Corporate Responsibility

and Management
Education
Vasanthi Srinivasan
Associate Professor
Indian Institute of
Management Bangalore
 Why CR is prominent
today
• Business is more pervasive and powerful
• Major accounting & governance scandals
• Visible impacts of economic activity (e.g.
pollution, global warming)
• Failures/limitations of government
• Media spotlight on business activities
• Active NGOs monitoring corporate performance
• Reputational risk due to greater visibility &
criticism of corporate practices
 Role of Management
Education
• Growing criticism of management education
– Assumptions of a rational economic self interested human
being
– Dominant theories are economic – agency, information
processing view, transaction cost
– Do we create leaders who impact society or self centered
individuals?
– Emphasis on content seen as meaningful rather than emphasis
on process
– Faculty themselves ambivalent about ethics, responsibility and
citizenship in teaching and of course capability
 Recent evidence from
research
• MBA schools are brainwashing institutions
educating their students on relatively narrow
shareholder ideology (Emiliani, 2006, Ghoshal,
2005, Matten & Moon, 2004, Mintzberg et al,
2002)
• MBA education does make students more self
centered. It reduces helping and supportive
behaviours which are critical and needed in
organizations. (Enderle, 2001, Venkat, 2006)
 State of CR education
across the world
• Piece meal and fragmented in most business
schools
• Some schools offer experiential learning on
responsibility through internships
• Four types of courses offered under this
umbrella – CSR, Business Ethics, Corporate
Governance and Business and Society
• Few faculty champions; not mainstreamed
 Highlights of 1st National Survey on CR
teaching and research in management
schools in India, 2007; Partners in Change)
Covering 104 leading -- Management
Institutes across 18 States…
• 100% of the respondents agreed that
they needed to take the lead in
facilitating and producing dynamic
leadership in youth for social and
environmental stewardship
• 93% that B School ratings/rankings
should include their CR Teaching and
Research performance and practice
 Contd.

• 86% of respondents that investment in CR teaching

and research will foster their leadership and
competitiveness

• 88% of respondents agree that CR issues should be

mainstreamed in teaching curricula of all business
programmes and courses

• Industry (75%), Faculty (71%), Students (65%), Govt.

(57%) are the major drivers for CR in B Schools

• 90-97% of respondents interested in participating in

networks/for a dedicated to furthering various aspects
of the CR teaching and Research agenda
 contd

• Only 7% of the B Schools surveyed

offered dedicated/exclusive CR
teaching modules
• 20 % offered various designs of
optional modules on CR issues.
 However …
• We have examples of corporations demonstrating very
high responsibility
• Corruption levels very high; critical thinking among
students needs to be developed
• Transparency International ratings of India will impact
the future of business
• International pressure through codes of conduct, non
tariff barriers will become a reality
• Grooming students for this context not easy
• Ethos of charity not responsibility
• Young students in a highly volatile emerging market
 What have we done at IIMB
• Centre for Governance and Citizenship
• Offer electives on Governance, sustainability and
Business and society
• Partnership with British Council and Nottingham
university (ICCSR)
• Developing a curriculum for CR teaching in Indian
business schools
• Develop a website with original resources for faculty
to draw up on to teach and research
• Build capability among business school teacher to
create awareness, sensitization to these larger issues
(FDP)
How do we teach? What
do we teach?
 Curriculum Design
• Philosophy

– Build a perspective around the larger role of business in society

– Sensitize students to their roles as managers in organizations and
the ethical choices they make
– To engage students to the structures and processes within
organizations that enable discharge of responsibilities
– To stimulate critical thinking in the dominant paradigm in
management in the context of emerging nations like India
– AACSB /Global Compact calls for a more inclusive and integrative
curriculum(http://www.aacsb.edu/eerc/TBEConference/index.asp;)
 RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS COURSE

ORGANIZATION

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

STAKEHOLDER INDIVIDUALS

Responsible business is about ensuring that individuals, organizations

And stakeholders work with a common purpose leading to sustainability
 I
Principle centred leadership N R
D E
I S
Ethical decision making V P
I O
N
S
Institutionalization: structures I
O
and systems B
R L
G E
N
Institutionalization: Culture L B
U
S
I
Stakeholder perspective S N
O E
C S
I S
Contemporary challenges E
MDG, Corruption T
A
L
RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS : INDIVID

SESSION 1:
-- CHANGING LANDSCAPES
SESSION 2:
UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS SOCIETY
INTERRELATIONSHIPS
SESSION 3:
– UNDERSTANDING THE STAKEHOLDERS FOR AN
ORGANIZATION
SESSION 4:
DECIDING WHAT IS RIGHT: ETHICAL THEORIES AND
MANAGERIAL ROLES

SESSION 5:
– ETHICS AND DECISION MAKING
 RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS :
ORGANIZATIONAL
SESSION 6:
– INSTITUTIONALIZING ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY: THE PLANNING
PROCESS

SESSION 7:
– INSTITUTIONALIZING ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY: STRUCTURES

SESSION 8:
– INSTITUTIONALIZING ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY: CULTURE

SESSION 9:
STAKE HOLDER MANAGEMENT: EMPLOYEES

SESSION 10:
– STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: CONSUMERS
 RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS :
SOCIETAL
SESSION 11:
– STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: SUPPLY CHAIN

SESSION 12:
– STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: SHAREHOLDER

SESSION 13:
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: ENVIRONMENT

SESSION 14:
– STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: COMMUNITY

SESSION 15:
– STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: GOVERNMENT
 RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS :
SOCIETAL
SESSION 16:
– UNDERSTANDING THE FIRM PERFORMANCE LINKAGE

SESSION 17:
– CHALLENGES IN EMERGING MARKETS 1: CORRUPTION

SESSION 18:
– CHALLENGES IN EMERGING MARKETS 2: COMPLIANCE TO
GLOBAL AGREEMENTS

SESSION 19:
– GLOBAL CONTEXT, DIVERSE CULTURES: HOW DO ETHICS AND
CSR DIFFER IN CROSS CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS?

SESSION 20:
– GLOBAL CONTEXT, DIVERSE CULTURES: HOW DO ETHICS AND
CSR DIFFER IN CROSS CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS?
 Cognitive competence in
Ethics

• Moral awareness
• Moral understanding
• Moral reasoning
• Moral decision making
• Moral tolerance