Mainstreaming Corporate Social Responsibility at the Core of the Business School Curriculum

2015 ◽  
pp. 276-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dima Jamali ◽  
Hanin Abdallah
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The Core ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Corporate Social

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, thereby preparing overly competitive future generations interested in profit maximization. This chapter highlights the importance of integrating CSR into the mainstream of business schools' curricula, arguing for the responsible role that business schools should play and emphasizing the strategic case for such integration. The chapter 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 as a facilitating factor and driving force. The chapter illustrates these drivers and constraints in the context of one specific business school in Lebanon that has successfully experimented with CSR mainstreaming in recent years.

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.

Opportunities and Challenges for CSR Mainstreaming in Business Schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dima Jamali ◽  
Hanin Abdallah ◽  
Farah Matar
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Critical Juncture ◽  
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.

Mainstreaming Corporate Social Responsibility at the Core of the Business School Curriculum

2012 ◽  
pp. 531-545
Author(s):  
Dima Jamali ◽  
Hanin Abdallah
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Corporate Social

This book chapter will make the case that corporate social responsibility (CSR) mainstreaming is an imperative to promote integrity and alleviate the strong entrenchment of utilitarian perspectives permeating management education (Ghoshal, 2005). The chapter argues that CSR mainstreaming should be anchored in the context of a vision for responsibility at the level of the School and that, starting with visioning and strategizing, business schools have to assume a more proactive role in shaping a new generation of leaders, capable of managing the complex challenges that lie at the interface of business and society. The chapter highlights challenges and opportunities in this respect and the critical role of the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) in helping in this reorientation. The book chapter tackles these two interrelated themes systematically, and illustrate with the case of the Olayan School of Business, a leading business school in the Middle East.

scholarly journals Will Businesses and Business Schools Meet the Grand Challenges of the Era?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6083
Author(s):  
Sandra Waddock
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Financial Wealth ◽  
Grand Challenges ◽  
The Core ◽  
System A

Meeting today’s grand challenges means changing the economics paradigm that informs both business practice and business/management education. This paper asks whether business schools meet the challenges of the 21st century and argues not without shifting away from the core—neoliberal—paradigm of economics. This essay makes the following argument. Paradigms shape narratives. Changing core narratives is a powerful lever for transformation. Narratives are constructed of core ideas (memes) that replicate readily from mind to mind. Neoliberalism’s memes are pervasive and highly resonant in business schools. To move towards sustainability, the fundamentals taught in business school need to shift away from neoliberalism’s tenets towards what gives life to economic systems. From a theory perspective, neoliberalism’s lack of attention to social and ecological consequences of economic activity plays a large part in shaping today’s crises, including the pandemic, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A new/next economics paradigm is needed that shifts away from an emphasis on only financial wealth and constant economic growth on a finite plant towards life-centered economies that foster wellbeing and flourishing for all, creating what scholars call collective value. The result of this analysis is a conceptualization supporting new memes that include collaboration and competition, stewardship of the whole system, a cosmopolitan to local sensibility, and recognition of humanity’s deep embeddedness and connection with other people, other beings, and nature. The article concludes that business schools need to meet this challenge head on, changing the fundamentals of what is taught and why.

Enhancing Sustainability through Experiential Learning in Management Education

2017 ◽  
pp. 256-274
Author(s):  
Aasha Jayant Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Responsible Business Practices ◽  
Corporate Level

Sustainability related areas like CSR, business ethics and corporate governance as subjects is seen in most business school curriculum, whether its inclusion leads to inculcating interest and values for responsible business practices is still a big question. Sustainability incorporates holistic view of issues; the curriculum therefore, has to make linkages to social issues and has to be contextual. The focus of business school curriculum has to be on sensitizing students towards responsible citizenship along with competency building in the area of sustainability. Here, experiential' or action learning would be helpful. The chapter posits the importance of experiential learning in the context of management education and highlights the fact that unless sensitized to the sustainability issues, business schools or at corporate level will see it only from compliance perspective. The chapter also discusses success story of existing modules on experiential learning crafted by 2 NGO's intended to sensitize the participants.

Management Education for a Sustainable World

2021 ◽  
pp. 217-235
Author(s):  
Christiane Molina
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Teaching Techniques ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Of Competencies

Societies across the world currently deal with multiple interconnected problems whose solutions call for the active participation of various actors. The private sector is among them and as a result, business leaders are in need of competencies that enable them to find appropriate answers. Sustainability competence may offer the key to transition towards a more equal and fair economy where the resources are maintained for the use of future generations. Higher Education Institutions and specifically business schools are an essential means to develop such competency. This chapter presents a proposal of an educational pathway for the development of competencies for sustainability and offers educators an array of teaching techniques that could be used at each stage.

Undergraduate management education: Its place, purpose and efforts to bridge the skills gap

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Skills Gap ◽  
Business Graduates ◽  
Common Response ◽  
Industry Professionals

AbstractAustralian business graduates are deemed by industry as not being ‘job ready’ (BCA 2006; BIHECC 2007), lacking the skills required to successfully apply disciplinary knowledge and add value to our globalised, knowledge economy. There exists a lack of empirical evidence and professional input for business schools on profiling the attributes valued by industry. This is especially true for those majoring in management who are consistently overshadowed by their more commercially attractive postgraduate counterparts. In a bid to satisfy industry demands, the most common response among Australian business schools are the development of employability skills and enhanced involvement of industry professionals in curricula content and design, both subject to potential failings and criticism. This review of business school efforts to bridge the skills gap also examines the role, function and impact of undergraduate management education, a research area significantly overlooked in recent years.

scholarly journals Reconsidering the rigour-relevance gap: the need for contextualised research in risk societies

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Galavan ◽  
Denis Harrington ◽  
Felicity Kelliher
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Core Issue ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper addresses the debate on rigour and relevance in management research to identify barriers to progress and identify the challenges and opportunities in moving forward. We identify strong calls from both North American and European literatures for a move to close this gap. It has, however, been 20 years since Hambrick asked scholars ‘What if the academy actually mattered?’ during his Presidential address to the Academy of Management. Despite both the time and the consistency of calls, there has been only modest progress in closing this rigour-relevance gap. We argue that this is not because of any lack of willingness or capacity but is shaped by systemic issues. We find the narrative of the business school framed as either professional or social sciences a core issue. Each brings with them a tradition of different ontological perspectives and epistemological processes, protected by gatekeepers, which supports, even if unintentionally, the maintenance of the gap. We go on to discuss the challenge of management education and research in a postmodern context, the need to examine our conception of rigour, and to challenge the definition of management as a profession given its strategic win-lose orientation. We conclude with a discussion on the relationship between society and business and lay out the challenges ahead for richly contextualised scholarly work that may be defined as both rigorous and relevant.

scholarly journals Management education and the theatre of the absurd

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Starkey ◽  
Sue Tempest ◽  
Silvia Cinque
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Eugene Ionesco ◽  
Theatre Of The Absurd ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Aspects

In this article, we recommend the drama of theatre of the absurd as a novel space for critically reflecting upon management and management education as shaped by the forces of emotion, irrationality and conformism rather than reason. We discuss the theatre of the absurd as uniquely relevant to understanding our troubled times. We present a brief overview of the history of business schools and management education. We apply the idea of absurdity to the world of business schools and management education, focusing on the work of one of the theatre of the absurd’s leading proponents, Eugène Ionesco. We emphasise the importance of fiction and fantasy as key aspects of organisation and education. We contribute to debates about management education by reflecting on possible futures for management education and the business school, embracing the humanities as a core disciplinary focus. We suggest that this will help rebalance management education, retaining the best of the existing curriculum, while re-situating the study of management in its broader historical and philosophical nexus.

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