Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Silberman College of Business
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Results
ISE’s focus on Collaboration, Research and Education has generated the following outcomes:
1. Partnerships and Collaborations:
a. Corporate, Sustaining and Founding Members: The following organizations have
supported us substantially either through membership fees or in kind:
i. AT&T
ii. Johnson and Johnson
iii. Automatic Switch Company
iv. Novartis
v. Ricoh
vi. Becton Dickinson
vii. Phillips Lighting
viii. New Jersey Higher Education Partnership in Sustainability
ix. Interface Inc.
b. In the spirit of “bringing people together” towards the common goal of
sustainability, ISE has reached out to several institutions. Some examples…
i. INCAE, Costa Rica
ii. Presidio Business School
iii. Bainbridge Business School
iv. Fundação Getulio Vargas Business School, Brazil
v. Rutgers, Bloustein School, New Jersey
vi. Graza University, Austria
vii. Fordham University, New York
viii. New York University
ix. Penn State University, Pennsylvania
x. Sustainability Knowledge Network
xi. Innovest Strategic Investors
xii. Morris County Chamber of Commerce
xiii. United Nations Global Compact
xiv. New Jersey Higher Education Partnership in Sustainability
xv. National Association of Women Business Owners, North Jersey Chapter
xvi. US Green Builders Association
xvii. Center for Business Excellence.
xviii. Unity Learning Environment
2. Research: Applied research sponsored by ISE/CHRMS over the past four years has
resulted in peer-reviewed journal and conference proceedings publications. We also have
conference papers and symposia, journal articles and grant proposals under review. We
present below a listing of our research outcomes.
a. Publications: Articles have been published in the Journal of Healthcare
Management (2003), Journal of Cost Management (2003), Human Resource
Planning Journal (2004), Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (2004),
Emergence (2006), and Competition Forum (2006). Additional articles have been
b.
c.
d.
e.
accepted for publication by the Human Resource Planning Journal--Special Issue
on Building the Triple Bottom Line: HR’s Contribution, the Journal of Healthcare
Management, and the Organization Development Journal.
We have made research presentations at the Conference Board, Academy of
Management, Eastern and British Academies of Management, Society of
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Business as Agent of World Benefit
Forum, Organization Development Network, Organization Behavior Teaching
Conference, and INCAE University (in Costa Rica). Additional papers and
symposia have been accepted for presentation at the Eastern Academy of
Management, and International Eastern Academy of Management conferences
this spring and summer.
Papers and Symposia are currently under review for the Academy of Management
and Organization Behavior Teaching Conferences.
Under the sponsorship and leadership of ISE, “The Sustainable Enterprise
Fieldbook” is well under development, being built on a collaborative workspace
portal, with 25 contributing authors including business leaders, Professors,
NGO’s, and consultants. This fieldbook is targeted at business leaders, managers
and internal and external practitioners (HR, OD, consultants, etc.) who want to
move forward on their journey to sustainability. It includes practical tools,
resources, case studies, references, etc. on such topics as Leadership, Strategy,
Mental models, Change Management, Social Networks, Employee Engagement,
Global Perspectives, and Metrics.
Based in part on its original research, ISE recently developed the worldwide
survey on Sustainability currently being disseminated by the American
Management Association/Human Resource Institute and the Management Centre
of Europe. ISE is also the major contributor to the report which will be
disseminated globally on the results from this global Sustainability Survey.
3. Education:
a. Several courses both in the undergraduate program and the graduate program
have incorporated concepts central to sustainability. These include;
i. The “Achieving Breakthrough Results” course in the Executive MBA
program emphasizes systems thinking, appreciative inquiry,
transformational leadership, and sustainable management.
ii. The International Business Seminar in the Executive MBA program
emphasizes opportunities and challenges of sustainable business
development in emerging economies.
iii. The Global Business Capstone in both the Executive and regular MBA
emphasizes ethical corporate governance, and sustainability strategies that
integrate social responsibility, sound economics, and ecological
stewardship (which some refer to as a “triple bottom line” approach).
iv. An undergraduate course on experiencing emerging economies,
understanding sustainable practices (e.g., sustainable agriculture and
tourism) and experiencing the “pure life” (involving a visit to Costa Rica)
has been conducted three times
v. A service-learning project has been incorporated into the Business
Organization course in the undergraduate program. These servicelearning projects have raised over $30,000 for worthy causes over four
course offerings.
b. Seminars, Roundtables and Workshops: ISE delivers a monthly breakfast
seminar often focusing on a key topic related to sustainability. In addition, it
conducts periodic roundtables and workshops on sustainability-related topics that
have attracted a total of about 500 attendees per year. Some examples…
i. Georg Kell, Executive Head, UN Global Compact talked about the role of
business in achieving global sustainability to a broad business, NGO and
academic audience.
ii. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, Inc. described his company’s efforts in
its drive towards sustainable practices.
iii. Govi Rao,Vice President and General Manager, Philips Lighting talked
about his company’s sustainable practices.
iv. Beth Young of The Corporate Libraries talked about Corporate
Governance
v. Anna Tavis, former global executive from Nokia, Motorola and United
Technologies, talked about managing Human Capital in a Global 21st
century environment.
vi. Keith Darcy, Executive Director of Ethics and Compliance Officer
Association spoke about the tensions between ethics and compliance in the
context of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
vii. Roundtables focusing on the changing and maturing workforce and its
impact on organizations have been lively and knowledge generating.
viii. ISE/CHRMS has for a decade led the Sustainable Practices Action
Research Community (SPARC) workshop at the Academy of
Management. Scores of real life projects have been worked on and
improved to foster societal and organizational sustainability in a wide
variety of areas such as veterans healthcare, federal aviation, civil justice,
municipal governance, and primary through higher education (to name
only a few).
c. Campus Sustainability Initiative: ISE is a driving force in implementing a
sustainable campus initiative at FDU’s Florham campus; Specifically, the
following have been achieved so far:
i. A student green club has been formed and the club has organized an Earth
Day art contest and a collection of useable items at the end of semester
move-out day. A large amount of clothing and other materials were saved
and donated to worthy beneficiaries.
ii. The FDU top and senior leadership has been involved and enrolled in
these efforts.
iii. A Sustainable Campus initiative was launched with the involvement of
multiple stakeholders and the outcomes of these initiatives are being
implemented.
iv. FDU is currently participating in “Recyclemania,” a friendly competition
among over 170 university campuses nationwide.
v. In collaboration with Goodwill, a bin has been installed on campus to
gather useable clothing that students and others would like to donate to
worthy causes.
vi. FDU is participating in a worldwide initiative called the “Climate
Challenge.” As a beginning the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”
was screened. About 35 people attended from the campus, including
students, faculty, staff and administrators.
4. Funding: ISE has received a seed grant from First Energy and receives Financial Support
from its Corporate Partners. It has also received grants from the FDU for Summer
Support and from FDU’s Office of Global Learning for specific projects. We have also
received small grants from several donors to support specific activities like the
Sustainable Campus Initiative and the Changing Workforce Roundtable Series. A major
grant proposal to study the role of HR in building sustainable enterprises is under review
by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation.
5. Recognition: ISE has received an award from the Unity Learning Environments in
Morristown. We were nominated for the award by the Dodge Foundation. ISE’s
presence and participation in a large number of sustainability related forums has
generated an interest in its activities. ISE is featured among the top ten list in google
searches for “sustainable enterprise”.
6. Proposed Initiatives: The following initiatives are currently in different stages of
development.
a. Sustainable Business Incubator
b. Certificate Program in Sustainability
c. Role of HR in Sustainability
d. Partnership with INCAE including internships.