Leadership for Sustainability

Welcome to the South African business school that takes sustainability issues seriously. Thank you for visiting our website. We trust that you will find interest in what we do in the business education arena, as well as in how we do it.

Leadership for Sustainability

Sustainability embodies two main ideas. Firstly there is the idea of “business continuity” and organizational longevity, and secondly, there is the idea of “sustainable development”. Both ideas are tied up with the concern of “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”.

In all its courses, both short courses and the MBA, Rhodes Business School emphasises the balance which needs to be placed on the social, environmental and economic performance of organizations which is essential to their successful long term performance. As a result of the concerns with global warming, for example, there is a risk that public policies and social movements will speed up the demands for companies and other organizations to operate in a more sustainable way.

All organizations need to understand these imperatives, as well as to be empowered to respond practically and appropriately. The Rhodes Business School MBA programme aims to do this.

What does Leadership for Sustainability mean for the curriculum?

The Leadership for Sustainability positioning has clearly had implications for the curriculum design of many of the Rhodes Business School courses.

In the Marketing Module,for example, in addition to the fundamental principles of Marketing, the focus has been extended to such concepts as cause-related marketing, socialmarketing, responsible consumption and the challenges facing the marketing

Again, in the People Management Module by way of further illustration, once the typical role of human resources management has been examined, the emphasis shifts to designing effective, efficient and empowering organizational environments and roles for human, community and ecological sustainability. And in the Entrepreneurship Module, social entrepreneurship is examined, in addition to the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship. The Ethical Organization Module addresses business ethics, corporate social responsibility and investment, as well as corporate governance.

These are just a few examples of the way in which Rhodes Business School adopts an holistic approach to sustainability.Environmental Management. Other Modules with a specific environmental management bias as part of the overall focus on Leadership for Sustainability, include Principles of Sustainability, Environmental Law, Climate Change and Resource Eficiency, Tools for Sustainable Management and Environmental Economics. With Al Gore having highlighted the threat of global warming in his movie, “The Inconvenient Truth”, and with the King III Report highlighting the need for business organizations to report and be accountable in terms of the “Triple Bottom Line”, environmental and broader sustainable development issues can no longer be ignored by business.

It has been suggested that the world has moved from the information age to the low-carbon age. This means that the environment is no longer just a stakeholder in business but that environmental issues lay the ground rules for the way in which business has to play the game. In the low-carbon age, environmental imperatives constantly throw up business threats and opportunities which need to be addressed within a strategic planning framework. Doing business with a foreign investor may compel a South African business organization to be environmentally compliant. Additionally, the threat of environmental disruptions to global supply chains may oblige business organizations to make contingency plans.

In addition, new possibilities such as biofuels and carbon trading may demand a place in a company’s strategic thinking. Sustainability demands that business organizations make tough decisions about the trade-off of increased costs and investments, in the short term, against sustained (and, hopefully increased) profits in the long term.

Cross field OutcomesIn addition to the academic content, Rhodes Business School also emphasises the acquisition of soft skills such as working in teams, negotiating skills, presentation skills, inter-personal skills and conflict management in order to enhance the managerial competence of its students.Rhodes Business School is a case-based business school. While Rhodes Business School recognizes that there are a variety of effective teaching methodologies, it subscribes fully to the case-study teaching methodology. It believes that case studies are an excellent medium for developing critical, analytical and decision-making skills.

Executive Development Programmes

Rhodes Business School also has a very active short course programme which caters for the needs of individuals and organizations seeking specific training and development interventions. Rhodes Business Schools’s short courses fall into three categories:

1. Public courses available to anyone with an interest in the particular course being offered. These are normally offered in East London, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown.
2. Closed Corporate Courses which are specially designed and customised for particular client organizations. This customization is done in close association with the client and normally on the basis of a rigorous needs analysis. These courses are delivered wherever the client chooses.
3. MBA-aligned short courses. Certain MBA modules are run concurrently as short courses. Delegates who meet certain selection criteria join the MBA class for their Module and provided they successfully complete the assessment tasks, they qualify for a Rhodes MBA credit, as well as a Certificate of Competence.

To ensure that you are equipped to manage in an uncertain future characterised by global financial uncertainty and a fragile environmental situation, the Rhodes Business School MBA and its companion short courses, are strongly recommended.

Further information, visit www.ru.ac.za/businessschool email mba@ru.ac.za or telephone 046 603 8617.

Finding Rhodes University

If you're trying to find your way onto the Rhodes University campus, you can download a printable Rhodes Map showing the main access routes into Grahamstown. Alternatively you can use the interactive map below to get an idea of where we're located. You

View PE Airport to Rhodes University in a larger map

If you're the sort of person who likes GPS co-ordinates, you'll find the clocktower on the main administration building at S33°18.804' E26°31.227'. Registration happens at S33°18.838' E26°31.316'.