Organizational change takes place within a change context, which includes what is happening in the broader economic, political and social context. This is the outer context, and is the environment in which the organization operates. This is what people usually think about when they talk about organizational change.

But part of the business environment is the real environment – the air we breathe, the water we drink.

Responsible organizations should already be undergoing organizational changes to improve their environmental record. One of their challenges is to go through these changes without weakening their competitive position. Careful change management is obviously essential.

Some organizations view EU and national government plans as being too radical and as a threat to competitiveness. These companies need to get their priorities straight, though. The concept of stakeholders should help these companies to understand that their organizational changes should include changes to help the environment: we are all stakeholders in the environment.