AMBITION | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
A MOVEMENT OR A MOMENT?
COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL Can Business Schools help create more racially diverse businesses? This was the name of a recent webinar hosted by the UK’s Open University Business School (OUBS) and led by Senior Lecturer in Management, Terry O'Sullivan, and Claire Maguire, Lecturer and Student Experience Manager. The webinar called on a range of guests to express their views on the subject, including: Rachel Blackburn, an alumna of the School’s MBA programme and the Founder of a consultancy firm; Habib Naqvi, who offered a perspective from the UK’s largest employer – the National Health Service (NHS) – as Director for the NHS Race and Health Observatory; and Devendra Kodwani, Executive Dean of the Open University Business School and Law School. Blackburn commented that we cannot begin to bring about positive change in organisations unless we get out of our comfort zones, in particular having conversations about race and diversity in the workplace. She also warned that while important conversations around these topics have taken place, there should also be a focus on action. Suggesting what Business Schools could do, the OUBS MBA alumna said that while there should be courses on leadership pertaining to inclusion and diversity, this content must also be referenced in all modules. Plus, Schools should look to do more to develop emotional intelligence on issues of race and help ensure that work in this area becomes a movement, rather than simply a static moment in time. Kodwani highlighted the fact that to make genuine progress, the right tone has to be set at the top of an organisation as well as being implemented from the bottom up. He pointed to the OUBS’s appointment of a dedicated Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to better address issues in this area within the organisation in a systematic way. Naqvi, meanwhile, spoke about the need for demonstrable leadership which focuses on compassionate leadership and cultures within organisations, at all levels. He also cited a need for data-driven accountability for decisions made in organisations. In the NHS Director’s view, racial equality needs to be at the heart of regulation, and leaders need to lead for the entire workforce, not just a segment of it. Naqvi also commented that the onus for pursuing this agenda shouldn’t fall solely to those most affected by racial inequality. Instead, everybody must stand up and take the lead on this societal problem. / EB
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION POISED TO GAIN TRACTION ONLINE?
COUNTRY: NORWAY SCHOOL: BI NORWEGIAN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Executive education has taken a marked hit under the restrictions on travel and face-to-face meetings imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, with revenue falling by around a third among 99 Business School respondents to a survey of members conducted by the International Consortium for Executive Education (UNICON). However, hope springs from a notable uptick in the use of synchronous online learning. In the four years prior to the pandemic, the proportion of Schools using this form of learning had crept up marginally from 71 to 74%. In the year 2019/20, that figure jumped to 98%. ‘With our corporate clients around the world unwilling or unable to travel, we had to re-think how best to meet their individual and organisational development goals,’ said Lise Hammergren, Chair at UNICON. Hammergren is also Executive Vice President at BI Norwegian Business School and related figures from the School point to the potential of a switch in format. BI has reported a total increase of more than 40% in the number of people applying to study online with the School in 2020, through new learning modules and the digital conversion of programmes, and a record high number of executive students within finance and economics programmes. Most notably, there was a 15% year-on- year rise in applicants for BI’s flexible and digital executive courses in the autumn of 2020, and almost 3,000 students enrolled on new short online courses. Facilitating some of this transition has been a government grant, given to BI and its peers, to create courses for employees who have been affected by the pandemic. In addition, the School says it has called on its corporate partners to offer digital courses, webinars, educational podcasts and videos that allow participants to keep up to speed with hot topics, such as digitalisation and sustainability, and earn credits at the same time. Jan Ketil Arnulf, Dean Executive at BI, says the School feels ‘inspired to continue to find innovative ways to bring the knowledge and expertise of our faculty to even more people in the months and years ahead.’ / TBD
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