Purpose - The current unsustainable environment demands a sustainability transition. Municipalities are critical players in this transition. By fostering the development of sustainability competencies through improving the learning culture in Swedish eco-municipalities, this research aims to foster the sustainability transition. Design/methodology/approach - This research aims to understand the current learning culture of Swedish eco-municipalities using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Both methods also provided insights for recommendations to improve the learning culture in eco-municipalities. For validation of these recommendations, quantitative data analysis is used. The sample includes practitioners and experts in the field. Findings - The research provides insights into the high relevance of interpersonal competency for the sustainability transition. Moreover, practitioners in municipalities focus on strategic thinking competency and topical knowledge, whereas experts in the field focus more on systems thinking and intrapreneurial competence. Further, continuous learning opportunities, collaboration, and inquiry play a big role in the learning environment. Finally, the research provides seven validated recommendations to foster the learning culture to support learning for sustainability. Quality/value - This research supports (Swedish) municipalities in their sustainability by providing insights into challenges in the current learning culture and developing practical recommendations. Further, the study emphasizes the importance of integrating learning into the vision, values, and strategy of municipalities, involving leaders and practitioners. Ultimately, the research highlights that building sustainability competencies requires a comprehensive understanding of learning as an ongoing process integrated into the organizational culture.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:31:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Juliana dAngelo.pdf: 3114723 bytes, checksum: 40dc597a87c08131e38596ebde64222f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-07 / Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie / The search for solutions for environment, economic and social complex issues in organizations rely on coordinated actions among several social actors involved in the sustainable development web and demand they learn a new way to do business. In this scenario which involves multiple social actors, relations, contexts and interests, the social learning has emerged as a hybrid approach to environment and social complex problem solving. It is a different situation for organizations whose focus is not only support such problem solving, but transforming crisis into opportunity to generate sustainable products and services. Therefore, this study discussed how a large organization on chemical segment is socially learning to deal with the dialectic between the return on investments for your shareholders and the benefits for the others stakeholders. It was conducted a qualitative research on Boje s antenarrative analysis orientated. The research assumed, therefore, a postmodern approach, supported by social constructivism assumptions. The data, built on through interviews, informal conversations, textual and audiovisual and documents, and non-participant observation, were analyzed according to antenarrative analysis. The results describe how the social learning process for sustainability (in this case, for a sustainable agriculture) in a for-profit organization encompass a strategy based on developed competencies by the organization; systemic management and implementation model; strong and strategic partnerships; a huge articulation capability to manage multiple social actors, interests, contexts, learning spaces, partners, conflicts and power relations. Finally, the thesis discuss the concept meaning of social learning process for sustainability in a for-profit organization. / Um processo de busca de soluções para as complexas questões ambientais, econômicas e sociais nas organizações depende da ação coordenada entre diversos atores sociais envolvidos na teia do desenvolvimento sustentável e exige que estas reaprendam uma nova maneira de fazer negócios. Neste cenário que envolve múltiplos atores sociais, relações, contextos e interesses, a aprendizagem social tem emergido como uma abordagem híbrida para a resolução de problemas ambientais e sociais complexos. Trata-se de uma realidade diferente para as organizações cujo foco não é somente apoiar a resolução de problemas socioambientais, mas também a transformação de crises em oportunidades de geração de produtos e serviços sustentáveis. Assim, este estudo discutiu como uma organização de grande porte do setor químico está socialmente aprendendo a lidar com a dialética entre a busca pelo retorno sobre os investimentos para os acionistas e pelos benefícios para os seus outros públicos de interesse. Para tanto, foi conduzida uma pesquisa qualitativa orientada pela proposta de análise de narrativas de Boje. Assume a pesquisa, desta forma, uma abordagem pós-moderna, suportada pelos pressupostos do construtivismo social. Os dados, construídos por meio de entrevistas, conversas informais, documentos textuais e audiovisuais, e observação não participante, foram analisados seguindo a orientação da análise de antenarrativas. Os resultados descrevem como o processo de aprendizagem social para sustentabilidade (no caso, para uma agricultura sustentável) em uma organização com fins lucrativos contempla uma estratégia com base em competências desenvolvidas pela organização, um modelo de implementação e gestão sistêmico, parcerias estratégicas robustas; e uma grande capacidade de articulação para gerenciar os múltiplos atores sociais, interesses, contextos, espaços de aprendizagem, parceiros, conflitos e relações de poder. Por fim, a tese discute o significado do conceito de aprendizagem social para sustentabilidade em organizações com fins lucrativos.