Adapting participative governance framework for the implementation of a sustainable development plan within an organization

Abstract : This chapter will discuss how participative governance frameworks can also be an interesting approach for Organizations or Institutions targeting a sustainable development goal and how these frameworks can contribute to frame (more) collectively an expected equilibrium between reducing the impact of the economical activities on climate change and environment by maintaining economical growth and respecting social concerns. We will describe and discuss our empirical case study which objective was the implementation of a sustainable development plan within a public Institute. This case study will show the advantage of participatory frameworks and the limits of stakeholders' participation model in some specific contexts. The practical approach we designed will be introduced with reference to some theoretical frameworks (based on decision aid methodologies, stakeholders' theory and contracts theories). In particular, different levels of participation (information, consultation, association-participation, and deliberation-concertation), according to three models of democracy (representative, participative and deliberative), have to be distinguished before being used.