{"id":1605,"date":"2016-07-06T12:03:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T11:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1605"},"modified":"2016-10-26T15:28:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T14:28:58","slug":"managing-with-purpose-contribute-solving-societal-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2016\/07\/06\/managing-with-purpose-contribute-solving-societal-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing with Purpose: Contribute Solving Societal Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I got my \u201cAfrican shot<\/strong><\/a>\u201d: I visited Strathmore Business School<\/strong> (SBS<\/a>) in Nairobi where I led a Pre-Doctoral Workshop<\/a><\/strong>. Upon return, I participated in IESE\u2019s Symposium on Business Ethics<\/strong>. The two activities connected well: many Workshop participants were interested in research topics related to societal problems, and the role that business leaders can play to solve them<\/strong>. In turn, the discussions at the Symposium revolved around issues such as managing with purpose, conscious leadership<\/strong>, etc.<\/p>\n

\"Managing
During the Pre-Doctoral Workshop at SBS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pre-Doctoral Workshop<\/strong> is a new program targeted at people who are considering applying for a Ph.D. program. It gives an overview of what doctoral research is about<\/strong>, helping make a more informed decision (btw, for those interested, there will be a new edition of the Workshop on August 27 to September 2). Participants engaged in discussions of their research interests<\/strong>. I found these of great interest. The starting point was a problem they face. To give you some examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • To what extent does service outsourcing contribute creating economic disparity?<\/strong> Knowing this may provide guidance for decision-making<\/strong> to companies worried about the working conditions of low-skilled workers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  • Which are scalable business models in the construction industry?<\/strong> An answer to this question may help address the problem of providing affordable, decent housing<\/strong> to people who live in semi-slum conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    These type of problems suggest to me that there is a great concern to contribute solving important societal problems<\/strong>.* With these types of inputs in my mind, I landed in the Business Ethics Symposium. One idea came up once and again: a business with a purpose that goes beyond creating shareholder value has the potential to engage people<\/strong>. If people are engaged, they perform better<\/strong> in their job, and from there you\u2019ll get profits. Purpose and profit can go together<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    I saw that Workshop and Symposium participants shared a similar concern: contribute solving societal problems<\/strong>. This was an important ingredient to my African shot of this time.<\/p>\n

    \n

    * To my academic colleagues: don\u2019t worry, I insisted a lot that good research may require description but it goes beyond that: good research provides explanations \u2013 and this is what theory is about, at the end of the day. Also, good research is not intended to solve a particular problem of a particular company \u2013 rather, its findings are generalizable to theory or to the population, within certain boundary conditions. But there\u2019s no intrinsic contradiction between rigor and relevance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last week I got my \u201cAfrican shot\u201d: I visited Strathmore Business School (SBS) in Nairobi where I led a Pre-Doctoral Workshop. Upon return, I participated in IESE\u2019s Symposium on Business Ethics. The two activities connected well: many Workshop participants were interested in research topics related to societal problems, and the role that business leaders can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[362,100269,951,981,86281,1202,67297],"class_list":["post-1605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strategy","tag-business-ethics","tag-engage","tag-kenya","tag-leadership","tag-nairobi","tag-research","tag-strathmore-business-school","megacategoria-mc-africa"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t