Business Schools and their Contribution to Society

Citation

Ramdhony, A. (2012), "Business Schools and their Contribution to Society", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 663-666. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591211245549

1 Book synopsis

This book is a timely and valuable offering that will no doubt energise the debate on the role of business schools and their contribution to society. Far from being a unitarist and prescriptive blueprint for the management of business schools, it is deliberately plurivocal, multiperspectival and context‐sensitive. Integrating rich insights from business school deans, professors and other leading scholars, the book gives a voice to multiple key stakeholders – allowing for the development of alternative perspectives on the current challenges facing business schools in the midst of a lingering world financial crisis; and importantly, on how business schools can restore (and in some cases increase) their legitimacy by contributing to a more sustainable future for businesses and societies across the global economy.

The book begins with a prologue where the Editors' signpost its primary purpose: to present “a collection of thought‐pieces … to stimulate business school self‐reflection, learning and engagement with society” (p. xx). The prologue also serves to outline the structure of the book, which is divided into three parts that are upheld by the editors as “thematic directions” under which individual contributions are subsumed. These three parts are summarised below.

The first part of the book looks at historical and geographical perspectives on business school legitimacy. This section consists of a set of “retrospective analyses”, charting the evolution of the business school as an institution within different regions, including the USA, Latin America, Asia, Russia and Europe. The reader is also exposed to the different challenges facing business schools as they grapple with the key change drivers impacting their specific geo‐political and socio‐economic contexts. For example, while American business schools are hard‐pressed to restore their tarnished reputation following criticisms levelled at their myopic focus on shareholder value and corporate scandals involving former students, business schools in Latin America (Brazil being a case in point) are primarily concerned with how to increase their well‐established legitimacy as key social agents attuned to their local reality and able to provide “capacity development” for the growth and welfare of business, society and country.

The second part of the book is titled “Towards a New Legitimacy for Business Schools in Global Society”. It centres on the question of how business schools can create the trust of their key stakeholders and yield the greatest social benefits as a means to regain and/or consolidate their legitimacy. By giving in to the logics of the market, business schools have given primacy to the maximisation of profit and shareholder value, occulting in the process their social responsibilities whilst contributing to their own delegitimation. The move towards a new legitimacy for business schools warrants the development of a multidimensional model that broadens their stakeholder base (to include not only academia and businesses but also local communities and the larger society), clinches the connection between local and global challenges, and enables a rebalancing of interests that can generate mutually‐reinforcing outcomes such as academic prestige, practically‐relevant research, responsible leadership, enhanced business performance and tangible societal benefits.

The final part looks at the business school role in shaping and transforming ethical business conduct. It draws attention to the type of business education that is necessary to perform the rebalancing of interests mentioned above and bring about its desired outcomes. Here, contributors provide evidence‐based discussions on the range of activities and initiatives (including curriculum development, faculty policy‐making, affiliations and partnerships, evaluative mechanisms, etc.) that underpin the development of a new generation of entrepreneurial yet ethical business leaders, capable of attending to both business and moral imperatives and of taking responsible action towards a more sustainable future for both business and society.

The epilogue contains perhaps the clearest indication of who the principal target audience of the book might be. As explained by the editors, this volume is the outcome of the decision by a small group of business deans to stimulate public debate on the legitimacy of business schools and their contribution to society – and what better audience than their peers and other academic administrators in the “crucible of practice” who have to grapple on a day‐to‐day basis with the challenges that the book brings to the fore. However, the book will also resonate with HRD professionals who have a stake in curriculum development for business education, and with post‐graduate students involved in critically‐oriented research.

2 Evaluation

This book represents a welcome and weighty contribution to the field of business school education. Unsurprisingly, given the background of its contributors, the book's content is couched in engaging and persuasive academic language to offer a unique blend of theoretical insights, empirical evidence and practical guidelines surrounding the legitimacy of business schools and their contribution to society. In terms of structure, the reader is given a thread of Ariadne in the form of “thematic directions”, which enable them to trace their way through what would have otherwise remained for some a disparate collection of voices on the challenges and opportunities facing business schools with regard to their social responsibility.

Does the book address readers' needs? For those new to the subject area, this volume provides a good but rather brutal point‐of‐entry into the complex and politically‐charged world of business education which, as aptly remarked by the editors, “is far from flat” (p. 240). Such readers would benefit from related works of authors such as Porter and Kramer (2002) and Giacalone and Thomson (2006), who make an excellent business case for corporate philanthropy, business ethics and social responsible education. For insiders like business deans and academic administrators, the book provides a springboard for further debate and research around the development of theoretically‐grounded, yet practically‐oriented business education models, that can propel the move towards a “better and more sustainable society” (p. 243).

This book might gain some traction with HRD professionals, even more so with those involved in the development of the emerging concept of Critical HRD (e.g. refer to Sambrook, 2009; Trehan and Rigg, 2011). For example, the democratic principles and emancipatory intent driving Critical HRD could be cross‐referenced with the stakeholder outlook and ethical principles underpinning the type of business education proposed here to enlarge the current conceptualisation of Critical HRD and consider its implications for research and practice. Moreover, post‐graduate students doing critical research will certainly be able to refine their analytical lens through exposure to the complex network of relationships underlying the possibility for responsible business education as a social phenomenon.

Although a book of this kind inevitably carries certain flaws, which are readily acknowledged by the editors themselves (e.g. misrepresentation of key stakeholders like managers, accreditation agencies and the media; a sense of naïve “designer approach” to responsible business education; and the absence of a self‐critical approach in some of the contributions), I would strongly recommend this book for the various reasons discussed above.

3 In the authors' own words

“Business schools are one of the most influential institutions in contemporary society, and have a particular role to play in setting high ethical standards for trust and fairness. They influence the way in which most socio‐economic activities are conducted, inasmuch as they contribute to shaping and transforming business decisions, and how businesses develop their identities to face the challenges presented by globalization. Business school norms and values can help to provide a standard and professional grounding for thousands and thousands of young people educated to lead and form businesses tomorrow” (p. xviii).

A Reviewer's details

Allan Ramdhony earned his doctorate in Critical HRD at Edinburgh Napier University, where he has been working as Lecturer in HRM for the past five years. He specialises in Change Management and HRD and his research interests cover Critical Theory, Critical Realism and the role of metaphors in organisational analysis. He is currently developing a set of academic papers on both the theory and practice of Critical HRD in collaboration with leading authors in the field. Dr Allan Ramdhony can be contacted at: aramdhony@napier.ac.uk