Sustainability in the Development of Green Organizations Based on the Example of Manufacturing Companies

Abstract

There are many studies that address the topic of organizational development in the context of sustainability, but their results do not include a combined functional approach in the area of management as well as in the development of green organizations (GOs). Defining the development of GOs and their phases from a functional perspective in manufacturing companies has not yet been sufficiently studied. This refers to the process of organizational change including, but not limited to, production, human resources, marketing, environmental management, supply chain, resources, circular economy, zero-waste buildings or product design. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the criteria for describing GOs and to define the phases of their development against the background of the literature. Empirical research was conducted on a sample of 100 manufacturing companies. The development phases of GOs were determined using cluster analysis with the k-means method carried out in accordance with the Hartigan–Wong algorithm and compared with the publishing dates of scientific publications. The results indicate that it is possible to define organizations by their development phase, and thus, it is possible to identify criteria that, when refined, will make it possible to accelerate the development of GOs in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.