TOPICS INTO COURSEWORK AND/OR RESEARCH
IEDC-Bled School of Management, Bled, Slovenia
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE OF IEDC-BLED SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT’S LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
IEDC-Bled School of Management is an award-winning international business school serving the needs of practis- ing managers and experienced executives. Located on the Alpine lake, Bled (Slovenia), IEDC was established as the first business school in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Recognised for its innovative curriculum and global impact, the Bled School of Management’s mission is developing professional and responsible leaders in CEE and beyond.
Challenges
As the pioneer in management devel- opment in CEE, and a change agent in the process of huge economic restruc- turing and social transformation, IEDC-Bled School of Management has always paid high attention to the subject of ethics and good govern- ance in management education. Anticipating changes in the global business landscape and the emerging leadership challenges related to achieving and sustaining global competitiveness, while acting in envir- onmentally friendly and socially responsible way, IEDC faced the challenge
of introducing a total integration of the issues of business ethics, CSR and sustainable development into its curriculum, research, learning materials, faculty development and community service. The challenge got even greater as IEDC has become an internationally recognised innovator in leadership development for a better world, a school known for its consistent efforts to place issues of sustainability and sustainable develop- ment at the centre of it identity, operations, and outreach.
Actions taken
One of the first decisions made in response to the new sustainability challenge was the commitment to approaching sustainability in an integrated and systemic way. It was clear that social and environmental challenges should be discussed and addressed in a variety of courses and functional areas, and closely connected with the integrated areas of strategy and leadership. Faculty members teaching the different courses have been encouraged to review their curriculum on an annual basis, adding new sustainability-related content. The changes made to the curriculum throughout the functional, leadership, and strategy courses are also measured biannually as a part of IEDC’s participation in and recognition by Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes review and rankings. Such measurement offers an additional encouragement to all faculty members.
To bring together the ideas discussed in different courses and offer an integrated framework, an extended compulsory sustainability course has been introduced, which is run in all IEDC’s programmes. This course features a hands-on business project, whereby teams of managers must complete value chain analysis, re-envision business processes and products, and develop a clear business case for implementing the newly redesigned solutions. While a functional perspective allows for exploring specific social and environmental challenges and solutions in great detail, the strategic course on sustainability provides the “big picture” perspective at the level of a company, an industry, and the economy at large.
IEDC’s curriculum efforts are supported by its own extensive research programme. Key concepts guiding the School’s sustainability philosophy appear in numerous publications, cases and scientific articles, including the book on Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage, co-authored by Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva, published in US, UK, and Brazil.
Faculty members are offered financial support for research-related expenses, with sustainability topics promoted with a special research fund. The School also invests heavily in supporting the managers once they are ready to act on the newly acquired sustainability knowledge, as well as in contributing to the dialogue and partnerships with major learning partners. IEDC serves as a headquarters of UN Global Compact Slovenia, an association of business for sustainable development, and runs numerous initiatives that place sustainability at the centre of national competitiveness.
IEDC also headquarters CEEMAN, a global management development association of over 200 members from more than 50 countries, whose value platform and programme portfolio, including its International Quality Accreditation (IQA) accreditation scheme, highly resonates with the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), of which CEEMAN serves on the Steering Committee. CEEMAN’s International Management Teachers Academy (IMTA), aimed at developing a new generation of management educators for the new generation of business leaders, which places a special emphasis on social responsibility of faculty, is introducing in 2012 a new, PRME-related, disciplinary track. Since 2007, all new IEDC faculty members have been taking part in IMTA, making sustainability and responsibility themes required elements of IEDC’s faculty development programme.
IEDC and CEEMAN also serve as the founding partners of a global sustainability think tank – Challenge:Future, which brings together over 25,000 young leaders committed to innovation and action for a better world. IEDC faculty has been involved in a wide range of Challenge:Future activities, which offer a unique resource for improving both research and teaching skills in the areas of social responsibility and environmental performance of business. The project also presents a new avenue for introducing the issues of sustainability and innovations into the business schools’ curriculum and for encouraging the dialogue and strengthening collaboration between youth and educators.
When IEDC graduates, reporting on how their new capabilities have been appreciated and valued by their companies, also add that their own families recognised that they have become better human beings, I get reassured that there is a broader meaning of what IEDC stands for. And I also know that all
this would not have been possible without a passionate commitment to and an absolute consistency with the philosophy of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).
Danica Purg, President, IEDC-Bled School of Management and President, CEEMAN
Results
IEDC has made significant and systemic steps for embedding sustainability into its core curriculum, operations, and outreach. Sustainability has been recognised – next to ethics and aesthetics – as one of the three strategic pillars of IEDC’s educational philosophy, as the basis for developing critical, transformational and inspirational leaders’ mindsets.
This has been celebrated by the School’s participants as a real value- added via course evaluation forms and regular alumni consultation requests. The IEDC’s conferences and events in this sphere have created a truly public resonance, both nationally and internationally. For example, the 2008 conference on “Sustainable Development for National Competi- tiveness” was attended by HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, and then UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, who delivered a keynote address.
IEDC’s work has reached thousands of managers globally through articles in academic publications and practitioner outlets – for example, the 2011European Financial Reviewarticle “Embedded sustainability: the strategy for market leaders” created a real resonance in the European financial community and resulted in numerous events and projects. In recognition of IEDC’s leadership in the field of sustainability, The Coca-Cola Company has supported the establishment of the Coca-Cola Chair of Sustainable Development, led by Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva since 2010. While contributing to the educational and research activities, the Chair creates also a fruitful platform for the School’s many social and environmental initiatives.
All newly recruited faculty members have attended IMTA, joining the IMTA Alumni Association of more than 400 management educators from 34 countries around the globe, which has been very active in CEEMAN/PRME research and other efforts in fighting poverty through management education.
In all of IEDC’s sustainability efforts, the Principles and initiatives of PRME have been very important as they represent a consistent philosophy to be followed by management educators, who realise that we have only one planet and thus, they have a responsibility to protect it through developing responsible business and responsible leaders.
Why PRME is/was important
. PRME, the formulation of which we actively contributed, highly resonates with IEDC’s vision, mission and value platform.
. Through PRME, we have contributed to, and also benefitted from, a global legitimacy for the school’s belief that responsible leadership requires responsible management education.
. PRME provides a platform for a broader exposure (i.e., sharing, benchmarking, and learning), as well as for a higher impact on business practices and management development approaches and innovation.
. PRME facilitates the internal and external integration and institu- tionalisation of our efforts, as was the case with the establishment of the Coca-Cola Sustainability Chair, the Global Compact Network Slovenia, Challenge:Future, and CEEMAN’s membership in the PRME Steering Committee and leading role in the PRME Working Group on Poverty as a Challenge to Management Education.