A different approach is proposed by Merad et al. (2012). These authors “discuss how participatory governance
frameworks may be addressed to organizations or institutions pursuing sustainable development goals”. Their case
study aims to implement sustainable plans within a public institution. The authors show the advantages of integrating
participatory frameworks. The participatory framework is based on decision aid methodologies, stakeholder theory
and contract models. The authors’ approach is based on a MCDA methodology for the implementation of a
participative democracy model in two steps. In step one - the “outlining and structuring problem” – they use the
Organizational Analysis technique together with a contextual diagnosis. And, in step two, aggregation procedures
are chosen and applied according to the available information for “each action with the aim of reaching an overall conclusion” to give support to the decision. One of the main limits in this approach is that, despite the existence of a
participatory process, the final decision is taken by the decision-maker, not allowing co-decision. There is a strong
parallelism between the work of Merad et al. (2012) and our research, evidenced in two ways: by establishing the
link between the participation of stakeholders and the approach to sustainability development plans; and also
providing the link towards these plans into organizations. Another relevant point is that Merad et al. (2012) include
democratic paradigms in their framework. This particular feature gives the owner of the company the possibility to
decide if he will be the only decision-maker or if he will allow co-decision.