Progress towards the implementation of the PRME: lessons from a South African business school

Abstract

One of the growing pillars addressing critical insights to management education is the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). This article follows on a study conducted on a South African business school’s experience with the PRME as a mechanism to transform business education. Apart from tracking progress regarding PRME, the study also aimed to identify the South African grasp of a transforming management education. In-depth interviews were conducted on the school’s members of faculty who are responsible for tuition and curriculum development. Following analysis of the data, the study found that indeed the PRME initiative is globally relevant and recognised, and has paved the way for hundreds of business schools to start thinking about their curricula. From the single-case inquiry, the study concludes that the case school has made progress concerning systemic integration of the PRME into its curriculum. However, the study also found that fundamental challenges exist, confronting both Business Schools and the PRME in general. Inconsistent communication on progress and lack of integrating PRME into research mandate were found to be among the leading reasons why PRME implementation has not been successful.