Sustainability in logistics, taking the design and organisation of supply chains and e-mobility as examples

Background and Problem

With a market volume of more than €198 billion and around 1.34 million employees, the logistics sector plays a central role in the social-ecological transformation towards a sustainable, climate-neutral global society. At present, however, logistics tends to appear as the cause of problems rather than as a problem solver when it comes to questions of sustainability. Rising raw material prices, the CO₂ tax, customers' growing demands on their supply chains and the expectations of young talent are key reasons why logistics companies must address sustainability issues within their organisations. Studies by the Bundesvereinigung für Logistik (German Logistics Association) underline that sustainability is of strategic importance for logistics companies when it comes to their future viability and competitiveness. The project ‘Sustainability in Logistics: The Example of the Design and Organisation of Supply Chains and E-Mobility (NaLoGO)’ aims, first, at the sustainability-related competence development of training staff, based on a broad understanding of what constitutes training staff (Bahl 2018, 262; Schlömer et al. 2019). Second, the project aims to qualify in-company training staff (e.g. team and shift leaders, loading supervisors) as ‘Sustainable Leaders’, so as to promote the link between the operational and structural levels. In this way, the project seeks to help ensure that the understanding of sustainability does not end with the respective work processes and fields of activity, but is connected with the sustainability potential of strategic business model development. In the project, sustainability is not understood as an abstract moral ideal but is related directly to the specific work context and to authentic work situations, on the basis of the three dimensions of sustainability: ecological, economic and social.

Research question

The NaLoGO development project focuses on two questions:

1. Although sustainability is currently a central issue for logistics and is being driven forward in particular by statutory reporting requirements, sustainability-oriented competence development at employee level has so far been lacking.

2. In the project, work and learning projects (Arbeits- und Lernprojekte, ALP) and micro-learning units serve as didactic formats by means of which a link is created between domain-specific vocational training and sustainability criteria, with the aim of embedding sustainable action in the professional practice of trainers. The competence development of trainers centres on the question of how companies' commercial interests, on the one hand, and sustainable action, on the other, can be reconciled in favour of sustainability-oriented vocational competence development, taking account of the various dimensions of competence.

Approach

Using the micro-learning method, small thematic, media-supported learning units were created that (1) could be structurally integrated into existing work processes, (2) required a minimum of infrastructural and organisational support and (3) addressed the three dimensions of sustainability with differing emphases. The learning units were formulated in close consultation with the trainers. In order to develop these offerings in vocational education and training for sustainable development (BBNE) as close to the work process as possible, the project carried out

1. guideline-based interviews with chamber representatives, vocational school teachers and training managers,

2. workshops with trainers and trainees,

3. an analysis of previous BBNE pilot projects.

Results

The results of previous pilot projects showed that particular emphasis had to be placed on the contradiction between companies' efficiency rationality and sustainability rationality, and here in particular on the question of how ‘dealing with contradictions at the cognitive, motivational, emotional, mental, volitional and social levels’ could be integrated into professional practice. For NaLoGO, this meant, on the one hand, not confining the learning materials to imparting factual knowledge in the context of the three dimensions of sustainability, but focusing them on the contradictions and obstacles encountered in implementation, because responsible professional action means ‘engaging with the interdependencies, contradictions and dilemmas and consciously making decisions that involve compromise’ (Kuhlmeier/Vollmer 2018, 143). On the other hand, the link to the organisational level was used to examine how training staff could be supported as ‘Sustainable Leaders’.

• Production of learning materials for the sustainability-oriented competence development of in-company training staff,

• Development of a training concept for trainers at the consortium partner ma-co to qualify skilled workers and managers (e.g. team and shift leaders) as ‘Sustainable Leaders’

Dissemination and Transfer Activities

Dissemination took place via the project website, the production of guides for companies, the delivery of workshops and publications in vocational education journals.

References

Bahl, A. (2018). Die professionelle Praxis der Ausbilder. Eine kulturanthropologische Analyse. Campus Verlag

Kuhlmeier, W./Vollmer, T. (2018): Ansatz einer Didaktik der Beruflichen Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. In: Tramm, T. et al. (Hrsg.): Didaktik der beruflichen Bildung – Selbstverständnis, Zukunftsperspektiven und Innovationsschwerpunkte. Bielefeld, 131-151

Schlömer, T. et al. (2019). Das didaktisch-methodische und professionelle Selbstverständnis von betrieblichem Ausbildungspersonal im Bereich des nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens. Zeitschrift für Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik, 115(3), 486–515

Click on the link in the blue box to find information on the funding programme ‘Sustainable Careers – Future-Oriented Training’ (NIB).