Business Schools and Responsible Management: A Long Road to Freedom

Abstract

While Business Schools are criticized for failing to encourage responsible management, several schools are innovating towards such management for their own organization. This research has a closer look at the people involved in changing the practices at their school and campus (staff and faculty members). 17 interviews were conducted at eight European schools to understand how these responsible strategies and practices are welcomed inside Business Schools. Seven types of tensions were revealed; Priority of ROI, Bottom-up innovation (less impactful than top down innovations), Limited resources allocation, Lack of knowledge and competencies, Transversal issues touching all parts of the school, Limited commitment from the Top and Growing awareness facing denial. The tensions are introduced and described in details in this article.

Keywords: Business Schools (BS), Responsible Management (RM), Tensions