Women, Responsible Leadership and the MBA (part 4): Women on campus

22 April 2013 by Leave a comment

imagesBusiness schools around the world have taken a wide range of approaches when it comes to providing specific opportunities to promote and empower women in business. In the first blog we looked at range of resources on this topic and in the second post we looked at schools that provide a range of free certificate programmes through the 10,000 Women initiative. The third post looked at programmes being developed to empower women in the corporate world. Now, this post will consider the range of ways that schools are bringing up these issues to campus. 

Social Enterprise Week is an annual event where student clubs at the Graziadio School of Business and Management host a range of events to communicate the value of social and environmental responsibility, as well as sound ethical practices in business. During this week, the MBA Women Club, part of an international network dedicated to the advancement of business women as corporate leaders, held a panel discussion on Achieving the Feminine Triple Bottom Line.

A large number of signatory schools, such as Queen’s School of Business in Canada and London Business School in the UK, are also members of the Forte Foundation, a non profit consortium of major corporations and top business schools working together to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers through access to business education and opportunities. The schools provide, among other things, scholarships for women with high potential.

The Simmons School of Management has done extensive research around how gender is explored at a range of different business schools around the world. In 2012 they had an intensive, interdisciplinary student experience entitled the Simmons World Challenge where teams of students are invited to work with a small team of faculty over their winter break to develop creative solutions for major world problems.  The 2012 World Challenge theme was “At the Edge of Poverty:  Empowering Women to Change their Lives and their Worlds.” The MBA concentration in Organizational Leadership continues to have as its primary focus the success of women in organizations. As part of this, Simmons added a travel course to the UAE, including attendance and active participation in the 2012 Women as Global Leaders Conference (WAGL).

Villanova School of Business in the US has a Women in Business Advocacy Committee, dedicated to proposing measures that will enable all students to explore and understand issues that confront women as business leaders. They collaborate with the university-level Women’s Executive Leadership Program to ensure that the needs of VSB undergraduate and graduate students, VSB alumnae, and VSB corporate partners are best served.

The University of New South Wales in Australia has several programmes focused on women. The Academic Women’s Employment Strategy 2012- 2014 positions gender equity as a strategic priority for UNSW. In 2012 for the eighth consecutive year, it was recognised as an Employer of Choice for its initiatives to support and advance women in the workplace by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. Initiatives developed under UNSW’s gender equity program include the Academic Women in Leadership program, the Vice-Chancellor’s Childcare Support Fund for Women Researchers and the Career Advancement Fund. The school has an Academic Women in Leadership Program, designed for women seeking to develop leadership capability and includes themes such as authentic style, executive influence, adaptive leadership, thought leadership and one-to-one coaching. Their AGSM Women Indigenous Leaders Scholarship is provided yearly to Indigenous women entering the Women in Leadership Programme.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Australasia, Australia, Canada, North America, UK, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , , ,

Women, Responsible Leadership and the MBA (part 3): Empowering Women

15 April 2013 by Leave a comment

imagesBusiness schools around the world have taken a wide range of approaches when it comes to providing specific opportunities to promote and empower women in business. In the first blog we looked at a range of resources on this topic, while in the second we looked at schools that provide free certificate programmes through the 10,000 Women initiative. Here we look at a range of other approaches being taken to empower women in the corporate world.

Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands has an initiative called Women Empowerment which encourages women to empower other women in business networks and high-performance environments. These activities were designed to address the specific challenges that women face when climbing the corporate ladder – a subject of great interest to project initiator and RSM Associate Dean of MBA programmes, Dr. Dianne Bevelander, who has actively researched the subject. In 2011, also based on this research, the school offered an elective called Mount Kilimanjaro Women Empowering Women. Fifteen women from the MBA programmes joined the course which involved going to Mount Kilimanjaro and focused on developing a greater understanding of how to work with other women in high performance environments.

In a bid to encourage more women to join the science, innovation and technology sectors and raise the profile of women currently in the industry, Newcastle University Business School in the UK launched an initiative called “North East of England Role Model Platform for Innovative Women.” The scheme, which has been established to help women overcome personal and professional barriers to success in the science, innovation and technology sectors, was initiated following research carried out by Professor Pooran Wynarczyk of Newcastle University Business School’s Small Enterprise Research Unit that showed that women were massively under represented in certain sectors, namely, in science, technology and innovation.

Bentley University’s Center for Women and Business is focused on helping women reach their full potential in the workplace and helping corporations engage the full potential of talented women leaders. Among other things they organize Best Practices Forums to engage critical thought-leaders and business professionals around the world to provide solutions for helping businesses harness the full potential of talented women leaders within their organizations and incorporating a culture of inclusion.

University of St. Gallen in Switzerland has put together a Management Certificate  called Women Back to Business, which helps women returning from an absence re-enter the job market in managerial positions. The programme is in collaboration with the Executive School of Management, Technology and Law together with Swiss and international companies. It is a one-year training program which includes career coaching, skill training, reflection workshops and practical experience in a company, public organization or NGO.

 

If you would like to share your initiatives around this topic in future posts please contact me.

 

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Netherlands, North America, Switzerland, UK, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , , ,

Energy and Sustainability in Business Schools – Business School response (Part 3)

25 February 2013 by Leave a comment

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Energy and Climate Change are two very important issues for the business sector. Companies of all shapes and sizes are working both independently and together to reach various carbon reduction goals set by themselves or by the international community (see Part 1).

Business schools are also increasingly active with more and more schools reporting on their energy and carbon reduction activities. In Part 2 we looked at a series of measures that business schools are taking to raise awareness about and reduce their carbon footprints. Here we look at how schools are getting more deeply engaged in these issues through partnerships, curriculum and research.

Partnerships

Several schools are partnering with businesses, NGOs or governments to help them with their carbon reduction goals. Universidad del Pacifico in Peru collaborated with the Fundacion Ecologia y Desarrollo in Spain to create their carbon strategy. The project included an awareness raising campaign, a project to calculate the emissions on campus and work with the different parts of the campus to ensure that these efforts continue into the future. At Fordham University, they measured and implemented methods to reduce their carbon footprint, working to meet the City of New York’s program for carbon reduction of 30 percent by the year 2017. An energy and greenhouse gas emission study was completed as part of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s challenge to institutes of higher education to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by the year 2017. The University of Dubai in the UAE, invited the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) to campus to conduct a workshop on conservation and present the latest developments in the fields of water and energy for students, faculty and staff. On February 16, 2012, the University was given the ‘Conservation Award – For a Better Tomorrow’ from DEWA for its reduction of water consumption by 9%, electricity by 23%. At Copenhagen Business School green technology are showcased regularly on campus to demonstrate new green IT solutions, electric vehicles or paperless systems to raise awareness among students and faculty. Companies such as IBM and Velux were the first corporate partners to showcase green technology at CBS.

Courses

A range of businesses are providing elective courses focused on the topic of energy. Babson has a course called The Norwegian Experience, an off shore course that explores the drivers of opportunities in the energy domain and examines ways new ventures are applying technologies in wind, water, solar and alternative fuel.

A growing number of schools have gone beyond providing single courses around energy related topics to creating whole MBA’s focused on Energy. Both Warwick Business School in the UK and Centrum in Peru have MBA programmes focused on Energy. The Energy MBA at Centrum was created to understand how to generate value in the energy field. The program focuses on the application of knowledge, techniques and best practices in order to ensure the management of hydrocarbon resources in different industries. In Switzerland the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur has a Master of Advanced Studies in Energy Economics. Escuela de Organizacion Industrial in Spain provides an executive programme focused on carbon training. St. Gallen in Switzerland has a Diploma Program in Renewable Energy Management which provides training for future leaders in tomorrow’s energy markets.

Centres and Research

Many schools in all regions of the world have centres focused on the topic of energy and climate change or tackle these issues within their sustainability and other related centres. At the Rotterdam School of management the Erasmus Centre for Future Energy Business develops the business foundation for tomorrow’s energy markets. Their research focuses on bringing together energy practitioners, policy makers, and researchers from Economics, Computer Science, Behavioural Sciences, and Management Sciences to guide and to shape the transformation of the energy sector. The school will be hosting their second annual Erasmus Energy Forum in May 2013 focused on exploring the future of the energy business. In the US the University of California at Davis has an Energy Efficiency Centre which works to accelerate the development and commercialization of energy efficiency technologies, and to train future leaders in energy efficiency. University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur in Switzerland has a similar centre and also hosts the Swiss Alpine Laboratory for Testing of Energy Efficiency where they conduct measurements in the area of energy efficiency in line with established Swiss and international norms and practices.

- This is part of a series of blogs in 2013 focused on business schools and energy - 

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Denmark, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, UK, United Arab Emirates, United States, Western Europe

Spreading the word about PRME on campus

1 February 2013 by Leave a comment

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Signatories to the Principles for Responsible Management Education from around the world are using a wide range of strategies to integrate PRME into their curriculums and raise awareness about the Principles among their students and staff. One method that schools from all regions of the world are able to implement is to create posters with the 6 Principles of PRME on them and posting them in high visibility spots around campus as a way.

Several schools such as ISAE FGV in Brazil (pictured below) and the University of Hull in the UK created large posters with information about the Principles and their commitment to these which are placed on walls around the entrance to campus. In Peru, Centrum Católica (pictured above) displays a poster with the Principles on campus and in each classroom. This makes students aware of the school’s commitment and, as a result, students will often ask faculty and administration for more information about the initiative.

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In the USA, Thunderbird School of Global Management has posted information about the Principles across campus. They are also used as a guideline in curriculum development and as a pedagogical tool. Many of their students report that they chose Thunderbird based on its commitment to managerial professionalism and responsibility.

In Canada, MacEwan School of Business created a poster which was unveiled when they first became a signatory in January 2011 and is now displayed on campus.

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In the United Arab Emirates, the University of Dubai put the PRME poster with the six Principles in three locations on campus; at the main entrance near the reception, in the students’ foyer and in the MBA lobby. The purpose was to create awareness about the organization and UD’s commitment to the Principles. In addition, all students have to take a core course, “Business and Society,” in which students learn about PRME, the Global Compact, and how the UD is involved in each of them.

Uofdubai

In Jordan, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business decided to show the written Principles to increase the awareness of both students and faculty members and show how they are deployed in the school’s MBA program. Introductory sessions were held to raise awareness of PRME and explain how TAGSB is fully committed to the Principles, assuring the full understanding of how crucial it is to align them.

Many of the schools listed have created their own banners; however, the PRME secretariat also has a banner which is available to download from the PRME website at http://unprme.org/resources/display-resources-sub.php?scid=10.

- Do you have a poster on campus showing the Principles? Let us know and send us a picture. - 

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Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, Brazil, Canada, Jordan, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Peru, UK, United Arab Emirates, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , , , ,

Energy and Sustainability in Business Schools – Business School response (part 2)

30 January 2013 by Leave a comment

clean_energyEnergy and Climate Change are two very important issues for the business sector. Companies of all shapes and sizes are working both independently and together to reach various carbon reduction goals set by themselves or by the international community (see Part 1).

Business schools are also increasingly active with more and more schools reporting on their energy and carbon reduction activities. In the next couple of parts of this series we will look at some of these schools and what they are doing.

Reducing Energy Use on Campus

In 2012, Cotsakos College of Business  was named a finalist in the 2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards competition, which recognizes the most innovative climate leaders in the US. The university has embarked on several energy saving initiatives. In October 2010, the university opened what was then the largest solar energy facility on any university campus in the US. The initiative is projected to save an estimated $4.3 million in energy costs over the next 15 years, while also reducing the university’s carbon footprint.In the Netherlands, Rotterdam School of Management’s ‘Campus under Construction’ project, which is being implemented until 2028, focuses on modernizing the campus to make it more energy efficient. The university administration has been collaborating closely with both the city of Rotterdam and sustainability faculty concerning city planning and environmentally sustainable considerations. In 2013 a 15‐story building for international student housing, the Erasmus Plaza; a vibrant green esplanade; pedestrian‐avenue with underground parking; and the energy-neutral Erasmus Pavilion will be completed. Ashridge Business School in the UK switched in 2011 to a 100% renewable electricity supply contract.

Measuring the Carbon Footprint

One of the main efforts on campuses around energy is measuring and reducing their carbon footprint. Winchester Business School has a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per square meter by 30% below the 2006 levels by 2015. In 2011, the university set a target for carbon reduction of 43% by 2012. A growing number of schools are looking not just to reduce but to become carbon neutral. Pacific Lutheran University has a goal of carbon neutrality by 2020. In 2010 the university dropped its total energy costs by 10% by changing out light fixtures, adding motion sensors for lighting, and installing better insulation and window seals. Bentley University has made a commitment to become carbon neutral by the year 2030. The office of sustainability provides a website with information on Bentley’s current carbon footprint and an overview of their plans to reach this goal through energy system upgrades, green building and electronics recycling among other things. They have also constructed a 3,000 square foot solar thermal wall as part of the Athletic Center which traps heat from the sun. When the heating, ventilation and air conditioning is turned on, the air is pulled through the solar walls and is heated in the process requiring less energy to warm the air in a room.

Educating the campus about efforts

A large part of reducing energy use on campus is raising awareness of the issues with students and staff. In India, the Institute of Productivity and Management Green Initiative works to make its campus greener. They created ‘Save Energy’ guidelines which include conservation of water and electricity, which are widely distributed amongst staff and students. In Slovenia, the Faculty of Economics Eco Team encourages employees and students to get engaged by organizing and implementing a wide range of energy reduction activities. In Korea, Kyung Hee University ‘s Green Team also conducts a range of awareness raising activities and projects around Energy management and lighting efficiency across campus.

Taking part in International and National Initiatives

Another way that schools are raising awareness about these issues on campus is by participating in international energy related events. The University of Dubai takes part in Earth Hour every year on March 22nd. Students, faculty, and staff at UD signed up to participate in the world earth hour and participated by switching off the lights for one hour. Schulich School of Business also celebrate Earth Hour with their event ‘Earth Hour Every Hour’ in collaboration with IRIS, and the Ecologically Conscious Organization aims to provide environmental knowledge, and to inspire the creation of a future where waste and energy reduction are daily considerations. In France, Clean Tuesdays began as an association in 2008 to promote the development of Cleantech throughout France. On the first Tuesday of every month, an event or mini-conference is organized in a different location in France bringing together participants to share their expertise, their activities and their best practices in the field. Grenoble Ecole de Management is affiliated with this project and has hosted several Clean Tuesday events on campus.

Getting students engaged

Several schools, such as EADA in Spain, have student clubs focused on energy issues. At EADA, the Green Society is a voluntary student club for individuals who have an interest in Climate Change. Throughout the year the club organizes interactive seminars on the topics of Carbon Politics, New Sources of Energy, Creating a Low-Carbon Economy, and more. Grenoble Ecole de Management has a student engineer specialized in Quality, Security & Environmental analysis who is currently carrying out a comprehensive study of the School carbon footprint. The University of Victoria in Canada has instituted voluntary carbon-offset programs for students travelling as part of their exchange program.

- This is part of a series of blogs in 2013 focused on business schools and energy - 

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Canada, France, India, Korea, Netherlands, North America, Slovenia, Spain, UK, United Arab Emirates, United States

Taking a transdiciplinary approach to teaching ethics

8 October 2012 by Leave a comment

In their research paper, “Ignorance was bliss, now I’m not ignorant and that is far more difficult: Transdiciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education,” coauthors Carole Parkes and John Blewitt from Aston University in the UK write, “If we are to enable students as future business leaders and managers we need to prepare them for complex ethical dilemmas and difficult choices they will encounter.” Doing this, they continue, involves not just reviewing the content of such programmes, but the approach and philosophies that drive them.

I recently had the chance to speak with Carole Parkes about this cross-cutting approach to teaching ethics and their new MSc in Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

1. Could you briefly describe how you approach this unqiue type of ethics module?

We cover a range of issues from ethics and values to CSR and governance, social accountability and ecological sustainability. Students are supported in developing skills related to critical thinking, analysis, and reflection. Teaching methods are highly interactive, enabling them to apply knowledge of theories, models, ethical frameworks, and concepts to local and global issues. We encourage reflection and connection with personal, family, and cultural values from the outset. We have students from around 30 different countries and many different business and professional backgrounds.

They also discuss live case studies with practitioners when we invite local business professionals to facilitate workshops on ethical dilemmas that they have encountered first-hand. This brings the reality of ethics to students’ own situations, rather than using case studies they do not always connect with.

2. This approach is transdiciplinary. How have you reached out to faculty from a range of departments?

When studying, discussing or practicing business ethics, social responsibility and sustainability, whether in the workplace or the university, what is clearly and immediately evident is that the concepts, perspectives and actions involved transgress disciplinary and professional boundaries. The Aston programme is taught by staff of different disciplines drawn from within and outside the business school. We also managed to persuade the school to enable us to recruit for expertise that complimented our programme, rather than making subject-based appointments.

3. How has the module been received? 

Student feedback has been fantastic. Some said “this is the best module in the MBA.” Others reported that the module provided them with the “vocabulary” or the “confidence” to raise issues and concerns that they had previously thought about, but did not know how to construct into an argument.

This issue of “voice” is an important theme. Students also mentioned “realising that others have similar thoughts” or that their studies provided “legitimacy” for their own views. Many students discussed having a “heightened sense of awareness about issues in the media and thinking about matters at a much deeper level,” or “thinking about everyday activities such as shopping and travelling in a way they had not done so before.” Experiencing “self-enlightenment” empowered them to act as agents of change in their place of work; to make their workplaces more ethical, responsible or sustainable. A number of these responses are included in the paper referred to below.

4. What would you recommend for other schools looking at transdisciplinary/reflective learning in particular in an ethics class?

The key is enabling students to have exposure to different issues from different but connected disciplines and to use practical, work-based learning. The students have been encouraged to develop awareness through examination of their own personal values and to use this to critically analyse their previous experiences and current challenges.

These are important stages in reflection and are crucial to the final stage of application. Awareness and analysis provide insights, but if students are to move beyond this, they need to use knowledge to initiate changes. The reflective piece started off as optional but soon became (a small but important) part of the assessment. Marking is anonymous and assessment criteria are based on student’s skills of reflection and ability to relate this to future actions. It is important to emphasize that assessment must be non-judgmental of student’s values and views.

5. What are your plans for the programme moving forward?

From next year, all modules leaders for all MSc programmes have to state how they address issues of ethics, responsibility and sustainability in the context of their subject/module. We will also be launching our MSc Social Responsibility & Sustainability in Distance Learning format. The MSc aims to combine both academic and practical perspectives in a programme suitable for those people interested in working in roles related to CSR and Sustainability in commercial business, the public sector, social enterprises, not-for-profits, and charities. The programme, which is already offered in full-time and part-time options, adopts a transdisciplinary approach, enabling students to explore social responsibility and sustainability from multiple perspectives in the context of a world-class business school.

  • To learn more about Aston’s approach read: Carol Parkes and John Blewitt. “Ignorance was bliss, now I’m not ignorant and that is far more difficult” Trans-disciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education.” Journal of Global Responsibility 2.2 (2011): 206-21.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Teaching, UK, Western Europe Tagged with , , , ,

Business Examples from Around the World – Canada, UK, New Zealand

30 August 2012 by Leave a comment

As businesses become more and more engaged in sustainability around the world, we are presented with an increasing range of interesting examples of active companies. However, when I speak with students and faculty, they say that they often hear about the same examples from the same international companies over and over again.

In an attempt to share some new best practice examples, I asked a handful of faculty members from around the world about their favourite classroom examples of local companies that are actively involved in sustainability. Here are some examples from New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

David Lank, David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Canada

The companies that we like in Montreal are the ones that are not just environmentally focused. For example, there’s a Montreal newspaper with a social focus called L’Itineraire that is produced and sold by homeless people. It provides them with a small income and, more importantly, a sense of purpose. There’s a non-for-profit restaurant called Robin Des Bois that has a social enterprise focus. All the employees are volunteers, and all profits are donated to charity organizations in the community that work to overcome social isolation and poverty. This type of venture taps into an often neglected basic human need – to be part of something bigger than oneself. We also love Bixi, the bike sharing company that started in Montreal and now can be found in some of the biggest cities around the world. Bixi is environmentally friendly and healthy: What’s not to love?

Victoria Johnsen, Environment and Sustainability Officer, Aston University, UK

I think the university sector is a great example of sustainability initiatives. One of my favourite projects is the national Student Switch Off scheme, which encourages students living in school residences to save energy and rewards them with prizes. They have a number of large sponsors, but last year also worked with local companies, such as the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, so we have recommended some more great local shops and cafes for them to approach, such as the Warehouse Café, who serve local, vegetarian food. Birmingham is home to more and more independent shops and cafes, which is a really encouraging sign; I think that encouraging this type of business, and working with local companies is the way forward.

Ross McDonald, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand

There are a few businesses in New Zealand that I think are just great. Hot Rot was started by a group of women in Christchurch who are experimenting with composting disposable diapers and removing and recycling the plastic. Ask, Share, Give is a site that allows people to give, exchange and request almost anything that is not nailed down – and indeed that too. You Rent is an effective tool library that similarly allows for a boost in collaborative modes of consuming. But overall, it is not so much individual businesses as the culture of doing business in New Zealand that I like. People here support local businesses, growers, artists and initiatives focused on sustainability wholeheartedly.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 3-Method, 6-Dialogue, Australasia, Canada, New Zealand, North America, UK, Western Europe

The Buying in Argument – Engaging your Faculty

27 August 2012 by 1 Comment

Regardless of whether you are just starting out to mainstream sustainability into your school and curriculum or have been doing so for some time already, one of the major challenges is how to engage your faculty. The experience by many schools has been that, at the beginning, these topics are usually accepted by a few actors. The challenge is both how to turn these first few interested individuals into active participants and how to get all staff more engaged.

Launched atPRME’s 3rd Global Forum at Rio+20 in June, the Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education provides a range of case studies showing how schools are embedding sustainability into their schools and curricula, including how to actively engage faculty.

Bentley University in the US began by preaching to the choir, starting with those faculty across the institutions who were already committed to sustainability and responsible leadership. The basic strategy employed began with one-on-one conversations with key players across campus and gradually built to one-on-two, one-on-three, two-on-two, and so forth. Finally, the school focused on developing and supporting faculty with the intent of “seeding” every department on campus with faculty who would develop material for their courses and encourage their colleagues to do the same.

At Deusto Business School in Spain, the dean brought all faculty together to discuss the importance of these issues for the school moving forward and to provide them with a space to voice any concerns, opinions, or interest in these topics. From there, they were provided with a range of faculty development programmes and seminars on the topics of sustainability, organised by department, to provide them with the tools and knowledge to be able to incorporate sustainability and responsible leadership into their individual courses.

The University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur in Switzerland noted in their case study that a major step for them in the serious implementation of these topics was the installation of an open group of committed faculty and staff. Around twelve members, representing all University departments in equal measure, elected a steering committee consisting of four faculty members. This team has since gained formal appreciation from the University’s board, including the necessary financial resources for the next three years to continue to roll out PRME-related activities.

Ashridge Business School in the UK recognised the need to connect interested faculty and wider staff into an informal learning network, which includes guest speakers and sharing each other’s experiences of innovation. This informal work has been possible because of the recruitment and development of faculty and staff sustainability specialists and designing their roles to give them time to develop and coach others.

The University of Dubai in the UAE created awareness among students and staff by posting permanent posters with the Six Principles of PRME in the reception lobby of both of their campuses. This is part of an awareness campaign conducted every semester with their students and faculty to ensure not only their awareness of PRME but the importance of these issues to the schools.

The advice from Consuelo Garcíía de la Torre, Professor of Management and Marketing, at EGADE in Mexico is to, “show both professors and students how responsible and ethical management can create value for business and can make them achieve sustainability. If you can achieve that, the students and the faculty will believe in the management principles, not just as an ethical behavior, but as an enhancer for performance.”

The Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education, is available online.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, UK, United Arab Emirates, United States Tagged with , , , , ,

Go Green Awards – 5 Questions with Victoria Johnsen from Aston Business School

21 August 2012 by Leave a comment

The Aston Go Green Awards were designed to give staff at Aston Business School the opportunity to get involved with efforts to improve environmental performance and awareness at the university. In its first year in 2010, 15 teams signed up on behalf of their departments, and the numbers have been growing ever since. Each year, departments create teams that receive a workbook for completion, which helps them focus on easy steps that they can take to improve sustainability in their department. These workbooks are then graded against a list of criteria, with Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes awarded. The Environment Team provides support for the teams along with a range of workshops. I recently had the chance to speak with Victoria Johnsen from the Environment Team about the project.

  1. Why did you decide to start the Awards, and how did you go about starting them?

We launched the awards because, whilst in the past we had run some successful student engagement projects, we hadn’t run any campaigns specifically aimed at staff. We wanted to do more to involve staff in our projects and to raise awareness of ‘green’ issues, and we felt that incentivising them would help to bring forward volunteers. At the beginning, we looked at other similar schemes in the sector and took inspiration from the ‘Green Impact’ awards, which is run by the National Union of Students (originally started as a student union campaign). We took the basic principles from this but adapted the scheme to fit in with Aston, drafting a series of criteria specific to our organisation and then promoting this heavily to encourage sign-ups.

  1. What were some of the challenges, and how did you overcome them?

The main challenge was in engaging staff, but we found that, by combining different communications (online, print and face-to-face) with direct requests from the University Executive team, we had a reasonable number of sign-ups. It was also challenging to maintain interest in the scheme, but we ran a series of workshops to try to make sure that staff remained engaged and, in the second year, launched an online ‘module’ so that staff could share ideas and pick up tips throughout the year.

  1. What have been some of your successes?

The awards have been well received, and we have recently been asked by the University Executive to extend the scheme to ensure that every department has its own champion, as they feel that this has proved to be an effective method of changing attitudes and behaviour. In general, feedback from the staff volunteers has been positive, and we have had the same volunteers signing up over both years, which has shown great commitment to the project.

  1. What are your plans/hopes for the programme moving forward?

We are now developing the scheme to ensure that there is a wider network of champions in place and that we offer them more support throughout the year. There will still be a ‘workbook’ of some description to complete, but there will be more events and training on offer and more social occasions for volunteers to get involved. We are also working on a series of ‘quick guides’ on topics like saving paper, heating FAQ’s, etc. that champions can share with their colleagues more easily.

  1. What would you recommend to other schools thinking of putting in place a similar programme?

Do it! Although the scheme has taken some time and effort to put in place, it has been well received and has really helped to raise awareness of ‘green’ issues, events and projects at the university. You need to be willing to put the time and investment in place to run the scheme actively, as volunteers need to feel that they are being offered support and that they are getting some benefits out of the scheme. It’s not always easy to engage people, so don’t expect the first year to be perfect but, with time, the scheme will grow and improve.

Filed under 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, UK, Western Europe Tagged with , , , ,

Promoting Research around Sustainability: Examples from the UK, France, Belgium and Canada

6 August 2012 by Leave a comment

During the 3rd PRME Global Forum at Rio+20 in June, one of the discussion topics revolved around research and how to promote research on sustainability topics. How can we facilitate faculty need for research publications on sustainability? What type of change strategy can be developed that will shift the emphasis in research toward rigorous, yet practical, theoretically informed research?

An Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education, which launched at the 3rd Global Forum, provides answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning how to move forward in embedding sustainability into management education. In putting together the Guide, many schools shared projects and initiatives around promoting sustainability research on campus. Here are some examples from the UK, France, Belgium and Canada.

Ashridge Business Schoolwanted to understand the proportion of faculty engaged in research that related in some way to sustainability. The thinking was that, if a member of faculty was researching how sustainability related to their core area of expertise, then that could be a good indicator as to whether new thinking on sustainable business might also be coming into his/her educational work. As a result, the school measured, over an 18 month period, that 25% of faculty had either published some kind of research or thought leadership, or had spoken or played a facilitative role in an event where there was a connection with the theme of sustainable business.

At Euromed Management, over 30% of academic activities and publications are linked to corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability issues, and the number of publications continues to rise. These results are due to various initiatives, including the creation of projects, networks and research chairs. However, the deciding factor lies in the school’s decision to structure research into five priority groups, one of which is dedicated to the CSR.

Louvain School of Managementorganises the CSR Research Seminar, which aims to bring together researchers, PhD candidates and prominent professors from around the world to discuss their respective research projects. Participants come from various disciplines and fields, including, but not limited to, management, law, sociology, philosophy, economics, political science, and social psychology, but sharing a common interest for CSR and business and society issues. The goal is to explore the diverse dimensions of these questions, and special attention is given to research projects that involve strong linkages with industry participants.

The University of Western Ontario Richard Ivey School of Business’s Building Sustainable Value Research Center has a Research Network for Sustainability that connects researchers, teachers and practitioners to better facilitate the creation and dissemination of evidence-based research in business sustainability. The network, which includes more than 2,700 managers, academics and students, maintains a website with an online database. There is a section specifically for researchers that includes both recent articles focused on sustainability in a range of academic journals as well as journals that are looking for contributions for special sustainability editions.

The Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education, is available online at http://www.gseresearch.com/about/prme.htm.

Filed under 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Belgium, Canada, France, North America, UK, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

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