Advancing Management Education for
Sustainability: An Empirical Study of PRME
Signatories
4th International Conference on Higher Education for
Sustainable Development
Higher Education for Sustainable Development:
Moving the Agenda Forward
14-16 September 2011
Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.
Jasmin Godemann
Christian Herzig
Jeremy Moon
Nottingham University
International Centre for
Corporate Social Responsibility
(ICCSR)
“It's been described as
one of the most pressing
challenges that
businesses are likely to
face over the next five
years, and one that
could save them a
collective £55bn a year
in the UK alone – that is,
the task of ensuring that
business leaders and
professionals have the
skills they need to take
their companies
forwards into a
sustainable economy.”
(11.8.2011 the guardian)
Dr Jasmin Godemann
2
•
The PRME were first published at the 2007 UN Global Compact Leaders Summit
•
Under the coordination of the UN Global Compact and leading academic institutions, the
PRME task force developed a set of six principles which lay the foundation for responsible
management education.
•
The PRME can serve as a framework for systemic change for business schools
•
Adopting the PRME implies that the signatory school is willing to report regularly on progress
to all stakeholders.
•
By now, more than 380 organizations have joined what could probably be seen as the most
important initiative in responsible management education.
Dr Jasmin Godemann
3
Principle 1: Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators
of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and
sustainable global economy.
Principle 2: Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the
values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the
United Nations Global Compact.
Principle 3: Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and
environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.
Dr Jasmin Godemann
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Principle 4: Research: We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our
understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of
sustainable social, environmental and economic value.
Principle 5: Partnership: We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our
knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to
explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.
Principle 6: Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators,
students, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other
interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and
sustainability.
We understand that our own organizational practices should serve as example of the values and
attitudes we convey to our students.
Dr Jasmin Godemann
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Who Participates in the PRME initiative?
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100 first reporting signatories
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What has been analysed?
Sustainability
related
research
Facilitating the
integration
Educational
framework
Engaging
internal /
external
stakeholders
Sustainability
related learning
offerings
Organisational
practices
Dr Jasmin Godemann
Teaching
methods
8
Key messages from the analysis
•
The vast majority of business schools which have signed the UN Principles for Responsible
Management Education aim to embed sustainability within all areas (research, teaching,
operations); however most emphasis is placed on teaching
•
Business schools stress different goals of sustainable business education: some focus on critical
thinking whereas others stress the necessity of innovation, to deal with societal problems or
emphasise the value of traditional management knowledge
•
Several business schools have established research centres and research groups to carry out
research dedicated to sustainability and to enhance the overall integration of sustainability in
their organisations
•
Business schools have the tendency to integrate sustainability into postgraduate programmes,
with a particular focus on the MBA programme
Dr Jasmin Godemann
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Key messages from the analysis
•
Business schools seem to see sustainability as a main research focus but they do not
elaborate on their understanding of and approach to sustainability research
•
Business schools are committed to greening the campus activities (with a strong focus on the
reduction of CO2 emissions) and community involvement
•
Although business schools mainly apply traditional teaching methods (e.g. case studies) they
also offer interdisciplinary courses and new learning settings to teach sustainability
•
Business schools tend to develop new programmes or courses to address sustainability or
critically revise the syllabus of individual modules; few business schools try to embed
sustainability issues across the entire curriculum
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Subjects taught
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Options for integrating sustainability
Existing Structures
New Structures
Narrow Curricular
Broad Curricular
Quadrant I
Quadrant II
Piggyback
Digging deep (Specialisation)
Integration of sustainability within existing
structures by adding sustainability to
existing courses or modules.
Integration of sustainability through the creation
of new structures such as stand-alone courses or
modules.
Quadrant III
Quadrant IV
Mainstreaming
Focusing
Integration of sustainability within existing
structures but with the emphasis on a
broader cross-curricular perspective
Integration of sustainability through new crossdisciplinary offerings such as sustainability
related course which is required for all business
school students as well as new programmes
which could be transdisciplinary (involvement of
non-academics)
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Options for integrating sustainability
Existing Structures
New Structures
Narrow Curricular
Quadrant I
Quadrant II
Piggyback
Digging deep (Specialisation)
10 %
61 %
Broad Curricular
Integration of sustainability within existing
structures by adding sustainability to
existing courses or modules.
Integration of sustainability through the creation
of new structures such as stand-alone courses or
modules.
Quadrant III
Quadrant IV
Mainstreaming
Focusing
35 %
Integration of sustainability within existing
structures but with the emphasis on a
broader cross-curricular perspective
Dr Jasmin Godemann
53 %
Integration of sustainability through new crossdisciplinary offerings such as sustainability
related course which is required for all business
school students as well as new programmes
which could be transdisciplinary (involvement of
non-academics)
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Discussion
•
Learning about sustainability (knowledge) vs. learning for sustainability (competences)?
•
Less mainstreaming more specialisation?
•
To reflect seriously on sustainability issues, time needs to be made available within the
curriculum
•
To put elaborated methods in practice is probably more likely in specific modules that run a
whole semester or even better within programmes such as MBAs
•
The creation of new modules or programmes means that the system itself remains largley
unchanged
•
Embed sustainability in every module would require curriculum revision, staff development
and reasonable time resources
•
Process of curriculum change: main barriers primarily take the shape of cognitive biases,
organizational enablers are used to advance management education for sustainability
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Thank you very much for your attention!
Download of the full report
(ICCSR Research Paper Series No. 58):
www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/ICCSR/
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