TY - JOUR

T1 - Effective change management, governance and policy for sustainability transformation in higher education

AU - Mader, Clemens

AU - Scott, Geoffrey

AU - Razak, Dzulkifli Abdul

N1 - Clemens Mader, Geoffrey Scott, Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, (2013) "Effective change management, governance and policy for sustainability transformation in higher education", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 4 Iss: 3, pp.264 - 284

PY - 2013/11/18

Y1 - 2013/11/18

N2 - Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability in their curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations. However, there has been much less attention given to establishing how to ensure these desired developments are successfully initiated, implemented and sustained. It is to these key areas of effective change management, leadership, support and governance for embedding sustainability into the core activities of higher education institutions through transformation that this special issue of Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ) gives focus. The paper aims to discuss these issues. This paper brings together a consolidated analysis of the existing empirical literature on effective change management and leadership in higher education transformation with particular focus on the results of a recent international empirical study of 188 experienced leaders of sustainability in universities in Australia, the UK, the European Mainland, North America and South Africa. The paper brings together the case for action in the sector, identifies an integrating framework for addressing sustainable development in the university curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations consistently, comprehensively through a whole institutional approach and identifies the key challenges and lessons on effective change management and leadership for sustainability transformation initiatives in universities and colleges. Higher education institutions often give more attention to discussing what should change in their provision than to ensuring that desired transformations are actually put into practice effectively, sustainably and with positive impact. This paper and the articles which follow seek to address this gap.

AB - Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability in their curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations. However, there has been much less attention given to establishing how to ensure these desired developments are successfully initiated, implemented and sustained. It is to these key areas of effective change management, leadership, support and governance for embedding sustainability into the core activities of higher education institutions through transformation that this special issue of Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ) gives focus. The paper aims to discuss these issues. This paper brings together a consolidated analysis of the existing empirical literature on effective change management and leadership in higher education transformation with particular focus on the results of a recent international empirical study of 188 experienced leaders of sustainability in universities in Australia, the UK, the European Mainland, North America and South Africa. The paper brings together the case for action in the sector, identifies an integrating framework for addressing sustainable development in the university curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations consistently, comprehensively through a whole institutional approach and identifies the key challenges and lessons on effective change management and leadership for sustainability transformation initiatives in universities and colleges. Higher education institutions often give more attention to discussing what should change in their provision than to ensuring that desired transformations are actually put into practice effectively, sustainably and with positive impact. This paper and the articles which follow seek to address this gap.

KW - Sustainability education

KW - Change management

KW - Governance

KW - Higher education for sustainable development

KW - Transformation

KW - Turnaround leadership

KW - Whole institution approach

KW - Higher Education and Science Management

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Transformation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84886581461&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/SAMPJ-09-2013-0037

DO - 10.1108/SAMPJ-09-2013-0037

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 4

SP - 264

EP - 284

JO - Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal

JF - Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal

SN - 2040-8021

IS - 3

ER -