To overcome the challenges associated with a reimagining of convenience retail’s symbiotic relationship with plastic packaging will require strong business leadership alongside other modes of organising. Leadership is a process in which disproportionate and asymmetric relationships use social influence to create follower reality. It relies on persuasion and aims at meaning (Grint, 2005; Bass, 2008; Alvesson et al., 2017) and should be considered separately from other forms of social organising such as management, which relies on the rights and responsibilities associated with a contract of employment (Barker, 2001). Social construction of reality theory holds that our truths are subjective, and that we create reality through our interactions with other people and the wider world. A social constructivist view of leadership would suggest that in communicating reality, we are in effect the creators of reality (Berger and Luckmann, 1966; Hines, 1988), and that stories with their origins in power often become the truth (Smircich and Morgan, 1982). Yet the issue of plastic pollution encompasses numerous competing realities, both present and future. There are stakeholders who suggest plastics should be abandoned altogether, some who contend that we should only use compostable and biodegradable plastics, those who believe we should abandon single use models in favour of reusable packaging solutions, and those who advocate improvements to the recycling of single use plastics. These competing versions of reality are not mutually exclusive but offer benefits in different parts of the value chain and may coexist in different areas of product categorisation. Selling loose produce may be the best solution where it does not increase food waste. Compostables may be the best choice for small items contaminated with food residue or those that enter the environment inadvertently through flushing into sewers. For personal care products such as shampoo, reusing containers may be the best solution, as it simultaneously reduces single use plastic and removes tainted packaging from food contact recycling streams.
When leadership is done by a subordinate rather than to them, that leadership is said to be ‘distributed’ (Bolden, 2011). A process of social reality construction is thus necessary to convince stakeholders that they should take ownership of plastic reduction projects. The distribution of leadership ensures that stakeholders become emotionally invested and inspires them to achieve societal advancement through the sustainable development of products. Hence, in using leadership as an impetus for collective responsibility we attempt to become ‘entrepreneurs of identity’ (Reicher et al., 2005). Competitive agendas mean this is not always straightforward. Mintzberg (1985) suggests a ‘political arena’ emerges in situations where illegitimate games compete with strong systems of legitimate power, and Ammeter (2002) suggests any attempt to create shared meaning which builds trust in the leader is politics. Yet finding a balance between environmental, social, and economic factors using leadership (as opposed to management) can be difficult – it requires abandonment of previously held convictions of the right things to do (which may have been imposed by managers) in favour of an alternative reality suggested by the leader (who may be organisationally subordinate). Within the political arena, there is value to be found in networks that drive positive behaviour through leadership by subordinates.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the functionality of plastic packaging in keeping food safe and avoiding the transmission of viruses underwent a renewed appreciation. Some of the plastic reductions achieved prior to this time, such as selling loose bread and vegetables, needed to be temporarily reversed. Attitudes towards plastic packaging can thus be influenced by wider societal events. Moreover, a law of propinquity (Brass and Krackhardt, 2012), wherein physical proximity to our leaders is directly relative to their effectiveness, was called into question by shared experiences during the lockdowns of the pandemic. Non-customer-facing managers of retail businesses moved to completely virtual online ways of working yet managed to keep the country fed despite unprecedented pressures on logistics networks. Prior to the pandemic, these virtual influencing networks, in which the creators of online content participate in leadership, existed mostly outside the organisation. They were said to replace traditional sources of power with open, participatory and peer driven alternatives (Heimans and Timms, 2014; Perera et al., 2019). The events of 2020-22 have intensified the power and effectiveness of virtual networks and have made them a mainstream part of the way business is conducted today.
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