Change Project Approach for Reorienting University …
261
Getting the opportunity to discuss more deeply what ESD really entails, like in
the process of the Change Project course, one can go beyond his/hers discipline and
use sustainability as a lens instead of his/her own discipline, take a look with a lens
from outside the field and see what needs to be changed instead of managed with
the ‘status quo’ theories and methods. Consequently, the first introductory course
of the master program, called Managing Sustainability, makes one wonder whether
we should actually be managing sustainability or whether we should rather imagine
how it could be managed according to the global challenges humanity faces today.
This change project focuses on implementing a new and altered perspective around
sustainability issues to the introductory course in the master program of Sustainable
Management at Campus Gotland, where you look at sustainability as a ‘frame of
mind’ instead of as a ‘management problem’ like any other. The first tasks were to:
1. Change name: The name is important where it sets the standard of expectation.
The name went from Managing Sustainability to Business, Society and Nature:
Reflective Inquiry. Instead of assuming that sustainability is something that can
be managed we include nature and society as equal to the business mind, where
all are interconnected in relation to wicked world problems. Reflectivity and
inquiry also give a hint to a different ontological view and perspective towards
sustainability issues that are more open for imagination and change.
2. Course description: The description became more emphatic in a way that words
like managing and control were taken away and words like care, creativity and
critical were put instead. Wicked issues were also introduced to depart from a
more open and complex perspective.
3. Sharing: The thought process and changes made were shared with teachers at the
program and the management team at the department, such as chair professors
and others to explain the importance of change.
4. Future tasks: In this new framing, the course will be held for the first time in
2020. The focus will be on seminars and discussions using different kind of
perspectives including classical business theories, historical roots of the concept
of sustainability and ethical considerations, where all areas will have room for
reflection and critical discussion.
So far, the process of change has gone rather smoothly. Uppsala University is a
traditional academic and collegial institution where the bottom up approach is very
strong. It was challenging however to get new concepts in the description such as;
(a) wicked problems, taken from the discipline of environmental studies and the field
of education for sustainable development or (b) care, taken from the discipline of
philosophy, where the management wondered about, both their academic legitimacy
and their relevance to the subject. Nonetheless, explaining and emphasizing the
importance of including new vocabulary to the field for an actual implementation
261
Getting the opportunity to discuss more deeply what ESD really entails, like in
the process of the Change Project course, one can go beyond his/hers discipline and
use sustainability as a lens instead of his/her own discipline, take a look with a lens
from outside the field and see what needs to be changed instead of managed with
the ‘status quo’ theories and methods. Consequently, the first introductory course
of the master program, called Managing Sustainability, makes one wonder whether
we should actually be managing sustainability or whether we should rather imagine
how it could be managed according to the global challenges humanity faces today.
This change project focuses on implementing a new and altered perspective around
sustainability issues to the introductory course in the master program of Sustainable
Management at Campus Gotland, where you look at sustainability as a ‘frame of
mind’ instead of as a ‘management problem’ like any other. The first tasks were to:
1. Change name: The name is important where it sets the standard of expectation.
The name went from Managing Sustainability to Business, Society and Nature:
Reflective Inquiry. Instead of assuming that sustainability is something that can
be managed we include nature and society as equal to the business mind, where
all are interconnected in relation to wicked world problems. Reflectivity and
inquiry also give a hint to a different ontological view and perspective towards
sustainability issues that are more open for imagination and change.
2. Course description: The description became more emphatic in a way that words
like managing and control were taken away and words like care, creativity and
critical were put instead. Wicked issues were also introduced to depart from a
more open and complex perspective.
3. Sharing: The thought process and changes made were shared with teachers at the
program and the management team at the department, such as chair professors
and others to explain the importance of change.
4. Future tasks: In this new framing, the course will be held for the first time in
2020. The focus will be on seminars and discussions using different kind of
perspectives including classical business theories, historical roots of the concept
of sustainability and ethical considerations, where all areas will have room for
reflection and critical discussion.
So far, the process of change has gone rather smoothly. Uppsala University is a
traditional academic and collegial institution where the bottom up approach is very
strong. It was challenging however to get new concepts in the description such as;
(a) wicked problems, taken from the discipline of environmental studies and the field
of education for sustainable development or (b) care, taken from the discipline of
philosophy, where the management wondered about, both their academic legitimacy
and their relevance to the subject. Nonetheless, explaining and emphasizing the
importance of including new vocabulary to the field for an actual implementation