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In this first introductory video, we want to focus on our current debates on management and consider how we need to incorporate our management practices into sustainable development. What are we going to learn in this session? In this session, we want to analyze the current challenges that organizations face today in their environments and understand how management has traditionally been and how it might look in the future.
To sum up, in our video, we want to shed light on how we develop a common understanding of what management must address as future challenges and how we can incorporate today’s business practices into a sustainable future.
Now, let’s look at the topics we have in this first video session. We will use Shell as an example. What is Shell doing, or what has Shell done in the past? First, it is a producer of fossil fuels, and thus it has contributed to the climate problems we already know. Shell is a large oil and gas producer, extracting thousands of barrels of oil per day. Altogether, the oil Shell is responsible for has already produced more than a million tons of CO2 equivalents.
Shell was also involved in large natural disasters. Think of the Brent Spar incident back in 1995, when a big oil platform sank in the North Sea, or more recently, oil spills in the Niger Delta. At the same time, Shell is highly profitable—it reached a record income from oil in 2022, earning more than 4 billion US dollars. It is also highly professionalized, using five different business units and operating various firms worldwide, which can be seen as a standard management practice.
We also see that Shell is incorporating what we call environmental and social governance (ESG) factors into its decision-making, aiming to act more responsibly toward the environment, the people who work there, and society at large. Shell is also investing in renewable energies, trying—at least seemingly—to change how it delivers energy.
Despite these efforts, Shell is still criticized for being a very active player in the fossil fuel industry, for lacking transparency, and for its oil exploration activities and heavy lobbying for fossil fuels. In 2021, a court in The Hague sentenced Shell to reduce its emissions, indicating that judges see Shell as not doing enough to change its business practices.
Shell can be seen as a typical example of a traditional company that must change and wants to change, but faces critical questions about how to do so. We ask ourselves how we can understand how managers and organizations act in the current economic, ecological, and societal landscape.
In this session, we will discuss four key questions:
Our session is divided into several videos. In the first video, we will look at sustainable development challenges—asking what ecological, economic, and societal situations the world faces and how these relate to organizational change. In the next video, we will explore management in general: what management is, the processes behind it, and what we need to learn about innovation and strategies.
In the fourth video, we will look at organizational responsibility: What are organizations responsible for today, given the environment and the broader society? Finally, we will examine how organizations act against the backdrop of sustainable development challenges and why many may not be as proactive as they could be.
To sum up, in this first video session, we will look at the challenges that society and organizations face in today’s business environment. Then we will consider organizational responsibility—what it is that organizations are responsible for—and the need for change as organizations decide where they should go next.
Thanks for watching this video.
in this first introductory video we wantto focus on our standing current debateson management and want to think abouthow we have to incorporate ourmanagement practices in our sustainabledevelopment so what are we going tolearn in this session in this session wewant to analyze current challenges ofall organizations that they are facingtoday in their environment and want tounderstand how management in general isused to be and how the future ofmanagement will be to sum up in ourvideo we want to shed light on the waysof how we develop a common understandingof what management has to meet aschallenges in the future and how we canincorporate our today's businesspractices in a sustainablefuture to take a look at the topics thatwe have in this first uh video sessionhere we will take a look at uh shell asan example so what is um shell doing orwhat has shell shell done in the past sofirst of all it is a producer of uhfossil fuels right so um and thereby itcontributed also to our problems andissues that we Face uh with regards tothe climate uh situation we all knowalready so shell is a large oil and gasproducer and um it'sproducing um yeah thousands of barrelsof oil per day um so in some the oilproduction that uh um oil that chel hasuh is responsible for has alreadyproduced uh yeah more than a milliontons of CO2 equivalents until now at thesame time uh shell was also involved inlarge uh yeah uh natural disasters uhthink of the Bren Spa disaster back in1995 when a b big oil drilling platformuh sunk in the Northern sea or uh morerecently uh when we when we're talkingabout the neger and its Delta where uh alot of oil dis was despoiled into the uminto the water so at the same time shellis uh highly profitable uh it hasreached no an income from its oil uh analltime uh record in 2022 with earningmore than4 billionUS it is also highly uh professionalizedorganized uh using five differentbusiness units and operating variousfirms across the globe which can be seenas a yeah common standard uh andmanagementpractice what we also see is that shellis uh incorporating what we callenvironmental and social governancefactors into their decision- makingwhich is aiming at uh yeah acting moremore responsible in uh in theirbusinesses towards yeah acting more uhfriendly with regards to the environmentand also uh yeah people working for themand yeah the society at large and chelis also investing in renewable energiestrying or it seems that they try tochange somehow what they are doing andhow they are delivering energy tosocieties so we see that shell isperhaps trying to change a little bitbut at the same time it's highlycriticized for being still a very activeplayer in the fossile industry uh it'scriticized for their lack oftransparency for their uh yeah what theyare doing uh uh in in in oil drilling inoil exploration and so on and also theyare criticized for lobbying highly ortremendously for the fossil industry asit is or as it was in the past in 2021chel was sentenced to reduce itsemissions in denh hark by by a court anduh perhaps we can see this also atevidence that uh yeah the the judgeswere uh seeing that uh chel is not doingenough to change what they are doing intheir uh businesspractices so we can see chel as atypical example of a traditional companythat has to change that wants to changethat however is somehow critical for theways how to change so what we are askingourself is how can we understand howmanagers and organizations act incurrent economic ecological and societalsituations so in this session we arediscussing four key questions so thefirst question that we're looking at iswhat is the current environment fororganizations that they really have toactin second we are askingwhat ismanagement our third question is isthere a need to rethink management andits practices as they are today andfinally we want to see um what ourorganizations doing in change in intrying to change themselves and are theyproactive in doing so given thesituation they are in or does it seemthat they are lagging behindsomehow so our session is divided intointo different videos in the first videowe're looking at sustainable developmentchallenges so we're asking ourself whatare the current challenges that theworld is facing and what are for exampleecological economic and societalsituations that we have to be aware ofwhen thinking about organizationalchange in the next video we're lookingat management in general so what ismanagement what are the processes behindmanagement what you what do we have tolearn about Innovation andstrategies in the fourth video we arelooking looking at organizationresponsibility what is it thatorganizations are responsible for uh inour today's uh situation and theenvironment that organizations and notonly the organizations but the wholesociety faces today and then finally wewill look at how organizations act inthe in the against the backdrop ofsustainable development challenges anduh we want to see what drives it thatmany organizations are perhaps not asproactive as they could be in becomingsustainable so to sum up in this firstuh video session here we will look atchallenges that we as the society butalso organizations as part of thatSociety face in today's businessenvironment then we'll look at uhorganization responsibility what is itthat organizations are responsible foror can be seen as responsible for andthen we'll look at uh the need uh thatwe see for change uh thatorganizations uh face and whereorganizations should go thanks forwatching this video
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