Does management education create responsible managers? Viewpont

Abstract

The integration of sustainability and responsibility into management education is a widely discussed issue in the literature and in practice. As a result of a lifelong experience of teaching sustainability, environmental management and further related courses at university level, the authors aim to give their viewpoint about Responsible Management Education (RME). The concept of RME relies on the basis of several similar categories, used in today’s higher education but is aimed to mean more than just another slogan for the same content. Three issues are discussed in the paper. (Q1) Should we limit the focus of management education on the classical business targets like profit and growth, as well as the preconditions to achieve those targets – or should we establish a different philosophical background for business thinking and teaching: the Responsible Management? (Q2) Should the concept of Responsible Management be integrated in the classical business courses or should it be a specific, independent course? (Q3) How to combine teaching methods to reach the ultimate goal of creating responsible managers via management education? The literature review is aimed to give a profound background to the relevance and development of the term Responsible Management Education, followed by the explanation of sceptical and positive arguments regarding the introduction of the concept into the existing course structure. The authors also elaborate a potential methodology for teaching Responsible Management.