Exploring the Developmental Process and Internal Structure of Kizuki-Based Volunteer Activities for Sustainable Organizations: A Case Study of HARU

Abstract

Sustainable organizations are needed for sustainable societies. This study takes particular note of a student-centered practice focused on long-term reconstruction activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and reveals its developmental processes and internal structure. Kizuki (with-it-ness) was the driving impetus for the sustainable organization, in which each staff member constructed, respected, and shaped their kizuki to take deliberate action. In using the theory of a learning organization, it was possible to improve dynamically and explain holistically the team performance, from which a practical model was developed that could enhance the quality of disaster volunteering and assist in the understanding of transformative processes involved in these types of activity systems.