Educating for Sustainability in Business: Generating organizational collaborative

learning

A collaboration between University of Sydney: School of Economics and Business

(Dr. Lesley Treleaven, Senior Academic Advisor)&

University of British Columbia: Sauder School of Business(Vivian Forssman, Director Learning and Technology Services)

“Diversity fosters innovation”

Knowledge, culture and organizational change requires

historical perspective – sometimes marked by centuries, not

weeks and months “Change requires finding a renewed message which stimulates”

Network Theory: Nodes are self-reliant

“Looseness in the beginning – once the coalitions of

interest have formed, innovative parties will adapt into

more tightly coupled structures” “New centres of power emerge from internal diversity”

Federated systems; federated governance

EmpowermentCommitmentSelf-relianceInterdisciplinary

Getting to the 3rd generation – people and learning process, first, with technology and content as secondary; learning as knowledge creation

Who?B-School faculty and students

When?2 year horizon (Jan 2010 – Dec 2012)

What?Embed sustainability values within B-School curriculaPromote the role that sustainability has to play in responsible business practice

How?1. Develop local and global CoP’s around sustainability value themes (faculty,

students and business practitioners)2. Use CoP’s as the catalyst for course innovation, student and faculty

exchanges, and new theory and practice3. Integrate innovative pedagogies & web technologies to engage and connect

Project Context

Definition of Sustainability

Designing a sustainability education project: Implications

• Personal ethical responsibility for restoring healthier communities and ecosystems

• Practices of renewal• Promoting glocal well-being

(Fenwick 2007)

Faculty

Engagement?

Heuristic Framework: Educating for Sustainability in Business

FosterCommunities of Practice &

(VERY) Distributed Leadership

Focus on Curricula

& Policies &

Procedures

Support through

Resources, Network Tools & Databases

Examples of Current B-School Course Offerings

UBC: Bachelor of Commerce• Business and Sustainable Development• Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics• Environmental Management• Sustainability Marketing• Environmental Politics and Policy• Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Economics of Project Evaluation• Economics of the Environment • Environmental History of North America• Sustainable Energy: Policy and Governance• Design Thinking

UBC: MBA• Environmental Economics,

Management & Technology• Corporate Social

Responsibility• Environmental Marketing• Sustainable Transportation

USyd: Master of Commerce•Social Entrepreneurship•Business Growth and Innovation•International Entrepreneurship

USyd: Master of Sustainability•Ecological Economics•Sustainability, Society & Change•Techniques for Sustainability Analysis•Understanding Environmental Uncertainty

B. Com Students

Masters Students

MBA Students

Student Clubs

Design-Thinking Studio

Wikis, blogs, virtual projects

Marketing; Entrepreneurship,

Int’l projects

Student Exchanges

Student Internships

Campus InfrastructureSustainability

Research Institutes

ISISInstitute for

Sustainability

Faculty to Faculty

Exchanges

Int’l Networks LSE, LBS,

Edinburgh

Industry, Gov’t ,

NFP sector Employers

i.e. UBC SEEDS,(Social, Ecological,

Economic, Development

Studies), various energy, waste and

transportation mgmt initiatives

Emergent organizational collaboration for formal/informal learning

Student CapstoneProjects

?

Work-Integrated Learning