Inhabited Ecosystems: Propelling Transformative Social Change Between and Through Organizations

Employees are becoming activists: asking their companies to take action on everything from climate change to anti-racism. New research in Administrative Quarterly from URI management professor, Douglas Creed and colleagues shows how such employee efforts can achieve long-term success. Creed studied a pioneering effort in Minnesota to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion at multiple companies. He found that employees worked with peers in other organizations to create an “activism alliance.” This combined effort reinforced action at individual companies and broadened their impact.

For today’s employee activists, the researchers have three pieces of advice. “Work the systems as they are today, but with an eye to building capacity for tomorrow. Develop a shared view that see setbacks as invitations to rethink and regroup on focus, tactics, and collaboration. And finally, in the words of E.M. Forster, ‘Only connect.’”