Journeying towards responsible citizenship and sustainability

Despite the recognized need for transdisciplinary teaching and learning to drive the operationalization of sustainability and ethical business conduct, disciplinary silos continue to dominate the curricula and administrative structures of many business schools. While with growing social and environmental stakes a reorientation of teaching and learning approaches is a sine qua non, the learning contexts typical of business schools worldwide continue to fall short of meeting the needs of students, society, and wider natural systems. The ‘sustainability and ethics void’ within established business curricula leaves future business leaders ill equipped for dealing with the complexities of social systems, institutions, and their environment and unable to solve growing global meta-problems (e.g. poverty, climate change). Against this background this chapter reports on efforts currently underway at the School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University to create new learning contexts where disciplinary knowledges can converge, values are included, and reflexive learning is embraced, allowing students to adopt a meaning orientation and a deep approach to learning. The School has recently become a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), and this chapter outlines the steps taken by members of the School-based Centre for Responsible Citizenship and Sustainability (CRCS) to support efforts to meet the School’s obligations under PRME. Specifically, attention is directed to the formation of the CRCS to drive transdisciplinary teaching and research in the School and the use of a Delphi approach as a platform towards the development of transdisciplinary collaborations through a shared understanding of the conceptual and methodological frameworks of responsible citizenship. The authors also report on how sustainability and responsible citizenship theories are applied in teaching and project contexts