How European business schools can find their way

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims at explaining why “Globally Responsible Humanism (GRH)” is presented here as the pivot for a re-foundation of European Business Schools’ culture. Explaining the concept and its difference with traditional European Humanism, the related argumentation is organized around two main parts: the first one explains why the European Union and its business schools do not make sense in a globalization process driven by the financialized economy; the second one shows how a sustainable exposition of European management students to a transcultural approach, a postcolonial perspective, and critical thinking, can lead to their training as future globally responsible leaders in New Business Schools for Societal Studies.

Design/methodology/approach

An international political sociology perspective, applied to the interpretation of globalization trends, and a critical thinking approach to education allow for a questioning of the values and contents of mainstream business learning.

Findings

The new proposed transversal, postcolonial and interdisciplinary pedagogical approach regarding business education is conducive to closely related operational tracks: on the one hand, how to improve the skills and systemic understanding of students’ global environment; on the other hand, how to lead, organize and manage the coherent “GRH”-driven business school.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper stems from the combination of critical works issued from the social and human sciences realms to revisit business education.

Citation

Sionneau, B., Rabasso, C. and Rabasso, J. (2014), "How European business schools can find their way", Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 226-257. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-03-2014-0013