The assumption that economic growth is an absolute requirement of the global political economic system is so entrenched it is rarely questioned by mainstream economists (Daly, 2013) and is perhaps even more deeply embedded in the field of organizational and management studies. This growth-centred vision of how economies work and how businesses operate is increasingly unsustainable, and despite growing evidence of the ecological and social harm of maintaining this worldview (starting with Meadows et al., 1972), it is the current global health pandemic that has reignited calls to governments and businesses to urgently undertake structural institutional change to address these problems, including calls for a radical break from traditional growth-based models. A strong theme in these degrowth discourses is the focus on self-organising at the local level, which has implications for the future roles of managers, decision making and cooperation to maintain beyond growth systems. During past AoM meetings we have explored issues raised by the scholarly discourse on degrowth and the wider notions entailed by a postgrowth perspective. In the previous PDW we applied the concept of degrowth (Latouche, 2004; 2010) on how to organize new collectives of transformative practice through connecting business with civil society and local governance institutions (Shrivastava & Kennelly, 2013). In this PDW we will build on those discussions to explore how new forms of organising may unfold at the micro/meso scale, and how these interrelate to the macroeconomic scale of decision-making and design.
More information and background material is provided at https://degrowthaom.wordpress.com/