Educating for Sustainability and CSR: What is the role of business schools?
Special Issue of Journal of Management & Organization
Volume 17 Issue 3 July 2011
pages ISBN 978-1-921348-76-1
Edited by:
Suzanne Benn and Robin Kramar
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
This special issue of Journal of Management & Organization (ISSN 1833-3672) explores the role of business schools, institutions of higher education and other relevant organisations in fostering change for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability.
Many business schools are introducing courses and programs on sustainability and CSR. The need to develop skills and knowledge concerning the impact of organisational decision-making on wider society and the natural environment, as well as on its financial outcomes, is now widely recognised. For example, several national governments have passed regulation that requires workforce members, managers, executives and directors to consider both short term and long term viability of businesses, communities and the environment.
Recently strong arguments have been made that business schools should be providing intellectual and moral leadership on the complex challenges of sustainability, anticipating the requirement for business professionals with management capabilities for sustainability, and modelling sustainability values and practices for their student body.
Despite this growing awareness, the development of sustainability and CSR programs and courses remains limited. Few business schools are mainstreaming sustainability or CSR as core learning outcomes or implementing specialised courses, core units or degree programs on sustainability or CSR. Many business schools include sustainability or CSR through an elective unit in their MBA programs, yet few incorporate sustainability or CSR into the undergraduate business school program.
Given the pressing environmental, financial and social challenges facing societies, it is important to explore and assess the role of business schools in leading and implementing change towards CSR and sustainability education - such as:
- Actively leading public debate
- Engaging stakeholders in understanding and addressing sustainability issues
- Embodying sustainable values in operations and policies
- Building student and staff awareness and capacity through business education, professional development and research.
In some cases, governments and corporations are leading the agenda on promoting CSR and sustainability. This raises questions about the role of business schools in working with business and governments to further sustainability outcomes in business.
- How should business schools innovate to play a relevant role?
- What institutional leadership should business schools provide?
Submissions to this special issue could focus on demand and supply conditions in business schools for sustainability and CSR courses, units and degree programs, including postgraduate research degrees:
What are the barriers that are inhibiting this take-up and what are the potential benefits for business schools if they take a more far-sighted approach in attempting to address one of the most complex and challenging issues of our time?
Another topic for exploration could address the pedagogical elements needed to bring about the transformational change for sustainability required to address the complex problems of climate change, global inequities in the labor market and working conditions, rampant consumerism and unethical or exploitative business practices. This topic relates to the proposition that:
If education is to bring about deep seated change for CSR and sustainability it must be underpinned by Education for Sustainability principles such as values clarification, critical reflection, participation and systemic thinking, involving continuous learning and co-learning by 'student' and 'lecturer'.
The topic includes the current controversy over the wider role of business schools in higher education, partly prompted by the global financial crisis:
Has the overall focus been too much on the instrumental use of the economy to build material outputs and consumerism, at the expense of the natural environment, social stability, and ultimately, creating financial instability?
We are interested in empirical and conceptual papers that address one or several of the following questions:
- What is the nature of the role/s that business schools should be playing in leading and managing change towards sustainability and sustainable development?
- What are the forces and constraints, such as supply and demand, and other drivers and barriers to business schools taking up such roles? For example:
- What is the impact of increasing commodification on the potential for introducing sustainability and CSR in business schools?
- What external changes are needed to drive more active curriculum reform in business schools and embed sustainability into subject and course offerings?
- What role do partnerships play?
- How can change management tools, such as boundary objects, be utilised to drive change in the business schools?
- What role is there for Communities of Practice?
- What role is there for various stakeholders? For example:
- What is the role of business in promoting sustainability in business/management schools?
- Do we need closer relationships between the VET and tertiary sectors in order to articulate green skills into university-level programs?
- What are the implications for student projects, student assessment and higher degree research students?
- What is leading practice in curriculum and pedagogies? This may include the following:
- What constitutes effective teaching and learning to equip work-ready students with the capabilities to respond effectively to the challenges of sustainability?
- How are educational practices for sustainability assessed and iteratively improved?
- How can a business school develop and maintain teaching and postgraduate research programs that address the participatory, reflective and systems-based approach that underpins Education for Sustainability?
- What are the constraints to effective educational practices for sustainability, and how can competing demands be successfully managed?
- What patterns of subject offerings within business schools could address the Millennium Development Goals in terms of fostering sustainable development practice?
Keywords: action learning; communities of practice; corporate social responsibility; critical reflection; education for sustainability; higher education curriculum; holistic learning; intellectual and moral leadership; leading change; management/ business schools; partnerships; resistance to change; stakeholders; sustainability; sustainability and CSR teaching programs, systemic change
Submissions
Abstracts addressing one or more of these themes should be submitted to a guest editor by 01 February 2010:
Professor Suzanne Benn: sbenn@gse.mq.edu.au
Professor Robin Kramar: robin.kramar@mgsm.edu.au
Janelle Thomas: jthomas@gse.mq.edu.au
Manuscripts should follow the format recommended by Journal of Management and Organization Author Guidelines at: http://jmo.e-contentmanagement.com/page/35/author-guidelines.
Final manuscripts should be submitted by 30 April 2010 to JMOeditorial@e-contentmanagement.com.
All papers will be subjected to double or triple blind review. The special issue will appear as Journal of Management & Organization (ISSN 1833-3672) volume 17/3 - May 2011.
eContent Home
