Educating future corporate managers for a sustainable world: recommendations for a paradigm shift in business education

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mine Üçok Hughes ◽  
Shikha Upadhyaya ◽  
Rika Houston
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Business Education ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Business School ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Integrative Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
The Many

Purpose This paper aims to argue for a need for a paradigm shift in business education that would move the focus of curriculum away from profit maximization at all costs to incorporation of principles of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that argues for a major shift in business education, one that not only incorporates diversity and interdisciplinarity and integrative learning at its core, but also does not superficially conflate sustainability with corporate social responsibility and/or business ethics. Findings This paper discusses the broader concepts of diversity, integrative learning and interdisciplinarity related to curriculum design and several approaches for integrating a broadened definition of sustainability through business school curricula and pedagogy. Research limitations/implications The paper only discusses a few of the many factors that are needed for the argued need for change in business school curriculum. Social implications It is important to educate future managers with consciousness of sustainability not only for the sake of the communities of today and future generations but also for corporations to stay sustainable in the future when some of the natural resources they use today will be much scarcer. Originality/value A typical business school in the twenty-first century is not educating future managers and entrepreneurs for the realities of a business life today, let alone getting them ready for the world of tomorrow in which obtaining resources and addressing supply chain and waste management issues will be remarkably different. Therefore, it has become imperative for business schools to start a paradigm shift that moves the focus of business school education away from the historical one of profit-maximization toward one that has sustainability at its core.

Threshold concepts in business school curriculum – a pedagogy for public trust

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 540-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bajada ◽  
Walter Jarvis ◽  
Rowan Trayler ◽  
Anh Tuan Bui
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Business School ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Curriculum Theory ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Threshold Concepts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Compulsory Subject ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the implications for curriculum design by operationalizing threshold concepts and capabilities (TCC) in subject delivery. The motivation for undertaking this exploration is directly related to addressing public concerns for the business school curriculum. Design/methodology/approach – A post facto analysis of a compulsory subject in finance that is part of an Australian business degree and the impact on a subsequent finance subject. Findings – Customary approaches to granting part-marks in assessing students, (fractionalising) understanding of content can mean students pass subjects without grasping foundational concepts (threshold concepts) and are therefore not fully prepared for subsequent subjects. Research limitations/implications – Students passing subjects through fractionalization are poorly equipped to undertake deeper explorations in related subjects. If replicated across whole degree programs students may graduate not possessing the attributes claimed for them through their qualification. The implications for undermining public trust and confidence in qualifications are profound and disturbing. Practical implications – The literature has exposed risks associated with operationalizing threshold through assessments. This highlights a risk to public trust in qualifications. Originality/value – Operationalizing threshold concepts is an underexplored field in curriculum theory. The importance of operationalizing customary approaches to assessments through fractionalising marks goes to the legitimacy and integrity of qualifications granted by higher education. Operationalizing assessments for TCC presents profound, inescapable and essential challenges to the legitimacy of award granting institutions.

Reweaving the rainbow: qualitative color in business education

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Starr-Glass
Keyword(s):  
Business Education ◽  
Business School ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Business Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Central Direction ◽  
Undergraduate Economics ◽  
Personal Insight ◽  
Limited Generalizability

Purpose This study aims to reflect on the dominance of a narrowly focused analytical approach within business schools, which provides an artificially fractured and disjointed understanding of the contextual complexities and interconnectedness that students will encounter in the future. This approach unnecessarily constrains sensemaking and inhibits creative response to future social and organizational complexity. As business schools and their graduates come under sustained scrutiny and criticism, it perhaps appropriate to reexamine and reframe their analytical bias. Design/methodology/approach The central direction taken in this study is that of critical reflection on the present author’s practice and experience in teaching undergraduate economics and accounting. Although the analysis may have limited generalizability, it is hoped that it may prove of interest and value to business school educators. Findings The preferential business school reliance on analytical perspectives suggest that they fail to appreciate the nature of business, its embeddedness in broader society and the competencies required by undergraduates and graduates. This study argues that an emphasis on holistic systems, synthetic fusion and an appreciation of complexity – rather than a reductive analytical agenda – might benefit business schools, their graduates and society at large. Originality/value This study provides an original, albeit personal, insight into a significant problem in business education. It offers original perspectives on the problem and presents faculty-centered suggestions on how business students might be encouraged and empowered to see quality as well as quantitative perspectives in their first-year courses.

Opportunities and Challenges for CSR Mainstreaming in Business Schools

2018 ◽  
pp. 613-643
Author(s):  
Dima Jamali ◽  
Hanin Abdallah ◽  
Farah Matar
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Critical Juncture ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Paradigmatic Change

Extant literature has highlighted that business schools have been accused of promoting an educational ethos that emphasizes shareholder value and the pursuit of short-term profits and thereby preparing overly competitive future generations interested in profit maximization. This paper highlights the importance of integrating CSR into the mainstream of business schools' curricula, arguing for the responsible role that business schools should play but also emphasizing the strategic case for such integration. The paper analyzes the main challenges and opportunities that both hinder and facilitate mainstreaming of CSR at the heart of the business school curriculum and the role that the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) can potentially play in this regard. The paper illustrates these drivers and constraints in the context of one specific business school in Lebanon that has successfully experimented with CSR mainstreaming, leading to a nuanced reflection on the possibilities of a real paradigmatic change in the context of higher management education at this critical juncture and what it is going to take to catalyze a real transformation beyond “bells and whistles” and mere rhetoric.

Learning the PR trade

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 29-31
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Business Education ◽  
Business School ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Change in business education is effortlessly elusive. No matter how often the great and the good of either the business or business school worlds lament the lack of adequate teaching through Masters of Business Administrations and other programmes, very rarely does anything seem to change. Managers are still put though their paces at business schools; they still read the same “seminal” books and case studies; they still get their blue riband qualification; they still receive a hefty increase in salary after graduation. Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organisations. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

scholarly journals Behavioural economics and social economics: opportunities for an expanded curriculum

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 992-1003
Author(s):  
Paul Manning
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teaching Case ◽  
School Pedagogy ◽  
Economic Understanding

Purpose The global financial crisis (GFC) undermined the legitimacy of orthodox economic assumptions, which nevertheless continue to frame business school pedagogy. In consequence, there is an opportunity for socio-economic insights to be more fully incorporated into the business school curriculum. This paper reports and reflects on a socio-economic case study that was delivered to MBA students. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the developing literature on behavioural economics (BE) has the potential to enhance students’ social economic understanding of key areas of the curriculum. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an inter-disciplinary socio-economic teaching case that was informed by insights from BE. The teaching case concerned a socio-economic understanding of corruption and white-collar crime. It was also inter-disciplinary to include inputs from business history and criminology. The aim of the teaching case was to develop an appreciation among students that corruption and white-collar crime can be analysed within a social economics lens. Findings The teaching case example discussed in this paper offered an alternative socio-economic understanding to core areas of the MBA curriculum, enabling students to apply a behavioural economic approach to corruption and more generally to white-collar crime. The findings derived from this case study are that behavioural economics has the potential to enhance the teaching of socio-economics. Practical implications The GFC presents an opportunity to re-shape the business school curriculum to acknowledge the centrality of socio-economics and consequently to offer an alternative to the dominant ontological assumptions – taken from the economic understanding of rationality – that have previously under-pinned business school pedagogy. Originality/value The originality of this paper is to apply BE to a socio-economic teaching case studies in core subject areas of the MBA curriculum.

Lean thinking and higher education management: revaluing the business school programme management

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saad Zighan ◽  
Ahmed EL-Qasem
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Value Added ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Value Stream Mapping ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
School Students ◽  
Lean Thinking ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis paper explores the applications of lean thinking in re-evaluating the business school curriculum, syllabus and intended learning objectives to enhance the employability of graduates through identifying and eliminating non–value-added activities.Design/methodology/approachThe research employed multilevel qualitative methodology, where 55 semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from academics, students and graduates from several private and public universities in Jordan.FindingsThe study finds that the application of lean thinking in the business school is twofold – it helps the developer of the school curriculum to get rid of many superfluous and non–value-added activities and also emphasises and reinforces the value-added activities. Value stream mapping, with a consideration for internal and external outputs, has been found to be a useful tool for developing an employability-focussed curriculum that equips business school students with the required competences and skills in the labour market.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on a qualitative research approach. The generalisability of the findings is difficult to assess, and future research would benefit from the insights obtained from the quantitative dataPractical implicationsIn practice, this study has identified different types of non–value-added and unnecessary activities in business school curriculum and has made suggestions for the development of a more employability-focussed curriculum.Originality/valueThis paper investigates the non–value-added activities of the business school curriculum, syllabus and the intended learning objectives to enhance the employability of graduates in Jordan.

Waking ourselves up! Re-examining the role of OD practitioners – a challenger perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-187
Author(s):  
Clare Southall
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Paper ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Many ◽  
Changing Role

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing role of OD practitioners. Given the many significant challenges faced by organisations and their leaders, never has the role of OD been more important; it is vital that OD practitioners are able to identify the paradigm shift that is required if they are to provide the relevant challenge and support that organisations and leaders need. Design/methodology/approach – The OD role is explored through the Challenger pattern of behaviour known as Witnessing the Establishment – the ability, and the willingness, to see things as they really are, not as we wish them to be. The authors are often so much a part of the organisational system ourselves that the underpinning assumptions, beliefs, routines and rituals that exist are so transparent we can not see them for what they are. Findings – This paper focuses on one of the six patterns of behaviour identified in Challenger leaders in the book “Challenger Spirit: Organisations that disturb the status quo” by Khurshed Dehnugara and Claire Genkai Breeze, LID Publishing, 2011. Research limitations/implications – This is not an academic paper but instead a consultant/practitioner perspective grounded in day-to-day work with leaders and OD professionals in client organisations. Originality/value – A number of suggestions are given for applying the perspectives discussed, through a series of questions, diagnostic processes and models. These are directly applicable to OD practitioners themselves and can also form the basis of further conversations with the leaders and colleagues.

Re-exploring entrepreneurial intentions and personality attributes during a pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
John James Cater ◽  
Marilyn Young ◽  
Marwan Al-Shammari ◽  
Kevin James
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Business School ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intentions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Educators ◽  
Student Entrepreneurship ◽  
Business College ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Using the theory of planned behavior as a theoretical base, this study aims to examine the effect of the personality attributes, risk-taking, creativity and locus of control on the entrepreneurial intentions of US business college students. The authors replicated previous studies from around the world but performed the research during the Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed 353 students, comparing those with entrepreneurial intentions (n = 213) versus those without entrepreneurial intentions (n = 140). Findings The authors found that risk-taking and creativity both significantly and positively predicted entrepreneurial intentions, but locus of control did not have a significant impact. Practical implications Contextually, the authors performed this study during the widespread complications of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors advise business educators to initiate programs that encourage student entrepreneurship by nurturing creativity and offering educational resources that assist students in reducing the perceived risk of entrepreneurship. Originality/value The authors seek to increase awareness among business educators of the significance of entrepreneurship as a desirable career. The authors believe that one impact from the Covid-19 pandemic has been an expanded interest among students to start their own businesses. The authors propose that creative measures introduced into the business school curriculum by business educators will enhance students’ desire to take risks to create their own businesses.

A pragmatist solution to the relevance gap of business school education

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-295
Author(s):  
Kursad Asdemir ◽  
Thomas Ahrens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Education ◽  
Business School ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
School Education ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Practice ◽  
Academic Knowledge

Purpose Within the context of business school education, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual foundation in making academic knowledge more relevant to managerial practice through the use an off-shoot of pragmatist philosophy, Bridgman’s “operationalism,” in order to integrate theoretical knowledge with managerial experience. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on practice theory and Dewey’s theory of education, the paper argues that the operationalization of concepts into a set of actions brings theory closer to experience. An example from decision making during the Second World War illustrates the approach. Findings Facing future uncertainty, managerial practice strives to achieve goals in particular contexts. Knowledge is prospectively useful in situ when it is a source of fertile suggestion in perplexing situations. By presenting concepts as actions, students should find it easier to develop cognitive skills that can combine experience and knowledge for addressing novel decision-making situations. Research limitations/implications The research presents an application to decision making. More research is needed to determine how the approach can be extended into other domains of business education. Empirical testing of the effectiveness of the proposed method in different contexts may explicate how the method can be implemented, developed and improved further. Originality/value The debate on how to educate future business leaders has addressed concerns over the relevance of abstract knowledge, business practices, legitimacy and professionalism. It has also been marked by a lack of prescription for improving business school education. The current paper addresses this lack and will facilitate the development of teaching pedagogies that are more relevant to managerial practice in business education by providing a solid theoretical foundation.

scholarly journals Where is the visible commitment to gender in the advertised content of UK management degree programmes?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Perriton ◽  
Carole Elliott ◽  
Anne Laure Humbert
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Business Management ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Group Affiliation ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Management School ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which prospective students can see a visible commitment to study gender in the UK business/management school curriculum prior to enrolment. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of the descriptions of modules offered as part of business and management degrees offered by 112 UK universities was conducted. The analysis was restricted to the publicly available information on the websites visible to prospective students. Descriptive statistics regarding the distribution of gender topics across programmes and higher education institutions are presented in addition to university group affiliation (e.g. Russell Group) and accreditation in respect of variables. Findings The analysis reveals significant gaps in the undergraduate and taught postgraduate offerings of UK business schools that the authors suggest are reflective of subject silos, and institutional risk reduction strategies. Research limitations/implications The authors conclude by arguing that accreditation bodies can use their influence to leverage change and to ensure gender content becomes core to curriculum design and its visibility as part of the practice of management to prospective students. Originality/value This study provides a benchmark for the visibility of gender as an issue and perspective within UK business/management school offerings.

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