Introduction
Established in 1968 with the primary purpose of helping develop Asian societies through developing Asian managers, the Asian Institute of Man- agement (AIM) is a standalone gradu- ate school of management whose primary mission is to help develop Asian societies by developing Asian managers. AIM offers Asia’s oldest MBA programme and has over 39,000 alumni in 70 countries. In addition to executive programmes, AIM offers five degree programmes in management including MBA, EMBA, and MDM (development management). AIM was the first school in Asia to receive AACSB accreditation. AIM decided to become signatory to PRME, because the Principlesalign with its own mission statement.
Challenges
For AIM, management education is a means, not the purpose. The lens through which every action is eval- uated is not only whether students will become successful in their careers, it is whether they will be a factor in helping Asia progress. His- torically, the MBA programme had specifically addressed concepts of
responsibility in required subjects such as business responsibility and ethics. As the AIM MBA is heavily reliant on the case method, it was not difficult to include environment or stakeholder concerns in many case discussions.
In 2000, AIM launched the Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (RVR CSR centre). The Center’s goal is to conduct research and training on the practice of CSR in Asia. The Center runs an annual Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) and administers the Asian CSR awards. However, social responsibility continued to be an implicit, rather than explicit, feature of the MBA curriculum. Actions taken
Before the turn of the century, under the deanship of Jesus Gallegos, AIM revisited the School’s mission with the School faculty. After long discussion, the faculty affirmed the heart of the mission statement: to help sustain the growth of Asian societies through developing professional, entrepreneurial, and socially responsible leaders and managers.
As part of the implementation of the mission statement, AIM reviewed not only the curricula, but also its own operations. This review resulted in many improvements including attainment of ISO 14001 certification in 2000; the very first awarded to a graduate school of management anywhere in the world.
In 2001, AIM was honoured with the first Beyond Grey Pinstripes Award for Business School Innovation in Social Impact Management. In 2006, a course on CSR in Asia was offered to all MBA students. This course continues to be offered as an elective of the MBA and the MDM programme. In its 2009 mid-year conference, the AIM faculty asked the question of what makes the AIM MBA graduate different. The answer was that the AIM MBA explicitly identifies social responsibility as a critical descriptor for its graduates and societal development as a primary goal. In partnership with the RVR CSR Center, the MBA programme offered the Business Leadership and Responsibility (BLR) seminar: “The BLR seminar aims to bring together development (social consciousness) and enterprise (value creation) into the curriculum of all AIM students. The course objective focuses on centring leadership around self-knowledge, personal responsibility and global citizenship.”
In the following batch, it was decided that the principles of responsible management and leadership would be embedded in the core functional subjects. Topics of business responsibility were explicitly tackled in the course on strategy management, and tackled as the situation or case allowed in other subjects. Topics of responsible leadership were tackled in Ethics and Human Behaviour in Organisations. All students were asked to work on a CSR project. Implementation of Assurance of Learning across all of the AIM degree programmes also resulted in embedding social responsibility within the curricula of all programmes.
My advice is: First, that alignment is critical. Responsible management education begins with being responsible. Students evaluate the credibility of the School’s principles against the authenticity of its leaders and faculty. Responsible management involves, not just knowing what is right but also the courage to do what is right. It is important to allow discussion of the grey zone and to provide opportunities to make real life choices. Finally, that an explicit mission statement as well as a disciplined method such as the Assurance of Learning can go a long way towards providing a framework for implementing responsible management education but true learning is about engagement.
Maria Elena (Maya) Baltazar Herrera, Program Research Director, RVR Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, Asian Institute of Management
Results
Since it first received the Beyond Grey Pinstripes award, AIM has been a mainstay in the Global Top 100 of the Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings. It continues to be the number one Asian school in the rankings.
AIM’s reputation for responsible management education has helped it forge strong ties with global organisations.
With the emergence of social assets as a critical factor in business success, the principles of personal ethics and corporate citizenship have only become more valuable. This has been particularly important in light of the questions raised by recent events on the role of business in society and the role of managers in governing businesses, which require discussions framed by both principle and practicality, both passion and reason. AIM’s strong relationships and long involvement in CSR and CSR research has
allowed it to provide students with a rich knowledge base and community for understanding the role of business in society.
Perhaps the best gauge of the effect of AIM’s efforts in responsible management education can be gleaned from its students. During the graduation of MBA 2011, the batch graduation speech was framed with a quote from W.B. Yeats: “Education isnot fillingabucket, butlightingafire.” The speech covered three key lessons learned in the programme: that relation- ships are the foundation of relevance; that integrity and honour must win over convenience and honest beginnings lead to great endings; and that dreaming the big dream is important, but requires the ability to combat failure with redemption.
Why PRME is/was important
In retrospect, the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) provided the framework for:
. a clearly aligned mission,
. methods that allow students to argue, discuss, evaluate and make choices,
. projects that provide real life experiences,
. practical yet academically rigorous research implemented in partner- ship with business and development organisations, and
. a community that is devoted to constantly engaging and involving its stakeholders.