Mikael Seppälä's talk on 24.3.2023 at Sosiologipäivät 2023 in Tampere.

Abstract: 

Ecosystem Orchestration - From exploring multiple perspectives to engaging them in sustainability practices

The main traditions and strengths of sociology have focused on exploring multiple perspectives using quantitative and qualitative methods (Abbott 2000). Sociological practice, interventions and fostering social change have not been widely adopted in sociology (Bruhn & Rebach 2007).

Given the global, societal and systemic challenges we face today, the linear orientation of solving the problems is not up to the task whereas the actual work is transforming the actors and the patterns of interaction that govern their activities (Seppälä 2020).

One definition of ecosystems from the management discipline is that they are social, co-evolving ecosystems where the different actors influence and are influenced by their shared environments, situations and institutional settings (Peltoniemi 2004). Ecosystem orchestration refers to the activities that go into fostering collaboration between organizations and actors within and between ecosystems (Valkokari et al. 2021).

Engaging with and building bridges between multiple perspectives and conflicting logics of value creation is at the heart of ecosystem orchestration. Based on a recent review of international ecosystem orchestration practitioners in sustainability, five themes of methods emerged. They include (1) relationship building, (2) identifying shared challenges and collaborative governance, (3) hybrid funding and portfolio management, (4) co-creation and project management, and (5) creation shared knowledge. (CEGO 2022.)

Could a basic understanding of methods like this be used help bridge sociology and its applied practitioners from being experts in a single discipline to being collaborators in transdisciplinary settings?