by Nancy Nachman-Hunt
At the University of Michigan there is a course titled "Systems Thinking on Sustainable Development." At first glance, that title would suggest the course is being taught in the university's school of environmental design, perhaps. But it's not.
It is being taught as part of the core curriculum in the university's MBA program. One of the course objectives reads: "To foster awareness, sensitivity and literacy regarding global environmental and social change, including challenges such as population growth, persistent poverty, social disintegration, biodiversity loss, climate change, freshwater scarcity, gender bias, megacities, food insecurity, political instability, etc., focusing especially on the roles of industry in relation to these challenges.
Clearly, this isn't your traditional MBA course. Slowly but surely, it is the type of course that is showing up in graduate business education programs around the world.
"Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2003," a joint effort of the NY-based Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington DC., is the fourth in a series of biannual reports on the greening of business education.
While the report notes that there are only 40 courses like Michigan's in the 180 business schools that responded to the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, other findings are encouraging for the growth of green MBA education. A higher percentage of graduate business schools than ever before, for example, now have required courses in sustainability, ethics and social responsibility. "It's gone up from 34% (noted in the previous Green Pinstripes report published in 2000) to 45%," says Meghan Chapple, manager of the business education sustainable enterprise program at WRI. "We also see an increase in the amount of research being done in the areas of social impact and environmental management."
All the graduate business schools that ranked highest on the report's list have at least one academic center or institute housed in their business school that focuses on social impact, environmental management or sustainability.
In all, "Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2003" identifies 36 graduate business schools around the world (see chart) that are leading the movement toward educating MBA students in the so-called triple bottom line - one that grows social and ecological returns as well as financial returns. Singled out for cutting edge recognition are George Washington University, University of Michigan, North Carolina, Stanford, Yale and York University, in Toronto.
Those schools are considered on the cutting edge because they either include environmental content in their core courses, have faculty who have done extensive research on sustainability topics, have conferences and seminars that focus on sustainability issues, or include a combination of these offerings.
Why are they changing their curricula to include these topics? "It's different at every school," says Chapple. "In some schools the administration is leading the charge. But in general, most of the push for change is coming from two places: students and also a select group of companies that see this as important."
Students, especially those just entering MBA programs, are showing increasing interest in thinking about the role of business in society, according to Nancy McGaw, Deputy director of the Aspen Institute. Not surprisingly, their interest has been spurred by everything from corporate scandals to the effects of economic globalization.
What is somewhat surprising, however, is that the core group of companies driving changes in postgraduate course work are not those typically linked with environmental or socially responsible causes. Neither Ben & Jerry's or Stonyfield Farm appears on Chappell's list. Her list includes titans of American business, including Alcoa (NYSE: AA); American Express (NYSE: AXP); Citigroup (NYSE: C); Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT); and Prudential (NYSE: PRU).
All are sponsors of the Grey Pinstripes project. These companies, as well as other corporate giants such as Ford (NYSE: F); Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ); and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), currently are looking for MBAs who can think outside the box, Chapple says.
