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Cameron Wsu 0251E 12401.Pdf (1.008Mb) REWILDING THE ORGANIZATION: AN EXPLORATION OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH APPLIED TO HUMAN INSTITUTIONS By RICHARD JOHN CAMERON A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY School of the Environment MAY 2018 © Copyright by RICHARD JOHN CAMERON, 2018 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by RICHARD JOHN CAMERON, 2018 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of RICHARD JOHN CAMERON find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. _______________________________________ Allan S. Felsot, Ph.D., Chair _______________________________________ James R. Pratt, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Yonas Demissie, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT This paper would not have been possible without the support and contributions of a number of individuals. Dr. Akram Hossain has been a true mentor throughout my educational career and was instrumental in providing guidance and assistance beyond the call of duty. My career has been significantly enhanced because of the role he took in my life and I am eternally grateful. Dr. Allan Felsot, my committee chair, gave me an opportunity when I thought I had none and provided wonderful insight that helped me connect the many concepts that led to the completion of this work. He also helped me in ways that exceed my understanding. I am grateful beyond words. My other committee members, Dr. Dick Pratt and Dr. Yonas Demissie, were also instrumental in providing insight and guidance and helping me connect the threads that allowed the many disparate elements to be pulled together. I appreciate their help and kindness throughout this ordeal. My educational journey and my opportunity to perform world-class research at PNNL would not have been possible without Russ Treat. He believed in me and helped me envision my professional career. I have been trying to pay the great debt I owe him by mentoring and instructing the next generation of engineers. iii REWILDING THE ORGANIZATION: AN EXPLORATION OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH APPLIED TO HUMAN INSTITUTIONS Abstract by Richard John Cameron, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2018 Chair: Allan S. Felsot From the dawn of humanity, humans have been watching and learning from nature. We are increasingly turning to nature for inspiration, especially in the sciences and engineering where we regularly practice biomimicry and develop new materials and processes. However, we use our own human constructs for the way we structure and operate our organizations. This has resulted in organizations which typically suffer from dysfunction and fail when presented with disruptive events. Natural ecosystems offer a model that has worked for millennia in terms of high functioning and resiliency to disruptions. Human attempts to manage natural environments have historically used command-and-control approaches that have not worked well. However, the ecosystem approach now being utilized for enhancing natural environments is showing promising results. Complexity science is developing a means of incorporating some aspects that make ecosystems work so well, but implementing complexity science into our organizations has proven challenging. This paper explores the potential utilization of the ecosystem approach applied to human organizations in terms of structure and processes including a clear sense of purpose; adaptability; individual freedom; interconnectedness; iv diversity; competition and cooperation; boundaries, corridors, and ecotones; keystone species; feedback loops; ecological time; succession and phases; and embracing messiness and uncertainty. Such an ecosystem approach is expected to lead to rewilding the organization to make it higher functioning and increasing the resilience. A case study is included which explores the ecosystem approach applied to engineering research project teams at a federal research laboratory. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER 1. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 1 2. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE ......................................................................... 4 Nature as inspiration ............................................................................... 6 Human disdain for nature ....................................................................... 8 3. OVERVIEW OF ECOSYSTEMS ................................................................................... 12 Ecosystem Aspects .................................................................................. 14 Trophic Structure ........................................................................ 14 Keystone Species ......................................................................... 15 Habitat and Biodiversity .............................................................. 16 Biological Processes .................................................................... 18 Ecological Successions and Phases ............................................. 19 Ecotones, Boundaries, and Wildlife Corridors ............................ 23 Ecosystem Resilience .............................................................................. 24 Definition of Resilience ............................................................... 24 Why Ecosystems are Resilient .................................................... 26 Resilience Compared to Sustainability ........................................ 27 Resilience Compared to Resistance ............................................ 28 vi The Ecosystem Approach ........................................................................ 29 What is the Ecosystem Approach? ............................................. 29 How Does the Metaphor Apply? ................................................ 32 4. OVERVIEW OF COMPLEXITY SCIENCE ................................................................. 36 Outcomes of Complexity ......................................................................... 41 Self-Organization ......................................................................... 41 Emergence .................................................................................. 42 Resilience .................................................................................... 43 The Challenge of Applying Complexity Science ...................................... 44 5. OVERVIEW OF HUMAN INSTITUTIONS ............................................................... 48 6. APPLYING THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO HUMAN INSTITUTIONS .................. 55 What the Ecosystem Approach is Not .................................................... 61 Implementing the Ecosystem Approach in Human Organizations ......... 62 The Applied Ecosystem Approach .......................................................... 63 Clear Sense of Purpose ............................................................... 64 Adaptability ................................................................................. 67 The Individual .............................................................................. 68 Interconnectedness/Interdependence/Communication ............ 74 Diversity ...................................................................................... 76 Competition and Cooperation .................................................... 78 Boundaries, Corridors, and Ecotones ......................................... 80 Keystone Species ......................................................................... 83 vii Feedback Loops ........................................................................... 85 Ecological Time ............................................................................ 88 Succession and Phases ................................................................ 95 Embracing Messiness, Uncertainty, and Ambiguity ................... 97 Outcomes from Implementing the Ecosystem Approach ......................108 Rewilding .....................................................................................108 Resilience ....................................................................................110 7. CASE STUDY: APPLICATION OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH .............................116 8. SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................131 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................133 viii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my mom, Overa Cameron, and my dad, Glenn Cameron. They instilled in me the love of learning and the drive to reach my potential. They would have been so proud. ix CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND How we structure and operate our human organizations is a topic of great interest. A search on Amazon.com for Business Management listed over 600,000 books (April 4, 2018). There are a similar dizzying number of articles, blogs, seminars, etc. on this topic. Fradette and Michaud (1998) noted: “Many a forest has been felled of late to print the avalanche of books and articles advising us how to fix up and make over our organizations.” Why? There
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