Organizational Adaptation to Climate Change : Three Case Studies from Bangladesh

Mehedi, Islam (2020) Organizational Adaptation to Climate Change : Three Case Studies from Bangladesh. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).

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Abstract

Organizations deploy various approaches in managing impacts, undertaking adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Despite there has been a growing research in this area, yet the existing literature of organization studies and management is heavily dominated by empirical works using descriptive research approach and oriented towards quantitative research paradigm. There has been a serious lack of in-depth research that examines organizational adaptation towards climate change impacts in the context of developing countries from qualitative paradigm that can offer useful theoretical insights to advance the current understanding in this area. The objectives of this research are as follows. It investigates organizational adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh, and further examines factors that motivate or prevent organizations in undertaking effective climate change adaptation strategies, as well as the outcomes of organizational adaptation practices and responses. The study integrates open systems theory, organizational learning theory and Pettigrew‟s processual analysis in the conceptual framework to guide the research. It deploys a qualitative approach using case study method that involved three organizations in Bangladesh and uses variety of data collection techniques. Based on the research findings, this study found that there is no unique approach deployed by the organizations, and their adaptation responses to climate change could be considered as co-adaptation with other typical organizational changes to complement with new conditions. Most adaptation decisions were also found to be reactive and mainly focused on managing immediate business risks. The common adaptation strategies such as climate-proofing infrastructure, climate-proofing process, and communicating climate risks were engaged by these organizations. The findings further revealed internal and external factors such as low awareness, weak leadership, costly adaptation technology, lack of information and difficulty to acquire adaptation finance, corruption, political instability and unsupportive regulatory environment as well as cultural factors could hamper initiatives to adopt effective business adaptation responses to climate change. Overall, this study makes three important research contributions. First, it extends the existing theoretical understanding about managing climate change impacts from the standpoint of an organization, by highlighting the dynamic interplays between internal and external factors, as well as cultural and institutional factors in the business environment, that are contributing towards reactive adaptation responses to climate change. Second, this study argues that in order to move beyond the typical reactive adaptation responses, initiatives such as development of good climate change governance framework, related policies and effective intervention programs by government are required to affect and sustain positive change in the business environment. Finally, the research has managerial and practical implications that can benefit Bangladesh business sectors particularly in telecommunication, real estate and garment manufacturing industries.

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