GESTORES E SUSTENTABILIDADE: A DIFICIL TRADUCAO DO SIGNIFICADO PARA A ACAO COMPETENTE/MANAGERS AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE DIFFICULT TRANSLATION OF MEANING INTO COMPETENT ACTION/GESTORES Y SOSTENIBILIDAD: LA DIFICIL TRADUCCIoN DEL SIGNIFICADO A LA ACCIoN COMPETENTE

Skills for sustainability is an emerging theme in a field that still lacks development for managers, whose responsibilities involve assimilating the concept of sustainability in organizations. For these, the translation of the discourse into practice is still a difficult challenge to overcome. This study aims to understand how managers interpret the sustainability guidelines and translate them into daily actions. It works with the concept of societal competence as the ability to deal with the social and environmental impacts of the management of organizations in multiple stakeholder groups, and to establish dialogues between business and society. The authors carried out a qualitative study whose results revealed that sustainability is established as a chimera, but its implementation is still shrouded in difficulties when it comes to clarifying precisely how this occurs. The purpose of this study is to discuss the development of a management mentality of the manager, the meaning he or she gives to its practice, and how this can result in competent action.