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Business school focuses on leadership for sustainability

OWEN SKAE
Business and sustainability can work together harmoniously

OWEN SKAE Business and sustainability can work together harmoniously

12th September 2014

By: Bruce Montiea

Creamer Media Reporter

  

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Sustainability provides unparalleled opportunities for organisations; it helps them to become competitive, resilient and able to grow and create long-term value, says Rhodes Business School director Owen Skae.

He says the school has been focusing on sustainability and leadership since 2004. “Our vision is to transform business for a sustainable world. Our purpose, therefore, is to educate and influence responsible business practice, responsibly.”

Skae tells Engineering News that this approach was formalised as part of the curriculum because the school had realised that there were great opportunities for all organisations, whether private or public, big or small, to change the way they did business.

“This is the only way to grow the economy and narrow the inequality gap that prevails, while ensuring our planet is preserved for future generations,” he adds.

Conducting business in a way that does not take the environment into account is an approach that is not appropriate, as “business . . . requires leaders and managers who can think holistically and in an integrated way”, says Skae.

He says Rhodes University Business School’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme is completed over two-and-a-half years, and is offered on a modular basis.

The programme comprises coursework that is broken into three blocks in the first year and three blocks in the second year, with a mini- thesis to be completed by the end of the first semester in the third year.

“Our focus is on providing an integrated approach to management education, through the engagement of our unique 4E (economy, ethics, ecology and equity) philosophy, which goes to the heart of how our students view the world of business and, consequently, what the purpose of a business is,” he says.

All the modules in the coursework integrate the aspects of sustainability and leadership, to deliver a balanced education, says Skae.

He adds that the school also offers a postgraduate diploma in enterprise management to teach students how to create sustainable business models. The diploma can be completed on a part-time modular basis over two years.

Skae tells Engineering News that several engineers enrol for the MBA programme each year, “as the focus on sustainability resonates strongly with their profession”. He adds that the school has several executive clients in the automotive, oil and gas, and mining sectors, and a history of engaging with engineers who are at the forefront of changing the face of business.

The school is located in an economically challenged and socially diverse part of the country, which provides a real-world context for students to critically think about the world in which they operate and which challenges them to consider ways of doing things differently as business leaders, he concludes.

Edited by Megan van Wyngaardt
Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

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