.5–2 °C from preindustrial levels. However, sea surface temperature over the Indian Ocean is likely to increase by 1–2 °C. • The Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal is warming faster than the global average. This will result in coastal area loss, shoreline retreat and frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-level areas due to continuous sea-level rise through the twenty-first century. • The Extreme weather sea-level events viz. very severe cyclones will be more frequent and severe to an extent that the events which were previously seen once in a hundred years, could also happen every year by the end of the century. • There will be increased heat extremes both in intensity and in duration and a reduction in cold extremes, and similar trends will continue over the next few decades over Asia. • The duration of dry seasons will increase and consequently, fire weather seasons will also lengthen and intensify, particularly in North Asia regions. • The mean surface wind speeds over central and northern parts of Asia have decreased and will continue to decrease in the coming decades. • The impact of climate change has accelerated glacier melting consequently, glacier run-off in the Asian high mountains will increase up to the mid-twenty-first century and later, it will reduce due to the shrinking and loss of glacier storage. • There is a reduction in the snow cover over high mountains in Asia which include the Himalayas since the early twenty-first century. Consequently, glaciers have thinned, retreated, and lost mass since the 1970s. However, it is surprising that the Karakoram glaciers haven’t recorded any major retreating trend, and few have shown an increase. • With further increases in GHGs, the glaciers will melt more rapidly, snow-covered areas, snow volumes and glacier mass will continue to decrease during the twentyfirst century. However, snowline elevations will rise further. • The rising global temperatures and consequently increased rainfall incidents in high altitude regions of the Himalayas would increase the occurrence of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and landslides over moraine-dammed lakes.

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11.4.5 Impact on India (India Today Web Desk 2021) Twelve coastal Indian cities-including some metros and major ports are at risk of getting submerged by 2100 if global warming continues unabated according to NASA’s analysis of a report by the IPCC. Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Visakhapatanam, Kandla, Okha, Bhaunagar, Mormugao, Mangalore, Paradip, Khidirpur, and Tuticorin could be three feet underwater by the end of the century (India Today Web Desk 2021). This year during monsoon season in India, many places have suffered a spate of flooding and landslide disasters like in Maharastra, in the high mountains of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. There was a glacier lake outburst (GLOB) on 7 February 2021 in Uttarakhand which triggered flash floods in the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga valleys. It swept away the Rishiganga hydel project and National Thermal Power Corporation’s Tapovan Vishnugad project. This disaster is feared to have killed over 200 people. Arunabha Ghosh, Director CEEW, writes in Hindustan Times on 11 August 2021 that “The biggest lesson from the IPCC report is that the distant is here, the future is now, and the time to act was yesterday. We must first understand that extreme events today could very well become the norm tomorrow. Climate risks are non-linear, and the past is not a good predictor of the future. Heavy precipitation events that happened once in 10 years in the pre-industrial era are now likely to occur 1.3 times each decade. The climate system is under unprecedented stress in human history. Rich humans think they can escape, poor humans hope they can adapt, but the climate crises will lead to untold misery, hundreds of billions of dollars of losses in infrastructure, along with widening inequalities and social instability”(Ghosh 2021).

11.4.6 Conference of Parties in Glasgow, UK (COP26) (United Nations 2021a, b, c) The much anticipated and crucial global climate meeting took place in Glasgow, the United Kingdom on 31 October 2021 and almost all world leaders have attended the conference. Shri Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, while addressing the climate summit at Glasgow on 1st November 2021 exhorted all nations to fight the devastating effects of climate change collectively and called upon everyone for adopting “Lifestyle for Environment (LIFE)” as a global mission. He announced five commitments to the world and called them “panch amrit tatva or panchamrit” meaning five elements of nectar. He has clearly outlined India’s ambitions for netzero along with its short-term climate actions as pathways to achieving net-zero carbon emission goals. These five commitments are: • India will increase its non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030. • India will fulfil its 50% energy requirements through renewable energy by 2030.

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• India will reduce one billion tons of the total projected carbon emission between now and 2030. • India will reduce its economy’s carbon intensity to less than 45% by 2030. • India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2070. While making these commitments he also rightly stated that the developed nations must fulfil their earlier commitment of 1 trillion USD climate finance. A lot will depend upon fulfilling climate commitments honestly and urgently in achieving netzero commitments of developing nations. And thus, climate finance also should be tracked similarly to climate change and its mitigation. Climate justice and equity would be achieved only when the countries, which have not fulfilled their commitments to climate finance are pressurized to do so in a time-bound manner as has been pledged. World leaders and diplomats from 200 countries have discussed climate change and its mitigation strategies (COP26) at Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. All parties agreed to maintain global warming of 2 °C and further limiting to 1.5 °C as decided in Paris Agreement. They further agreed “to accelerate the development, deployment and dissemination of technologies, and the adoption of policies, to transition towards low-emission energy systems, including by rapidly scaling up the deployment of clean power generation and energy efficiency measures, including accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, recognizing the need for support towards a just transition”. The most significant outcome has been the use of the word coal phase-down in the draft, however, no significant commitments on climate finance to developing countries have been made for transitioning to green energy and adaptation and thus, has limited success.

11.5 Climate Action 11.5.1 Control Emissions, Earth Will Do the Rest The world must move faster towards net-zero CO2 emissions. Even if we start bringing our emissions down immediately, we will still overshoot the 1.5 °C mark by 2030 and later drop to 1.4 °C. Although the situation is alarming and the changes are unprecedented, if GHGs are reduced and controlled, climate change can be reversed, and global temperatures can be stabilized within two to three decades. Thus strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in GHG emissions reaching net-zero CO2 emissions including CH4 are urgently required.

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11.5.2 Who is to Be Blamed? The new IPCC report is “a code red for humanity”, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. It is a fact that humans and their activities are a cause of climate change. The 6th IPCC report is a warning sign for leaders and policymakers all over the world.

11.5.3 Are Businesses Responsible for Climate Change? (United Nations 2021a, b, c) Just 100 of all the hundreds of thousands of companies in the world have been responsible for 71% of the global GHG emissions that cause global warming since 1998, claims The Carbon Majors Database, a report published in July 2017 by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) (Griffin 2017). The Carbon Majors Database report has listed the following 10 companies for the majority of CO2 emitters in the atmosphere during the period of 27 years. These are: • • • • • • • • • •

China Coal 14.3% Saudi Aramco 4.5% Gazprom OAO 3.9% National Iranian Oil Co 2.3% ExxonMobil Corp 2.0% Coal India 1.9% Petróleos Mexicanos 1.9% Russia Coal 1.9% Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1.7% China National Petroleum Corp 1.6%

CO2 is the main driver of global warming and climate change. Business is directly responsible for most emissions and thus, the business leaders and policymakers hold the primary responsibility for taking action to limit GHG emissions and address their impacts on climate.

11.6 Role of Responsible Leadership to Address Climate Change It was during COP21 in the year 2015 in Paris when the world leaders had seriously tried discussing methods to limit GHGs to limit global warming. During Paris Agreement, various nations made pledges called to reduce GHGs by increasing the renewable energy mix in the total energy requirement of a nation. The focus of the Paris agreement was on the role of governments in committing and limiting global

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warming below 2 °C. However, it did not provide any concrete guidelines for business companies on how to deal with climate change. The COP26 has resolved to phase- down coal-based energy and move towards carbon net neutrality by midcentury and limit temperature rise to 1.5 °C to combat climate change and become climate-resilient and sustainable.

11.6.1 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (OECD 2018) The OECD is an international organization that makes policies and issues guidelines for multinational enterprises to achieve better lives for all stakeholders. Guidelines issued by OECD are the most comprehensive instrument backed by governments on responsible business conduct (RBC). Guidelines issued by OECD have international consensus on the responsibilities of private and public companies, especially towards the impact of climate change on people, planet, and mitigation. The OECD has realized the urgency, need and scale of climate action, which is unprecedented. The efforts so far to reach net-zero GHG emissions by mid-century are grossly insufficient and are making it difficult to achieve our climate goals. To decelerate the pace of global warming, the OECD has initiated several programmes in the areas of business resilience, mitigation of climate change and climate finance to help businesses become sustainable and resilient. The most important aspect is, that companies should carefully audit their product, services and processes for their whole lifecycle and avoid causing or contributing to climate change. The companies should contribute to sustainable development and their product or services should not cause any harm to people and the planet and work towards the reduction of GHGs and mitigation of climate change. The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct explains how to carry out due diligence across industry sectors, covering a vast range of risks, including climate-related risks. In addition, sector-specific due diligence guidance address business impacts on climate, e.g., in the garment and footwear, agriculture, and financial sectors. The pressure on companies to deal with climate change will continue growing and so will the expectation that they use available tools to address their impacts on climate (OECD 2018). Climate change is an issue and cannot be kept away. It is an urgent problem, and all businesses must deal with this issue urgently and right now. Editors of Harvard Business Review, while discussing various approaches to deal with climate change said “We don’t know precisely how climate change will alter the planet, but two things are certain: Its complex environmental impact will directly affect business, society, and ecosystems; and governments will seek to mitigate its effects with farreaching regulations. Until recently, companies have for the most part freely emitted carbon, but they will increasingly find that those emissions have a steep price, both monetary and social. As a result, businesses that continue to sit on the sidelines will

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be badly handicapped relative to those that are now devising strategies to reduce risk and find competitive advantage in a warming, carbon-constrained world” (Reinhardt 2007).

11.6.2 Responsible Leadership & Voluntary Responsible Business Reporting Transparency and communication with stakeholders are the keys to sustainable and resilient businesses. Instead of trying to greenwash their business, if business leaders understand the seriousness of the issue and take appropriate steps towards making their processes and outcomes sustainable, no matter how small the initial steps, communicating effectively with everyone involved and affected will lead to a more coherent and honest business relationship. This will also increase a business’s accountability and longevity. Along with effective and honest communication with all stakeholders, voluntary reporting on carbon emissions is another effective way to become a responsible business. Such voluntary reporting on carbon emissions has inherent benefits and responsibilities. Climate change and GHG emissions are subjects that all stakeholders of a company have an interest in, which in turn will provide better access to the capital market. Voluntary disclosures help in charting out strategies to identify and reduce carbon footprints in the entire value chain. The fear that public disclosure on GHG emissions or other issues will have potential risks seems unfounded, as all stakeholders want transparency in reporting and proper plans and strategies to deal with them i.e., greenwashing is no longer an option if a business is to survive and become sustainable in the long run.

11.6.3 Response of Political Leadership In the backdrop of a recent report on climate change, new announcements were made by Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, in his address to the climate summit at COP26, Glasgow, UK (United Kingdom) on 1st November 2021 and was lauded by all nations. While declaring that India will achieve the net carbon zero goal by 2070, he also gave clear short-term pathways to achieve those goals faster. At the same time, he also demanded climate justice for developing nations in the form of USD 1 trillion in climate finance for India alone to transform the Indian energy sector from fossil fuel-based to non-fossil fuel-based clean energy without compromising the growth and development of India. The Indian government has raised its climate ambition already much beyond the pledged commitments during COP21 and performed very well in the mitigation of

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climate change, which is reflected in the latest report on the climate change performance index (CCPI) released on 9th November 2021 (Burck et al. 2021) on sidelines of COP26 by Germanwatch and India has been ranked at number 10, the third year in a row and much ahead of China which is at 37 and US at 55.

11.6.4 Response of Business Leadership Indian business leadership has sensed both threats and opportunities and responded very positively, proactively towards achieving net-zero carbon goals and made substantial commitments towards reduction of GHG emissions in their product life cycle and announced billions of dollars of investment in renewable green energy, CO2 recycling, green hydrogen, and storage batteries. Reliance chairman Shri Mukesh Ambani during the annual general meeting on 16th July 2020 declared that Reliance Industries will turn into a net-zero carbon emitter by 2035. He said, “achieving a cleaner planet can be done by making CO2 as a recyclable resource, rather than treating it as an emitted waste. We have already made substantial progress on photosynthetic biological pathways to convert our CO2 emissions at Jamnagar into high-value proteins, nutraceuticals, advanced materials and fuels “(Reinhardt 2007). He further said, “We will build an optimal mix of reliable, clean and affordable energy with hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel cells and battery” (Reliance Industries Limited 2020). His statement and commitments came at a time when climate change has become a major issue globally. He has backed his commitments by announcing USD 10 billion for clean energy, green hydrogen, and battery storage in the next 3 years. The latest report from Morgan Stanley indicated that Reliance may invest USD 13USD 15 billion over a decade in renewable energy, battery manufacturing, and green hydrogen. Adani group is already a leader in clean and renewable energy and has committed USD 20 billion investment in a decade in green energy, green hydrogen, and batteries. Adani group declared that it would triple its share of renewable power generation to 63% from the existing 21%. Adani port will be made a net-zero carbon emitter by 2025 and it will provide renewable energy to all its data centres by 2030.

11.7 Case Study: Tata Power: “Leadership with Care” (Tata Power 2021) Tata Power, during its existence of more than 100 years has developed its sustainability model by caring for all stakeholders. It continues its sustainable journey guided by its values of “leadership with care”. It is this philosophy of Tata Power that is guiding its management on natural capital. It has given the highest priority to

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environmental management within the organization. It considers that climate change is a major challenge to humanity in this century. It is with this urgency that Tata power is working towards the reduction of GHG emissions. The installed capacity from clean energy sources viz. renewable, waste heat recovery and hydropower is 32% to 3417 MW of total energy capacity. The company is continuously striving to take its total share of clean and green energy to 60% by 2025. Tata Power is a fossil fuel-based power company. However, its responsible leadership has sensed the threat of climate change to the lives of people and on the longevity of the company. Its values of caring for all have shown its strategic intent to make Tata Power a green and clean energy company. Following are the pathways towards its transition• No new coal-based thermal plants in the future and phasing out of coal-based generation completely. • Achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050. • Increase share of clean and green energy to 60% by 2025 and 80% by 2030 through renewable and hybrid clean energy. • Scaling of groundwater management through the participation of communities to improve groundwater recharge and ensure the availability of clean water in local communities. • Effective and efficient use of waste and fly ash and thus achieving zero landfills. It has committed to impacting 30 million lives positively through solar rooftops, solar pumps, microgrids and home automation and truly lighting the lives of people.

11.8 Conclusion Climate change is for real and is already bringing unprecedented misery to humans across the world. The consequences of global warming are evident with an increase in extreme weather events both in frequency and intensity, resulting in substantial damage to property and human lives. The world has taken notice of this climate change and in the first serious effort, 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) were embraced by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to protect the planet, end poverty, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. In the month of December of the same year during COP21 another agreement was signed by 196 parties called The Paris Agreement to ensure that global mean warming stays below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and efforts are to be made to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 °C. This was possible by reducing GHG emissions and thus, all countries had made pledges to increase the share of renewable energy in their total energy required to control GHG emissions and these were called NDCs. These were to be updated by nations every five years and developed nations had pledged climate finance of USD 1 trillion to help developing nations transition from coal to renewable energy. Few countries including India have made commendable progress and achieved their pledges before time.

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India has made bold commitments to produce 50% clean energy by 2030 and achieve a carbon net neutrality target by 2070. The Indian government is working swiftly by bringing up compulsory reporting of business responsibility and sustainability reporting for 1000 top listed companies. The business leadership in India has understood the seriousness of the issue and started taking appropriate steps towards making their processes and outcomes sustainable. Leadership needs to look at making not only their products Earth and people-friendly but bring clean and sustainable practices right from buying raw materials and product development to supply–chain. The responsible business leadership is bringing transparency in their decision making and interacting effectively with all stakeholders to reduce their carbon footprints. All major Indian business leaders have made bold programmes in renewable energy, solar batteries and green hydrogen fuel. The legacy businesses are looking at sustainability as an opportunity for expediting their shift to green energy production and sustainable practices rather than a challenge and seem to be on right track to help achieve net carbon neutrality by 2070. New businesses should utilise the government subsidies, production linked incentives (PLI) schemes, explore cutting edge technologies, create new business models, and thus establish end-to-end sustainability to combat climate change.

References Burck J, Uhlich T, Bals C, Höhne N, Nascimento L, Wong J, Tamblyn A, Reuther J (2021) Climate change performance index 2022. https://ccpi.org/wp-content/uploads/CCPI-2022-Results-1.pdf Ghosh A (2021) Climate crisis: no one will be spared. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustan times.com/opinion/climate-crisis-no-one-will-be-spared-101628668229325.html Griffin P (2017) CDP carbon majors report. https://www.cdp.net/en/reports/downloads/2327 India Today Web Desk (2021) These Indian cities are likely to go three feet underwater by century-end, IPCC report rings warning bell. India Today. https://www.indiatoday.in/science/ story/ipcc-climate-report-coastal-cities-in-india-sea-level-rise-environment-global-warming-ind ian-ocean-1839061-2021-08-10. Accessed 10 Aug 2021 OECD (2018) OECD due diligence guidance for responsible business conduct. http://mneguidel ines.oecd.org/OECD-Due-Diligence-Guidance-for-Responsible-Business-Conduct.pdf Reinhardt FL (2007) Climate business|Business climate. https://hbr.org/2007/10/climate-bus iness-_-business-climate. Accessed Oct 2007 Reliance Industries Limited (2020) Transcript—RIL—Annual general meeting 2020. https://www. ril.com/DownloadFiles/IRStatutory/AGM-Transcript-2020.pdf Tata Power https://www.tatapower.com/sustainability/overview.aspx The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/doc uments/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf United Nations (2015) The Paris agreement 2015. United Nations. https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/ paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_.pdf. Accessed12 Dec 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015) United Nations. https://www.undp.org/sus tainable-development-goals United Nations (2015) Nationally determined contributions, Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Paris agreement 2015. https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determ ined-contributions-ndcs/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs

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United Nations (2021a) Chapter 12, Regional risk assessment, 6th Assessment report of the united nations intergovernmental panel on climate change report. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/ downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter_12.pdf United Nations (2021b) Conference of the parties 26. https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-cli mate-change-conference-october-november-2021b United Nations (2021c). The 6th assessment report of the United nations intergovernmental panel on climate change report. https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/ World Resources Institute (2021) Statement: India reaffirms an ambitious renewable energy target at United Nations. https://www.wri.org/news/statement-india-reaffirms-ambitious-renewa ble-energy-target-united-nations

SN Mishra Group Captain (Dr.) SN Mishra is an IAF veteran and an Ex- Director,Weather and Climate Services, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India with an experience of more than three and half decades in climate change and extreme weather events both across India and Sudan. He has published several scientific papers on climate sciences in national and international journals. Dr. Mishra has worked on several projects of national importance with Department of Science & Technology (DST), IMD (Indian Meteorological Department), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). He has been appointed as Subject Matter Expert “Meteorology” by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India. He is convener of a ‘Network of Strategic Sustainability’ a forum at TERI-SAS for sustainability. He is presently working as a consultant in climate change and sustainability. Ritu Srivastava Dr. Ritu Srivastava is a faculty in the area of Marketing at MDI Gurgaon. Her research interests include socially responsible business, low income customers and services marketing. She has published widely through internationally acclaimed research papers and cases and has authored a reference book on low income customers in India along with a coauthored book on Retail Management. She has been involved with training various organizations such as BEL, DST, DGET, DGR, LIC, NADP, Canon India and Vodafone. She also has developed a simulation, ‘Customer Black Box’, which is being used by B-schools for Marketing Management.

Chapter 12

Social Indicators of ESG and Firm’s Financial Performance in India Roopal Gupta, Tanuja Sharma, and Anupama Prashar

Abstract The paper traces the evolution of sustainability and discusses sustainable HRM from the ESG perspective and its impact on business in select Indian listed companies using the extant literature. An operational definition of sustainable HRM has been drawn to identify actors in this field and outline their contribution to the Social factor in the recently evolved and mandated ESG framework in India. The paper is a quantitative study to explore the relationship between the select Indian firms’ performance on select social indicators—overall Social disclosure score, gender diversity, attrition, training hours per employee and HR policies—and their overall financial performance—EBIT—using the panel data regression model. A period of 5 years from 2017 to 2021 has been chosen for the analysis. Keywords Sustainable HRM · ESG · Sustainability · Financial performance · Social indicators

12.1 Introduction The discourse around sustainability started in 1987 with the famous Brundtland Report (1987), and only recently has it percolated inside the board rooms, less so in India. One salient impetus can be the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) circular on May 10, 2021, which mandated the top 1000 companies by market capitalization to initiate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting- compulsorily from the Financial year (FY) 23, voluntarily from FY 22. This is a giant leap in the realm of sustainability as organizations now have a common and exhaustive set of information and disclosures to provide in all facets of their operations impacting their R. Gupta (B) · T. Sharma · A. Prashar Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected] T. Sharma e-mail: [email protected] A. Prashar e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_12

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ecosystem- environment, social, and governance-related (ESG) aspects. This will be beneficial in three important ways. Firstly, it will lead to uniformity of disclosuressomething that has been seriously missing when companies complied with other national and international standards like SASB (Sustainable Accounting Standards Board), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), etc. Second, by virtue of uniformity, ESG disclosures will provide better insights to the investors, enabling them to make better and sustainably viable investments. And third, and the most important benefit that I see happening because of ESG disclosures is that it will give companies data to reflect upon their performance in terms of environmental, social, and governance sustainability. Being inspired by Peter Drucker’s (1954) “What gets measured, gets managed", one can argue that once organizations start measuring their performance in the ESG framework, they will be able to see the hitherto unseen relation between non-monetized variables acting out in their organizations and outside with their financial performance—which is also, in part, the objective of this paper. Research on Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) is unfolding at a slow pace and its association with a firm’s financial performance remains unexplored. Hence, the research topic is proposed. With this as background, stated below are the research question and research proposition: Research Question: Is a firm’s performance on social indicators of the ESG framework related to its financial performance? Research proposition: A firm’s performance on the social indicators of the ESG framework is related to its financial performance. In the next section, the literature on the key variables proposed was reviewed to build hypotheses around them, which are later tested, followed by a discussion and conclusion.

12.2 Literature Review and Hypotheses HRM practices and firm’s financial performance are, at best, associated (Arthur 1994; Huselid 1995; Delery and Doty 1996; Guest 2011; Guest et al. 2003; Wright et al. 2005, Boselie et al. 2005; Combs et al. 2006;). Causality between the two hasn’t been established yet. From the time that research in HRM started in the 1980s, strategic alignment with business (Beer et al. 1984; Schuler and Jackson 1987) and synergistic effects of bundled HRM practices, and the role of line managers (Bowen and Ostroff 2004; Liao et al. 2009) have been studied at great lengths to establish HRM as one of the important factors of bottom-line contributors. However, given the intangibility of the discipline, and the organization’s priorities in seemingly more visibly impacting functions- production, business development, Research and development (R&D), marketing, etc., the field of HRM remains in the grey area of being a contributor or a moderator to organizational intended outcomes. While we look for answers to these, the discipline is slowly shifting and transcending into Sustainable HRM where "sustainable" is the keyword. From the extant literature in multiple disciplines, sustainable HRM can be defined as HRM practices and strategies that

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promote the renewal and regeneration of organizational human resource capacity and competence for short- and long-term survival and continued positive performance in terms of the various aspects of sustainability (Anlesinya, Susomrith, 2020). Mariappanadar (2003), in his seminal paper on sustainable human resource strategy, defines sustainable HR strategy as the management of human resources to meet the optimal needs of the company and community of the present without compromising the ability to meet the needs of the future. Kramer (2014) calls for explicit recognition of the need to avoid negative impacts of HRM practices identifying broader purposes for HRM, through its recognition of the complexities of workplace dynamics. A sustainable HR strategy aims to integrate economic profitability and socioeconomic equity (Storey 1995), addressing the utilitarian instrumentalism as undertaken by organizations for profit maximization while ensuring equity through the development of humanism of HRM. However, while financial performance is understood normatively and managed as an end goal in almost all organizations, the need is to develop action plans, scorecards, and metrics to measure the progress and outcomes of HRM’s contribution to organizational sustainability (Cohen et al. 2012). This paper goes one step ahead and endeavours to examine the use of such a scorecard—it being an ESG framework in our context—vis-à-vis the firm’s financial performance. Organizations today are embracing Sustainable HRM because of perceived advantages which are mainly four-fold. First, to be compliant with the national and international standards mandatory for the organizations. This differs in terms of the type of organization (listed/unlisted), market capitalization, sector (more intense focus on environmental disclosures for heavy and manufacturing industries, less for Information Technology/ Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/ITES), banking, etc.). Second, the institutional theory (Meyer & Rowan 1977; Scott 1987, Wright & McMahan, 1992) suggests that an organization ascribes to external validation of its practices and processes to attain legitimacy through the social construction of reality and establish itself as an employer of choice, thereby adding to its perceived attractiveness in the labour market and current and potential customers. Third, being viewed as a sustainable organization helps attract and retain talent (Docherty et al. 2002; Ehnert 2009), especially in India, where the war for talent is on an ever-increasing trend. Fourth, and last, to retain the perception of being sustainability-conscious and fulfil the expectations of their employees, organizations realize the need to be more sustainability-conscious.

12.2.1 The New Mandate The term ESG was first used in the book “Who Cares Wins” (The Global Compact, 2004). Since then, the focus of sustainability has shifted from just environmental (green) (Jackson, Renwick, Jabbour, & Muller-Camen, 2011) to now encompassing all the actors in an organization’s operating system and sub-systems- the environment, the employees, communities, society, governing bodies of the country the

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organization operates in and more (Guerci and Pedrini 2014; Guerci & Carollo 2016; Haddock-Millar et al. 2016; Diaz-Carrion et al.2018; Guerci et al. 2016; Saeed et al. 2018; Tang et al. 2018). ESG framework as a means to measure an organization’s sustainability performance is gaining momentum, which is also evident in the fact that in May 2021, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), vide its circular dated May 10, 2021, announced its new mandate of compliance to Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) which is a marked departure from earlier Business Responsibility Reporting (BRR) in that the new regime encompasses all the major facets of sustainability and factors affecting it in an organization and has mandated for disclosures on their performance (Annexure 1). While one may argue, and there is literature to also support this, that human resource policies and practices play a role in the way an organization performs on environmental sustainability mandate (Daily & Huang 2001; Jabbour, de Sousa Jabbour, Govindan, Teixeira, & de Souza Freitas, 2013), along with social and governance, for the scope of this paper, we take the social perspective of the ESG framework and claim that HRM has a more direct role in impacting an organization’s performance in this aspect (Newman et al. 2016; Shen & Benson 2016). Social indicators of the ESG framework include aspects like workforce and diversity, safety management, customer engagement, and communities. Hence, we see HRM playing a major role in defining performance on this aspect of the ESG framework for the organization.

12.2.2 Social Disclosure and Firm’s Financial Performance SEBI circular (2021) listed the constituents of social disclosures to cover the workforce, value chain, communities and consumers for aspects like gender and social diversity including measures for differently-abled employees and workers, turnover rates, median wages, welfare benefits to permanent and contractual employees/workers, occupational health and safety, training, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Corporate Social Responsibility, disclosures on product labelling, product recall, consumer complaints in respect of data privacy and cyber security. In literature, social factors of sustainability in organizations have been hitherto limited to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). That is the primary reason why the literature on ESG performance and a firm’s financial performance is limited to date. Lo and Kwan (2017), Aboud and Diab (2018), Fatemi et al. (2018) & Brogi and Lagasio (2019) have published their research on ESG disclosures and financial performance, but these studies are only a few. Ekatah et al. (2011) and Bashtovaya (2014) found a significant relationship between a firm’s CSR reporting and its financial performance. Specifically, in the context of the oil and gas industry, the profitability of firms depends on the implementation of CSR (Ekatah et al. 2011). Lin et al. (2020) reported mixed findings between CSR and a firm’s financial performance, making the literature even more bi-directional. However, CSR has been largely seen as an initiative to foster self-promotion, rather than the actual intended purpose of being responsible for the greater good (Mobus 2012). Literature also lacks empirical studies

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on ESG (Latapí Agudelo et al. 2020). Hence, better performance on social indicators that yield better disclosure scores may lead to a better financial performance of the firm and there, it is hypothesized that: H1: Performance on overall social disclosure score has a direct effect on a firm’s Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT).

12.2.3 Employee Turnover and Firm’s Financial Performance Human resources in organizations have been highlighted as an aspect that carries uncertain ownership by firms because of their free will to quit (Coff 1997). Early studies on attrition have treated this variable as a dependent variable and studied its determinants (Griffeth & Horn 1995; Lee & Mowday 1987; Morrow et al. 1999), leaving the research on its consequences as a major gap (Mobley, 1982; Glebbeek & Bax, 2004). The scarce research suggests a negative effect of employee turnover on organizational performance, but the effects are small (Huselid, 1995), insignificant (Koys 2001) or "preliminary" (Baron et al. 2001). Staw (1980) in his seminal research suggested turnover may lead to benefits, leading to the classification of employee turnover as "functional" and “dysfunctional” (Dalton et al. 1981) based on the perceived costs and benefits of quitting or staying. Phillips (1996), in his paper, concluded that employee turnover is generally viewed as negatively related to organizational effectiveness, and as an extension, financial performance. This stance was empirically proven by Glebbeek & Bax (2004); however, the relationship is not linear. In their study of the temporary agency offices, Glebbeek & Bax 2004 noted that even though employee turnover explained part of the variation in the performance of employees there, other variables also affected their performance to a much greater degree. Since employee turnover is a mandatory disclosure for firms reporting ESG performance, the following is hypothesized: H2: Firm’s employee turnover rate is associated with firm’s EBIT.

12.2.4 Gender Diversity and Firm’s Financial Performance Diversity can be defined as a phenomenon that represents differences among employees in a workplace for a particular attribute (Jackson, Joshi and Erhardt 2003; Harrison and Klein 2007; van Knippenberg and Schippers 2007). The research on diversity for firm performance dates back to as early as the 1990s when Barney (1991) proposed the resource-based view of the firm, stipulating that it was not the industry structure but the ability to capitalize on the firm’s internal human resources that has the potential of providing a competitive advantage to firms. Women have historically

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been disadvantaged when it came to talent identification (Jelink and Adler 1988; Rosener 1995). Gender parity and inclusion at the workplace is not just a matter of ethics and justice but also has a business case. Gender diversity is reported to yield financial results (Hassan & Marimuthu 2018; Lee-Kuen, Sok-Gee & Zainudin 2017; Oyewale, Oloko & Olweny 2016; Tu, Loi & Yen 2015; Jonty & Mokoteli 2015, Dwyer, Richard and Chadwick 2003; Garba & Abubakar 2014; Julizaerma & Sori 2012; Haldar, Shah & Rao 2015; Oba & Fodio 2013; Shehata 2013). However, studies on gender diversity and its impact on financial performance remain inconclusive (Harrison and Klein 2007; van Knippenberg and Schippers 2007; Joshi and Roh 2009; Yasser 2012; Dabor et al. 2015: Kilic 2015; Abu et al. 2016; Solakoglu & Demir 2016; Hassan & Marimuthu 2018). The new SEBI mandate of ESG reporting includes reporting on gender diversity. With the BRSR reporting becoming a statutory requirement over the next few years, gender diversity scores are likely to be salient in a firm’s overall performance. Basis the arguments above, it is hypothesized that: H3: Gender diversity, i.e. percentage of female employees is directly related to EBIT

12.2.5 Training and Firm’s Financial Performance Training and development is a vastly discussed topic in academia and practice alike. Studies have established that with training, employees increase their productivity by learning new skills and perfecting old ones, leading to better firm performance (Becker 1993). The area of training and development remains a much-researched one (Sitzmann and Weinhardt 2018; Zula and Chermack 2007). It enables organizations to develop human capital which is applicable and relevant to the organizational context (Campbell et al. 2012), creating a source of competitive advantage for the organization and leading to better financial performance (Crook et al. 2011; Tharenou et al. 2007). Studies conducted have concluded that with appropriate training and development practices organizations can yield firm-specific human capital more efficiently and foster better financial performance than firms that do not offer training opportunities (Berk and Kaše 2010). However, this argument has attracted backlash due to the time lag in realizing the positive effects of training. Since most of the studies mentioned above were cross-sectional, they ignored the time element of measuring effectiveness. Hence, long-term effectiveness measurement of training and development requires longitudinal studies and research (Wright et al. 2001). Kwon (2019), in the empirical research of investing in training and its impact on financial performance, carried out longitudinal research in Korean companies and found out that financial performance and training and development investments are positively related and predicted that growth in training and development was positively related to future financial performance. Taking the training hours per employee as a proxy for training and development investment, the following is hypothesized: H4: Training hours per employee is directly related to EBIT

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12.2.6 HR Policy and Firm’s Financial Performance The concept of Human Resource Management came into being in the 1980s predominantly in the United States of America/ United Kingdom (USA/UK), stating a direct relationship between individual HR practices and organizational performance (Schuler and Jackson 1999). The concept of HRM then saw a steady evolution from individual practices (Terpstra and Rozell 1993; Ferris et al. 1998; Russell et al. 1985; Bartel 1994) to a bundle of practices (Arthur 1994; Kalleberg and Moody 1994; Huselid 1995; MacDuffie 1995; Huselid and Becker 1996; Youndt et al. 1996; Huselid et al. 1997) and later to strategic Human Resource Management with the result as firm’s performance (Delery and Doty 1996; Welbourne and Andrews, 1996; Delaney and Huselid 1996). Wright et al. (2005) reported a causal relationship between Human Resource policies and firm performance. However, the relationship between HR policies and firm performance is not direct and is impacted by the presence of mediating variables (Becker and Gerhart 1996; Wright and Gardner 2003) like employee attitudes and behaviours (Becker and Huselid 1998; Wright and Snell 1998). Even the one-way directionality, implying that HR policies impact organizational performance, has been questioned (Edwards and Wright 2001; Gerhart 1999; Huselid 1995; Ichniowski et al. 1997), calling for more research in the direction of causality (Boselie et al, 2005). Therefore, the following is hypothesized: H5: HR Policy count is directly related to EBIT

12.3 Methodology Many institutes across the world carry out ESG evaluations (third-party evaluations) including SASB, CDP Worldwide, GRI, MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment), GRESB B.V. (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark), S&P Global ESG (Standard & Poor’s) among others. S&P Global has been chosen because while it carried out its first ESG Evaluation in 2021, it has been assessing companies on their Sustainability since 1999 under Corporate Sustainability Assessments (CSA) and is not limited in its scope to only financial (eg. SASB) or sectoral (eg. real estate) reporting. A list of NSE’s (National Stock Exchange) top 1000 companies by market capitalization was extracted from the government website for the year 2019–2020, the latest that was available. This, when matched with S&P Global’s 2020 Corporate Sustainability Assessment, gave a list of 21 companies that had been recognized as either S&P Global Gold Class, S&P Global Silver Class, S&P Global Bronze Class, S&P Global Industry Movers, or Yearbook Member (for classification, Annexure 2). Over 7,000 companies across the world were assessed in the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) for The Sustainability Yearbook. Only 631 companies globally, including 21 from India, with top scores, made it into the Yearbook.

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These 21 Indian companies range in market capitalization on NSE from Number 2 (Tata Consultancy Services) to Number 395 (Vakrangee Limited) and belong to different sectors, with the highest representation from IT services (5, 24%), followed by Metals & Mining and Steel (both 2, 9.5%). Other sectors include Aluminum, Banks, Chemicals, Construction Materials, Diversified Financial Services, Capital Markets, Electrical Components & Equipment, Personal Products, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, and Transportation and Transportation Infrastructure. Of the 5 IT services organizations, 4 figured in the top-5 list by market capitalization at ranks 2, 6, 18, and 39. The 5 companies in the IT sector reported a combined market capitalization of 69.1%. For the analysis, the authors chose these organizations’ overall Social disclosure score, gender diversity, attrition, training hours per employee and HR policies— and their overall financial performance—Earnings Before Interest & Tax (EBIT) for financial performance. Data was extracted from Bloomberg Terminal for five financial years- 2017 through 2021. Panel data regression was the chosen statistical method of analysis as it provided a rich insight into cross-sectional and longitudinal data. The results and conclusions are discussed further.

12.4 Data Analysis Since the panel was unbalanced, with 22% missing data (468 items observed, 132 items missing), the mean method was used to balance the panel data. After removing data sets with significant missing data, a final and complete data set was received for 15 companies. Multiple linear regression was conducted to test the model. Table 12.1 shows the descriptive statistics of the measured variables. The mean Social Disclosure Score (SDS) for sample firms was found to be 55.39 ± 8.93 standard deviations, and the highest reported SDS disclosure score was 64.32 out of 100. The average percentage of employee turnover (ET) was found to be 14.02 ± 6.93 standard deviations, although the maximum reported employee turnover was 21.13%, which is an indication of a high rate of employee rate in a few sample firms. In the sample firms, the average percentage of female employees were reported to be 10%. Further, the mean annual training hours per employee was found to be 48.5 and the policy count was found to be 8.85. In our sample, the average Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) was found to be Indian Rupees (INR) 100.11 billion. Table 12.2 provides the pairwise correlations coefficients. The results showed a positive correlation in SDS with employee turnover, percentage of female employees, training hours/employee, and policy count.

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Table 12.1 Descriptive statistics SDS

ET

55.39

Mean Standard error Median Standard deviation

PFE 14.02

0.10

THPE

PC

EBIT

48.55

8.85

10,010.91 1,207.98

1.03

0.80

0.01

5.39

0.11

54.39

12.36

0.07

34.16

9.00

5,583.44

8.93

6.93

0.09

46.70

0.97

10,461.39

79.70

48.05

0.01

2,180.72

0.94

10,94,40,734.85

Kurtosis

0.50

(0.76)

0.20

2.55

18.16

2.51

Skewness

(0.42)

0.23

1.03

1.48

(3.37)

1.69

Range

45.61

27.91

0.31

223.25

7.00

Minimum

28.07

1.69

0.00

0.38

3.00

759.80

Maximum

73.68

29.60

0.32

223.63

10.00

42,734.00

4,154.38

1,051.13

7.34

3,641.54

664.00

7,50,818.45

75.00

75.00

75.00

75.00

75.00

75.00

Sample variance

Sum Count

41,974.20

SDS: Social Disclosure Score, ET: Employee Turnover, PFE: Percentage of Female Employees, THPE: Training Hours Per Employee, PC: Policy Count, EBIT: Earnings Before Interest and Tax

Table 12.2 Correlation matrix SDS SDS

1

ET

0.16520662

ET

PFE

THPE

PC

1

PFE

0.25430392

0.34329727

1

THPE

0.14055337

0.1326381

0.18547347

1

PC

0.35811335

-0.0714856

0.01543935

0.12377422

1

12.4.1 Regression Models The collinearity diagnostic shows that the variables in this study are not multicollinear as the highest variance inflation factor (VIF) is 2.005 which is quite below the threshold (VIF < 10) (Bhattacharyya et al.,1979). For empirically testing the hypotheses formulated in the literature review section multiple regression techniques are employed. Table 12.3 provides the regression results for each model based on panel data regression with a one-way cross-section fixed effect using SDS as the dependent variable. The model explaining the relationship between SDS as the dependent variable and employee turnover, gender diversity, training hours per employee, and policy count as independent are statistically significant as indicated by F statistics (p < 0.01) and the minimum adjusted R2 was found to be 26.63%. Further, the t-values indicated a significant impact of the Percentage of Female Employees (PFE) on SDS.

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Table 12.3 Regression statistics

Regression Statistics Multiple R

0.516118

R Square

0.26637779

Adjusted R Square

0.22445652

Standard Error

9212.81978

Observations

75

ANOVA df

SS

MS

F

Significance F

6.35423964

0.000202

Regression

4

2,157,291,001

539,322,750

Residual

70

5,941,323,378

84,876,048.3

Total

74

8,098,614,379

Coefficients

Standard Error

Intercept

12,076.017

10,273.80816

t Stat 1.1754178

P-value 0.24381014

ET

−4.9792329

165.6647504

−0.0300561

0.97610786

PFE

−30,235.827

13,346.57346

−2.2654374

0.02658221

THPE

112.866731

23.60444742

PC

−510.1781

1119.340431

4.78158752 −0.4557846

9.3147E-06 0.64995571

Synopsis of the hypotheses and result: Independent variable and EBIT

Accept/Reject

H1

SDS

Reject

H2

Employee turnover (attrition)

Reject

H3

Gender Diversity

Accept (directionality)

H4

Training hours per employee

Accept

H5

HR Policy Count

Reject

12.5 Conclusion From the data of 15 Indian companies on multiple indicators of social performance, we developed hypotheses and tested them using panel data regression. The analysis depicts that while overall social indicator score, employee turnover rate and HR policy count are not directly correlated with EBIT, there is a strong correlation between the percentage of female employees and training hours per employee on EBIT, separately.

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However, the relationship between participation of female employees with EBIT is significantly negative, meaning the higher the number of female employees, the lower the EBIT and vice-versa. This could be because of the nature of the industry and/or the glass ceiling in the inclusion of females in the organization. The analysis suggests that intervention is necessary to include the social indicators of a firm’s performance to be a significant determinator of the firm’s financial performance. This is specifically relevant in emerging economies such as India, where the concept of greenwashing and window-dressing is a result of organizations decoupling their policy and practice on sustainability because of institutional pressures. Future research may study each indicator of the model in detail to provide insight on the importance of social indicators of the ESG framework on a firm’s financial performance. In an emerging economy scenario, these indicators are guided by institutional theory. Research combining the indicators with the institutional theory being the underpinning tenet should throw light on uncovering the true nature of how organizations perceive social indicators, and what benefits accrue to an organization for sincerely adopting sustainable practices in their environmental, social and governance aspects of conducting business.

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Roopal Gupta Roopal Gupta is pursuing Fellow Program in Management from MDI (Management Development Institute), Gurgaon, India. She has 6.5 years of work-experience across strategic HR, talent management, learning and development and corporate communication. She is the recipient of “Best Mentored Case” Award by Western Casewriters Association, 2021. Her research interests include sustainability, responsible leadership and diversity & inclusion, specifically returning mothers. Tanuja Sharma Prof. Tanuja Sharma is Ex-chairperson, HR area, MDI Gurgaon and Head, Centre of Excellence for Ethics, ESG and Responsible Organizations. Her research interests include Performance Management, Happiness, Dignity, Gender across generations and Sustainability. She has published in numerous peer reviewed journals, authored book chapters, cases and presented in international conferences. Her Doctoral work received ‘Mercer Award Asia 2005’ for innovative research. Anupama Prashar Prof. Anupama Prashar is Associate Professor in Operations Management in Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India. She is the recipient of Research Excellence Award, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India, in 2018 and Best Research Paper Award, FORE International Operations Conference, India, in 2015. As on August 2020, she has 35 journal publications (in ABDC ranked journals) in the areas of Sustainable Operations Management and Industrial Engineering & Management.

Chapter 13

Framework for Mainstreaming Sustainability and Climate Governance in the Oil & Gas and Finance Industries Namita Vikas

Abstract Before Covid-19, leadership was deemed responsible through parameters of organisational performance, inclusivity, innovation, profits, and economic growth. However, the pandemic has revealed the delicate nature of resources upon which most of our economic systems depend, exposing the fact that responsible leadership cannot be considered so through unidimensional parameters like profit and bottomline only. Businesses need a ‘boardroom-to-copy-room’ approach in operations to sustain themselves through abnormalities like the pandemic or climate change. As governments across the world have demonstrated through net-zero commitments and pledges, there is a pressing need for immediate action to protect the environment, people, and social systems. Recognising this need, the paper looks at two traditional sectors that have substantially contributed to rising emissions—the Finance sector and the Oil and Gas sector—to identify how the leadership can embed sustainability into the core of their business. The paper examines purposeful ESG practices adopted by industry players to reconcile the gap between needful climate action and commitments. Finally, the paper builds on a framework of recommendations for stakeholders, across Governance, Strategy, Risk Management and Disclosures, in an effort to promote industry-wide sustainable and responsible leadership. Keywords Responsible leadership · Sustainability · Finance · Transition · Net-zero · Sustainability operations · ESG · Oil and gas

13.1 Introduction The start of the Decade of Action (2020–2030) was marked by phenomena that had significant material impacts on the conduct of businesses worldwide. The devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic were felt globally, manifesting as serious disruptions in business operations. Significant challenges ranging from supply chain issues, cleavages in labour protection to faltering job security, have caused businesses N. Vikas (B) auctusESG, Mumbai, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_13

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to rethink how to integrate material ‘S’ of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues adequately and effectively. A chronic phenomenon that has featured prominently since the advent of the decade (but has increasingly come to the fore), was that of the climate crisis. As a result, political, regulatory and industry pressures on climate action have advanced in the past few years. The pre and post-COP26 periods have seen a gradual increase in commitments towards decarbonisation and net-zero. This has garnered huge attention from all sectors, making climate change and ESG a mainstream material issue for businesses to address in many parts of the world. These two factors have interacted with one another, holding businesses accountable for far more than just the bottom-line. For example, the understanding of financial and non-financial value has evolved and improved. Employees, customers, the environment—and their needs—are now becoming key considerations for a business, placing a greater impetus to ESG. This is evidenced by the growing number of ESG pledges, strategies and commitments by governments, investors and businesses alike. At its crux, the sustainability of a business lies in the adequate appraisal of ESG factors, in balance with shareholder returns (The Wharton School 2021). Therefore, companies are leveraging this crucial period to bring about, and ensure a total system transformation by inculcating ESG in their operations (World Benchmarking Alliance 2022). This would enable mainstreaming of sustainability and climate governance, securing global industries’ longevity and success. The link between climate change and business is becoming clearer (World Economic Forum [WEF] 2019). In response, net-zero commitments have become an embodiment of the sustainability zeitgeist, as businesses and leaders globally announce their plans to tackle the climate crisis. Currently, 132 out of 198 countries, and 695 out of 2000 companies have committed in some capacity to net-zero (Net-Zero Tracker 2022), with countries like Bhutan and Suriname already achieving carbon-negative status (Wallach 2021). Nonetheless, whilst it is believed that over 80% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is aiming for net-zero, that number drops to 10% if only strong commitments and clear plans are included (University of Oxford 2021). This is reflected by how, despite commitments, many countries including the world’s two greatest emitters, China and the US, have not surrounded their pledges with legal infrastructure, bringing into question the integrity of their ambitions (Carver 2021). Of the top ten emitters, only Japan, Canada and the European Union (EU) have legally binding net-zero commitments. This would appear to be the same for business pledges. Despite 25 of the world’s biggest companies committing to net-zero, half had no absolute emissions reduction goal for their netzero target year (Hook 2022). For such reasons, the lack of substance behind ambitious goals has become a serious concern for the legitimacy of commitments. This has been branded as “greenwashing” by many, as companies are not properly held accountable for their voluntary disclosures and targets. Furthermore, concerns over unsubstantiated ESG claims in sustainability funds are also emerging. For instance, in comparison to Article 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), investment managers in the EU are allocating more than seven times as much money to funds under Article 8. This is primarily because Article 8 or the ‘light green’

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category offers more lenient interpretations of ESG investing, that allows investment managers the freedom to decide what to include in a fund. Such preferential consideration of ‘less green’ fund’s affects scepticism about ‘anti-greenwashing rulebooks’ such as the EU Taxonomy and accompanying SFDR (Schwartzkopff 2022). On the other hand, the emergence of carbon offsets or trading may entail that companies do not need to cut their actual emissions, resulting in an overall rise in emissions. Similarly, reliance on carbon capture and storage technologies can be a slippery slope for businesses. Given the relative nascency of such technologies, their capability in achieving targets is speculative at best. All of these issues raise the question of how businesses can incorporate sustainability in a way that is authentic, and reliable. While the race to net-zero has been marred by complexities, that have muddied the road to an orderly and just transition, changes are emerging. The pressure within the boardroom is increasing as a result of rising shareholder focus on the transition to low-emissions futures. ESG shareholder proposals recorded in the first half of 2021 were more than in all of 2020, largely due to an uptick in ESG activism (Skadden 2022). The campaign against Exxon Mobil reflects how ESG issues are beginning to play a deciding factor in board elections. In 2021, the company lost two board seats to an activist hedge fund, resultantly forcing its leadership to address rising risks in failing to align its business strategy with global climate action efforts (Hiller and Herbst-Bayliss 2021). Stakeholders are also pushing for tighter linkages between ESG targets and executive compensation packages (O’Connor et al. 2021). Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s (PwC’s) research demonstrates that over 45% of Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 companies have now included an ESG performance measure in executive compensation, with 78% of board members and senior leadership emphasising the vitality of strong ESG performance for financial performance (O’Connor et al. 2021). Such trends demonstrate that ESG has become a two-pronged material issue. Firstly, its integration is vital to ensure business sustainability, and secondly, building pressures from stakeholders may result in impacts on compensation or activist takeovers upon failure to take action. It is therefore clear that sustainability cannot be a subsidiary branch of business, but must be a constituent of it. Whilst a work in progress, efforts to inculcate this within corporate leadership have been purported by a number of frameworks. The Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has served as a useful blueprint to achieve this. Focusing on thematic areas such as Governance, Risk Management, Strategy, and Targets and Metrics, the framework provides a comprehensive baseline for companies to disclose material information. These 4 thematic areas indicate focal points where corporate leadership needs to be strengthened. In addition, despite the existence of corporate or climate/sustainable governance principles or blueprints, actionable guidance on operationalising such strategies is missing. This chapter aims to bridge this gap by setting out a framework for responsible leadership that draws from global best practices to inculcate sustainability and climate governance at the core of businesses, by contextualising it around Oil and Gas (O&G), and Finance sector. The O&G and Finance sectors, play a ubiquitous role across all material economic sectors, thus driving climate change and financing emissions at a much greater scale across the entire economy (ShareAction 2022). Accordingly,

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these sectors possess the might to drive the significant movement towards low-carbon goals. Through the assessment of the O&G and the Finance, sectors, this chapter responds to the growing need for integrating sound ESG, sustainability and climate governance at the heart of global industries and builds on globally extolled leadership frameworks.

13.1.1 Oil and Gas Sector The O&G sector is an obvious emblem of high-emitting industries. Estimates show that it both directly and indirectly, accounts for more than 42% of global emissions (Beck et al. 2020). Whilst the industry has made headway on sustainability and netzero commitments (Rushton 2021), it is believed to have fallen short on such targets, with an emphasised reliance on achieving ‘net’-zero emissions, rather than actively reducing emissions. The crisis of the pandemic has shone a light on the fragility of the systems in which the world operates. It can, however, serve as an opportunity for industries to rebuild, redefine strategies and innovate in a time of transformation. For the O&G industry, it seems the chance to do so has never been more opportune (Barbosa et al. 2020). With the combination of an unprecedented demand drop and societal pressures, the industry has no choice but to address myriad crises upon them. As a supplier of affordable energy, the industry is likely to endure for the next few decades. The growth is expected to peak in the 2030s with a steady decline onwards (Barbosa et al. 2020). Nonetheless, the industry is also likely to face an onslaught of setbacks in the manner of serious transition risks. For example, Denmark cancelled all upcoming North Sea licensing rounds in anticipation of ending O&G production in the region by 2050 (Reuters 2020). With plans to phase out O&G use already underway, the resilience of the sector is hugely exposed if a ‘business-asusual’ strategy ensues. According to a report, fossil fuel companies are at risk of losing the United State Dollar (USD) 1.6 trillion by 2025 if they do not align their business models with international climate goals (Sustainalytics 2018). Moreover, recent geopolitical conflicts are proof of continued dependence on fossil fuels form the basis for misuse of proceeds ensuing from the trade of fossil fuels (The Guardian 2022). Hence, the need to prepare and equip leadership accordingly is critical. With the political, regulatory and investor pressures rising, the industry needs to remain conscientious of its stakeholders. Rash divestment away from fossil fuels towards clean energy would result in a disorderly transition. Additionally, begetting stranded assets and a subsequent plummet in value would adversely impact employees and stakeholders. Hence, the transition to net-zero needs to be considered in a more nuanced and strategic manner. What matters is not only the end target of net-zero, but the actual process of the transition. The industry needs to look beyond setting targets to appease growing calls for climate strategy. Instead, mainstreaming sustainability can future-proof the industry against key transition risks.

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13.1.2 Finance Sector The Finance sector holds the twin responsibilities of pushing the ESG and climate agenda by improving its own performance, as well as ensuring that investee companies follow suit. Despite this, it is estimated that total financed emissions, or greenhouse gas emissions of the portfolio funded by a financial institution, are roughly over 700 times greater than their operational emissions (Hodgson 2021). Such staggering data demonstrates the urgent need for stronger ESG, sustainability and climate leadership in the sector. The impact of the pandemic has also placed a greater impetus on expanding the understanding of material risk and impact in relation to ESG, sustainability and the climate. This being said, the Finance sector is mobilising, with promising commitments to decarbonisation. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ), the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the UN Net-Zero Banking Alliance and Climate Action 100+ all reflect efforts to fuse allyship between the finance sector and climate change commitments, fostering greater sector mobilisation. Despite this, studies have shown that some financial institutions remain closely aligned with fossil fuel endeavours (Mazzucato 2021). A recent study found that 60 of the world’s largest commercial and investment banks have poured USD 3.8 trillion into fossil fuels from 2016 to 2020 (Reclaim Finance 2021). This report also asserts that this trajectory seems to be continuing in this direction without banks beginning to reinforce policies to reduce fossil fuel financing. Meanwhile, ESG and climatethemed funds have reportedly fallen short of expectations from the Paris treaty (Gunia 2021; Economist 2022). A study of 723 equity funds with over USD 330 billion in total net assets, (which were all marketed as ESG and climate-oriented), have been found to hold a number of fossil fuel investments (Gunia 2021). These findings exacerbate greenwashing concerns, as apprehension over the climate crisis intensifies. Moreover, this also highlights the thorny issue of poor quality and availability of ESG data within the industry and underscores the need for taxonomies or disclosure regulation in this space. Policy and regulation to strengthen sustainable finance and ESG have accelerated. A number of markets are introducing sustainable finance taxonomies and putting in place non-financial disclosure regulations to bring about market standardisation. The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) or the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) are popular examples of progress in this space. However, the plurality of taxonomies and disclosure frameworks have also resulted in more confusion. Different scopes or methodologies within these frameworks have led to inconsistencies and fragmentation in the market that obfuscate the transparency that is really needed in investments. An overall lack of auditing for non-financial disclosures is also a particular pain point, with financial institutions unable to determine if they are holding themselves to the same standards as their counterparties (Reclaim Finance 2021), and stakeholders who are unable to verify claims.

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Accordingly, responsible leadership in the Finance sector is critical to tackling the climate crisis. Navigating the complexities, especially those arising out of transition, is paramount, since much like the O&G sector, a transition towards net-zero needs to be orderly and nuanced. Within the Finance sector, divestment can have unintended consequences for the means to reach net-zero. In abandoning ‘brown’ assets for ‘green’ ones, investors may improve their own portfolios but in transferring assets to another owner, no real reduction in actual emissions would be achieved (Reznick et al. 2021). On the other hand, the risk of unjust transitions materialising out of divestment remains an imminent and serious threat. Divestment can, thus, create the ostensible appearance of improved climate strategies, but the reality is that the high-emitting investment would continue to thrive elsewhere, with little intervention in the boardroom as a result of avowed ESG-savvy divestment. The road to net-zero therefore requires strong leadership and a clear strategy in the form of top-down mandates to ensure that a just transition ensues. The presence of targets, but little accountability for progress, indicates the need for greater integration of ESG within financial institutions, as opposed to alignment serving as compliance or as a marketing opportunity (GARP 2021). The case for embedding sustainability in financial institutions is, on the one hand, a way of future-proofing investments. It is also a way of attaining long-term returns with a broader understanding of the risks the sector truly faces.

13.2 Framework Commitments alone are not sufficient to ensure sustainability to be truly mainstreamed within the O&G and the Finance sectors. There is a serious disconnect between commitments and action that needs to be addressed by considering how to embed sustainability at the core of the business. The following section provides a framework rooted in the Basel Committee’s principles on climate-related financial risks, TCFD recommendations and World Economic Forum (WEF) principles to ensure sustainability to be constitutive of business operations. Thorough investigation identifies four areas that need to be sufficiently developed to embed sustainability in business. These are: Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Disclosures. Whilst understanding the role of each is critical, ensuring that the four areas interact holistically, is key to achieving a fully integrated sustainability in an organisation.

13.2.1 Governance Governance is central to determining how well an organisation is prepared to cope with material issues of climate change and sustainability (Manifest Climate 2022), as it determines the success of the strategy, risk management and disclosures. At

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its crux, ESG and climate risks and opportunities need to be accounted for by the board and management in a multitude of ways to ensure resilience against a changing landscape (WEF 2019). Some key mechanisms are highlighted below.

13.2.1.1

Board and Management Climate Accountability

A clear assignment of responsibilities to committees by the board would enable the former to exercise oversight over climate and ESG risks (Basel Committee 2021). The establishment of such committees needs to have clear lines of communication with the board itself. With regular communication and a clear structure between board/management committees and the board, the consideration of sustainability becomes ubiquitous. Role distribution is particularly important in larger banks that have a multitude of strategies, risks and opportunities. Delegating oversight of certain ESG, sustainability and climate considerations to various committees allows a disaggregation of responsibility and accountability, leading to the greater overall alignment of such governance. For example, Wells Fargo’s board-level Corporate Responsibility Committee provides oversight over ESG, sustainability and climate issues, along with strategic inputs and management of such issues. Its Enterprise Risk and Control Committee (ERCC), a management-level governance committee, manages financial and nonfinancial risks including climate risks. This committee reports to the Board Risk committee with respect to material ESG and climate risk, and also oversees the line of business risk and control committee that governs ESG and climate risk in specific lines of business. The bank’s Independent Risk Management (IRM) also leads an enterprise Climate Impact Risk Forum which oversees climate risk management approaches and practices in alignment with the bank’s overall risk management framework. While these committees allow responsibility and accountability to be distributed amongst various groups, they also encourage greater embedment of sustainability at the crux of strategy and risk management, rather than serving as a subsidiary branch that considers ESG separate from the core strategy. As climate risk crosses over into traditional risk, the integration of the former into business strategy is integral to assessing both in tandem and at a cross-functional level. Additionally, front-line working groups such as the Clean Energy Vertical provides strategic inputs on financed emissions accounting, science-based target setting for the energy sector and support the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Further, the Wells Fargo Asset Management Climate Change Working Group informs the investment/product design process of the institutional investment management business with a sectoral, climate risk and opportunity perspective. Such groups allow deeper focus on specific segments, sectors or lines of business in relation to ESG and climate risks and opportunities. These working groups also aid in embedding sustainability at the board, management, leadership and employee level, ensuring a more comprehensive integration of ESG, sustainability and climate considerations across the organisation (Wells Fargo 2020).

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Incentivisation

Apart from challenges to collect and analyse the required data, assessing the materiality of climate risk, as well as understanding risk governance, short-termism and a lack of private incentives have been found to be some of the main reasons why businesses fail to adequately integrate ESG (Flammer 2021). Thus, linking commitments and targets to executive compensation can incentivise businesses to move beyond intangible pledges and demonstrate commitment to their stakeholders. The number of companies linking ESG metrics to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pay increased ten-fold from 2008 to 2020 (Reba 2021). Large organisations including Apple, Unilever, Shell and British Petroleum (BP) are linking executive compensation to ESG performance (PwC 2021b). While promising, it is important that companies identify a balance between short- and long-term compensation; the former encourages a quicker transformation, but the latter ensures its sustainability and commitment in the long-run (Groysberg et al. 2021). Moreover, remuneration needs to be set against measurable and quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), rather than broad sustainability remits, of which, the latter has often been the case (Capital Monitor 2022). Shell’s long-term incentive plan, which determines the Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Executive Director pay, attributed 10% to an energy transition dimension in 2019 (Shell 2019), however, has since doubled this to 20% in 2021 (Reuters 2021). This measure looks at both reducing carbon used in its operations and assessing three-year performance against a net carbon-reduction target (O’Connor et al. 2021). Another example is the Australian mining group, Rio Tinto, which realigned its short-term incentive plan to allocate 15% to ESG metrics. With 20% already allocated to safety, about 35% of executive pay is linked to broad ESG metrics (O’Connor et al. 2021). OneSavings Bank’s bonus scheme links pay to firm targets based on the gender diversity of the leadership team, which highlights the breadth of their ESG commitments (FTI 2019) and serves to diversify understanding of key sustainability issues at the top. Internal performance reviews, including assessing ESG targets and KPIs in relation to measurable metrics, such as science-based targets and carbon emissions, and setting interim targets can ensure that strategic ambitions are actualised. This can also push businesses beyond ‘looking good in the short run’ (Flammer 2021), to improve the longevity and reputation of their business from the top-down. Further, careful implementation of such policies is crucial. Cognisance of what KPIs are chosen, how progress is measured, and how progress is authenticated make executive compensatory packages a more meaningful incentivisation tool (FTI 2019).

13.2.1.3

Capacity Building

One of the possible ways to ensure focus on sustainability is knowledge and capacitybuilding within the upper structure of management, which would then trickle down throughout the organisation (Rushton 2021). Improving board and management

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awareness of ESG and climate risks and building greater in-house capacities to address these make crucial next steps. Conducting an assessment of gaps in knowledge can serve as a precursor to educating the board and employees on how sustainability issues may impact the company. Awareness training and consultations with external experts can grant businesses the tools to assess their positions in relation to its material issues. Rather than skills being specific to just one part of the business, training needs to be relevant cross-functionally, creating internal climate champions. Leaders can then ensure that decisions are always made with sustainability in mind. To this end, training needs to be regularly implemented to ensure senior management are sufficiently educated on key risks and opportunities (WEF 2019).

13.2.2 Strategy A business’ success is underpinned by strategic planning. Strategy needs to be envisioned as a fine balance between short-term, medium-term and long-term assessments of opportunities and risks within the organisation. Companies tend to hold a short-term horizon, with pressure to deliver short-term results to meet investor expectations on a quarterly basis (WEF 2019); however, these can be detrimental to their sustainability. The pandemic and climate change have highlighted that risks and opportunities must be considered beyond this. Preparing organisations for unpredictable black swans, and the long-term impacts of green swans can allow a more holistic appraisal of an organisation’s exposure and resilience (Basel Committee 2021).

13.2.2.1

Overall Strategy

With the O&G sector exposed to potentially stranded assets, adopting low-carbon business models needs to be at the core of an initial strategy. Increasing investment in low-carbon energy sources and technology and establishing new energy ventures are examples of how some O&G companies have responded to calls for improved sustainability (Strategy& 2020). Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) has become a go-to strategy to improve the resilience of high-emitting industries, however, the potential of such technology is speculative (Reclaim Finance 2021). A more definitive approach would be to conduct scenario analyses and stress testing to assess the uncertainty surrounding sustainability issues and the impact this could have on a business (WEF 2019). Covid-19 measures have set the tone for proactive resilience (PwC 2021a); for example, companies had to consider alternative sourcing strategies, set up temporary inventory recovery and quantify impacts on supply chains. As recovery picks up, businesses need to build upon pandemic measures to future-proof operations should a black swan risk appear again. In Europe, British Petroleum’s explicit strategy towards low-carbon energy by increasing spending on renewables and bioenergy

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ten-fold, has seen growing interest and confidence from investors (Perkins 2021). Good performance, matched with a transitioning strategy—namely a 40% drop in O&G production by 2030, demonstrates the virtuous cycle between a clear ESG strategy and investment. Fundamentally, the industry needs to go beyond standalone commitments such as net-zero. Failure to do so has resulted in serious consequences. In 2020, five firms were removed from the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), as they failed to reach the minimum requirements of embedding ESG issues into their investment decision-making (Jessop 2020). Nonetheless, the majority of signatories to the PRI have demonstrated approaches that integrate its principles into a core strategy. To illustrate, Aviva Investors incorporate PRI by ensuring that any fund, mandate or deal fully integrates the ESG requirements defined in the product design into the decision-making process. This is supplemented by clear frameworks to highlight how ESG factors are integrated into a specific investment. In the case of influencing investment choices, the asset manager considers how shaping the range of funds to invest in, is a means to embed sustainability within the company.

13.2.2.2

Transition

Conducting investment screenings and portfolio assessments to evaluate investment opportunities and risks may serve as an initial step for the Finance sector. However, staying true to net-zero commitments may lead to businesses divesting from highemission sectors, reducing exposure to such assets (Strategy& 2020). Divestment, however, can bring about disorder and compromise the nature of the transition. Engagement with high-emitting sectors or investees might prove fruitful if investments are geared towards achieving a just transition. While transition finance has not seen the kinds of milestones experienced by sustainable finance or ESG debt/equity instruments, it provides an equally viable opportunity for meaningful engagement with high-emitting sectors or companies. Working towards transition in a way that is orderly and just would allow businesses to go beyond ostensible ESG alignment. HSBC Holdings has set ambitious net-zero targets, aiming to green its internal operations and its portfolio (HSBC 2021). One of its strategic pillars, “transition to net-zero” elucidates its goals to become a net-zero bank, support customers towards “a low-carbon future, especially in carbon-challenged industries”, accelerate climate solutions and encourage investment in positive change (HSBC 2022a). Furthermore, with an ambition to provide USD 750 billion of financing and USD 1 trillion of investment in transition finance over the next ten years, HSBC is working towards “progressively decarbonis[ing]” and applying a climate lens to financing and investment decisions (HSBC 2022b). In the same vein, HSBC boasts of a suite of innovative sustainable finance products, including an innovative transition bond that pays sectors (including utilities and construction) to reduce emissions in China and other countries. Other products include the world’s first SDG Sukuk, a bond product that is compliant with Islamic religious law or the Middle East’s first sovereign green bond in Egypt, among others (HSBC 2022b).

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HSBC is an exemplar of effective strategy and implementation, necessary to achieve a meaningful transition. Strategic objectives, complemented by sciencebased targets and benchmarks from global frameworks allow, both O&G and Finance sectors, to anticipate stakeholder demand for clarity, whilst staying abreast of competition (Science Based Targets 2022). Engaging with stakeholders, making strategies publicly available and linking strategy clearly into governance structures and committees would be a good start. Accordingly, the strategy needs to be conceptualised in terms of opportunity. Capitalising on improved sustainability across functions can result in mitigative longterm results, such as new green products and improved reputation (GARP 2021), reduced ESG and climate risks, and access to newer sectors. Curation of a strong and sustainable long-term business strategy is, thus, a constituent of meaningful ESG, sustainability and climate considerations.

13.2.3 Risk Management An evolving business landscape requires an inward assessment of business sustainability and longevity. As a result, identifying and mitigating risks have become imperative. Widening the conception of risk and integrating ESG and climate risks in internal control frameworks to implement mitigative measures are crucial steps that businesses need to undertake, especially as climate risk emerges as a cross-cutting theme for an organisation.

13.2.3.1

Conceptions of Risk and Green Swans

Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ‘black swan risks’ have three key characteristics: (1) they are unexpected and rare, (2) their impacts are wide-ranging or extreme and (3) they can only be explained after the fact. Such events can range from a terrorist attack and disruptive technology to a natural catastrophe and typically cannot be predicted by relying on backward-looking probabilistic data—such as, through conventional Value-at-Risk (VaR) models. In the same way, ‘green swan risks’ are climate black swan risks. They are characterised by deep uncertainty and non-linearity and their chance of occurrence is not reflected in past data. Accordingly, traditional approaches to risk management, are largely irrelevant to assessing exposure to green swans. However, green swan risks differ from black swans, in that there is a high degree of certainty that some combination of climate risks will materialise in the future. As a result, sectors may need to employ different approaches to assessing and quantifying climate-related financial risks, strategies and/or investments over time horizons that are meaningful for them. Secondly, complex chain-reactions and cascading effects associated with climate risks, could generate fundamentally unpredictable environmental, geopolitical, social, and economic dynamics. Lastly, climate change has more profound impacts than systemic financial crises. The pandemic is an example of how

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a non-financial crisis crippled governments, large nations, and the global financial system, while also leading to the demise of millions of people around the world. However, climate risks need not be the faceless risk that the pandemic became. ESG and climate risks can be identified and managed. The fact that increasingly, global institutions are realising this, simply means that both the O&G and the Finance sector can undertake the same (Bolton et al. 2020). Widening the conception of risk from more than simply economic or financial and also considering green swans is a critical success factor for effective ESG and climate risk identification and management. Tools such as Climate VaR models have become available to address this specific need. Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) Climate Value-at-Risk (VaR) offers “forward-looking and returnbased valuation assessment” with respect to ESG and climate risks and opportunities for investors, providing insights about climate impacts on company valuations (MSCI 2021). Schroders’ Carbon VaR framework elucidates how rising costs of carbon can impact company profits, whilst highlighting limitations in traditional risk models (Schroders 2022).

13.2.3.2

Integration of ESG and Climate Risks

Both the O&G and Finance sectors need to carry out material risk assessments to evaluate what may impair their financial condition, such as their capital resources and liquidity positions. To stay ahead of evolving risks, organisations need to monitor any future developments and consider strategies for material risks that are not yet obvious—reiterating the importance of having scenario planning. For example, if a high-emitting sector like O&G fails to indicate an ESG strategy, its access to public/private capital could diminish (Rushton 2021) as a result of failing to properly account for the material risk of stranded assets. Thus, a clear risk management framework that allows adequate identifying, monitoring and measuring of risks needs to be clearly implemented (WEF 2019). Being cognisant of litigation and regulatory risks, is also crucial. Corporations and private actors are increasingly being held accountable for their climate-related commitments. For the Finance sector, this means being able to justify challenges against funding for fossil fuel projects, whilst energy companies are increasingly targeted for links between climate change and human rights (WEF 2019). This points to the need for an assessment of the environmental and social aspects of ESG; and the impact that this could have on organisations that fail to adhere to stakeholder expectations and the reputational risks that accompany this. Carrying out effective human rights due diligence across supply chains is one way to mitigate legislative risk (World Benchmarking Alliance 2022), however, businesses need to be prepared to assess multiple points of operations through consistent assessments to avoid external risks. For example, Barclays has a strong risk management procedure in place to address its lending and financing activities with a multi-faceted governance structure between

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the credit risk teams, the central environmental risk management team and businesslevel reputation risk committees. This reflects how clear governance interacts with strong risk assessment. Environmental and social risks are assessed for credit facilities and capital market transactions, reviewing any project finance application for more than USD 10 million (Barclays 2022). Specifically, Barclays has produced industry-specific risk guidance notes across ten different sectors, with enhanced due diligence for O&G lending. Key considerations include assessing affected communities, grievance mechanisms, labour issues, the level of pollution in relation to waste, wastewater, higher emissions from older facilities, as well as the presence of contingency plans and efforts to diversify into renewable energy (Barclays 2015). The interaction between Finance and O&G sectors can be self-perpetuating; with expectations from stakeholders to invest responsibly, the O&G industry should be aware of the financial implications of failing to embed sustainability.

13.2.4 Disclosures Non-financial disclosures are a key reference point for stakeholders, playing a pivotal role in creating transparency, resulting in continued investment, stronger investor trust and greater accountability. A number of disclosure standards and frameworks such as the TCFD, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board or the EU’s SFDR, guide the disclosure of material non-financial information. The plethora of such frameworks does lead to market fragmentation and difficulties in comparability; however, substantial effort is being made towards cohesion. While this is imminent, the TCFD offers, perhaps, the most comprehensive framework for disclosure. Its four main parameters, governance, strategy, risk management and targets and metrics allow businesses to disclose a holistic set of information that is material to stakeholders. Increasingly, governments, institutional investors and regulators are demanding disclosures in line with TCFD’s recommendation. To address the growing desire for greater material non-financial information, industries need to disclose in alignment to the seven principles proposed by TCFD. These state that effective disclosures should represent relevant information, be specific and complete, should be clear, balanced and understandable, consistent over time, comparable, verifiable, and provided on a timely basis (TCFD 2017). However, disclosing alone is not sufficient; rather such disclosures need to be substantiated by external reviews and third-party verifiers. More importantly, companies need to be wary of falling into the trap of pursuing disclosures as tick-box exercises, primarily aimed to clean up balance sheets, rather than reduce emissions (GARP 2021). Disclosures need to not be considered in a vacuum, but rather as reflective of business operations as a whole. Regular reviews on whether disclosures align with strategic goals and objectives, supplemented by quantitative metrics and KPIs, and whether the information provided is actually material, are crucial. For example, scope 3 emissions are the most difficult to calculate, but arguably are critical to understanding the real impact of a business. Disclosing this information

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is exceedingly material to stakeholders, as it not only informs their broader investment decisions, but demonstrates the seriousness with which a business takes its emission/emissions reduction goal (CDP 2021). For financial institutions, scope 3 emissions are particularly paramount in indicating their sustainability commitments as their greatest impact resides in this scope. A recent study found that ESG disclosures improved business performance in Malaysia, as it fostered a trustworthy environment amongst investors, and provided a significant advantage amongst competitors who failed to disclose ESG factors and performance (Mohammad and Wasiuzzaman 2021). This included lower investment risks, better governance, and increased engagement with ESG, as well as overall improved efficiency for the business. Whilst there are fears that disclosures can disadvantage businesses if there is not a level playing field with its counterparts, research suggests that the mere presence of disclosures in relation to ESG is key to affirming investor confidence. Achieving effective disclosures would illustrate clear linkages between non-financial data, management and sustainability targets. The key pain point for stakeholders and investors is the lack of comparable data itself. Instituting good governance around data collection would help address this challenge and incentivise businesses to align their strategy with the current lowcarbon trajectory. Thus, progress on ESG needs to be consistently demonstrated with a matching strategy to enable stronger investment decisions (GARP 2021).

13.3 Conclusion In light of incremental climate change impacts and geopolitical conflicts, adding to uncertainty and disrupting normalcy, the world turns to leadership for guidance; this leaves no room for doubt that responsible leadership needs to be strengthened globally. Business leaders are responsible for enacting a transition towards mainstreamed sustainability. Given that climate risk is a cross-cutting theme across functions of the O&G and Finance sector, engendering dedication and commitment across multiple functions and hierarchies, is crucial to ensuring that climate risk is inculcated at every point of the business. This can only be achieved if leadership is equally committed to embedding climate risk, with buy-in from the top as a vital first step. Achieving a strong strategy, holistic risk management and transparent disclosures begins with the board setting the tone for the future of the business. Investors expect boards to drive the adoption of a credible climate transition strategies and provide clear evidence that its execution has been embedded effectively across all key management processes (CDP 2021). The interconnection between the four pillars of the framework proposed, ensures a cycle of accountability within organisations, whilst inducing sustainability as integral to operational excellence. Ensuring returns for shareholders remains vital to business operations. It is clear, however, that mainstreaming sustainability can mitigate legislative, physical, transition and reputational risks, and improve resilience against unpredictable events, whilst also delivering returns for shareholders in the long-term (Hart Energy 2021).

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Thus, the business case for adopting this framework is clear; mainstreaming sustainability future-proofs businesses. As the highest-emitting sectors, the Finance and O&G sector should seek to implement this framework. Not only because of their vulnerability to transition risks, but with a level of distrust growing around the feasibility of pledges and commitments, the adoption of the framework ensures the inculcation of sustainability from the very top of the organisation that allows transparency—a vital component to, and result of, mainstreamed sustainability.

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GARP (2021) Climate disclosures: what can we learn from TCFD adoption in the banking sector? [Audio Podcast]. GARP. https://www.garp.org/podcast/tcfd-banking-sector-risk-cr-210729? utm_campaign=2022%20SCR%20Registration%20Journey&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=202 247283&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_TZElAYRqvyobiYp3OZMGVLIRv7Wfc9jymuRdzqEGuNvBT oRxJUBSCRtU4zUUQFo21HNUuysqLxwbXGOWRCphlEB6HUucZ3XxuMimwJh9DpLP TVdo&utm_content=202247283&utm_source=hs_automation Groysberg B, Abbot S, Marino M, Aksoy M (2021) Compensation packages that actually drive performance. Harv Bus Rev. https://hbr.org/2021/01/compensation-packages-that-actually-driveperformance Gunia A (2021) Thinking of investing in a green fund? Many don’t live up to their promises, a new report claims. Time. https://time.com/6095472/green-esg-investment-funds-greenwashing/ Hart Energy (2021) Shareholders, investors driving fossil fuels’ embrace of ESG. https://www.har tenergy.com/exclusives/shareholders-investors-driving-fossil-fuels-embrace-esg-197292 Hiller J, Herbst-Bayliss S (2021) Exxon loses board seats to activist hedge fund in landmark climate vote. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/shareholder-activism-rea ches-milestone-exxon-board-vote-nears-end-2021-05-26/ Hodgson C (2021) Banks feel the heat on financed emissions. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/ content/1a7f573c-9a5a-4e41-a113-a96ce7fa80a8 Hook L (2022) ‘Net zero’ plans by some of world’s biggest companies accused of falling short. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/db335e32-74a6-48e5-94c8-7c6394100dc9 HSBC (2021) Becoming a net zero bank. https://www.hsbc.com/who-we-are/our-climate-strategy/ becoming-a-net-zero-bank HSBC (2022a) Our strategy. https://www.hsbc.com/who-we-are/purpose-values-and-strategy/ourstrategy HSBC (2022b) Providing sustainable finance. https://www.hsbc.com/who-we-are/our-climate-str ategy/providing-sustainable-finance Jessop S (2020) Exclusive: five groups ousted from U.N.-backed responsible investment list. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/global-investments-pri-exclusive-int-idUSKBN26 J0UL Manifest Climate (2022) GOVERNANCE: what does good look like? https://manifestclimate.com/ wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TCFD-Governance-White-Paper-Manifest-Climate.pdf Mazzucato M (2021) Opinion: banks are still financing fossil fuels—while signing up to. UCL News. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/nov/opinion-banks-are-still-financing-fossilfuels-while-signing-net-zero-pledges Millman O (2022) ‘This is a fossil fuel war’: Ukraine’s top climate scientist speaks out. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/09/ukraine-climate-scient ist-russia-invasion-fossil-fuels Mohammad WMW, Wasiuzzaman S (2021) Environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure, competitive advantage and performance of firms in Malaysia. Clean Environ Syst 2:100015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2021.100015 MSCI (2021) Climate value-at-risk, powering better investment decisions for a better world. https:// www.msci.com/documents/1296102/16985724/MSCI-ClimateVaR-Introduction-Feb2020.pdf Net Zero Tracker. https://zerotracker.net/ O’Connor P, Harris L, Gosling T (2021) Linking executive pay to ESG goals. PwC. https://www. pwc.com/gx/en/issues/reinventing-the-future/take-on-tomorrow/download/Linking-exec-payESG.pdf Perkins R (2021) BP’s Looney says investors warming to new strategy as green pledges grow. S&P Global. https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/051921bps-looney-says-investors-warming-to-new-strategy-as-green-pledges-grow?utm_campaign= corporatepro&utm_medium=contentdigest&utm_source=bigoil PwC (2021a) COVID-19: operations and supply chain disruption. PwC. https://www.pwc.com/us/ en/library/covid-19/supply-chain.html

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Ms. Namita Vikas is the Founder and Managing Director of auctusESG LLP. She has 30 years’ experience across sustainable finance, responsible banking, climate-related financial disclosures, ESG and climate risk management and public policy. In her previous role at India’s 4th largest private sector bank, she led the integration of ESG and climate resilience best practices into its lending decisions and was instrumental in mobilising over $1bn in green credit from marquee multilateral and bilateral DFIs, including leading the maiden issuances of green bonds in India and other innovative sustainable finance products like social bond and blended finance structure. She has been a Global Steering Committee member at the UNEP-FI and currently serves as a Global Advisory Board member at Climate Bonds Initiative.

Part III

Case Studies

Chapter 14

Reimagining Non-profit Management and Leadership in the Face of Crisis Pranab J. Patar

Abstract Resilience is the key to our survival, however surviving through unfavourable times is a different ball game altogether, particularly when the world is hit by a pandemic of such magnitude as Covid-19. Completely unprecedented, when every preparedness stumbled, even when best of the mitigation strategies available in the books of disaster management too miserably failed. One can only imagine, the plight of the non-profit sector that functions largely on grants and donations bestowed by others. Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness, though a smaller fry in the world of the development sector, showed resilience embracing every possible adaptation. Despite being an environmental organization, it has been engaged in and with all avenues coming its way with the sole motto of serving humanity in these trying times—‘by doing more with less’. This case study captures how the foundation survived a leaner phase and emerged victorious in maximizing the impact of various Covid-19 relief efforts through a collaborative and participatory approach. Keywords Resilience · Preparedness · Non-profit organizations · Adaptation · Participatory · Covid-19 relief · Leadership

14.1 Backdrop The Covid-19 pandemic started as a health challenge but went on to disrupt people, institutions, businesses and charities alike. The world witnessed however tiny this virus may be, it bulldozed its way to a set of chaos tearing both life and livelihood apart. As we progressed through the pandemic, non-government organizations (NGOs), global charities, international consulting firms, and research institutions started deliberating on the grave nature of this pandemic and publishing various analyses showcasing the struggle everyone had to face for resources. The scarcity of resources gave birth to challenges at multiple levels. P. J. Patar (B) Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_14

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Donors and funding agencies re-prioritizing their focus on Covid-19 relief has left NGOs in the lurch, particularly those already struggling with financial resources (Kassoumeh 2020). World Economic Forum (2020) underscored that from individuals to communities, from organizations to countries, from industries to all other sectors, everything has been impacted by the pandemic leaving everyone socially and economically crippled. For smaller and relatively new organizations, things have been all the more challenging. This once-in-a-century pandemic led to grim times for both the organizations as well as the people associated with them. On the contrary, for the cash-rich organizations with substantial corpus or contingency funds, the challenges were different, them being compliance issues often acting as hindrance though resources were at disposal. With resources scarce and fast disappearing owing to the adversities faced by the businesses globally, the charity sector was left to fend for itself. With donors prioritizing Covid-19 mitigation as the prime issue for spending their money on, other initiatives at various levels of the social sector took a beating. Funding organizations have been diverting their focus strategically away from issues such as environment and sustainability to focus on assistance towards Covid-19 impacted people and healthcare initiatives cutting short existing funding commitments. Reports indicate, during the 8-month-long lockdown in India, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to the tune of nearly (Indian Rupees) INR 120 billion were diverted to a centralized relief fund meant for Covid-19 relief at a time when communities (and other issues too) needed their attention (Times of India 2021). A study, undertaken by the Institute of Fundraising (IoF), highlighted in a report of Bond in 2020 that as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, about 48% of charitable organizations in the United Kingdom are at the risk of losing their voluntary income. One-third of overall funding across several NGOs is likely to be lost during this crisis while, over 60% of organizations indicated that their future survival beyond 3 months is uncertain. Meanwhile in India, the domestic funding avenues were getting affected by Covid19 disrupting the source of income of the donor agencies/foundations and on the other hand, newly introduced regulatory changes about international funds made it more challenging for organizations to receive foreign funding even for charitable work. Though the government has its reasons for strengthening regulatory mechanisms, it went on to impact the development sector in an unprecedented way leaving organizations of all shapes and forms, especially the ones that are largely dependent on foreign funding, struggling. The following case study is a reflection of the fight for survival that smaller charitable organizations needed to go through amid the whirlwind of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using empirical information and first-hand experiences of being at the centre of a nonconducive situation while tasked to navigate through the storm, the author attempts to throw some light on the risks and vulnerabilities of the non-profit sector in the face of uncertain times.

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14.2 Introduction (The Face-off) With no hope of recovery from Covid-19 in sight, organizations such as the Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness started surviving on savings (which cannot even be considered as corpus). Even projects, that were already approved and awaited funding in instalments, had to be shelved; let alone opening up new funding opportunities. Despite having contingency mechanisms, many organizations were shaken to the core, similar to what had been experienced during the Great Recession (2008–2009) or may even surpass that in magnitude. Preparedness to deal with such challenging times can have two levels—one could be strategic resource preparedness and another is leadership preparedness. While both are equally important, some organizations can be seen scrambling on both aspects. No matter how experienced the leader is or how well the organization has been prepared, to be able to take on such a blow and swim against the tide was extremely tough. To be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and survive through it speaks of adaptability and resilience galvanized through a series of interactions with multiple stakeholder groups including community organizations. There was no easy way out, and no one was aware of any crisis management and leadership mantra for trading with such circumstances. All the theories of crisis management and how people in leadership roles react and respond to a situation like the pandemic had to be put to test while moving forward in unchartered territory. Hence eventually it all came down to trying every possible weapon in the arsenal and getting ready to face numerous unknown and unexpected along the way. A Deloitte essay describes that a crisis typically may go through multiple time frames such as Respond, Recover and Thrive. In the first frame, an organization while dealing with challenges looks at continuity. In the next frame, the organization recovers from the shock and emerges out of the crisis stronger while in the thirdcum-last frame, the organization not only learns to survive but also adapts well to face the new. This report further narrates that the top executives and organizational leaders are responsible for carefully considering these time frames to prepare appropriate resource allocation for the future. While responding to challenging times, the leaders resiliently consider taking necessary measures to mitigate the impact on the organization and steer it out of crisis (Renjen 2021). For many organizations getting back on track was like a distant dream. It emerged during several interactions the author had with numerous counterparts in the sector that with none of the strategies seemingly working out at that moment, entities tried to deal with this crisis in their unique ways. Recalibrating was attempted by organizations that manifested in cost-cutting by way of reduced staffing, salary deduction, to re-programming of funds and repositioning of resources, from adoption of virtual workspace to minimalistic operation approach, to name a few to stay afloat (Proulx 2020). Resilience can be developed at will, and resilient organizations can take the steps necessary to sail through trying times. Studies indicate, about 91% of charities are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic

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and at least half of them had to mend their ways to adapt to the new normal (Reynolds 2021). FundsforNGOs recently came up with a set of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for organizations to deal with the prevailing pandemic situation such as—not panicking but preparing and acting accordingly, doing proactive planning, trying new fundraising strategies, having regular communications with stakeholders, being caring and compassionate towards the team and most importantly stay positive (Arora 2020). These guidelines look optimistic, but how far are they applicable and effective, remained to be seen in a diverse and complex country like India where every hundred kilometres one comes across a different set of topography, demography, and cultural traditions. Keeping such complexities in mind, and with multiple projects/programs with different target groups as beneficiaries, the leadership models in NGOs large and small had no option but to rise to the occasion. Polly Mackenzie, Chief Executive of British Charity Demos, opined Civil Society Organisations/NGOs are at the centre of addressing critical social and environmental problems and their role in extending help to people in need is highly important. But the ongoing pandemic has hit the sector hard in so many ways and for which, there is no single shot solution. And each of these organizations is trying diverse solutions to address a variety of stress points (Woods 2021).

14.3 Spot-Light (The Curious Case of Global Foundation) The Global Foundation for Advancement of Environment and Human Wellness (Global Foundation) is a registered charitable trust, established in the year 2018. March 2020 was a turning point in the history of the organization as the Covid-19 tsunami had just set in. Like any other organization, Global Foundation couldn’t fathom the depth of the challenges the pandemic was about to bring in with it. Being young at 02, the pandemic was turning out to be a boon and bane at the same time. Being young in our journey catapulted us to a stage where new, innovative, and outof-the-box thinking was greatly encouraged as the paucity of resources, primarily financial, had a bearing in program implementation to some extent. Global Foundation decided to focus on Covid-19 relief and swung into action exploring possibilities of doing anything and everything possible to help people in need during this health crisis. At a time when field-based environmental activities became impossible with the nationwide lockdown in force to fight the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and control the viral spread, the Global Foundation Chief Exe refused to sit idle and do nothing. Despite its core expertise being environment and sustainability, Global Foundation swiftly refocused and re-engaged itself into mitigating the Covid-19 impact. It realized going solo was a no-go at that moment hence, started exploring for appropriate partnerships almost instantaneously. Thankfully, it did not require waiting for long and found multiple like-minded organizations/groups and individuals who believed in working shoulder-to-shoulder and going all out to maximize the

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impact on the ground in a participatory approach. And soon, it was out in the field serving people in need through a variety of means, putting together every resource and collaboration possible. This health emergency taught one to become resilient and be innovative, resonating with every word of Rahm Emanuel, former Mayor of Chicago, who also served as the Chief of staff at the White House once, who said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Similar to other organizations, it is believed that this pandemic has opened new windows of opportunities and forced the charities to explore innovations, recalibrate their strategy, and maneuver projects in response to the changing Covid-19 situation (Peralta 2020). With the urge to help people and the need to get the organization going, Global Foundation did not remain in hibernation for long just because there was a lock-down. More so, being in its early days, Global Foundation needed to keep the momentum going. Taking a break from their initiatives in the pretext of lock-down was surely not an option. Slowing down was understandable given the scenario all were in. Good organizational standing is created based on what work it does and how consistently it is done. Consistency is the key to success and it is applicable both in the case of individuals as well as organizations. The way an individual’s career is built bit by bit, an organization creates its profile and credentials brick by brick. Nothing comes easy or quick. It takes time, energy, and resources. So everything it was supposed to do for the environment conservation, it did it for humanity instead. Though its core area of work remained focussed around the environment, there was not much to do for the environment during that phase. While the Foundation strove towards bringing positive environmental changes and aimed at provisioning enduring and sustainable solutions to address contemporary environmental challenges through a multi-disciplinary approach and active participation of stakeholders, it played its part as a socially responsible group during the Covid-19 times. Being a resource prudent organization, Global Foundation has been a believer in doing more with less and aligned, as well as partnered with, several like-minded people and groups under-scoring the value of the synergistic influence of collaborative and participatory approaches that can maximize socio-environmental impact at the grassroots level. This model turned out to be fruitful in designing and delivering successfully on multiple initiatives meant for humanitarian assistance during Covid-19 times and in deadly floods across various parts of India. In the face of this unprecedented humanitarian crisis, everything went topsy-turvy leaving people and entities to seek help from various quarters. It has been a critical time and more so for the ones living on the brink of poverty. Support was needed at multiple levels and on a very large scale. Despite the best efforts by different government agencies, there was still a lot to be done. Taking this as an opportunity and in an attempt to cover a larger ground, many civil society organizations diligently worked towards a common goal; the idea was to ensure that help reaches on time and adequately.

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14.4 Observations 14.4.1 Recalibration and Staying Afloat Focused on putting together both resources and efforts to help the needy in this difficult phase, Global Foundation weaved and participated in multiple community-led and community-based disaster relief initiatives to safeguard life, facilitate livelihood and ensure hygiene. Without spending many resources (which, coincidently, it did not have at that time), the foundation managed to do fairly well in extending help in the most nonconducive circumstances and ended up forging close to 02 dozen collaborations. This case study bears testimony to the fact that even in exceptionally difficult situations, long-term visions and a dynamic leadership model can sow seeds of hope and resilience. (a) Global Foundation worked as an enabler and a bridge between the giver and the recipient. It leveraged its presence across various forums and its network with multiple resource centres, including funding agencies. One such partnership was worked out with the Centre for Social Change (CSC)—a grassroots organization working with the marginalized communities and girl children in the Noida area of Uttar Pradesh, India. To maximize the benefits of various Covid-19 relief initiatives, Global Foundation and Centre for Social Change, with financial support received from Polyplex Corporation Ltd—a leading polyester (PET) film manufacturer, put together efforts on the ground towards safeguarding the livelihoods of those in dire need of support and were on the verge of losing their livelihood due to the lockdown, followed by the financial downturn resulted from the pandemic. (b) Global Foundation worked with leading institutions in the identification of hospitals that needed uninterrupted power supply to run ventilators in the Intensive Care Unit treating Covid-effected Patients. It facilitated such meetings between potential partners and introduced the SRF Foundation, which champions the cause of quality education in India and runs one of the largest community programs in the country, to the National Health Mission in Assam to explore possibilities. (c) Face masks became an essential commodity in the fight against Covid-19 and it was made mandatory for people to wear one. Sensing people from all walks of life may not be able to afford the medicated masks/surgical masks, Global Foundation in collaboration with the Centre for Social Change rolled out a cloth mask-making project engaging jobless women to offer them some livelihood support. From a larger environmental standpoint, Global Foundation was also not in favour of promoting disposable masks made of synthetic materials that will further cause waste management problems due to improper disposal (since it is a bio-medical waste if contaminated with coronavirus or other pathogens and the mask material is not bio-degradable). By promoting cloth mask that was washable and meant for multiple uses, this initiative enabled marginalized

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women in select pockets of Noida to reinvent their livelihood and support their families during Covid-19 times. This effort was able to produce and deliver close to 10,000 masks to various stakeholders including Municipal Corporation and local NGOs besides free distribution to hundreds of families. In a similar effort, Global Foundation ran a massive campaign to reach out to a larger section of marginalized communities, including women and elderlies, in the suburban and peri-urban areas around Gwalior city in Madhya Pradesh, India. Through this initiative, over 5000 people received 3-ply cloth face masks and around 2000 individuals and establishments received hand sanitisers. Another key initiative along the line was the N95 mask distribution campaign that covered 30,000 frontline Covid-19 warriors across Assam, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh with the support received from ACT Grants, Sattva Consulting, and United Way Bengaluru. The primary beneficiaries of this mask-up drive included Noida Traffic Police, Noida Authority, Noida Covid-19 Hospital, Noida Crematorium (Antim Niwas), Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation in Uttar Pradesh, District Health Department Morigaon in Assam, and Government Hospitals in Nainital District of Uttarakhand, India. The unprecedented and sudden lock-down was imposed in an attempt to contain the contagion, which led to a large population of migrants including daily wage labourers and menial workers getting stuck in various parts of the country. Noida, being a part of Delhi NCR (National Capital Region), hosted such sections of society for nearly 2 months. Community kitchens were set up by Noida Authority and citizens decided to collaborate with the government by providing home-made bread (Roti) from different gated communities of the city thus giving birth to the now-famous Roti Bank—an initiative by residents of few residential complexes and high-rise societies of Noida who joined hands under the aegis of 7X Welfare Team, Noida. This never-before proposition of kindness quickly captured the imagination of the masses and the number of societies and the rotis multiplied each day. Global Foundation, under the leadership of Dr. Pranab J Patar, soon joined the forces and helped mobilize more support. A campaign that started with 400 rotis a day, soon crossed 40,000 rotis per day and culminated in the collection and distribution of over 18 million rotis in a span of 58 days. Global Foundation was closely associated with mobilizing grains and other food items (including wheat, rice, and pulses) and distributing them to the needy in the Noida area. In association with Lotus Panache Residential Society and Centre for Social Change, it collected and distributed over 1500 kg of dry ration to hundreds of needy families across urban slum areas of the Noida region. To help the sick and needy amid the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Dr. Pranab J Patar, CEO of Global Foundation along with the 7X Welfare Team set up a Medicine Bank in Noida, which supported both flood affected and Covid-19 affected people and distributed more than 200 kg of over-the-counter medicine to over 1000 people in the states of Assam, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. Indigo Airlines air-lifted these medicines as a goodwill gesture to deliver the medicines to remote flood-affected areas on time. This effort further resulted in

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field-level collaborations with the Indian Red Cross Society (Morigaon Branch, Assam) and with Kosi Nav Nirman Manch in Bihar to organize onsite health check-up camps and for the distribution of medicines free of cost. Global Foundation in collaboration with 7X Welfare Team, Noida, and Rotary Blood Bank, organized a major Blood Donation Drive on March 23rd, 2021 in Noida on the occasion of 90th National Martyrdom Day that marks the death anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru to address the emerging shortage of blood supply nationally. This drive was a part of the national campaign spearheaded by NIFAA (National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists) aimed at popularizing blood donation at a time when India was facing the worst ever shortage of blood with a deficit of over 3.5 million units. This program collectively went on to mobilize over 90,000 units of blood at a national scale in a single day and entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest of its kind event in the world. Global Foundation participated and co-hosted several social campaigns in Noida along with 7X Welfare Team, Noida, World-Class Noida (Citizens’ Collective), and Noida Traffic Police during the Covid-19 times aimed at generating awareness on key social and environmental issues including the promotion of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, “Say Yes To Mask And Sanitation”, “Say No To Single-Use Plastic”, “Cleanliness” and “Road safety”. It had further organized Drawing, Painting, Poster-Making, and best-out-of -waste model-making competitions for school children following all Covid-19 protocols after the lockdown was withdrawn to creatively engage young minds who were confined to their homes for months together. Global Foundation took an initiative to recognize, with a certificate of appreciation, over a hundred unsung heroes and Corona warriors who had shown the spirit of service, compassionate leadership, unwavering conviction, and at times single-handedly executed extra-ordinary tasks to support the needy, feed the hungry, including stray animals, and support livelihoods. This crisis provided Global Foundation with an opportunity to serve the needy. The way people all over the world came forward to help their fellow humans and be of assistance was really unprecedented and hugely inspiring. Even those seemingly less empowered too had gone out of the way to help others. Financial hardships or physical limitations were not deterrents anymore for many compassionate souls. There remain hundreds of heartening stories, where people showed that they cared and how many of them extended their help during these trying times, proving that humanity is alive and thriving. The environmental activities of Global Foundation slowed down significantly in the field. Innovation took shape of a web-dialogue series in collaboration with CHINAR (an NGO dedicated to mountain sustainable development). Multi-session web dialogue series focusing on major and contemporary environmental and sustainability challenges were rolled out, which were graced by over 1000 representatives of the academia, government/multilateral agencies, NGOs, private sector companies from across India, Nepal, Mongolia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and the Philippines. This

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virtual exercise turned out to be an excellent alliance-building opportunity among stakeholders and led to the development of an enormous knowledge bank. In addition, the foundation rolled out another important online talk series looking at the regional audience. As India celebrated its 75 years of independence in 2021, it launched Thalua Kotha: a series of spirited conversations in Assamese, highlighting ‘75 Change Makers of Assam’ as a tribute to an emerging new Assam’s contribution to the India of the twenty-first century, in collaboration with the noted social organization of Assam- SEWA.

14.4.2 Innovation and Resilience Staying afloat and getting the organization going, for a foundation with a grand vision, was a herculean task in times of financial and social difficulties. For Dr. Patar, taking over the first CEO-ship of Global Foundation came at a time wherein there was a dearth of legacy and assets. All he inherited from the founders was a set of assurances and words of encouragement. He took it upon himself to build the foundation brick by brick and from scratch and today as he looks back in wonder, he sees a glimpse of an institution firm in its commitment to making a mark in India’s environment and development sector. As the preparation for moving forward in a world stuck, owing to the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, Global Foundation came up with plans of action for what were to be the next significant moves. Efforts in fundraising were ramped up for putting together humanitarian initiatives, though there were initial doubts owing to the lack of prior experience in dealing with disaster relief and public health issues. Fundings of smaller kind surely set the ball rolling. It helped Global Foundation to improvise its plans and focus on non-monetary support, which turned out to be a major success later. It started working with small NGOs, informal groups, and citizens’ collectives specialized in community-based projects and powered by volunteers. Many of these organizations had very little overhead expenses, operating costs, and practically no red-tapism, making it easy to implement activities on the ground. Covid-19 experience taught the team at the foundation to be resilient, innovative, and highly adaptable. The team learned how to survive a pandemic, run projects and programs essentially at zero cost and realized the power of collective and participatory action. It participated in and executed projects, which otherwise were never imagined and delivered results, which could not have been achieved during normal circumstances. This remains one of its biggest takeaways as the world slowly proceeds towards normalcy. In a short span, the foundation mastered the art of mobilizing community participation and support for the greater social cause; which in the long run can surely be replicated for environmental causes as well. The Pandemic invoked a sense of responsibility towards our fellow human beings—the duty of serving and duty of

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giving have once again found prominence in our society. Covid-19 will vanish from the face of the Earth one day, the resilience and camaraderie will hopefully continue to inspire people in the face of immense adversity. The non-profit sector is based on values such as compassion and service—Global Foundation would endeavour to be a compassionate organization in its work and action. The foundation hopes the work it does can draw people closer to nature. Nature teaches us to be empathetic and empathy makes us kinder. Through its work, the foundation aims at creating opportunities for people to experience nature and be with nature for they need nature and nature needs them for long-term sustainability. This spirit of humanity hopefully will spill-over to our surroundings, the environment, and the planet.

14.5 Discussion (The Context of Covid-19) Several thought leaders opined the civil society sector as one of the most important pillars of democracy. Infact, the former President of India, late Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, once rated civil society as the 4th pillar of the democratic system (Anon 2015). According to reports, lack of strong leadership and professional aptitude, besides shortage of funds, appear to be the major challenges which result into many NGOs struggling to achieve what they were mandated to (Prasad 2019). India happens to be the home for the highest number of NGOs in the world with over 3.1 million, which is close to 1 NGO per 400+ people, an exceptionally high distribution rate. Civil Society Organisations have a significant role to play in nation-building and can do much for preserving our natural and cultural heritage as a constructive critical partner and participant in social welfare in complementing development projects and government schemes meant for the greater good. Therefore, it is vital for this sector to have strong and resilient leaders for it to sail through this pandemic and come out healthy and stronger. During these trying and unprecedented times, the civil society sector’s role became paramount in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on marginalized communities and vulnerable populations, particularly in regions/countries with weak institutional Covid-19 responses (Peralta 2020). Small businesses as well as several non-profit organizations stumbled in this pandemic and found it almost impossible to get going as businesses collapsed and funds dried up. For charitable organizations, which essentially depend on donations, CSR funds, and other grants, it was a question of survival since businesses that would contribute to philanthropy, themselves were in trouble. Covid-19 caused serious funds crunch, particularly for activities other than Covid-19 relief across non-government organizations with programmatic decisions being driven by Covid-19 induced needs. This crisis also exposed and broadened the resource gaps that existed particularly between well-padded and smaller businesses/organizations, with well-resourced companies and even start-ups braving

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the storm well as compared to self-funded community initiatives and cash-poor businesses (Pradeep Narayanan 2020; Allas et al. 2021). All India Manufacturers’ Organisation, during a survey, found that about 35% of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and about 37% of individuals who had their own businesses were closing their trades with no sign of recovery due to the pandemic. While according to LocalCircle, close to 60% of MSMEs and Startups could get down-sized, shut down, or sold in 2021 (Dave 2021). The condition of small entities is particularly precarious; as reported by Facebook and Small Business Roundtable, almost one-third of small businesses paused their operations temporarily by mid-April, and by the following month, more than 50% of them had laid off staff or sent them on leave (Fairlie 2020). Though there is no latest information available on this, given what was experienced last year, no fairy-tale ending could have been expected. While there are not many studies available to explain how civil society and the environmental charities have been dealing with the Covid-19 induced financial and resource crunch, based on precedence, it would not be difficult the guess the picture, which may not be quite different from the small business sector. To assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on non-profit organizations, the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) at Ashoka University undertook a study and categorized the impacts into three broad areas: (a) Financial stress—due to fund diversion by philanthropic donors and corporate social responsibility (CSR) sources to support Covid-19 relief and healthcare, (b) Unpreparedness to switch to digital platforms—due to lack of tech-savviness and digital infrastructure and c) Loss of progress or momentum on existing programs due to the temporary suspension of on-ground activities and diversion focus on relief work (Chopra 2020). R˘azvan-Victor Sassu (2020) pointed out that development organizations/NGOs across Europe have taken a major hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in uncertainty and work discontinuity besides causing social and financial challenges with some areas/countries, where the sector was already vulnerable, getting severely affected. TolaData, an M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) expert for the Not-for-profit sector, shared that non-Covid-19 activities and projects could be put on hold or even scaled-down due to implementation challenges and financial shortfall. That could further result in major hindrances in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ripple effects from this mega-crisis can be gauged only later as things pan out (Peralta 2020).

14.6 The Way Forward Global Foundation stands on the concept of Triple Bottom-Line (Miller 2022) philosophy that is Planet, People and Profit, and is committed to working towards addressing issues around water resources, climate change, and food and nutrition security. It had

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to momentarily divert its focus, energy, and resources towards humanitarian assistance in the wake of the pandemic. Though it may appear as a decision taken in a haste, it was a well-thought-out plan and it paid off. Walsh (2021) penned in the Harvard Business Review that “our goals, roles, and aspirations are not simply ‘good’ or ‘valuable’ on their own. We must recognize that it is we, ourselves, who ascribe value and justification to them, and not the other way around”. Because of this new kind of work, people started associating Global Foundation with social issues as well, potential partners started knocking on its doors and a different workstream started flowing that led to a new identity and eventually accolades and recognitions. Global Foundation was introduced to new networks. One of the biggest takeaways of the Covid-19 pandemic for Global Foundation was its association with India’s biggest Covid-19 alliance—Covid-19 Action Colab (CAC), which was ideated and hosted at the Catalyst Group aimed at driving comprehensive and co-ordinated action with people at the very centre of the response, leading to prevent the viral spread as well as mitigating its impacts. The thwart of not being able to undertake environmental projects and raise many resources gradually dissipated and the foundation proactively engaged with multiple initiatives. It is a matter of honour to be able to positively contribute towards fighting the Covid-19 impact, which has also been overwhelmingly appreciated across various forums. Mentoring plays a big part in facilitating organizational growth, seasoned planners rely on two-way learning opportunities that emerge from the engagement of partners willing to learn from each other (Blanton 2018). Global Foundation constantly engages in mentoring and influencing youngsters as well as like-minded organizations in exploring possibilities and expanding their horizons through regular dialogues and experience sharing. During Covid-19, the CEO worked with people from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds as a mentor across multiple forums and institutions particularly the CoalitionWild Global Mentorship Programme. These 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic have been of tremendous learning for Dr. Patar as a socially responsible citizen and as a non-profit leader. Global Foundation is making steady progress on its focus area of work, especially water resources conservation-restoration of water bodies and groundwater aquifer recharge, promotion of sustainable and low-carbon energy solutions for cooking and heating as climate action measures, promoting alternative livelihood among mountain communities, enhancing food security through high nutrition yet affordable food crops in alignment with national priorities such as National Water Mission, Skill India, Smart Cities, National Mission on Himalayan Studies, National Food Security Act 2013 and National Nutrition Mission 2018. The work of the Global Foundation is also in sync with multiple Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG 2 aimed at eradicating hunger, SDG 3 for health and wellness, SDG 4 for ensuring good education, SDG 6 for clean water access and sanitation, SDG 13 to expedite climate change adaptation measures, SDG 15 for the conservation of biodiversity and SDG 17 for promoting collaboration and multi-stakeholder approach.

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Now with the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, Global Foundation is back to doing what it does best i.e. sustainability projects. One of its currently ongoing and highly relevant initiatives is on water resource conservation. Water scarcity is a global challenge and one of the bigger environmental crises of our times with water consumption increasing at a rate faster than population growth globally. The arid regions of the world are progressively becoming drier with inadequate water supply (UN Water 2022). Among 20 megacities worldwide, 14 of them are facing severe water scarcity and approximately 1.8 billion people are likely to live in water-scarce regions by 2025 with two-thirds of the human population facing water stress due to overconsumption, development, and the impact of changing climate (Leahy/National Geographic 2018). Rapid and unplanned urbanization, as well as growth, can be attributed to major unrelenting stress on water resources (Matto 2019). In both urban and rural areas, surface water bodies including ponds and wetlands are victims of pollution, mismanagement, exploitation, over-extraction, and encroachment resulting in their disappearance at an alarming rate. The process of revival of freshwater bodies needs several measures in combination. Keeping this in view, given the urgency of preserving the remnant blue spaces of the region and restoring the ones fully or partially lost, Global Foundation jointly with SayEarth NGO has been promoting and propagating water restoration practices founded on eco-technology-based solutions. Besides physically restoring a water body/pond/lake, to ensure only purified water flows into these structures from neighbouring areas—settlements, Sub-surface Horizontal Flow Constructed Wetlands are being developed, which is a proven phytorid-based sustainable technology meant to treat sewage water for reuse of water in various household activities, including irrigation.

14.7 Conclusion The development sector has remained a vulnerable domain, despite its relevance as an important vehicle for delivering societal and environmental good. Though selfsustenance is a long-cherished dream for everyone in this sector, turning into one and becoming completely free from external support is a distant reality. While many have found success, several others still have a much longer way to go. Though the world of NGOs appears to have been shattered momentarily owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has failed to douse the fire within or taken away the unparalleled commitment to serving humanity. The world has experienced multiple disasters over the years but comes out victorious every time. Looks like, it has passed the test of the times yet again, refusing to go down. It just took a few steps back to bounce back stronger and with it, the development sector is coming back in action with a renowned vigour. Global Foundation is gearing up to be on track with its core work areas and expertise. The entire journey of its existence, particularly the last couple of years, bore testimony to the fact that even at the thick of the unknown and uncertain, visionary

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leadership, unceasing communications, partnerships, and innovations ensured that Global Foundation not only stayed afloat but also created value with finite resources. A remarkable example for people and organisations alike to take cues and motivation from, these baby steps of innovation and adaptation that have been taken by this tiny organisation have set new standards of resilience infusing hope and optimism.

References Anon. Freshwater crisis. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/ article/freshwater-crisis?loggedin=true. Accessed 5 Feb 2022 Anon. Water scarcity. UN Water. https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/scarcity/. Accessed 28 Jan 2022 Anon (2015) President Pranab Mukherjee praises NGOs, civil societies. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/president-pranab-mukherjeepraises-ngos-civil-societies/articleshow/48809216.cms. Accessed 2 Feb 2022 Arora S (2020) Managing your NGO in the times of COVID-19. FundsforNGOs. https://www2. fundsforngos.org/featured/managing-your-ngo-in-the-times-of-Covid-19/. Accessed 2 Feb 2022 Blanton W (2018) Mentoring is a two-way street. APA Blog. https://www.planning.org/blog/blo gpost/9152699/#:~:text=Mentoring%20and%20being%20mentored%20is,to%20learning%20f rom%20each%20other. Accessed 31 Jan 2022 Chopra D (2020) COVID-19 has serious implications for India’s nonprofits. India Development Review. https://idronline.org/Covid-19-19-has-serious-implications-for-indias-nonprofits/. Accessed 3 Feb 2022 Dave S (2021) 59% of startups and MSMEs may shut shop, sell off or scale down: Survey. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/Covid-19-sec ond-wave-59-of-startups-and-msmes-may-shut-shops-sell-off-or-scale-down-localcircles-sur vey/articleshow/82974477.cms. Accessed 5 Feb 2022 Fairlie R (2020) The impact of COVID-19 on small business owners: evidence from the first 3 months after widespread social-distancing restrictions. J Econ Manag Strat. https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7461311/. Accessed 5 Jan 2022 Forum WE (2020) How to reform NGO funding so we can deal with threats like COVID-19. WEF Global Agenda. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/how-to-reform-ngo-funding-so-wecan-deal-with-threats-like-Covid-19-19/. Accessed 5 Jan 2022 Kassoumeh B (2020) 4 steps for surviving COVID-19 as an NGO. ALNAP. https://www.alnap.org/ blogs/4-steps-for-surviving-Covid-19-as-an-ngo. Accessed 2 Jan 2022 Leahy S (2018) From not enough to too much—the world’s water crisis explained. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/world-water-day-water-crisisexplained?loggedin=true. Accessed 2 Feb 2022 Matto M (2019) India needs to conserve water bodies and value them. Down to Earth. https://www. downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/india-needs-to-conserve-waterbodies-and-value-them-65998. Accessed 28 Jan 2022 Miller K (2022) The triple bottom line: what it is & why it’s important. Harvard Business School Online. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-the-triple-bottom-line#:~:text=The%20triple% 20bottom%20line%20is,%3A%20profit%2C%20people%2C%20and%20the. Accessed 1 Feb 2022 Peralta CL (2020) How are NGOs coping with the impacts of COVID-19. https://www.toladata. com/blog/how-are-ngos-coping-with-the-impacts-of-Covid-19/. Accessed 5 Feb 2022 Pradeep Narayanan SB (2020) COVID-19 and the curious case of development sector unpartnerships. Down to Earth. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/governance/Covid-19-andthe-curious-case-of-development-sector-un-partnerships-70726. Accessed 31 Jan 2022

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Prasad A (2019) Why it’s time to nurture leadership for India’s development sector. In: Kapur-Gomes S (ed) Social Story. https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/10/leadership-india-development-sec tor-non-profit/amp. Accessed 29 Jan 2022 Proulx C (2020) What we have learned about how NGOs are managing during COVID19. Humentum. https://humentum.org/what-we-have-learned-about-how-ngos-are-managingduring-Covid-19-/. Acccessed 1 Feb 2022 R˘azvan-Victor Sassu EV (2020) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the European nongovernmental sector. Europe Now. https://www.europenowjournal.org/2020/10/06/the-impactof-the-Covid-19-pandemic-for-the-european-non-governmental-sector/. Accessed 28 Jan 2022 Renjen P (2021) The heart of resilient leadership: responding to COVID-19. Deloitte Insights. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/economy/Covid-19-19/heart-of-resilient-lea dership-responding-to-Covid-19.html. Accessed 5 Jan 2022 Reynolds AM (2021) What new research tells us about the impact of COVID-19—on charities. Charity Commission. https://charitycommission.blog.gov.uk/2021/10/28/what-new-res earch-tells-us-about-the-impact-of-Covid-19-on-charities/. Accessed 1 Feb 2022 Walsh D (2021) Stop striving to be your “future self”. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/ 2021/09/stop-striving-to-be-your-future-self. Accessed 2 Feb 2022 Wood C (2021) The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the charitable sector. Demos. https:// demos.co.uk/project/the-impact-of-the-Covid-19-pandemic-on-the-charitable-sector/. Accessed 5 Feb 2022

Dr. Pranab J. Patar is an award-winning environmental professional with over 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector having worked on issues including water resources, biodiversity, climate action, alternative livelihood, and sustainable tourism. Recipient of several awards at the national and regional levels, he is currently heading a unique environmental charity based in Delhi. Member of multiple global bodies, he speaks regularly on the subject of sustainability across forums and has trained over 10,000 teachers, students, NGO professionals, and corporate executives on environmental issues over the years.

Chapter 15

Responsible Leadership: Delhi Metro’s Carbon Credits in Regenerative Braking System Rupamanjari Sinha Ray, Sharat Sharma, and Sunil Ashra

Abstract This chapter presents a case study on responsible leadership in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (Delhi Metro) adoption of the regenerative braking system (RBS) to conserve energy and help reduce carbon emissions. Delhi Metro invested to save energy consumption and avoid carbon footprint through this technological innovation. This initiative helped them earn carbon credits from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and gold standard certification for this project as well as other projects that led to a modal shift in transportation due to which carbon footprinting from the transportation sector in the national capital region has reportedly come down. However, the collapse of the global financial market in 2008 led to a decline in the international carbon markets, which came to a virtual standstill by 2013. Delhi Metro continued to earn carbon credits amidst the uncertainty. The market revived in 2018 but became uncertain again due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter analyzes the responsible leadership behavior of Delhi Metro that led to their contribution toward sustainability. Keywords Responsible leadership · Carbon credits · Sustainability · Cost–benefit · Shared concerns

Abbreviations NCR UNFCCC MRTS

National Capital Region United Nations Framework of Climate Change Conventions Mass Rapid Transit System

R. S. Ray (B) · S. Ashra Economics and Public Policy Area, Management Development Institute Gurgaon, Gurgaon, India e-mail: [email protected] S. Ashra e-mail: [email protected] S. Sharma Delhi Metro Railway Corporation, Noida, India © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_15

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RBS CDM CERs VERs SIA EU ETS CO2 QA&QC GHG TBL

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Regenerative Braking System Clean Development Mechanism Certified Emission Reduction Verified Emissions Reduction Social Impact Assessment European Union’s Emission Trading System Carbon dioxide Quality Assurance and Quality Control Green House Gases Triple Bottom Line

15.1 Introduction Responsible leadership in organizations and economies has paved its way through the harsh realities of natural destruction due to anthropogenic activities. Some leaders had ratified the global sustainability efforts and moved ahead in this direction, while others made changes toward sustainability as an opportunity to make more profit (Hind et al 2009). Daboub et al. (1995) had explored the association between the leadership abilities of an organization’s top management team and corporate responsibility (Hind et al 2009). In this context, the case study on Delhi Metro is an example of how this organization’s leadership has made the organization a role model of responsible leadership amidst one of the most polluted National Capital Region (NCR) of India. This chapter would emphasize how they mitigated global financial crisis and Covid-19 Pandemic crisis in carbon credit redemption and finally sold their carbon credits in uncertain times. Usually, in uncertain times, organizations try to explore fewer social and environmental ventures. However, responsible leadership creates a culture of responsibility within the organization toward ethical governance, employees, society, and environment (Meliou et al, 2021) amidst different uncertain situations. “Taoism” or Purposive Leadership (Zu 2019) is a way toward developing responsible leadership. Research undertaken in this case explores the responsible leadership in Delhi Metro in their carbon credit earnings and whether such responsible leadership pays off eventually. As part of climate change mitigations, carbon markets played a significant role. However, since 2008, partly due to the global financial crisis, carbon markets faced a deep decline. Since 2013 the international carbon credit market came to a standstill following the global recession in 2008. The further extension of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol Treaty, as had been expected, could not happen. Thus, carbon prices collapsed in 2013 and fell to as low as (United States Dollar) USD 0.5 in European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) emission markets. Later, many member countries agreed to the Paris Agreement as designed by the members of the United Nations Framework of Climate Change Conventions (UNFCCC) and ratified to reduce emissions by reducing energy consumption emanating from fossil

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fuels. India also committed to this cause to increase the share of non-fossil fuel to 40% by 2030. The carbon credit market seemed to return to normalcy in 2018 but was again hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Carbon credit holders, who suffered since 2013, started to look optimistic by 2018. However, uncertainties in the global financial markets in 2008, followed by the uncertain fate of the Kyoto Protocol and lastly the present pandemic led to economic losses despite sound sustainability measures of carbon credit holding organizations such as Delhi Metro.

15.2 Delhi Metro’s Carbon Credits Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (Delhi Metro) was one of the pioneering Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) (Sharma et al. 2014) and the first Metro Rail network in the world to adopt Regenerative Braking System (RBS) in its operations. The project was titled “Installation of Low Green House Gases (GHG) emitting rolling stock cars in the metro system”. This project was the first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project of Delhi Metro that was registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on December 29, 2007. The prime objective of introducing low GHG emitting rolling stocks having regenerative braking systems was to reduce the energy consumption required to power the trains through powergrids which get energy generated mainly from fossil fuel besides hydro or nuclear power and hence result in reduced GHG emissions. The project replaced the conventional mechanical or electro-dynamic rheostatic braking system. This unique endeavour fetched Delhi Metro 220,591 CERs (Certified Emission Reduction) and 90,004 VERs (Verified Emissions Reductions) till 2017 (Delhi Metro). The carbon credits earned them (Indian Rupee) INR 0.095 billion till 2012 (Press release-Delhi Metro Website 2021), when the market was booming. A second project “Modal Shift” of transportation from roadways to Metro Rail could help society save carbon credits. This CDM project was registered by Delhi Metro under the Gold Standard of Switzerland. Together the RBS project and Modal Shift project led to an accumulation of 3.5 million carbon credits between 2012 and 2018. These carbon credits are indicators of how Delhi Metro has contributed to the “Sustainable Development” by reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. Delhi Metro management’s challenge had been that during such a crisis, how they could make use of these carbon credits to yield best returns possible. They ended up selling the carbon credits to three international organizations in Asia, Europe, and America.

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15.3 Background of the Company The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was founded in 1995 and partnered with the Central Government of India and the Delhi Government (Source: Delhi Metro Website). The organization’s aim has been the holistic development and contribution to sustainable urban transportation (including design, implementation, and finance). The business segments include traffic operations, property development, external projects, and consultancy assignments. All these varied activities help Delhi Metro to make its operations sustainable. The company had already constructed and operationalized 193.23 km of rail-based MRTS by March 31, 2015.

15.4 Sustainability Approach and Objectives of Delhi Metro Delhi Metro adopted “Stakeholder Engagement” for their Triple Bottom line practices of economic, social, and environmental sustainability (Elkington 1998). As far as economic prosperity is concerned, the sources of Delhi Metro’s revenue are ridership fare, as well as non-fare sources such as advertisement, rental income, and consultancy and training. The majority of the revenue comes from ridership. Due to the complete shutdown of Delhi Metro during Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, Delhi Metro suffered huge losses in ridership revenue and rental revenue. The sales of carbon credit during this crisis came as a financial relief to some extent. As stated earlier that Delhi Metro’s major stakeholders are Central and State Governments, the focus of Delhi Metro was welfare maximization. Due to the expansion of Delhi Metro over the years, their expenditure also increased by incurring higher expenditure on salaries and employee welfare. Operational efficiency had been one of the priorities to generate surplus through timely operations, reduced accidents, enhanced environmental and energy initiatives on reduced carbon emissions, energy conservation, water conservation, and waste management. Social sustainability practices had been parts and parcels of the compliance mechanism structure to undertake metro railway projects in the form of Social Impact Assessment (SIA), taking utmost care of the local community damages and compensations. Stakeholder consultation with communities had been regularly undertaken to assess the degree of such damages. Several welfare activities toward employees, contractual workers at construction sites and their family members are undertaken every year. Apart from these, green parks for communities, community awareness initiatives through street plays on various environmental and social initiatives had been undertaken. Workshops on metro travel for kids suffering from cancer were also held at Delhi Metro’s Museum. Apart from these initiatives, the decoration of metro stations with paintings had been undertaken to promote art and culture in the community. Internet facilities and bicycle sharing facilities for passengers in some metro stations were facilitated.

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Table 15.1 Expectations of environmental initiatives by Delhi Metro Name of stakeholder Expectations Environment

• Management of the environment sustainably • Natural resource use • Innovation toward protecting nature and biodiversity • Revival of some natural resources used in operations

Vehicle for engagements • Measures for the protection of the environment and required equipment purchase for the purpose • Assessments of Risks • Energy Saving in Operations • Water Management Measures • Waste Management Measures • Environment Protection Measures

Source Sustainability Report 2014–15, Delhi Metro, http://www.delhimetrorail.com/annual_rep ort_review.aspx

For Environmental Sustainability practices, Delhi Metro had expectations from various stakeholders in terms of sustainable management of the environment that included water harvesting, effluent treatment plants, energy conservation measures— natural resource use, such as solar power to the tune of 20 MW, protection of natural environments and biodiversity through innovative processes, and re-harvesting natural resources which were damaged by operations of Delhi Metro (Table 15.1). To prevent such damage and conserve natural resources, Delhi Metro conducts—risk assessment analysis, adopts protective measures, procures equipment, undertakes energy savings measures in designing the systems and water management and waste management (Table 15.1). As far as energy saving was concerned, they identified their scope of work in energy management, optimization of energy consumption, and use of renewable energy. While conducting materiality evaluation they also identified that environmental footprint is directly proportional to energy consumption and operational costs. Higher the energy consumption, higher was the exposure to fluctuations in energy prices. In the process of energy management, GHG emissions could also be mitigated in the operations of the mass transit system. As a part of these energy savings initiatives and Green Houses Gases (GHG) emissions reduction, Delhi Metro procured rolling stocks with Regenerative Braking System (RBS). A Materiality Assessment Matrix was also prepared by Delhi Metro for the purpose (Table 15.2).

15.5 Regenerative Braking System (RBS) as Innovation in Clean Development Mechanism As discussed earlier, the objective of introducing the regenerative braking system (RBS) in rolling stocks, emitting low GHG emissions, was to reduce the energy consumption required to power the trains through grids which gets the energy generated mainly through fossil fuel and hence results in reduced GHG emissions. For

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Table 15.2 Materiality assessment matrix of environmental responsibility of a firm Material issues

Scope

Reasons for materiality assessment

Energy

• Energy Management • Consumption of Optimal energy • Renewable Energy Use

Environmental footprint due to energy consumption is the main issue here, which is avoided by promoting and integrating renewable energy usage

Emissions

• GHG emissions Management

As a responsible company, Delhi Metro is a pioneer to reduce its GHG footprint through leadership initiatives within the mass rapid transit system of transportation

Source Sustainability Report 2014–15, Delhi Metro http://www.delhimetrorail.com/annual_report_ review.aspx

stopping any train in motion both electrical and mechanical braking was employed for bringing the vehicle to a stop and holding it stationary. While the mechanical brakes could independently brake and hold a train, the electrical brakes were needed to reduce the speed and be complemented by mechanical brakes as the electrical brakes alone could not hold the vehicle stationary, especially on rising gradients. Traditionally, only mechanical brakes were used on the trains by using a brake shoe tightening on the wheel. But it had the distinct disadvantage of excessive wear and tear on the brake shoe and wheels too. The electrical brakes not only reduced the requirement of mechanical power but also provided a higher value of braking effort, thus bringing the vehicle quickly to rest and cutting down the braking distance considerably. In the process, the kinetic energy of the motor is converted into electrical energy and is either to be dissipated as heat in resistance or utilized by the other trains in powering mode and the excess energy is returned to the power supply sources. Thus, electrical braking is superior to mechanical braking as it is quicker and eliminates the excessive cost of maintenance of mechanical brakes. The project reduced the consumption of grid-generated energy through the technologically advanced low-GHG emitting rolling stocks having regenerative braking technology. RBS technology replaced the electro-dynamic rheostatic braking used conventionally in all the previous metro rails of the world. The electrical energy regenerated during the metro halts at various stations reduced equivalent grid energy consumption, which in turn leads to reduced GHG emissions. The total number of rolling stocks that are accounted for in this project had been fixed to a total of 70, but the same can be extended to any number of the service lines. This applied to all 1452 cars of Delhi Metro, but only seventy trains consisting of four cars in each were accounted for the CDM project.

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Table 15.3 Data on energy consumption Financial year

Traction energy (in million units)

Per unit energy cost (average) in INR./kwh

Savings in energy cost due to Regenerative Braking System (RBS) in INR

2005–06

53

2.50

4,60,57,176

2006–07

89

2.54

7,91,00,333

2007–08

97

2.19

7,44,04,721

2008–09

104

3.21

11,64,14,465

2009–10

135

3.27

15,45,95,149

2010–11

244

3.29

28,11,68,390

2011–12

325

3.70

42,13,84,390

2012–13

370

5.36

69,49,97,613

2013–14

409

6.31

90,28,21,218

2014–15

435

6.91

1,05,13,91,315

2015–16

474

7.16

1,18,83,15,198

Source Delhi metro official data collected by authors http://www.delhimetrorail.com/annual_rep ort_review.aspx

15.6 Energy Savings in Delhi Metro Through RBS Delhi Metro’s MRTS had either four-car, six-car or eight-car rolling stocks composed on different metro service tracks based on demand. Three phased-alternate-currenttraction motors were installed in each car, with the regenerative braking system. By employing the regenerative braking technology, the traction motors of the trains were being used, thereby “generating” electricity at the time of brakes—35% to 45% of electricity was regenerated on an average to the tune of 5.26 kilowatt /kilometer. The electricity generated was utilized by other trains. The total savings in energy through RBS is presented in Tables 15.3 and 15.4. Table 15.5 provides the yearly data of the number of rolling stocks commissioned by Delhi Metro. The clean development mechanism scheme was implemented for 70 rolling stocks for earning carbon credits, as mentioned above.

15.7 Estimation of GHG Reduction in RBS Technology by Delhi Metro In India, 68% of energy is generated through power plants using fossil fuels and releasing a substantial amount of carbon dioxide (CO2 ). However, Delhi Metro has calculated emission reduction from its operations through RBS. The carbon credits were provided for a period of ten years from 2007 to 2017. The emission reductions in this period have been estimated to be 4,11,600 tons of CO2 emissions. This implies

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Table 15.4 Estimation of total and yearly average energy saving through RBS F.Y

Savings in energy cost due to RBS INR

Per unit energy cost (average) INR./kwh

Energy saved through RBS (kwh)

2005–06

46,057,176.38

2.5

18,422,870.55

2006–07

79,100,333.33

2.54

31,141,863.52

2007–08

74,404,721.44

2.19

33,974,758.65

2008–09

116,414,464.6

3.21

36,266,188.35

2009–10

154,595,149.1

3.27

47,276,804.02

2010–11

281,168,390.1

3.29

85,461,516.74

2011–12

421,384,390.2

3.7

113,887,673

2012–13

694,997,613.4

5.36

129,663,733.9

2013–14

902,821,217.7

6.31

143,077,847.5

2014–15

1,051,391,315

6.91

152,155,038.4

2015–16

1,188,315,198

7.16

165,965,809.8

Total

5,010,649,969

957,294,104.3

Yearly Average

455,513,633.6

87,026,736.76

Source Calculations by authors based on data provided in Table 15.3 Table 15.5 Number of cars of Delhi Metro

Year

Total number of cars

2002–03

4

2003–04

4

2004–05

7

2005–06

43

2006–07

60

2007–08

60

2008–09

70

2009–10

70

2010–11

199

2011–12

208

2012–13

208

2013–14

208

2014–15

208

2015–16

212

2016–17

213

2017–18

226

Source Delhi Metro official data collected by authors http://www. delhimetrorail.com/annual_report_review.aspx

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Delhi Metro had been able to reduce yearly CO2 emissions by 41,160 tons on average. The methodology used for calculating was provided in the UNFCCC framework. The methodology promoted an elaborate monitoring mechanism and resulted in a robust measurement process. For monitoring emissions from the project activity, the following data parameters needed to be monitored annually in terms of the total number of operational rolling stocks in these service lines each year, the electrical energy consumed by the operational rolling stock, total distance covered by the rolling stock, which needed to be archived for two years till the end of the ten-year duration of the project period. For data reliability and transparency, Delhi Metro had undertaken Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA&QC) measures for data management and auditing. The data had to be reviewed monthly and was submitted to the Quality Assurance team. The GHG emissions at the source of Delhi Metro’s operations have been estimated and presented in Table 15.6. From Tables 15.5 and 15.6, it was evident that the number of cars increased over the years and the GHG emissions in absolute terms had increased in their operations but at a diminishing rate. The carbon emissions reduction had been further used for measuring carbon credits earned each year which has been presented in Table 15.7. Table 15.6 GHG emissions data of Delhi Metro

F.Y

GHG emission due to metro operation in TCO2 eq

2002–03

2603

2003–04

12,069

2004–05

31,245

2005–06

91,544

2006–07

155,406

2007–08

159,688

2008–09

184,909

2009–10

229,050

2010–11

388,921

2011–12

548,701

2012–13

590,040

2013–14

614,980

2014–15

650,880

2015–16

705,334.08

Source Delhi Metro official data collected by authors http://www. delhimetrorail.com/annual_report_review.aspx

272 Table 15.7 Year-wise carbon credits earned on 70 rolling stocks

R. S. Ray et al. F.Y

Year-wise carbon credit

2007–08

3204.00

2008–09

34,589.00

2009–10

42,878.00

2010–11

46,343.00

2011–12

46,645.00

2012–13

46,932.00

2013–14

47,890.00

2014–15

47,890.00

2015–16

47,890.00

2016–17

47,890.00

2017–18

51,577.00

Source Delhi Metro official data collected by authors http://www. delhimetrorail.com/annual_report_review.aspx

15.8 How Delhi Metro Rail’s Transport Services Led to Social Benefits Delhi Metro’s energy savings drive through the RBS scheme was one of the ways by which society at large also derived benefits. This transportation service is eco-friendly which makes some vehicles go off the road. The modal shift of transportation from road vehicles such as public transport, private vehicles to metro rail services has led to less road congestion, less fuel consumption and a reduction in GHG emissions. Table 15.8 depicts the estimated number of vehicles that had reduced on-road till 2014 in the organization’s operations in two phases put together that amounted to close to INR forty thousand. The annual fuel consumption on road and vehicular pollution was estimated to go down during the two phases of their operations. Moreover, due to less road congestion, road accidents had been estimated to decrease. Metro rail operations led to time savings per trip by 32 min as estimated by Delhi Metro.

15.9 Costs Associated with the RBS Project The investment made on one Converter Inverter (CI) system in the RBS project was INR 15.9 million. For one four-car train, there were two CI systems required. Under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme in which Delhi Metro earned carbon credits, only 70 rolling stocks were considered. Delhi Metro invested around INR 2226 million (Source: Provided by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 2017) in the RBS project. The best alternative to RBS was the rheostatic braking system. Kolkata Metro ran on this system with dynamic braking resistors. The cost of installing these braking

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Table 15.8 Impact of Delhi Metro’s operations on road transportation Descriptions

Phase I 2007

Phase I & II 2011

Phase I & II 2014

No. of vehicles off the road daily

16,895

117,249

390,971

Annual reduction in fuel consumption (tonnes)

24,691

106,493

276,000

Annual reduction pollutants (tonnes)

31,520

179,613

577,148

Saving in time per trip (minutes)

31

28

32

Annual reduction in fatal accidents (Nos.)

21

111

125

Annual reduction in all accidents (Nos.)

93

591

937

Source Delhi Metro Sustainability Report 2014–15(Sharma et al. 2014), http://www.delhimetrorail. com/annual_report_review.aspx

resistors for 70 trains is INR 98 million only. This indicates that to save energy, Delhi Metro had additionally invested INR 2188 million. The monthly maintenance cost of a car was INR 50,000 without manpower costs. Along with manpower costs, the total maintenance costs became INR 95,000 monthly (Provided by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 2017). Though costs were significant and benefits were derived too in the form of energy savings for the Delhi Metro, benefits were not confined to energy savings but also to the reduction of GHG emissions which benefits the society by reducing carbon emissions and thereby mitigating challenges arising from the global warming. In Environmental Economics discourse, any positive environmental responsibility creates social benefits over and above marginal private benefits in presence of positive externalities (Kolstad 2010).

15.10 Analysis of Delhi Metro’s Responsible Leadership Based on the Above Facts Meliou et al (2021) argue on the emergence of a responsible leadership framework in the pre-existing organizational structure based on “shared concern” towards various external stakeholders. Following the “shared concern” approach by Meliou et al (2021), this case study is analyzed for the Responsible Leadership Framework in the adoption of RBS. A detailed analysis of social costs and benefits has been presented following the “shared concern” approach. We have adopted three shared concerns out of four proposed by Meliou et al (2021). They are. 1. Environmental and Communal Concerns 2. Professional Concern 3. Commercial Concern.

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The fourth concern “Employee Concern” is beyond the scope of this study and therefore was not considered.

15.10.1 Environmental and Communal Concerns • Mitigating with Regulatory risks—The sustainability reporting practices of Delhi Metro has enabled them to devise their environmental sustainability strategy with well-defined goals. Tables (15.1) and (15.2) are evidence of Delhi Metro’s goal to move toward zero carbon footprinting through energy saving activity. The company envisages its scope in contributing toward a reduction in GHG emissions as mentioned in Table 15.2. It is evident from the case that they are carbon–neutral in operations. The implementation of the regenerative braking system in rolling stocks is a good example of sustainable development operation. • Environmental Sustainability—The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach of Elkington (1998) is the crux of sustainability initiatives worldwide. The choice of emissions and energy as materiality issues to be addressed by Delhi Metro has TBL implications. Environmental sustainability could be brought about by directly contributing to the reduction of emissions and energy consumption. This is addressed through a substantial reduction in pollutants by Delhi Metro’s operations as there was a modal shift of transport from road transport to rail transport in the most polluted city of India. Table 15.8 of the case shows that the estimated reduction in pollutants was around 0.86 million tonnes. The RBS project had further led to the mitigation of any increase in carbon emissions which would have otherwise led to additional yearly consumption of 87.026 kilowatt-hours (Kwh) energy. The case study analysis here could be shown through calculations presented in Table 15.4 based on Table 15.3. • Communal Concerns is the contribution made to society. Delhi Metro’s operations had led to a reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions, which otherwise would have aggravated the problem of pollution in Delhi-NCR. Pollution leads to health problems and therefore, life has been less adversely affected by the implementation of the RBS project. Moreover, social sustainability has also been improved through a reduction in road accidents and time savings for the commuters due to Delhi Metro’s presence.

15.10.2 Professional Concerns • Materiality Analysis conducted is a signal of professionalism. • Ethical Practices incorrect estimation of carbon foot-printing reduction using the UNFCCC formula is part of professional concerns. This was also backed by quality checks by internationally approved and recognized quality standards.

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• Carbon Credits earnings through innovation in operations in mass rapid transit system of railways in the world is the right shared concern toward sustainability, thus innovative operations of Delhi Metro through RBS demonstrate a good example of sustainability practices following the triple bottom-line approach. • Advocacy—Delhi metro was the pioneer in introducing the regenerative braking system in the railway system in the world. Thereafter, they started to provide consulting services to other Metro rail services in India and in other countries.

15.10.3 Commercial Concerns • Profitability—Any increase in operational revenue and reduction in operational costs were adding to the profitability of Delhi Metro. Table 15.2 presents the fact that Delhi Metro had linked its environmental initiatives to the company’s profitability in terms of cost savings. • Carbon Credit Revenue—At the time of implementation of RBS, the objective of innovation in RBS technology had been two-fold. On one hand, it would save energy costs, on the other hand, Delhi Metro would earn carbon credits that could in turn be traded in climate exchanges leading to revenue augmentation. However, the international market for carbon credits had collapsed in 2013 with no option for carbon trading and they could sell 3.5 million carbons for INR 0.195 billion in 2021 leading to mere INR 55.50 per carbon credit (less than USD 1). However, economic sustainability is still ensured through huge savings in energy costs. Table 15.4 shows that approximately INR 5 billion in energy bills had been saved in the period between 2005–06 and 2015–16. • Social Costs—Benefits—Social costs-benefits not only include private costs and benefits but also the environmental externality costs and benefits to society. Delhi Metro has implemented RBS in rolling stocks which leads to energy savings and hence less GHG emissions. The possibility of further degradation in environmental quality has been prevented in Delhi and the entire national capital region through this RBS scheme.

15.10.4 Detailed Analysis of Social Costs and Benefits Social Benefits can be divided into two categories: benefits of Delhi Metro; and benefits to society at large through reduction of GHG emissions. These benefits can be listed as follows: • Benefits to Delhi Metro in terms of Savings: Savings to the tune of INR 5 billion in energy costs was derived till 2015–16 by Delhi Metro from the RBS project. Table 15.9 presents the calculation of this present value under three assumptions of 5%, 10%, and 15% discount rates for 10 years period. The 10 years present value of energy savings is based on actual data in Table 15.3 from 2005–06 to

276 Table 15.9 Present value of energy savings (in billion rupees)

R. S. Ray et al. For all trains Discount rate

5%

10%

15%

10 years period

3.3

2.24

1.57

For 70 trains as per UNFCCC RBS project of earning Carbon Credits 10 years period

1.4

1.03

0.8

Source Calculations by authors based on present value approach on data provided in Table 15.3

2015–16. The present value of energy savings in 10 years ranges from INR 3.3 billion at a 5% discount rate to around INR 1.57 billion in 15 years. However, Delhi Metro has registered with UNFCCC to earn carbon credits only for 70 trains. Thus, the benefit from this project is calculated for 70 trains only. Using Tables 15.3 and 15.4, energy savings can be computed for each of the 10 years. Table 15.9 presents these calculations. Thus, Delhi Metro could save as high as INR 1.4 billion at 5% and as low as INR 0.8 billion at a 15% discount rate in 10 years. • Benefits to Delhi Metro and Society at large in terms of Carbon Credit: Due to reduced carbon emissions, carbon credits are earned by Delhi Metro. Using UNFCCC formulae to obtain carbon credits, the energy savings data has been converted by Delhi Metro into carbon emissions units in tonnes. Delhi Metro had been able to lessen the potential carbon emissions through its operations by 0.411 million tonnes of carbon emissions. This has been better captured in terms of carbon credit they were likely to earn till 2017. Using data in Table 15.6, Delhi Metro is supposed to earn a total of about 0.43 million carbon credits in a ten-year credit period. Thus, carbon credits earnings are a benefit to Delhi Metro as well as indicates social benefits in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide saved from being emitted. • Benefits to Society in terms of Savings in pollutants, road accidents and time: Table 15.7 depicts that due to Delhi Metro’s operations, a shift of transportation from roadways to Delhi Metro is supposed to have reduced road congestion by an estimated 0.3 million cars. However, in the Delhi-NCR region, the number of cars on the road has increased over the years due to other factors affecting the demand for cars. Thus, this estimated figure is just an approximate of what should have been the effect on road congestion, reduced pollutants, reduced road accidents, and time saved due to metro. The estimated time saved due to Metro is closer to reality. The use of public road vehicles has come down and people have shifted from public buses to the metro. The use of private cars, on the other hand, has increased and the number of public buses has not come down. According to Table 15.7, it is just the number of passengers in buses that may have been reduced. So benefits to society in terms of shift of mode of transport to Delhi Metro have not been completely realized in reality, but the Delhi Metro leadership’s vision was unblemished in their focus on mitigating their carbon footprint.

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• Investments by Delhi Metro: The study provides data on the investment of RBS for 70 trains which is around INR 2.226 billion, whereas the opportunity costs of this investment are INR 98 million The opportunity cost is the investment in the rheostatic braking system, the best alternative to RBS, which was approximately around 4.4% of the investment made on RBS, indicating a massive investment made by Delhi Metro. • Maintenance Costs incurred by Delhi Metro: The case also establishes the fact that there are high annual maintenance costs of 70 trains amounting to almost INR 8 million.

15.11 Concluding Remarks Apart from the “shared concern” framework, the most important aspect of Delhi Metro was how it turned a crisis into an opportunity in uncertain times. The regulatory risk that led to uncertainty about the future course of actions within the organizations was the pivotal point that triggered such innovations toward a more responsible leadership behavior toward societal and environmental goals of the region they operated in. Moreover, the sales of carbon credits happened amidst a pandemic crisis leading to uncertainty about the future carbon credit prices that could have again collapsed. In such a scenario, it was the right leadership decision to sell off the remaining carbon credits. Sales of these carbon credits were significant in two ways. Firstly, it would help Delhi Metro sustain its economic viability, particularly after the pandemic breakout, when they suffered losses due to frequent lockdowns, limited travel options. Secondly, it was particularly important for Delhi Metro to redeem carbon credits for future initiatives toward sustainability. A third important aspect of the responsible leadership model of Delhi Metro has been the engagement of the organization in advocating the adoption of the regenerative braking system in other metro rail services in India and other countries, implying a greater carbon foot-printing avoidance along with other social and other environmental benefits. Responsible leadership is very well related to sustainable development (Kagema 2018) and Delhi Metro is an exceptionally good example of the same. A purposedriven leadership, where one of the principles is “doing the right thing for right sustainable leadership” (Zu 2019), shows the right attitude toward responsible leadership. This case study shows that “being responsible” pays off economically for the organization. The study is limited to one case study. Further, the study is based on reports and secondary data collected from Delhi Metro. A primary study on stakeholders engaged in sustainability practices could be conducted to understand what responsible leadership attributes had been applied during the planning and implementation stages of such innovative sustainable models. There is scope for further research on more organizations, which have earned carbon credits by reducing their carbon footprints through innovative processes. More potential research prospects lie in understanding the processes and factors for success and failure in uncertain times in this context.

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References Daboub AJ, Rasheed AMA, Priem RL, Gray DA (1995) Top management team characteristics and corporate illegal activity. Acad Manage Rev 20(1):138–70. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1995.950 3271999 Elkington J (1998) Accounting for the triple bottom-line. Meas Bus Excell 2(3):18–22 Hind P, Wilson A, Lenssen G (2009) Developing business for sustainable business. Corp Governance 9(1):7–20. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700910936029/full/pdf?title=developingleaders-for-sustainable-business Kagema DN (2018) Responsible leadership and sustainable development in post-independent Africa: a Kenyan experience. J Values-Based Leadersh 11(1):9. https://doi.org/10.22543/0733. 111.1207 Kolstad C (2010) Environmental economics, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press Meliou E, Ozbilgin M, Edwards T (2021) How does responsible leadership emerge? An emergentist perspective. Eur Manag Rev 18(4):521–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12488 Sharma N, Singh A, Dhyani R, Gaur S (2014) Emission reduction from MRTS projects—a case study of Delhi metro. Atmos Pollut Res 5(4):721–728 Zu L (2019) Purpose-driven leadership for sustainable business: from the perspective of Taoism. Int J Corp Soc Responsib 4:3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991-019-0041-z

Website References Press Release on Carbon Credits (2021) Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. http://www.delhimetrorail. com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=XjDCFtKDWtslld Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Website https://www.delhimetrorail.com

Dr. Rupamanjari Sinha Ray is an Assistant Professor in Economics Area at MDI Gurgaon. She has been engaged in management teaching and training for fifteen years. Her research areas and publications are mainly based on Development and Environmental Economics, mainly on Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Regulation and Policy and MSMEs. She has co-authored a book on CSR practices in India and has published papers in the national and international journals of repute. She is a life member of Indian Economic Association, and a member of Trans-disciplinary research cluster (TRC) on Frugal Innovation of JNU. Sharat Sharma is a Management Trainer and Advisor. He is a Former Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). He has several years of experience in the public sector with expertise in policy-making, contract management and process improvement. Strong business development professional skilled in management, Public Private Partnerships (PPP), International Trade Negotiations, Human Resources Management & Training Development for Senior Executives across public and private sectors on policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and reporting to government officials and key stakeholders, he is currently based in Singapore, working with SMEs and Government institutions. He has also worked with UN and World Bank.

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Sunil Ashra is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy Area at MDI Gurgaon. He teaches courses on Behavioural Economics, Macroeconomic Theory & Policy Infrastructure Economics & Financing, Demand Forecasting, International Economics, Industrial Economics, Microeconomics, Public Finance, and Econometrics. He has been a consultant to Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. His research areas are Macroeconomics, infrastructure and Envrironmental Economics.

Chapter 16

Environmental Leadership—Case Studies Jayati Talapatra

Abstract Leaders who have included ‘purpose’ in their work, have raised and maintained successful organisations over the years. The financial performance of organisations led by ‘Responsible Leaders’ has been increasing. Share prices of organisations that take care of People and Planet along with Profits have exhibited stability in the market in the long run, as compared to those that have focussed only on Profits. Despite a strong case for environmental leadership, the number of leaders incorporating environmental consciousness into their organisations and work is very low. Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the multi-billion-dollar clothing and sports gear company Patagonia, is a pioneer in putting environmental focus in the centre of business. Under his leadership, Patagonia has not only become an example of how circular business models work, but also how they make business sense. In India, Sonam Wangchuk, Founder of Students’ Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is revolutionising education, where students learn by forming a synergistic relationship with their natural surroundings. This paper attempts to understand what Environmental Leadership is and what makes a person Responsible towards the Planet, through the cases of Chouinard and Wangchuk and data from eleven selected ecology leaders in India. Keywords Environmental leadership · Responsible leaders · Childhood influences · Sustainability

16.1 Introduction At the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) held in Glasgow in 2021, a thousand companies committed to reducing emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, as part of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). At the time of COP21 held in Paris in 2015, the milestone event

J. Talapatra (B) J 1919 Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi 110019, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. Sharma et al. (eds.), Responsible Leadership for Sustainability in Uncertain Times, Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4723-0_16

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that brought focus on climate change and the responsibilities of the world and corporate leaders in addressing it, the definition of a ‘Green Leader’ or ‘Green Billionaire’ was one who contributed to environmental causes (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2015). Today, Bloomberg’s list of Green Billionaires includes those whose businesses are built on clean technology and who work actively on reducing global carbon emissions (Pendleton 2021). 86% of the businesses owned by Elon Musk, the richest person on earth, are in the clean energy and clean mobility space, addressing the most critical sources of carbon emissions as per Forbes, 2021. Over the years, business leaders with the highest net worth are also emerging to be those who are working towards net-zero. Leaders of Fortune 50 Global companies like Apple and Walmart have committed to cut out all carbon emissions by 2030. President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Walmart, Doug McMillon, intends to not only achieve net-zero, but also start giving back to the planet, or become a ‘regenerative company.’ Corporate leaders, who are realising that the shareholders are also demanding maximising of stakeholder gains and consequently incorporating stakeholder inputs into their business decisions, are the ones running successful companies today. Freeman’s theory of shareholder capitalism is increasingly finding acceptance with corporate leaders across the globe, as the positive correlation between company performance and shareholder satisfaction is getting established (Freeman 2015). Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors points out the importance of doing the ‘right thing’ because it is no more a choice between stakeholder capitalism and shareholder capitalism and that both are inter-linked. The Sixth Assessment Report by United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has unequivocally attributed climate change to human-led activities and for the first time since its inception, has shown the direct link between business activities and global warming (IPCC Report 2021). However, corporate contributions to environmental regeneration have remained at the constant low of 3% over the past twenty years (Debevois 2020). Despite a clear correlation between performance and environmental sustainability, majority leaders do not imbibe planetresponsible processes into their organisations (Whelan and Fink 2016). Insufficient literature exists on the reasons why a leader adopts responsible practices in her/his work. Research on why a person becomes a responsible adult is limited while there is sufficient research on why people exhibit irresponsible behaviour as adults. This chapter attempts to understand environmental leadership by studying cases of two exemplary social and environmentally conscious leaders from two different parts of the world. Also, eleven leaders doing impactful work in the area of environmental conservation are studied, to understand what made them responsible environmental leaders.

16.2 Method 1. A study of two leaders from different parts of the world—India and the United States—who have pioneered environmental consciousness in their organisations,

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was done through a literature review. The rationale behind selecting Chouinard and Wangchuk was: a. Chouinard represents the developed western world while Wangchuk represents the developing eastern hemisphere. b. Chouinard’s organisation, Patagonia, is a profit-making corporate in a mainstream industry while Wangchuk’s organisation is a social enterprise in the education space. 2. Critical achievements of both leaders and their organisations are presented as short cases 3. Primary data was collected from eleven ecological leaders in India, who are contributing to improving planetary health through policy-making, activism and on-ground implementation. They were asked to talk about what influenced them to take up environmental leadership roles. The criteria considered for selecting these eleven leaders were: a. Implementation on the ground: All respondents have successfully implemented actions on the ground, in the field of conservation, environmental advocacy and law b. Range of occupation: The respondents’ occupations range from student to professionals in global organisations such as WWF (World Wildlife Fund) to entrepreneurs c. Range of age: The respondents’ age ranges between ten and fifty years 4. Data were analysed to arrive at common categories which appeared to have influenced these eleven people to become environmental leaders.

16.3 Environmental Leadership As no clear definition or framework exists for environmental leadership, the concept may be understood to be a subset of Responsible Leadership (Akiyama 2013). Varying definitions exist for what a responsible organisation is. In 1979, Archie Carrol introduced the concept of a corporate leader being responsible towards society along economic, ethical, legal and discretionary dimensions, which became widely accepted as a model for Corporate Social Responsibility (Carroll 2016). Pless et al. presented a model for Responsible Leaders and a path for leaders to move towards becoming responsible based on their analysis of twenty-five corporate leaders across industries and countries. Leaders were mapped on a two-by-two matrix, based on the accountability and breadth of constituent group focus. They implied that leaders with high accountability—that went beyond profit maximization and shareholder value and looked at creating long-term value for a range of stakeholders—could be considered as Responsible Leaders. In recent years, ‘Purpose-driven leadership’ has become a catchphrase. Management scientists explain the importance of being driven by that one goal or vision,

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which can have a long-lasting impact on the organisation, its stakeholders and the world (Craig and Snook 2014). An interesting perspective of purpose-driven and responsible leadership is mapping of organisation purpose to Taoism (Zu 2019). Taoism aims at creating a world of peace and harmony or a Great Unity for Common Good (Zu 2019). Responsible Leadership may well be considered to encapsulate the philosophy of Taoism, where the leader works in harmony with the world. An orientation towards eastern philosophy appears to be prevalent in leadership literature. To understand this phenomenon better, a case study of a path-breaking responsible leader from India is presented below.

16.4 Case Study on Sonam Wangchuk Wangchuk hails from the union territory of Ladakh, in Northern India. A mechanical engineer by training, Sonam Wangchuk started the Students’ Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) in 1988. Wangchuk pioneered holistic education in his home state of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir and was part of the State’s Education Planning committee. Wangchuk has received multiple awards for his work including the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the most prestigious award for leadership in social development in Asia, in 2018 (Source https://www.rmaward.asia/). The following subsections have analysed Wangchuk’s leadership style.

16.4.1 Ladakh Ladakhis, the local people of Ladakh, lived a simple pastoral or agrarian life till the 1980s and a large percentage of them still do (Ryde 2016). Ladakhi culture of interdependence and living in harmony with nature has been studied by social scientists across the globe, such as Helena Norberg-Hodge, whose seminal work on the Ladakh model earned her the Right Livelihood Award in 1986. The onslaught of tourism and globalisation forced the Ladakhis to move away from their traditional methods towards ‘westernisation’ and a culture of consumerism (Norberg-Hodge 2016). Wangchuk recognised the widening gap between Ladakhi wisdom and the ‘standardised’ education system imposed on the region, as well as the adverse impact of increased, unsustainable economic activity on its ecology.

16.4.2 Leadership Style of Wangchuk Growing up, Wangchuk experienced difficulties in the form of racial discrimination, poor school infrastructure and course content that was irrelevant to the local population. After completing his education, in his early twenties, Wangchuk started

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a programme to train teachers and volunteers to deliver education in a manner that was easily understood by the students. He partnered with the government authorities to bring in large-scale innovation in Ladakh’s education programme, raking in huge success in terms of student learning outcomes. The percentage of students who passed their matriculation exams increased dramatically from 5% in 1998 to 75% by 2015 (Ramon Magsaysay Award Citation 2015). In 1998, at the age of 32 years, Wangchuk started the SECMOL school in Ladakh (Source https://secmol.org) with permanent faculty and a boarding house for students. Wangchuk was acutely aware of the environmental challenges faced by Ladakh because of its high altitude and harsh climate. Additionally, he realised the impact of climate change, especially on natural glaciers, which had traditionally provided water to the farms in the predominantly agrarian region. His innovative ‘Artificial Ice Stupas’ constructed in the winter months and used as a water source in summers exemplifies his creative approach—using simple and local means—to solving challenges (Gupte 2015). Wangchuk and his wife, Rebecca Norman, have been working at reviving ancient Ladakhi farming techniques to mitigate the impact of climate change in Ladakh. Their community engagement activities have led to the revival of organic farming in the region. A vibrant culture of chemical-free farming with minimal water usage is beginning to thrive in Ladakh (Visvanathan 2021).

16.4.3 SECMOL School Wangchuk wanted to bring confidence in the students of Ladakh and make them feel at the same level as their peers in the rest of India. Students who fail their matriculation exams and are from a socio-economic weaker segment are taken on in SECMOL. Along with learning their curriculum in a manner that used examples and stories that are local and relevant to them, the students also learn to live in harmony with nature. Solar energy, agriculture and other environmental practices are an intrinsic part of the SECMOL curriculum. The SECMOL campus is an energy and water self-sufficient building with solar panels, water harvesting, and a design that allows natural light and heat to be used to its maximum potential. A simple innovation such as changing the bath time to afternoon instead of the morning allows the use of solar heaters rather than fossil-fuel-based electricity (Visvanathan 2021). Whilst a majority of the students come from families of farmers, they have very little knowledge of farming practices, especially those of the traditional Ladakh, that ensured the health of the land and its people. Wangchuk helps students understand the importance of living in harmony with land and respect agriculture by including farming as part of the SECMOL curriculum. A significant number of students go back to farming and hope to revive the ancient wisdom of Ladakhi farming (Ryde 2016). A day in SECMOL includes much more than studies. Contributing to the kitchen and other activities on campus, helping fellow students and dedicated time for silence and introspection are important components of a student’s life on campus

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(Ryde 2016). Wangchuk brought caring for the planet into his classrooms much before the benefit of exposure to nature got recognised for cerebral development. In recent years, research has shown that spending time in nature positively impacts academic performance, a practice that is gaining wider acceptability now (Kuo et al. 2019).

16.4.4 Local Versus Global Economy Wangchuk was able to understand the importance of localisation as a model of sustainable development. In the seminal film ‘Schooling the World’ directed by Carol Black in 2010, the disastrous effect of imposing western education on Ladakh is captured over a period of twenty years. Moving away from an ancient culture based on interdependence between people and between people and nature, community living and joy, towards an artificially created desire for material goods which were hitherto not needed, have made Ladakhis unhappier than they were ever before (Kopnina 2013). Wangchuk successfully reversed the trend. His education model is bringing people back to their land with a heightened sense of respect and understanding of what Ladakh stands for. He is implementing what anti-globalisation activist and Right Livelihood Award Winner Vandana Shiva propounds—Building schools spreading the wisdom of Grandmothers.

16.5 Case Study on Yvon Chouinard Like Wangchuk, Chouinard’s leadership philosophy stems from his childhood experiences. Chouinard’s family moved from Canada to the United States when he was a child. His childhood and teen years were spent fishing, rock climbing and doing multiple outdoor activities, which sensitised him to the beauty and fragility of nature (Chouinard 2006). An avid rock climber, Chouinard saw the impact of climbing gear on rocks. From his teenage years, Yvon Chouinard realised the importance of reducing the environmental impact caused by climbers and ‘climb clean’ became a founding tenet of Chouinard Equipment, the first organisation founded by Chouinard. Chouinard Equipment went on to become the largest supplier of climbing equipment in the United States while ensuring the pistons in the gear did not harm the rocks (Chouinard 2013). Chouinard started Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company, in 1970. Patagonia came to exemplify ‘responsible clothing’ with Chouinard ensuring that their products had minimal impact on the environment, even at the cost of the company’s profits. Patagonia was one of the first organisations in the world to introduce pesticidefree cotton in its products, initiating the Organic Cotton movement in California. Patagonia put zero-waste, zero-damage and environmental regeneration in the centre of its business model. Chouinard emphasised improving efficiency since the inception

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of Patagonia so that the least number of resources were used during production. He mainstreamed the concept of ‘recycling’ in the apparel industry and by 2017, 29% of Patagonia’s clothes were sourced from recycled material (Patagonia Annual Report, 2016–17).

16.5.1 Leadership Chouinard is credited with initiating most of the concepts that are commonplace in sustainable apparel today. He involved stakeholders to ensure the entire value chain became more efficient, environmentally conscious and sustainable. He partnered with Adidas, Nike, Gap, Adidas and Levi Strauss to start the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and worked with Walmart to ensure smooth distribution of responsibly produced clothes (Stevenson 2012). Chouinard’s ability to partner with others has contributed to the success of making sustainable apparel a reality. He co-founded The Conservation Alliance with REI, Kelty and The North Face in 1989 which now has one hundred and seventy organisations working on environmental goals 2013 (Chouinard 2013). Whilst collaborating with leaders in the industry has helped bring about changes in the way the apparel industry procures, produces and distributes, Chouinard, initiated another first—Tools for Grassroots Activists. Since 1994, Patagonia has trained and provided financial support to grassroots-level environmental activists, to further the cause of protecting the planet. Such a move shows tremendous courage and conviction as industry and environmental activists had looked upon each other as adversaries before Patagonia’s initiative (Gallagher and Myer 2016).

16.5.2 ‘1% for the Planet’ Chouinard started ‘1% for the Planet’ in 2002 to fund organisations working for the environment, addressing the gap in funding for environmental causes—which stood at only 3% of all corporate social responsibility funding (Chouinard 2006). As compared to the common practice of contributing a percentage of profits, ‘1% for the Planet’ seeks to contribute one percent of gross sales of a company to environmental causes. What set this movement apart from the rest and became an exemplar for honest and true environmental commitment, was Chouinard’s promise to contribute the amount even at the cost of the company’s profits. In April 2020, when the world was reeling under the impact of the pandemic, Chouinard sent out a letter re-confirming his pledge to keep contributing one percent of Patagonia’s gross sales to protect the planet. The following line from his letter captures his business philosophy and shows why Chouinard is regarded as a Leader in Sustainable Business: ‘When Patagonia has faced hard times before, as we are now, the absolute last thing that we would give up is our 1%. It’s a cost of doing business on this planet. It’s not philanthropy—it’s

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an absolute necessity for us living on this planet. It is the opposite of doing nothing.’ (Chouinard 2006).

16.6 Learnings from the Case of Two Leaders Wangchuk and Chouinard recognised that their work depended on the planet’s resources and that working in harmony with nature was the only choice. Educationists before Wangchuk had only focussed on academic results without any attention to the environment in which the students were growing up. Tending to farms, working on solar energy and living a sustainable lifestyle were considered distractions from studies by majority of educationists. Similarly, Chouinard’s commitment to the environment was considered a poor business move and one that would reduce profits. Both the leaders have proved that in the long run, results, whether academic or business, benefit from being in tune with the Earth. Sonam Wangchuk and Yvon Chouinard have successfully led organisations that have broken away from the tradition and set a precedence for how an organisation can achieve its objectives while being in harmony with the planet and its people. Both started their organisations at a young age— Wangchuk started training volunteer teachers straight after college and Chouinard was nineteen years old when he began his first entrepreneurial venture selling hiking equipment. Both were influenced by their childhood experiences, growing up in close contact with nature. Could an early exposure to nature be a prerequisite for the demonstration of environmental consciousness and responsibility? To understand the factors that may contribute to people becoming environmentally conscious and leading efforts that positively impact the Earth, primary data was collected from eleven leaders who have been working in different aspects of ecological conservation. The age varies between ten and fifty years.

16.7 Primary Data from Eleven Eco-leaders Data was gathered from eleven practitioners in the field of sustainability and conservation. Details of the respondents are in Annexure. Their verbatim comments on childhood influences, which led them to become responsible adults. are in Annexure. The following process was followed to enable the respondents to reflect and answer without any bias: 1. The interview had just one question which was open-ended to ensure the responder was not nudged towards any specific factor. The question was—‘What influenced you to become a conservationist/ecologist/ development professional. Please reflect on your school days.’ Many respondents insisted on a more structured questionnaire, but the attempt was to get them to think of all possible factors rather than focus on a narrow list.

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2. Ample time was given to respond. The question was sent before the interview so that they got sufficient reflection time. It was made clear that ‘Nothing comes to mind’ was an acceptable answer.

16.8 Analysis The respondents’ answers were then studied. Individual influences were deducted from the responses. The table capturing the influences for each respondent is given below in Table 16.1. The responses were then categorised into emerging themes, which are mentioned below in Table 16.1. Factors that influenced the eleven respondents can be broadly categorised as below: Table 16.1 Primary data on influences that make one environmentally conscious Respondent

Influences (not in order of priority)

1

Growing up with fewer material comforts

Living with nature

Inspirational TV/radio shows

2

Father

Film

3

Mother/Father

Living with nature

Stories/Books

4

Mother

5

Mother

Living with nature

Books

6

Grandfather

Living with nature

Books

7

Living with nature

8

Mother/Father/Grandparents/other families

Deep exposure to conservation from familya

Living with nature

Books

9

Mother

Living with nature

Music/Dance

Books

10

Teacher

Participating in Books UN Youth conference

11

Teacher

Living with nature

Being aloneb

Source Data gathered through interviews by the author a All respondents have learnt about conservation from a role model, be it parents/family/teacher. However, this respondent received higher exposure as her family works in conservation b Alone time was mentioned by all respondents but this respondent spent a lot of time choosing to be away from home and by himself, for personal reasons

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1. Role model/s influence children to become responsible adults. Nine out of Eleven respondents mentioned a role model as an influence. 2. Experiences such as nature camps, forest walks, social work influence children to become conscious of the environment. Eight out of Eleven respondents mentioned ‘Nature exposure’ as an influence. 3. Books influence children to become responsible towards the planet. Five out of Eleven respondents mentioned ‘Books’ to be an influencing factor. 4. Spending time alone enables children to tune in to nature and appreciate it more. All respondents mentioned being alone or spending time by themselves as a part of their growing up years. For some respondents, it overlapped with the ‘being with nature’ influence.

16.9 Limitations Whilst it appears logical that spending more time in nature, while growing up, would lead to adults becoming more environmentally conscious, there is no substantive research available that proves this point. From the case study of Wangchuk and Chouinard, and through discussions with the respondents, it is apparent that to become an environmentally conscious leader, exposure to nature is critical, though that may not be a sufficient condition in itself. This chapter is limited to studying ecological leaders and trying to understand what made them so. There is no data gathered on whether people who have grown up surrounded by nature become environmentally conscious people or leaders. Role models appear to have played an important role in shaping the eco-consciousness of the eleven respondents in the primary research. However, that is not true for Sonam Wangchuk. He may have grown up in a community in which living in harmony with nature may have been the norm rather than the exception. Chouinard passingly mentions an act of his mother that led him to be more conscious in his book ‘Let my people go surfing’.

16.10 Conclusion This paper had hoped to understand environmental leadership by studying the case of leaders from different countries and sectors and gathering data from Indian leaders working across different aspects of environmental management. The case for environmental leadership is made strong by the success of the selected ‘green’ organisations, SECMOL and Patagonia, and the impact created by the eleven individuals interviewed for this paper. It is difficult to conclude whether environmental leadership can be attributed to a single factor, such as nature exposure. However, it can be concluded that it is an important factor. The case studies indicate that living with nature enables people to become more sensitive to the world around them and feel more responsible for taking care of it.

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Annexure The respondents for the primary data collection activity were: 1.

Priyanka Mandal, Founder, Clanearth, www.clanearth.com. Priyanka’s work in Mangrove restoration, through a sustainable business model, has been published by leading newspapers in India. 2. Aarav Seth, Child Activist, http://www.saarcyouth.org/meet-aarav-seth-the-12yr-old-indian-boy-who-is-trying-to-save-our-planet/. Aarav has spoken at UN conferences and his work in building awareness among students has been globally recognised. 3. Akanksha Joshi, award-winning film maker, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Akanksha_Damini_Joshi. Akanksha’s films have received international acclaim and she was nominated for the Wild Screen Panda Awards, popularly known as the ‘Green Oscar’, for her film ‘Chilika Banks’. 4. Mohit Saini, Founder of a Government recognised environmental NGO, http:// harajeevan.org/ 5. Nandini Mehrotra, Conservation Policy Specialist, Researcher, https://www.tec hforwildlife.com/who-we-are 6. Richa Tyagi, Program Coordinator, The University of British Columbia, a former employee of WWF India 7. Padmavati Dwivedi, Founder of a citizen’s action group, Compassionate Living, http://www.compassionateliving.in/. Padmavati works with urban planners and government departments, in making Delhi a sustainable city. 8. Urvana Menon, Program Lead, Sustainable Infrastructure, WWF Myanmar. Urvana won the highest honours in The Centre for International Postgraduate Studies for Environmental Management (CIPSEM)—a UN Environment Program for global professionals. 9. Vallari Sheel, PhD, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, North Carolina State University, https://publicscience.ncsu.edu/people/vsheel/ 10. Raghav Srivastava, Environmental Lawyer, Environment Law writer—https:// www.huffingtonpost.in/author/raghav-srivastava/ 11. Peepal Baba or Swami Prem Parivartan, Founder Give me Trees Trust, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peepal_Baba. Peepal Baba’s work in reforesting North India has received appreciation globally and he is consulted on government forestation projects.

Interview Scripts of Primary Research • Priyanka Mandal, Founder, Clanearth, www.clanearth.com ‘My childhood influences had the biggest impact on how I turned out to be. I come from a very humble family. We never had excess of anything and perhaps that’s why we could appreciate everything and we were mindful of how we consumed resources.

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As my brother and I grew up, we became adults who lived minimal lives. We found happiness in experiences and being in nature than material things. Since 2018, when I decided to go zero-waste, it wasn’t that difficult to consume less and care for resources because I had built this habit over all these years and today, I can live my life by generating as little as 200 g of waste in an entire year. Also as a child I always saw inspiring leaders on Tv and radio. That shaped the sense of life where I want to use my energy and time to add value to people’s lives.’ • Aarav Seth, Child Activist, http://www.saarcyouth.org/meet-aarav-seth-the-12yr-old-indian-boy-who-is-trying-to-save-our-planet/ ‘My father always encouraged me to look at nature. I once watched a programme on TV which talked about climate change and how the earth was going to get impacted. I was very concerned. I spoke to my father who explained this in detail. We realised that planting trees was a very good way to stop climate change. My father supported me a lot and every weekend we started planting trees. A lot of my friends have also joined in this. I am working with other child activists and creating awareness. Even the government have noticed our activities.’ • Akanksha Joshi, award-winning film maker, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aka nksha_Damini_Joshi ‘As a child I remember my mother making the first roti (flatbread) for the sun god and birds—helping me realise that we eat is connected to a larger piece—the earth. Rituals played a large part in helping me understand our dependence on the nature around us. My mother told me mythology stories and all of them had animals, birds and trees as part of them—alive and speaking to humans. When we used water for worship, it went back into the Holy Basil plant in the backyard. I saw how we were all connected—part of the same earth. I grew up in military cantonments, near the Himalayas. And these were rich in greenery. My dad pointed out trees and told stories about them when we went for our evening walks. I spent a lot of time outdoors, marvelling at nature and the mighty mountains around me. My first memories are that of mountains, or rivers, especially of the Jhelum. This connection and the feeling that I need to continue doing something for nature is all due to my upbringing.’ • Mohit Saini, Founder of a Government recognised environmental NGO, http:// harajeevan.org/ ‘Growing up, my mom always told me that humans can achieve anything if they put their mind to it. This was a very empowering sentiment that stayed with me. I grew up in parts of Delhi that were not very green. Somehow, I always felt that if I could convert a desert into a forest, my time on this earth would be well spent. I planned that I will work till I turned 35 to earn enough money to support this endeavour for the rest of my life. I haven’t been able to convert deserts into forests yet, but am doing everything I can, in my little way, so that I can die knowing that I did my bit.’ • Nandini Mehrotra, Conservation Policy Specialist, Researcher, https://www.tec hforwildlife.com/who-we-are

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My mother would be a mentor in this case. As a child, I remember one of the stories she told often was about a child spending his time exploring a garden and befriending the butterflies and squirrels. She also encouraged me to look at trees and made me and my friends paint/ draw Gulmohar and amaltas while sitting out in the garden when they were in full bloom. Once I was in middle school, she was also actively involved in organising a citizen’s collective to restore a lake in our neighbourhood which was my first interaction with any sort of environmental activism. I think as a child I associated time in nature primarily with going to the mountains. We went there every year as a family and I also went almost every year from school since class 4. There was a book called Ped (trees) by Safdar Hashsmi that we looked/was read to us often as children. The illustrations are still quite vivid to me. Another children’s book called The story about Ping was about a duck living in the Yangtze River. This was an audiobook and I heard it hundreds of times over easily. As a child watching the water from tanks overflow bothered me. So much so that I spent my summer vacation mornings with my checking for overflowing tanks and then going to the relevant houses to inform them of the leakage. When I was in class 5 my friends and I lit the ‘snake’ cracker that people get for Diwali. There was so much smoke that came out and I felt so much guilt that I stopped burning any crackers after that. It was an issue at home because I was a killjoy for everyone at Diwali. Plus it was considered inauspicious not to light even one cracker at that point. Over the years, it became more accepted. • Richa Tyagi, Programme Coordinator, The University of British Columbia, a former employee of WWF India I grew up in a hill town, surrounded by a forest. My grandfather was very clear about the existence of wildlife on our property. He planted several fruit trees and if langurs or monkeys were feeding on them, he would say, the land belongs to them too. I grew up with the mindset to live in harmony with nature and that’s helped me build a life working in nature conservation as well. Growing up, I would frequently hike up a small hill across the street. The joy of being alone in the middle of a small forest was incomparable. I am happiest when I am walking amongst trees. Even when I moved to New Delhi for studies, I would frequently go on treks to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It was my time to recuperate from city life. I think one of the biggest influences in my life was nature. I am glad my parents didn’t move out of the small town and let me grow up hugging trees and chasing butterflies. The first books to influence me were written by someone who lived very close to home—Ruskin Bond. His writings about Dehra and the hills were personal to me as well. I lived a similar childhood to his and daydreamed about spending my old age in a small cottage in Mussoorie. He wrote about nature and I was deeply influenced by his call to protect the lower Himalayas, which he and I both called home. As I grew up, I read Wordsworth, Yeats and Gerald Durrell. More recently, I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin W Kimmerer, which talks about indigenous relations with nature.

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• Padmavati Dwivedi, Founder of a citizen’s action group, Compassionate Living, http://www.compassionateliving.in/ ‘All my summer holidays were spent in a village in Andhra Pradesh, which had lush paddy fields and coconut orchards. We had cows in that ancestral house and food was made from things growing in our gardens. We ate out of banana leaves, which were then given to the cows to eat. No utensils were used for eating. Coconut husk was used to clean the cooking vessels and they all went back into the earth as compost. There was no waste. My fondest memories are of watching the rainfall through the tall coconut palms and drenching the earth all around. It was fragrant. There was minimal use of cement and concrete. Other than summer holidays, I also had the advantage of living in a very green colony in Vishakhapatnam, where I was able to spend a lot of time in nature.’ • Urvana Menon, Programme Lead, Sustainable Infrastructure, WWF Myanmar My father’s paranoia about not wasting a drop of water, my mother’s paranoia about plastic and about fossil fuels being depleted, my mother’s love for vegetarian food and her discourse on animal cruelty, my brother’s great fondness for wildlife and especially for elephant and tiger stories, my paternal grandmom’s fights with the neighbours to not use plastic to drop waste but to just keep vegetable waste outside the back lane because there was always a cow waiting to eat it, my paternal grandfather not getting vegetables on his way back from office only because he forgot to carry his bag, my grandmom’s completely shock at the first time she saw milk in a plastic pouch and didn’t know what to do with the pouch after the milk is over. My mother’s elder brother quit cosmetic products, plastic products, floor cleaners and detergents completely in the early 2000s—he used to carry his glass bottles when he would visit restaurants and everyone would look at his family like a bunch of weirdos—I hadn’t heard of anyone do all so religiously until then—he explained the linkages of all of this with ecology and how it impacts our food cycle—that remains the turning point of understanding how our actions impact nature. He remains my go-to when I need to understand or stimulate my brain about the cause and effect of individual actions and the interconnectedness of beings. All trips to Dehradun and surrounding areas were always accompanied by stories from my mother/my grand-dad about Rajaji—about elephant deaths due to trains and rights of forest-dwelling communities, my father’s insistence on observing the trees when we driving through streets of Delhi. Reading, not necessarily books based on nature but books which got you thinking—Ruskin Bond, the Jim Corbett Collection, the Wildlife Encyclopaedias at home, read a lot of mythological text which always had references to inclusion and overall well-being. But the book that inspired me was Silent Spring. Getting my hands on issues of Down To Earth was not as often but each read-only reinforced my resolve on my career decision, the Vedanta mining issue was a huge turning point and THE reason why I chose to work in this field.

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• Vallari Sheel, Ph.D, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, North Carolina State University, https://publicscience.ncsu.edu/people/vsheel/ ‘My mother named me Vallari—which means plant creeper. In my house in Delhi, we had a garden with trees and shrubs. I have strong memories of picking flowers and fruits. My mother grew up with fruit orchards all around her. She was very fond of plants and made sure I recognised at least the common trees and shrubs around our house. We had environment education programmes in school and I participated in all the activities. I also learnt classical Indian dance as a kid—and every move has a reference to an animal or plant and depiction of seasons is an integral part of Indian dance. I also read a lot of NBT (National Book Trust) books and mythology stories—all of which has animals and trees. One author who influenced me a lot was Ruskin Bond. I loved reading about the hills and its flowers in his books.’ • Raghav Srivastava, Environmental Lawyer, Environment Law writer—https:// www.huffingtonpost.in/author/raghav-srivastava/ ‘My biology teacher was a great influence on me, during my school days. She pushed me to join the UN International Childrens’ Conference on Environment. I learned a lot from being part of this programme. I was alone a lot of time and I used this time to read a lot. About nature and animals amongst other things. As a kid, I was fascinated by dinosaurs and read a lot about them. I also liked going for long runs and walks in forests—I felt most at peace and happy there.’ • Peepal Baba or Swami Prem Parivartan, Founder Give me Trees Trust, https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Peepal_Baba ‘I grew up in Army Cantonments as my father was an army doctor. My English teacher in middle school influenced me a lot and she inspired me to love trees. I planted my first tree, in our ample garden, in Pune. And since then, have planted more than a million trees and continue to do so.’

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Jayati Talapatra is a faculty and consultant in Business Sustainability.