Learning from failure in conservation: Individual, team, and organizational dynamics
File(s)
Author(s)
Catalano, Allison Stayner
Type
Thesis
Abstract
Conservation aims to ensure the persistence of biodiversity despite myriad and mounting threats at the intersection of biological processes and socio-economic activity, and many efforts have struggled to achieve success. Failure is inevitable in the complex contexts in which conservation initiatives take place and yet is largely underexamined. Reasons for this shortcoming are multidimensional, encompassing behavioral and cognitive limitations at the individual, group, and organizational levels. Conservation is recognized as primarily about people and the choices they make, but there is a gap in what we know about how conservation professionals themselves as people operating within teams and organizations learn from and manage failure.
My research investigates the current state of failure management in conservation, building upon existing literature in organizational learning and drawing insights from other disciplines to identify ways for conservation to more effectively learn from failure. To do this, I first conduct a literature review to investigate factors contributing to a lack of learning from failure and success in conservation. I find that failure reports are rare and largely unstandardized, and human factors such as stakeholder relationships were the most commonly cited cause of project failure. I then carry out a strategic review of organizational learning literature to provide an inter-disciplinary synthesis of thinking and practice of failure management. Armed with these broad insights, I delve into individual intentions to engage in learning from failure behaviors, finding that social norms, psychological safety, organizational support, and leader behavior play important roles in facilitating learning from failure. To place these individual motivations into a broader context, I then investigate barriers and enabling conditions for learning from failure through a multimethod qualitative study. Finally, I synthesize my findings and provide an operational model and actionable steps going forward.
Providing the first empirical examination of failure in conservation, this thesis highlights both shortfalls in failure management in conservation and, more importantly, opportunities to create a learning transformation going forward.
My research investigates the current state of failure management in conservation, building upon existing literature in organizational learning and drawing insights from other disciplines to identify ways for conservation to more effectively learn from failure. To do this, I first conduct a literature review to investigate factors contributing to a lack of learning from failure and success in conservation. I find that failure reports are rare and largely unstandardized, and human factors such as stakeholder relationships were the most commonly cited cause of project failure. I then carry out a strategic review of organizational learning literature to provide an inter-disciplinary synthesis of thinking and practice of failure management. Armed with these broad insights, I delve into individual intentions to engage in learning from failure behaviors, finding that social norms, psychological safety, organizational support, and leader behavior play important roles in facilitating learning from failure. To place these individual motivations into a broader context, I then investigate barriers and enabling conditions for learning from failure through a multimethod qualitative study. Finally, I synthesize my findings and provide an operational model and actionable steps going forward.
Providing the first empirical examination of failure in conservation, this thesis highlights both shortfalls in failure management in conservation and, more importantly, opportunities to create a learning transformation going forward.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2021-01
Date Awarded
2021-06
Copyright Statement
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives Licence
Advisor
Schroeder, Julia
Publisher Department
Life Sciences
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)