Organizational Responsibility

Course description

For over 40 years there have been talks of sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability in media, civil society, government and corporate circles around the world. Sustainability issues include among others, climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, poverty, irresponsible consumption and production. Although there is a general agreement that sustainability is important and needs to be addressed, there is much less consensus about what organizational responsibility and corporate sustainability mean and how to address them.

This course focuses on corporate sustainability (CS), that is, how organizations can be managed in a way that meets societal needs while not exceeding the environmental boundaries of the planet. Sustainability issues are highly complex because they require understanding interconnected economic, social, and environmental issues that go beyond the business sphere. 

A central integrating idea of this course is recognizing that social expectations about business go beyond wealth creation and profit maximization. In this course, we will thus examine the role of business in society and explore the drivers to CS as well as the barriers that need to be overcome. We will explore the tensions and dilemmas plaguing CS. We will also discuss how sustainable/responsible practices can be successfully implemented.