Enhancing education for sustainable development in Business and Management, Hospitality, Leisure, Marketing, Tourism

Transcription

1 Enhancing education for sustainable development in Business and Management, Hospitality, Leisure, Marketing, Tourism Chapter 6 No more preaching to the converted: embedding ESD in the Business school curriculum through a service learning initiative Denise Baden, University of Southampton Edited by Richard Atfield and Patsy Kemp

2 Contents Section Page Summary 3 Introduction 3 The problem 3 Social enterprise placements 4 Classroom experience 4 Evaluation of project based on student reflections 5 Discussion 6 Main learning points 6 Managing the bureaucracy 6 Managing time 6 Managing expectations 7 Conclusion 7 References 7 Biography 8 2

3 Summary This case study describes attempts to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into our business school curriculum by including a service-learning component in assessment. This approach has enabled both masters and undergraduate students studying entrepreneurship to gain first-hand experience of working with social entrepreneurs. Analysis of student reflections related to the placement suggests this experience opened their eyes to the reality and possibilities of social enterprise, made their business values more pro-social, and inspired many students to consider sustainability-related issues in their business future. Introduction This chapter discusses the ongoing attempts to integrate issues of sustainability, ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the business school curriculum. Although these terms all mean slightly different things, for the most part these differences do not substantially affect the argument made in this chapter. A further issue is the lack of consensus on what terms such as CSR and sustainability actually mean (Baden and Harwood forthcoming). The term sustainability as currently used has much conceptual overlap in the business context with that of the triple bottom line (Elkington, 1999) which refers to the social, environmental and economic impacts of business. One of the problems of the current business school curriculum is the unbalanced focus on economic values at the expense of social and environmental values, and this is highlighted by many commentators (Gioia,1992; Kochan, 2002). When referring to sustainability in this chapter, the emphasis is primarily on addressing the social and environmental aspects of business. In the context of business education, ESD has been driven by increasing awareness of the unsustainable nature of our current business models which aim for ever-increasing growth, as well as external factors affecting business, with the climate change threat posed by carbon emissions being the greatest. A succession of business scandals, such as accounting frauds (Enron), product safety (the Sanlu milk scandal), the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and the global financial crisis have also focused attention on the values and practices being taught in business schools. In this chapter, I focus on the attempts made within our business school to embed sustainability in the curriculum. I highlight the nature of the problems faced in doing so, and describe a service-learning initiative that enabled us to overcome some of these obstacles. The problem A common debate in the ESD literature is whether it is more effective to embed sustainability across the curriculum or have stand-alone courses in the subject. One of the difficulties in embedding sustainability is that instructors are unlikely to be expert in teaching the subject, and may lack motivation, skills or confidence in teaching outside their area of expertise. Another difficulty is sourcing materials and texts, as few core course set texts include a sufficient coverage of sustainability. However, the drawback with most stand-alone courses related to sustainability (which might include modules on CSR or business ethics) is that they are almost always optional, so many students will not take them. Indeed, the concern is that these courses are preaching to the converted ; those who take them already care about such issues and, most importantly, those most in need of sustainability education are left out. The School of Management in the University of Southampton signed up to the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (UNPRME, see and this provided a framework within which we began to consider how to deal with such issues, more effectively embed ESD throughout our curriculum, and avoid the danger of only attracting already interested students. As in many other business schools, timetabling constraints made it extremely difficult to introduce relevant courses as a core subject, so we sought more innovative means of embedding sustainability into our curriculum. The tradition of service-learning, which can also be classified as a type of experiential learning, presented itself as an alternative approach to ESD. Service learning incorporates community engagement into the curriculum and has been proposed as a means of combining civic participation with socially responsive education, that is, education in the key problems and challenges facing society, firsthand experience of these social issues in the community and attainment of the experience and skills to address these challenges. A review of the service-learning literature by Eyler et al, (2001) for example, demonstrates that service-learning has a positive effect on students moral development, sense of social responsibility, and that it improves their ability to apply what they have learned in the real world. A more recent meta-analysis of service-learning initiatives (Conway et al, 2009) indicates it leads to positive outcomes academically, personally, and in terms of citizenship behaviours, particularly when structured reflection is built into the process, and for students at the higher education level. 3

4 In accordance with the first principle of the UNPRME to 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, we wanted to find a way to embed ethical awareness into our MSc entrepreneurship module. Very few of the students on this course chose to take the business ethics option, and like many business/management school students, appeared to be embedded in the culture and values of profit maximisation, thus there was little danger of us preaching to the converted. Indeed, of all business people, entrepreneurs especially have been accused of anti-social tendencies by some researchers (King and Roberts, 1992; Morris et al, 2002). However, in terms of offering socially responsive knowledge to be translated into positive behaviour which could address society s key issues within the business domain, entrepreneurs are an obvious target. The essence of entrepreneurship is innovation, overthrowing old structures for new, turning problems into opportunities and creating something from nothing. Social enterprises have been lauded and promoted as an alternative business model which can deliver social goods in an economically sustainable fashion. While social enterprises may differ in the extent to which they focus on social or environmental outcomes, they have in common a prioritisation of social/environmental values over economic values (DTI, 2003). Reedy and Learmonth (2009) propose incorporating coverage of such alternative business structures into the curriculum as an antidote to the typical focus on instrumental values and to challenge the assumption that the managed corporation is the only desirable form of organisation. Unless students are also exposed to alternative models, even if they are exposed to a critical view of corporate activity, they will not necessarily be empowered to seek change. Thus, our goal was to raise students awareness of social entrepreneurship and develop their skills and knowledge in this domain through practical work placements with social enterprises. Social enterprise placements The social enterprise placements took place as part of an assessed piece of coursework for a core MSc course on entrepreneurship, as an alternative to the set essay. Over half the students on the course chose the social enterprise option. The instructions were as follows: Contribute eight hours to a social enterprise or charity and then either: a) Write a report on how you can apply your entrepreneurial skills to help the charity/social enterprise raise money and achieve their objectives or b) Write about how working with a social enterprise informed your view of the similarities and differences between social enterprises and commercial enterprises. For both a) and b), finish with a reflective paragraph on what you have gained from the experience. The social enterprise placements were sourced either through contacts already known within the School of Management or by the university s community volunteering organisation, which arranges volunteering opportunities for all students. The enterprises chosen all conformed to the definition provided by the then Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as enterprises with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners (DTI, 2003). Within this broad definition there were a wide range of organisational types including a start-up workers co-operative, a commercially driven limited company with social aims, and enterprises that had developed from charities that relied heavily on grant funding. Support for the extra work required for this project was provided by funds from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement s v-inspired students programme 1. They also provided funds for a short film to be made about the initiative: see Classroom experience The first hint that exposing business students to a social enterprise culture might be an effective way to open their eyes to the positive impacts enterprise can have, occurred before any placements had taken place. As part of the project I had invited a social entrepreneur to talk to the entrepreneurship students about how she had set up her social enterprise. In the Q and A session afterwards, one student asked the speaker why she did not sell her goods through high street retailers. Instead of couching her reply in financial terms, she responded by referencing her values and the values of her enterprise, and their inconsistency with the values of the high street chains. There was a palpable change in the atmosphere as the students digested this. It spawned a lot of conversation, and in the discussions afterwards with the students it became apparent that this was the first time they had heard an entrepreneur justify decisions in terms of values rather than profit, and many of them, even those who didn t go on to do the social enterprise placements, were excited and challenged by this. Thus simple exposure to an alternative viewpoint called into question students accepted assumption that business always puts profit first

5 Evaluation of project based on student reflections The main body of the data comes in the form of a content analysis of feedback from the students, which they wrote as a reflexive paragraph in their assessed coursework. Reflections from the students on these placements are analysed in the context of the literature on behaviour change, to ascertain the effectiveness of this initiative in terms of its likelihood of leading to more pro-social business behaviour. Ajzen s Theory of Planned Behaviour (1985) provides the most comprehensive and accepted model of the key determinants of behaviour. This model proposes that behavioural intentions are affected by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (see Figure 1). The concept of perceived behavioural control originated from self-efficacy theory, which relates to one s power or capacity to produce a desired effect. In his review on proenvironmental behaviour, Barr (2004) reported that the extent to which individuals feel competent and able to perform a given behaviour (self-efficacy) as well as their perception that such an action will have a tangible positive effect (response efficacy) is a key factor in whether they will enact the behaviour. Numerous other studies have demonstrated that notions of perceived control are additional significant predictors of sustainable behaviour. Figure 1: Theory of planned behaviour. (Ajzen 1985) Behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluations Attitude towards behaviour Normative beliefs and motivation to comply Subjective norm (social pressures) Behavioural intentions Behaviour Beliefs about ease/difficulty of behaviour Perceived Behavioural Control The most common theme in the students reflective paragraphs was that their volunteering experience had increased their self-efficacy in the social enterprise domain. Many statements incorporated an explicit statement of the benefits of learning by doing over classroom learning and a description of how the placement increased their skills, competences and/or confidence in the domain of entrepreneurship. The social enterprise placement also introduced students to people working within that sector and thus increased their network in this field, an important aspect of successful entrepreneurship, and an additional outcome that several students explicitly note in their narratives: The project helped me to build my self-confidence I believe that being committed to a project where I feel I can and so will make a difference inspires me to commit whole heartedly and consequently allows a far more proactive and creative approach to problem solving. I have gained more in-depth understanding of the mechanism of social enterprises. I have learned some useful information to apply in the process of starting up a social enterprise in an organised and systematic way so a clear focus can be produced. the most powerful lesson I have taken away, is that a small dedicated workforce can achieve a great deal if they are committed and unified. A common theme was that the placements had raised students awareness of social enterprise and opened their eyes to the positive role enterprise can play in society. Some comments expressed a general theme of having had their outlook broadened. Several of the international students wrote this was the first time they had come across enterprises that pay attention to the triple bottom lines of profit, society and environment as part of their mission: Until this assessment, it was clear to me that companies are run to maximise profit and to generate value for their shareholders. During the assessment I gained some extended knowledge about A and its mission. Because of this, I realised that business can also be done with a strong focus on doing something good for the population. I believe B has empowered me into realising the power that business and social enterprise can have in creating a global change. 5

6 Many of the comments expressed feelings of having been inspired by the social entrepreneurs themselves, indicating that these social entrepreneurs might act as role models for how the students would like to be in their future careers as entrepreneurs: I did not fully appreciate how heavily a firm s mission statement and culture influence their decision making until spending some time with C and his team He has opened my eyes to the concept of operating a successful, dynamic and entrepreneurial business for an objective other than profit. Having the opportunity to work with the D Project has been an inspiration to me as an aspiring entrepreneur. The social enterprise placements were clearly positively reinforcing for the students, with adjectives such as exciting, rewarding, inspiring, enjoyable being used to describe the experience. This aspect relates to motivational aspects of behaviour, and indeed, six students explicitly expressed an intention to continue volunteering, or incorporate social goals into any future enterprises they might start up. Three more expressed the following: As a result of this project I am more interested in establishing an organisation on the lines of a social enterprise, which has a community value. After volunteering for such a brilliant company, any business that I will start in the future should perform at least some social function. Lastly, the prevalent comment that they had learned more from the placement than they could have done from theory, implies that the social enterprise placements were more effective in enhancing students appreciation of the positive contribution enterprise can make to society than any amount of lecturing could have achieved. I think this initiative is outstanding. Learning from actual entrepreneurs and seeing start up enterprise in action is an exceptional way to learn about enterprise as a subject; there is only so much to be gained from focusing on theory. Discussion A key aim of ESD is to affect future behaviour positively through education. A common adage is that the greatest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. We provided a practical experience of volunteering in a socially responsible business environment, thus increasing the likelihood that these individuals will seek out or create similar experiences for themselves in the future. One can explain this in terms of a number of different theories. For example, both knowledge of social enterprise and self-efficacy in the social enterprise domain clearly increased following contact with social enterprises, that is, students now know more about what it takes to run a social enterprise. Added to this, exposure to an organisational culture that propounds pro-social values in the field of enterprise increased both social norms and motivation regarding socially responsible business, as well as providing role models to emulate. There is also the effect of positive reinforcement, as the students found the experience to be a rewarding one, shown by the narratives. As indicated by the students themselves, the social enterprise placements tick all these boxes in a way that other pedagogies such as lecturing, classwork, case studies and so on, cannot. Main learning points Managing the bureaucracy Those in higher education will be familiar with bureaucratic barriers to new initiatives. My approach was to introduce this work as a voluntary alternative to the assessed essay. Armed then with the successful pilot, I instigated it more formally into the curriculum, and extended the scheme to incorporate undergraduates as well. Managing time This did take more time than setting an essay, but was much more fun to mark! I got help from our volunteer office who organised many of the placements, and provided an initial session which covered the behaviour we expected from the volunteers. I asked a couple of social enterprises to speak in the lecture and recruit students then and there, which saved a lot of time. Finally, I did not over-manage the placements, simply making both sides aware of each other and letting them get on with it all I could manage within my own time constraints. My motivations for this initiative were intrinsic; nevertheless, my efforts were rewarded, both by the additional time being recognised in our workload model, and also with a teaching award. The networks and contacts developed also gave rise to further research and publication opportunities. 6

7 Managing expectations Students were made aware that a placement was an entrepreneurial option in that it required pro-activity and initiative, as the social entrepreneurs would be busy, with little time available to help. It was explained to them that the placement option would be high risk, in that while it might provide the possibility for opportunities to network, learn new skills and contribute to something important, it might also be disappointing, with little input from the social enterprise, and not much interesting work to do. Managing expectations was important so the students knowingly accepted the greater risks of a placement scheme. Similarly, the contacts at the social enterprises were told that they might get bright and capable students, but they might also end up with some of the weaker students who would not necessarily make a useful contribution. Almost all of the placements in the end turned out to be successful, except for one that was disappointing. As expectations had been properly managed, there was no bad feeling on either side. Conclusion Our experience suggests that exposing students directly to a business culture that is predicated on social responsibility is an effective means of embedding sustainable business values in the curriculum. Here sustainable enterprise is not presented as a hypothetical ideal, but is being lived in practice. The central tenet of this chapter is that simply exposing students to an organisational culture that has sustainability and social responsibility at its heart has the potential to positively influence students ethical perceptions, intentions and perhaps their future behaviour. This tenet is suggested by the rich literature on the powerful effect of work and social norms on behaviour dating as far back as Aristotle, who in his Nichomachean Ethics, describes ethics as a habit of virtue, learned by observation and through a modelling process, and continues through to the modern day in the literature on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), norms (Cialdini et al, 1990) and planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985). Example can be the best means of silent exhortation - to quote Benjamin Franklin: Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand (Benjamin Franklin, ). References Ajzen, I. (1985) From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior. In Kuhl, J. and Beckmann, J. (Eds). Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag. Aristotle (1976). Cited in The Nicomachean Ethics. Middlesex: Penguin Books. Baden, D. and Harwood, I. A. (forthcoming) Terminology matters: a critical exploration of Corporate Social Responsibility terms. Journal of Business Ethics. Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Barr, S. (2004) Are we all environmentalists now? Rhetoric and reality in environmental action. Geoforum. 35 (2), Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R. and Kallgren, C. A. (1990) A focus theory of normative conduct: recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 58 (6), Conway, J. M., Amel, E. L. and Gerwien, D. P. (2009) Teaching and Learning in the Social Context: A Meta-Analysis of Service Learning's Effects on Academic, Personal, Social, and Citizenship Outcomes. Teaching of Psychology. 36 (4), DTI (2003) Social enterprise: a strategy for success. HMSO. Econo Mitroff II (2004) An open letter to the deans and the faculties of American business schools. Journal of Business Ethics. 54 (2), Elkington, J. (1999) Cannibals with forks: the triple bottom line of 21st century business. Oxford: Capstone. Eyler, J., Giles, D. E. J., Stenson, C. and Gray, C. (2001) At a glance: What we know about the effects of service-learning on college students, faculty, institutions and communities, Learn and Serve America National Service-Learning Clearing House. 7

8 Gioia, D. A. (1992) Pinto fires and personal ethics: A script analysis of missed opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics. 11 (5-6), King, P. J. and Roberts, N. C. (1992) An Investigation into the personality profile of policy entrepreneurs. Public Productivity and Management Review. 16 (2), 173. Kochan T. A. (2002) Addressing the crisis in confidence in corporations: Root causes, victims, and strategies for reform. Academy of Management Executive. 16 (3), Morris, M. H., Schindehutte, M., Walton, J. and Allen, J. (2002) The ethical context of entrepreneurship: Proposing and testing a developmental framework. Journal of Business Ethics. 40 (4), National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (2012) Vinspired students,. Available from: [Accessed 4 October 2012]. Reedy, P. and Learmonth, M. (2009) Other Possibilities? The Contribution to Management Education of Alternative Organizations. Management Learning. 40 (3), United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education Initiative, Prime Time, Available from: [Accessed 4 October 2012]. University of Southampton Social Enterprise Placements in the School of Management, Short film. Available from: [Accessed 4 October 2012]. Biography DENISE BADEN obtained a degree in politics with economics and then worked in industry for several years before returning to academia to obtain a PhD in psychology at the University of Southampton. She was a researcher in social psychology before transferring to the School of Management to teach and research in areas related to entrepreneurship, business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Denise is the school s liaison office for the United Nation s Principles of Responsible Management Education and heads the University of Southampton Green Group. The author gratefully acknowledges the permission to use material from her contribution to J Ahmed & D Crowther, Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: International perspectives, Emerald Group Publishing, dasd ssdfsdfsdfdfsdf asd sdfsdfdsfsdfsdfsdfsd 8

9 Enhancing education for sustainable development in Business and Management, Hospitality, Leisure, Marketing, Tourism Further chapters of this book are available from Chapter 1 and Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Why should Business schools care about sustainability? Paul M. Marshall, Association of Business Schools; Angus Laing, University of Loughborough An institutional approach: education for sustainable development at the University of Leeds Martin Purvis, Claire Marsh, William Young, Julia Clarke, University of Leeds Practical education for sustainable development through interdisciplinary problem-based learning Helen Dobson, Bland Tomkinson, University of Manchester Reaching out: community-based sustainable education, Mission to Mission Beach Diane Phillips, Greg Boland, University of Canberra Integrating sustainability into Business schools: evidence from United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME) Sharing of Information in Progress (SIP) reports Jasmin Godemann, Christian Herzig, Jeremy Moon, University of Nottingham No more preaching to the converted: embedding ESD in the Business school curriculum through a service learning initiative Denise Baden, University of Southampton Sustainable Tourism Management in an internationalised learning environment Richard Bell, Simon Ireland, University of Salford With contributions from: R La Piedra Alcami, RM Rodríguez Artola, Universitat Jaume I; S Matala, M-L Läykki, TAMK University of Applied Sciences Sustainability in practice: Action learning and the Green Impact initiative Beatriz Acevedo, Sarah Johnson, Anglia Ruskin University Two birds with one stone: enhancing education for sustainable development and employability Nikolas Thomopoulos, John Embery, Leeds Metropolitan University Contributing to a more sustainable world? Business product innovation and the development of an industrial ecology Colin Beard, Sheffield Hallam University; Mark Goode, Cardiff Metropolitan University Integrating the VERB model into an undergraduate tourism management degree programme Andrew Clegg, Jorge Gutic, University of Chichester Sustainable marketing: embedding sustainability at the heart of Business education Barry Emery, Birmingham City University Promoting life-wide learning for sustainable development in the hospitality industry Valerie Mannix, LorainWalsh, Waterford Institute of Technology Stepping outside a comfort zone: transdisciplinary innovation in sustainability education Darien Simon, Annette Lundebye, Regent s College; Evelyn Ang, University of Winsconsin Teaching social legacy management through a stepped case study approach Debbie Sadd, Bournemouth University 9

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