Social Governance, Social Policy and Social Systems

The Monash Sustainability Institute (MSI) has expertise on social, governance and policy issues which are critically related to sustainability.

Each of the theme areas of MSI: climate change, water, energy, transport and infrastructure, and biodiversity, encompass a social component, be it how technological changes in these areas impact on people, how to put in place structures to assist people manage change, and how behavioural change can be fostered. MSI facilitates and co-ordinates a multi-discipline team of social researchers, including the areas of: social systems, social policy, sociology, demography, psychology, social marketing, and anthropology. The team also involves researchers from associated disciplines including economics, management, law, education and health, and works closely with people from the physical sciences.

Social research at MSI is co-ordinated by Dr. Janet Stanley and Professor Ray Ison, who also facilitate links with education and action projects associated with MSI/ClimateWorks Australia.

Please direct enquiries about projects to:

Dr. Janet Stanley
Chief Research Officer
Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University
CLAYTON VIC 3800
tel: +61 3 9902 0737
mob:+61 (0)418 407 248
janet.stanley@msi.monash.edu.au

Dr. Ray Ison
Professor, Systems for Sustainability
Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University
CLAYTON VIC 3800
mob: +61 (0)404 308 180
R.L.Ison@open.ac.uk

Current projects on social sustainability, governance and social policy

Systemic and Adaptive Water Governance

Australia’s water environment, both rural and urban, is in a state of crisis, characterised by complexity, interdependencies, uncertainty, multiple perspectives and controversies. Sustainability and actions for dealing with water scarcity and climate change adaptation have become important policy priorities. Water is the key element that will underpin sustainable human activity and social well-being in situations such as the Goulburn – Broken catchment, or urban Melbourne. UNIWATER and MSI are presently collaborating in research and development on sustainable water issues in both these locations. This program is premised on the evidence-based claim that new governance arrangements based on systems-based social learning approaches offer theoretical and praxis (theory informed practical action) frameworks capable of dealing with the challenges posed by 'wicked situations' (complex, multi-factoral problems). New practices and policy responses are required to engage effectively with ‘wicked problems’. This program examines how social learning and systemic approaches can effect social and institutional transformations that are viable and sustainable. This R&D program also employs and develops social learning and systems approaches to enhance adaptive and systemic water managing within a broader framing of climate change adaptation and significant institutional and social change. Contact: Professor Ray Ison

Study of Equity Issues for a Proposed Westernport Adaptation Strategy Project

The Department of Sustainability and Environment is scoping a project which aims to understand, facilitate and review the process of adaptation to climate change in the Westernport Region of Victoria. This project may form a model for approaches that could be applied to other regions in Victoria, and possibly Australia. The MSI is writing an Issues Paper on the particular challenges on adaptation that will be faced by members of the community who are disadvantaged, with low finances, and who may be at risk of social exclusion. Contact: Dr. Janet Stanley

Review of Complementary Measures Initiated in South Australia to Compliment the CPRS

With the election of the Rudd Government in November 2007, it was announced that a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) will be introduced in July 2010. The CPRS is a market-based scheme which will attach a price to carbon thus providing an economic incentive to reduce emission levels within Australia. The MSI, in partnership with KPMG, is undertaking an assessment of the complementarity of South Australia’s climate change policy responses with the proposed CPRS. This review will ascertain the effectiveness and efficiency of these complementary measures, as well as issues relating to equity, administrative burden and whether the measures address the market failures of the CPRS. The complimentary measures cover the areas of leadership, buildings, energy, transport and planning, community, industry and natural resources. Contact: Dr. Janet Stanley

Investigating Transport Disadvantage, Social Exclusion and Well-being in Metropolitan, Regional and Rural Victoria

MSI is a partner in an ARC project which explores the association between the ability to be mobile and social exclusion and well-being, including the dimensions of social capital, connection with community, and personality and affect dimensions. This study will produce quantitative associations between these variables, providing important information for policy development in the area of social sustainability. The study is a collaboration between Monash University (Professor Graham Currie - lead researcher), the Victorian Department of Transport, the Bus Association of Victoria, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, Oxford University and the University of Ulster. The project life is three years, due to finish mid 2010. Contact: Dr. Janet Stanley

Melbourne’s Water Situation: the short and long-term outlook

This project is undertaking long and short-term forecasting for Melbourne’s water supply and water demand. It offers a range of scenarios taking into consideration future rainfall and water sources, as well as projected water demand, possible savings and population trends. The researchers suggest that if particular scenarios come into play, Melbourne will experience even more severe water shortages. Suggestions about possible sources of water saving are made in the report. Project participants are Professor Bob Birrell, Dr. Mike Grace, Professor Dave Griggs, Dr. Ernest Healy, Professor John Langford, Dr. Janet Stanley and Dr. Philip Wallis. Contact: Dr. Janet Stanley

Adaptive water governance and systemic thinking for future NRM - action research to build MDBA capability

Executive Summary

Behind every high performance organisation there is a culture that informs the way individuals think and work collectively. This scoping project was designed to introduce Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) staff to strategies of human inquiry aimed at maximising professional outcomes and minimising systemic failures.

The overriding desire of those involved in the project was to have a workplace characterised by scientific, technical and professional excellence and an openness to change. These motivational drivers served to form the essential linkages between practical skill acquisition (systemic thinking and practice) and the perceived demands for cultural and organisational enhancement leading to the desired high performance outcomes.

Each and every one of the perceived interventions was directed to the delivery of a greater capacity (through new information and practice) to embrace change: change that required challenging pre-existing ways of thinking, decision-making, and working together productively. The reflection that best represented the experience at the conclusion of the first workshop was that the twenty-one participants had, collectively, taken "one small step in the right direction towards a high performance organisation." Having first identified the systemic issues that had engaged the participants' enthusiasms for moving forward, it was clear that concrete action planning could result from a limited investment of time (namely, a four hour workshop). The highly focused learning experience had led to the desired capacity building.

Progressive monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of the scoping project testify to the high level of staff commitment to achieving excellence and the appropriateness of the action research methods and cultural/organisational change principles employed. The project was judged as very successful in meeting its set purpose, namely, to explore a manner of working that emphasised a critical and systemic approach to performance; one that was evidence-based and outcome oriented.

Across an eight-week period thirty-one staff engaged in one or more of the structured experiences that made up the project. In addition to the MDBA personnel, three members of the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) participated in one or other of the workshops. This latter involvement was deemed important as it underscored the work that the APSC had recently completed on ‘wicked problem' situations and the need to develop systems thinking skills in order to address just such situations. The application of systems thinking skills to wicked problem situations was seen to be highly relevant to the generation of a MDBA work-place culture characterised by forward movement and pride in its achievement, especially given the inherent complexity of integrated and sustainable management of water resources across the whole Basin.

The scoping project offered its participants (as judged by both qualitative and quantitative measures) ways of moving forward through complex and often ambivalent decision-making situations. By employing systemic strategies that maximise the flow of information and that are built on collaborative values, participants learnt to shape cultural and strategic change. The application of these change strategies addressed, in an initial manner, internal and external collaboration, problem definition, and the utilisation of new and challenging ways of listening, learning and action.

It was the strong opinion of participants that the usefulness of the theory and practice of this systemic manner of working could be more widely applied across the MDBA and, as a consequence, constituted a powerful instrument capable of achieving the desired cultural shift.

The considered conclusion of the participants was that the ambition of having a coherent organisational culture, one that supported and rewarded excellence could be achieved by the progressive implementation of the sorts of capacity building exemplified in this scoping project.

The project clearly enabled staff to use and benefit from a range of tools, techniques and conceptual models. With careful design and facilitation of the learning system in which these techniques and concepts were embedded it was possible to generate very effective cross-jurisdictional (between programs and divisions) and inter-disciplinary working.

A significant research outcome has been the development of two ‘meta-models'. The first is a process model for internal and external engagement so as to aid the Authority in achievement of its mission. The second is a set of activities that comprise a minimum set of elements in a learning system for evolving the Authority's culture and character.

The research has identified a range of strategic risks that face the MDBA in pursuing its mission. What is significant, however, is that the ways of working pursued in this project were seen by participants as an effective means to highlight and then address potential strategic risks.

The scoping project evidences clear demand for on-going capability building in systems thinking for better integration and performance within the MDBA. To achieve maximum impact this will, in future, require active embedding and facilitation within the organisation.

The follow-up evaluation of the scoping project provides clear evidence that the activities enhanced the Authority's culture of professional development and learning, as well as generating outputs that were useful to the individual participants. Participants highlighted in the evaluation, however, that a key issue for the future was how the MDBA as an organisation may take advantage of the types of learning that they had experienced.