principles for responsible management education. manuel...principles for responsible management...
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Principles for Responsible Management Education
The United Nations Global Compact
16th. World Forum of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools
Ateneo de Manila University, 18-21 July 2010
Dr Manuel Escudero, Special Advisor UN Global Compact
Director-General Deusto Business School, IAJBS.
Deusto Business School
1959: the Two Foundations Reports (Ford and Carnegie) -Long lasting effects: the industry won academic legitimacy: -Quantitative methods -Management Models -Case Studies -Spread of Business Schools to Europe, the Americas, Pacific region, Asia…
1. Should Business Education be rethought?
1959 – TODAY?... -Several profound changes (particularly in the last two decades) in business, and, therefore, in business education…: -Globalization (economic, financial, trade, migration and information flows) -IT Revolution (constant) -Governance gaps (Nation-States unable to solve pressing problems)…
1. Should Business Education be rethought?
1959 – TODAY?... -Shift of global power in favor of corporations -Emergence of global awareness for corporations to be part of the solution rather than part of the problems…NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT ON THE ROLE OF COMPANIES IN SOCIETY. -Emergence of CSR and corporate sustainability as the new limits for value creation in the XXI Century…Corporate Sustainability is a new trend that has won the battle of ideas. -The United Nations Global Compact (8,000 participants), along with the WBCSD, and plenty of regional/national initiatives… -Financial markets are kicking, in asking companies to behave (PRI representing more than 20 trillion $ in assets, Ecuator Principles, Carbon Disclosure Project…)
1. Should Business Education be rethought?
Conclusion:
Business Education should be rethought… ...first of all in terms of the new changes in the world affecting corporations: globalization, the IT revolution, growth in an era of innovation. …and more specifically in terms of a new role of business in society: global sustainability – human rights, labor standards, environmental care/climate change, anti-corruption and contribution to development
The Ashridge Survey (2008) 76% of senior executives say that it is important they have the knowledge and skills to respond to trends like resource scarcity, the low carbon economy and doing business in emerging markets - Fewer than 8% believe these knowledge and skills are being developed very effectively by their own organizations or business schools (Developing the Global Leader of Tomorrow, Survey - Matthew Grisham, Ashridge - PRME Global Forum)
2. What is being asked by responsible companies?
2. What is being asked by responsible companies?
2010 Global Compact-Accenture CEOs Survey (www.unglobalcompact.org)
93% of respondents believe that sustainability issues are important to the future success of their business. 88 % of respondents believe that, in order to reach a “tipping point” where sustainability is embedded within the core business strategies of the majority of companies globally, it is important that educational systems and business schools develop the mindsets and skills needed for future leaders to address sustainability. Respondents indicate this is the second most important change that could be made in order to reach this tipping point. Six of the sixteen industry sectors surveyed identified the actions of educational systems and business schools as the single most important change needed.
Conclusion:
What is being asked by responsible companies… …is that global sustainability becomes a crucial aspect of business education. The problem is not anymore “what?” but “how?”
3. Recent events have added a note of urgency, both to business and business education
-Collapse of the credit system and financial meltdown in the Western world: excesses of the financial sector, and maybe the way we teach?... -Underlying bottlenecks in terms of natural resources: energy, food security, water shortages and climate change-related crises. Bulk of public and private investment in the next three decades…is this global agenda present in our education?... - Multipolarity ( or “apolarity”? ) without multilateralism: global governance or fragmented alliances for the next twenty years…do we teach our students about dialogue and corresponsibility with public policies and the public sphere?...
A Global Agenda, unveiled in 2008
4. How is the Business Education sector reacting?
-Sustainability has become a major recurrent focus of business schools international conferences -A new generation of Deans, focused on sustainability issues - New initiatives emerging (the global MBA, Aspen, GRLI, NetImpact, Oikos, Sustainability in the IAJBS, Sustainability Group of AACSB, updating of the accreditation standards of AMBA, CEEMAN and their activities...the Professional Oath Project …and PRME as an all-inclusive initiative.
PRME: a global call to change the curriculum, research and learning methods of management education, incorporating at the core of the vision, the tools and the skills taught, the values of the United Nations Global Compact
5. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
Declaration As institutions of higher education involved in the development of current and future managers we declare our willingness to progress in the implementation, within our institution, of the following Principles, starting with those that are more relevant to our capacities and mission. We will report on progress to all our stakeholders and exchange effective practices related to these principles with other academic institutions:
5. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
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.
5. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
Principle 3 Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership. 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.
5. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
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, 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.
5. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
• Today 320 signatories (www.unprme.org ) • Credibility through Reporting: Sharing Information on Progress every 18 months. • Growing number of activities (Anti-corruption, Poverty as a Challenge in Business Education, Climate Change, Travel Studies and Learning Methods…) • Almost all relevant associations are on board…and the IAJBS is there too.
6. General reasons to participate 1) To be ahead of the curve: Business schools which incorporate values of
sustainability and corporate citizenship into their core are the forerunners of a necessary adaptation process of business education. Participating in PRME helps to be “ahead of the curve” in the race to the top.
2) A universal framework for change: PRME acts as a framework for systemic
change in a transversal way of all disciplines from marketing to operations or from finances to human resources management.
6. General reasons to participate 3) A learning community: PRME gives access to a growing network of like-
minded participants: PRME is not only a framework…it is growing into a learning community . 4) A new dynamics: Additionally, to participate in PRME is, for many schools, a recognition of what they are already doing…but providing a framework for continuous improvement and systemic change. In that sense, Schools that have joined PRME find that the framework has meant a new dynamics in curriculum change towards sustainability. If the future of business is sustainability, the future of leading business schools is to become leaders in sustainability. There is no better framework for this than PRME.
7. The Jesuit Advantage
-In my own experience, in many Jesuit business schools the PRME principles resonate well with the work that is already being done. Why? a) The Jesuit tradition is values-based education…and that is, precisely, what is needed today. PRME, for instance is a values-based initiative, out of all the UN resolutions which are relevant for a good corporate behavior in today´s world. In that sense, PRME could be a 21st. Century crucial connection of the values-based education that Jesuit schools have always carried out and today´s global sustainability agenda and the needs of the sector… b)The Jesuit underlying philosophy of leadership, steaming from the Ignatian tradition could be summarized as “To innovate with confidence, and to adapt to a changing world” (Chris Lowney, “Leadership in the Jesuit Style”). Jesuit leadership based on the spirit of innovation is an advantage in this changing world.
7. The Jesuit Advantage
-Today the whole sector has, nominally, embraced the cause of sustainability, but nobody so far has made serious progress on how to make this possible. Probably the IAJBS is, because of its basic approach to business education, well suited to act as a champion network within PRME. -The IAJBS should consider to become the champion in “educating the champions of global sustainability.” -How could this be done?
8. Champions of Global Sustainability
- At the level of each school: a) by using PRME as a framework for curriculum, methodologies and research reorientation, along the lines of global sustainability. b) By organizing this change based on 1) conviction and action on the part of the leadership, 2) gradualism, 3) a multistakeholder approach and 4) transversallity. -At the level of the IAJBS as a network within PRME:
a) By creating a learning community and a community of practice. b) By leading by example. c) By presenting best practices to the whole PRME constituency in curriculum change but also in experiential learning (maybe an inspirational guide?) d) By undertaking some joint actions (service clearing house?, Faculty development program?...)
