A Dialogical Approach to Readiness for Change towards Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions: The Case of the SDGs Seminars at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Irene Ezquerra-Lázaro, Asunción Gómez-Pérez, Carlos Mataix, Miguel Soberón, Jaime Moreno-Serna and Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro
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Irene Ezquerra-Lázaro: Centro de Innovación en Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Asunción Gómez-Pérez: Department of Artificial Intelligence, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Boadilla del Monte, 28660 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Mataix: Centro de Innovación en Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Miguel Soberón: Centro de Innovación en Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Jaime Moreno-Serna: Centro de Innovación en Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro: Centro de Innovación en Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (itdUPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-33

Abstract: The transformation for sustainability requires a paradigm shift towards systems thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration, which entails, above all, a process of cultural change affecting individual mindsets, organizations and society as a whole. Sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs) has been a recurrent research field in the past decades. However, little attention has been paid to the processes of internal and cultural change and, in particular, to the first steps to prepare academic communities for change. Understanding “readiness for change” as a core organizational competency to overcome continuous environmental changes and considering the diluted hierarchy at HEIs, this article proposes the adoption of dialogical and developmental approaches in a single action case, the SDGs Seminars at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. This methodology was used to diagnose organizational and individual readiness for change considering cognitive, affective and behavioural components, and to identify consequences in organizational structures and culture. Our findings reveal that reframing dialogical spaces in HEIs to experience a collaborative and sustainability culture can unlock change, breaking down organizational silos, reducing resistances and engaging academic communities in the cocreation of institutional strategies. Furthermore, the case suggests that acting at the group level has impacts both on the individual and institutional levels.

Keywords: readiness for change; higher education; academic culture; collaboration; dialogical; developmental; conversations; transformation; sustainable development goals (SDGs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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