Table 10
What can we teach
the social change agent?
Oana Branzei
Richard Ivey School of Business
obranzei@ivey.uwo.ca
http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty/directory/oana-branzei/
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
How can we bring/keep alive positive values such as transcendence,
humanity, hope, love, optimism, gratitude and persistence through our
courses?
Courses on social change, social innovation and social enterprise
suggest how we can (re)organize for a better world, but rarely discuss
whether or how the social change agents learn to better themselves in
the process.
This workshop explores social change work in its making by focusing
on its character-building consequences. The workshop aims to enable
those teaching social change to actively build character by offering
scenic tours through the range of curricula, pedagogies and materials
available.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
We illustrate what we can teach the social change agent by introducing a
series of mini-cases, first-person narratives of character-building, titled ‘I am
the change’. These mini-cases are designed to role-model the centrality of
such values in the daily work of social change. Then we discuss the benefits of
multi-media, pluri-sensorial cases using a forthcoming multi-part case on
Craig Kielburger, who founded Free the Children in 1995 at only 12 years of
age. Craig has since created and scaled multiple global movements for social
change: his initial organization has worked in 45 countries and built more
than 650 schools and school rooms in developing regions, providing
education to more than 55,000 children every day. However, Craig’s his real
work is enabling social agents in both the developed and developing world to
reach their full potential as social change agents. We look at how Craig does
it, and discuss how we can do the same in our classroom and beyond.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
RESOURCES
Framework
Teaching Plan
Course Syllabi (Sustainability in Action, Social Enterprise, Social Innovation)
Certificate Program, http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/sustainability/students/sustainability-certificate/
Craig Kielburger Cases & Video, available from Ivey Publishing
Teaching Note – instructors only, available from Ivey Publishing
Ivey Business Journal article, February 2012
http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/developing-leadership-character
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
GOAL
Social change agency involves the whole
person as they mature and grow over
time – and one’s ability to see what
change is needed and respond
constructively evolve over time. Many
students may be too early on that curve
(lacking the courage to get started) or
too late on that curve (having tried and
failed, or succeeded and burned out).
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
APPROACH
Social change agent ‘become’ – as they
encounter specific events they respond in
ways that may create new relationships,
new ventures, new capabilities, and new
strengths. An experiential learning
approach introduces and prepares
students to become social change agents
by appreciating that this is a continuous
journey – not a one-time decision.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
CONTEXT
The social aspects of social change
require careful attention – change is not
only socially-embedded but also prosocial in function and implementation;
thus developing the social agent requires
attention to how one interrelates – and
the quality of the relationships one
draws upon and offers back to society.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
CHARACTER
Social change work tests and builds
one’s character – even when one does
not plan to become a social change
agent, important lessons apply more
broadly to character building for
leadership and entrepreneurship.
The teaching note for the Ivey Publishing case
series develops this point; the recommended
Feb.2012 IBJ article provides additional details.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
CALLING
Many social change agents have found
their calling; by exploring the journeys
of those that came before them,
students can search for their own
calling, and invest in developing their
own calling by trying on different
views, approaches and contexts for
social change work until one fits.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle
Table 10 - What can we teach the social change agent?
TAKEAWAYS
Even if you are not and don’t
even want to become a social
change agent, chances are you
know one. You can learn how to
best support others who are
trying to make their mark by
making a difference in the world.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama takes a moment to speak to youth attending We Day in Vancouver, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009.
Teaching to Make a Difference:
Nourishing our Students (and Ourselves) Through Using a Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective
AOM 2012, Hosts Jane Dutton and Karen Golden-Biddle