Design and implementation of a Sustainability Initiative from the "Institutional Middle": Reflections on the organizational conditions for it to thrive or fail

This paper explores the organizational, structural, conditions for the “institutional middle” to thrive in the implementation of sustainability efforts in a High Education Institution. This work combines participant observation and case study techniques, together with linear analysis concepts from Organizational Cybernetics and literature on campus sustainability to analyze the organizational conditions that affect the institutional middle’s potential for success/failure in the implementation of sustainability initiatives in a private small university. The empowerment and recognition of autonomy of faculty and staff are found to be critical for the successful conception and implementation of sustainability initiatives. However, such effectiveness depends on the provision and emergence of adequate organizational structures to guarantee the resilience and viability initiatives born from the “institutional middle”. The case study provides evidence of how the institutional middle can affect the top-down management for both the management of environmental issues in campus and the development of contextualized academic programs. The case study suggests a cost-effective, efficient and high-impact method to design and implement sustainability initiatives in universities. The case study provides evidence of the impact of adequate organizational structures supporting initiatives from faculty and staff. The organizational cybernetic approach proves to be useful to understand (sustainability) entrepreneurship in the institutional mid

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