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Pinstripes

  • 1.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-07-2005 18:56
    Colleagues,

    I guess you all have heard that the most recent pinstripes results have been released. What is your general sense of the school rankings? Are they accurate, biased, random?

    Please let me know. I'd prefer if we all email the list, but I can also be reached personally at andrew.a.king@dartmouth.edu

    AK

    Andrew King
    Associate Professor of Business Administration
    Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
    202 Chase Hall
    Hanover, NH 03755

    Cell: 603-359-0369


  • 2.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-08-2005 05:38
    The report that Andy suggests we discuss can be accessed at:
    http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/
    I find the diversity of constituent measures to be strength of the ranking,
    though the judges might have been selected a tad more globally though.
    However, I can't find fault with their selection of Sandra Waddock for a
    faculty pioneer award:
    http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/faculty_pioneers/sandra_waddock.cfm
    CONGRATULATIONS SANDRA!

    Cybercollegially,
    Charles
    http://management-education.net/

    -----Original Message-----

    Colleagues,

    I guess you all have heard that the most recent pinstripes results have been
    released. What is your general sense of the school rankings? Are they
    accurate, biased, random?

    Please let me know. I'd prefer if we all email the list, but I can also be
    reached personally at andrew.a.king@dartmouth.edu

    AK

    Andrew King
    Associate Professor of Business Administration
    Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
    Andrew.A.King@DARTMOUTH.EDU


  • 3.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-08-2005 09:34
    Hi Andrew and all:

    This is first year Aspen ranked schools as opposed to identify
    the "leading schools," so it does have the potential to have more
    impact (for better or worse). I have just a few quick observations.

    First, the apparent equal weighting of the four criteria (25% each for
    student opportunity, student exposure, course content, and faculty
    research) emphasizes the student/educational aspects more than
    research, and this may be appropriate. In addition, the first
    criterion (student opportunity) - which reflects the number of courses
    available to students - would appear to favor larger schools with more
    overall course offerings because this factor seems not to be adjusted
    for the size of schools or total number of courses available (although
    Stanford is certainly not among the largest of B-schools and
    nonetheless came out #1). By comparison, the student exposure
    criterion is adjusted for school size and length of program. Further,
    non-course related activities (for example service - as represented by
    some of the activities of the Allwin Initiative at Tuck - would
    apparently not be factored in the equation). Also, the greater
    interest in issues of CSR and sustainability in non-U.S. schools -
    especially Canadian and European ones - might explain the relatively
    high representation of these schools in top 30. Finally, schools that
    do not have a traditional full-time day MBA program (such as
    Villanova) are not included in the survey, even though they may have
    strong undergraduate, part-time graduate, EMBA and executive programs.

    Nonetheless, the survey provides important recognition for these
    issues and schools, and with an actual rating is more comparable to
    other traditional ratings (again, for better or worse).

    FYI, an explanation of the methodology for the ratings can be found at:
    http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/rankings/methodology.cfm

    Jonathan Doh, Ph.D.
    Director, Center for Responsible Leadership and Governance
    College of Commerce and Finance
    Villanova University
    Villanova, PA 19085
    Tel: 610-519-7798
    Fax: 610-519-6566
    jonathan.doh@villanova.edu
    http://www.leadershipcenter.villanova.edu

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Andrew A. King" <Andrew.A.King@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
    Date: Monday, November 7, 2005 6:55 pm
    Subject: Pinstripes

    > Colleagues,
    >
    > I guess you all have heard that the most recent pinstripes results
    > have been released. What is your general sense of the school
    > rankings? Are they accurate, biased, random?
    >
    > Please let me know. I'd prefer if we all email the list, but I
    > can also be reached personally at andrew.a.king@dartmouth.edu
    >
    > AK
    >
    > Andrew King
    > Associate Professor of Business Administration
    > Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
    > 202 Chase Hall
    > Hanover, NH 03755
    >
    > Cell: 603-359-0369
    >


  • 4.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-08-2005 17:52
    ONE Friends;

    I think the Grey Pinstripes reports makes a critical contribution to the
    field by not only providing information to potential students, but also by
    promoting and legitimizing programs to a wider audience. This
    legitimization is important both externally and internally. Internally, it
    can be extremely important in ensuring acceptance by faculty and
    administrators.

    I have two suggested changes to the current methodology. First, it would be
    nice to see it extend to the undergraduate level. Second, the ranking does
    not consider various activities, programs, and opportunities that happen
    outside of the classroom. It would be great to see some of these activities
    integrated into the next report.

    Overall, kudos to WRI and the Aspen Institute for their work in promoting
    sustainable and socially responsible business education. Best, Tom



    Thomas J. Dean
    Anderson Professor of Entrepreneurial Development
    Faculty Director, Deming Center for Entrepreneurship
    Leeds School of Business
    University of Colorado at Boulder
    419 UCB
    Boulder, CO 80309-0419

    303-492-3282
    303-492-5962 (fax)
    tom.dean@colorado.edu
    http://leeds.colorado.edu


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Andrew A. King
    Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 4:56 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Pinstripes

    Colleagues,

    I guess you all have heard that the most recent pinstripes results have been
    released. What is your general sense of the school rankings? Are they
    accurate, biased, random?

    Please let me know. I'd prefer if we all email the list, but I can also be
    reached personally at andrew.a.king@dartmouth.edu

    AK

    Andrew King
    Associate Professor of Business Administration
    Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
    202 Chase Hall
    Hanover, NH 03755

    Cell: 603-359-0369


  • 5.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-08-2005 22:16
    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 6.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 07:00
    David,

    This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty we
    are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of the
    AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to struggle
    with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this issue
    and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued for
    the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me at
    the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally from a
    society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something that
    hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would support
    environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times on a
    short example of this:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1


    Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by WRI/ASPEN
    is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social issue
    too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.

    -Joe S.







    ==============================================
    Joseph Sarkis
    Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    Graduate School of Management
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610-1477

    Phone: 508-793-7659
    Fax: 508-793-8822
    URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    jsarkis@clarku.edu
    ==============================================


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 7.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 10:17
    I cannot disagree more.

    Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large) suffers
    from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean Air
    Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases, and
    thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other impacts.
    Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in tuna.
    Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    nature.

    Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure environmental
    performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human species
    is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are (biologically,
    emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if we
    suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.

    I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems thinking
    and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental problems
    - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many years
    focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be multi-media.
    There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    disciplines.

    Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    National Center for Environmental Research
    8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20460
    202-343-9687
    202-233-0678 (fax)

    Courier Delivery Address:
    USEPA, NCER
    Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    1025 F Street NW
    Washington, DC 20004-1409



    Joseph Sarkis
    <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    EDU> To
    Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Organizations cc
    and the Natural
    Environment Subject
    Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>


    11/09/2005 07:00
    AM


    Please respond
    to
    Organizations
    and the Natural
    Environment
    Discussion
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>






    David,

    This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    we
    are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    the
    AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    struggle
    with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    issue
    and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    for
    the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    at
    the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    from a
    society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    that
    hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    support
    environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times
    on a
    short example of this:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1


    Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    WRI/ASPEN
    is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    issue
    too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.

    -Joe S.







    ==============================================
    Joseph Sarkis
    Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    Graduate School of Management
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610-1477

    Phone: 508-793-7659
    Fax: 508-793-8822
    URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    jsarkis@clarku.edu
    ==============================================


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I

    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to

    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report

    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 8.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 10:45
    I want to be provocative because I think most of the responses have been
    soft and on the nice side. So here it is. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side
    of the bed this morning.I don't believe in stars*** interpreted for me
    that are then aggregated into lists where the uncomparable is compared. Nor
    do I believe that Pinstripes is close to being accurate even if I should
    believe in such a system. Why are not charts with real data published so
    readers can decide for themselves what they mean? For example, though
    research "counts" for 25%, there is no data I could find on the website on
    research. Is the difference between 3 ***s and 2**s a gap as big as a
    valley between 2 mountains or a razor thin space? I have no clue. How
    dependent are the differences on the spin of the reporting schools? What
    kind of check is made on data accuracy? To me, the ratings do not have face
    validity. To give an example -- where is Wharton? Think of the people and
    programs (Donaldson/Orts, et. al. an undegraduate major, a department
    devoted to the area, environmental risk & safety research by people like
    Kunreuther). If the ratings are based on "counts," which appears to be the
    case, something is awry. So let me express my frustration. Are the ratings
    bogus, a sham, misleading, indeed -- should is say it -- a fraud? What if
    they were "audited" What would the audit show? I say this tongue and cheek,
    but I have some fear in saying it because I care where my school is ranked
    -- I think it should be ranked higher -- and am concerned that the raters
    may take retribution if I criticize them. I bet that there are a lot of you
    who think your schools should be rated higher. So why is everyone being so
    nice? Does this fear put a negative spin on the ratings? If anything as
    individuals devoted to corporate social responsibility and sustainability,
    we have to be willing to ask such questions. We have the right to expect
    honesty, truthfulness, and transparency. My hope would be that ratings can
    be improved and used to upgrade research and teaching in areas that we care
    about. And maybe we are at early stage. And maybe, a real dialogue on how
    "good" ratings can be done should be started. So what do you "really"
    think? How good are the ratings, and how could they be improved? Or maybe I
    just got up on the wrong side of the bed.


  • 9.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 12:03
    Dear ONE-L:

    I presume many would agree that environmental and social issues are linked
    -- with some more so than others. But I think that potentially interesting
    debate moves us away from what I view as the key issue with Pinstripes: its
    ability to inform potential MBA students (and potential and existing
    faculty) about which schools are leading the way "to study issues of social
    and environmental stewardship into business school curricula and research."

    I think many recent ONE-L'er suggestions to bolster Pinstripes are
    excellent. I offer two more suggestions:

    1. I see no reason why they can't create and publish two sub-scores -- one
    for "social", one for "environmental". Not only would this be helpful to
    increase the transparency of their assessment method, but it would help
    their intended audience of prospective students and faculty -- many of whom
    would probably like to know about the school's emphasis on only one of these
    issues. The current method mixes apples and oranges, and unnecessarily so.
    They could still create an overall score if they wanted (though it wouldn't
    be of much use to me).

    2. I think there needs to be a much tighter review of which courses and
    research "count" toward the scores. Again, more transparency about their
    methodology would help here. When I look at the research listed at many
    schools (including my own), I am left to wonder whether any review standards
    are being applied, or whether it's entirely left up to the chutzpah/modesty
    of the survey respondent -- which would be a shame.


    Mike Toffel
    Postdoctoral Scholar
    Haas School of Business
    University of California
    545 Student Services Bldg #1900
    Berkeley, CA 94720-1900
    Tel: (510) 642-9949
    Email: toffel@haas.berkeley.edu
    http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/toffel/


  • 10.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 12:34
    I am going to sidestep Dina's questions for now, and just to add that I hope
    the Pinstripes' next iteration includes an assessment of Doctoral Programs
    in business schools on environment/csr. It seems to me there is a
    disconnect - business schools are mainly hiring PhDs from business schools
    but very few business schools have PhD programs that are geared towards
    studying these topics. Who will be the next generation of teachers in
    b-schools on environmental and/or CSR?. While I agree it's ultimately better
    to integrate environmental and social issues into the different disciplines
    as they stand, I am not convinced that those teaching these disciplines are
    able to adequately do so. For one thing, in their own doctoral training,
    were they ever taught anything on the topics?
    Regards
    Anastasia

    Anastasia R. O'Rourke | Ph.D. Candidate | Yale University |Ph. +1 203 432
    5216 (office) | + 1 203 215 1575 (cell) | anastasia.orourke@yale.edu |



    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes


    I cannot disagree more.

    Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large) suffers
    from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean Air
    Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases, and
    thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other impacts.
    Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in tuna.
    Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    nature.

    Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure environmental
    performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human species
    is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are (biologically,
    emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if we
    suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.

    I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems thinking
    and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental problems
    - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many years
    focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be multi-media.
    There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    disciplines.

    Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    National Center for Environmental Research
    8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20460
    202-343-9687
    202-233-0678 (fax)

    Courier Delivery Address:
    USEPA, NCER
    Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    1025 F Street NW
    Washington, DC 20004-1409



    Joseph Sarkis
    <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    EDU> To
    Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Organizations cc
    and the Natural
    Environment Subject
    Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>


    11/09/2005 07:00
    AM


    Please respond
    to
    Organizations
    and the Natural
    Environment
    Discussion
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>






    David,

    This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    we
    are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    the
    AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    struggle
    with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    issue
    and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    for
    the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    at
    the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    from a
    society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    that
    hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    support
    environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times
    on a
    short example of this:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1


    Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    WRI/ASPEN
    is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    issue
    too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.

    -Joe S.







    ==============================================
    Joseph Sarkis
    Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    Graduate School of Management
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610-1477

    Phone: 508-793-7659
    Fax: 508-793-8822
    URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    jsarkis@clarku.edu
    ==============================================


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I

    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to

    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report

    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 11.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 13:16
    I would propose that part of the disconnect Anastasia is referring to
    (content of PhD programs and current ONE professors' training) arises
    from the publications outlets available to ONE researchers. When in a
    business school you are assigned to a particular dept and gain
    recognition and promotion capability from publishing in that dept's
    respected journals. Those journals do not often have reviewers who are
    able to provide intelligent comment on whether the researcher is
    applying realistic or meaningful environmental/public health scenarios,
    but rather whether management or organizational models/strategies/
    outcomes can be demonstrated. (I am sure other members of ONE are in a
    better position to comment on this thought than I - as an outside
    observer).

    Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    National Center for Environmental Research
    8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20460
    202-343-9687
    202-233-0678 (fax)

    Courier Delivery Address:
    USEPA, NCER
    Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    1025 F Street NW
    Washington, DC 20004-1409



    "Anastasia
    O'Rourke"
    <anastasia.orour To
    ke@YALE.EDU> ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Sent by: cc
    Organizations
    and the Natural Subject
    Environment Re: Pinstripes
    Discussion
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>


    11/09/2005 12:33
    PM


    Please respond
    to
    Organizations
    and the Natural
    Environment
    Discussion
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>






    I am going to sidestep Dina's questions for now, and just to add that I
    hope
    the Pinstripes' next iteration includes an assessment of Doctoral
    Programs
    in business schools on environment/csr. It seems to me there is a
    disconnect - business schools are mainly hiring PhDs from business
    schools
    but very few business schools have PhD programs that are geared towards
    studying these topics. Who will be the next generation of teachers in
    b-schools on environmental and/or CSR?. While I agree it's ultimately
    better
    to integrate environmental and social issues into the different
    disciplines
    as they stand, I am not convinced that those teaching these disciplines
    are
    able to adequately do so. For one thing, in their own doctoral training,
    were they ever taught anything on the topics?
    Regards
    Anastasia

    Anastasia R. O'Rourke | Ph.D. Candidate | Yale University |Ph. +1 203
    432
    5216 (office) | + 1 203 215 1575 (cell) | anastasia.orourke@yale.edu |



    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes


    I cannot disagree more.

    Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large) suffers
    from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean Air
    Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases, and
    thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other impacts.
    Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in tuna.
    Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    nature.

    Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure environmental
    performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human species
    is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are (biologically,
    emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if we
    suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.

    I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems thinking
    and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental problems
    - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many years
    focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be multi-media.
    There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    disciplines.

    Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    National Center for Environmental Research
    8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20460
    202-343-9687
    202-233-0678 (fax)

    Courier Delivery Address:
    USEPA, NCER
    Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    1025 F Street NW
    Washington, DC 20004-1409



    Joseph Sarkis
    <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    EDU> To
    Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Organizations cc
    and the Natural
    Environment Subject
    Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>


    11/09/2005 07:00
    AM


    Please respond
    to
    Organizations
    and the Natural
    Environment
    Discussion
    <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    PACE.EDU>






    David,

    This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    we
    are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    the
    AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    struggle
    with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    issue
    and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    for
    the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    at
    the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    from a
    society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    that
    hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    support
    environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times
    on a
    short example of this:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1


    Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    WRI/ASPEN
    is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    issue
    too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.

    -Joe S.







    ==============================================
    Joseph Sarkis
    Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    Graduate School of Management
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610-1477

    Phone: 508-793-7659
    Fax: 508-793-8822
    URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    jsarkis@clarku.edu
    ==============================================


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I

    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to

    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report

    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 12.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 13:35
    Just want to make sure this was received and that it will make the listserv
    some time. best, Alfie



    Alfred
    Marcus/FS/Carlson
    School To

    11/09/2005 09:44 cc
    AM
    Subject
    Re: Pinstripes(Document link:
    Alfred Marcus)









    I want to be provocative because I think most of the responses have been
    soft and on the nice side. So here it is. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side
    of the bed this morning.I don't believe in stars*** interpreted for me
    that are then aggregated into lists where the uncomparable is compared. Nor
    do I believe that Pinstripes is close to being accurate even if I should
    believe in such a system. Why are not charts with real data published so
    readers can decide for themselves what they mean? For example, though
    research "counts" for 25%, there is no data I could find on the website on
    research. Is the difference between 3 ***s and 2**s a gap as big as a
    valley between 2 mountains or a razor thin space? I have no clue. How
    dependent are the differences on the spin of the reporting schools? What
    kind of check is made on data accuracy? To me, the ratings do not have face
    validity. To give an example -- where is Wharton? Think of the people and
    programs (Donaldson/Orts, et. al. an undegraduate major, a department
    devoted to the area, environmental risk & safety research by people like
    Kunreuther). If the ratings are based on "counts," which appears to be the
    case, something is awry. So let me express my frustration. Are the ratings
    bogus, a sham, misleading, indeed -- should is say it -- a fraud? What if
    they were "audited" What would the audit show? I say this tongue and cheek,
    but I have some fear in saying it because I care where my school is ranked
    -- I think it should be ranked higher -- and am concerned that the raters
    may take retribution if I criticize them. I bet that there are a lot of you
    who think your schools should be rated higher. So why is everyone being so
    nice? Does this fear put a negative spin on the ratings? If anything as
    individuals devoted to corporate social responsibility and sustainability,
    we have to be willing to ask such questions. We have the right to expect
    honesty, truthfulness, and transparency. My hope would be that ratings can
    be improved and used to upgrade research and teaching in areas that we care
    about. And maybe we are at early stage. And maybe, a real dialogue on how
    "good" ratings can be done should be started. So what do you "really"
    think? How good are the ratings, and how could they be improved? Or maybe I
    just got up on the wrong side of the bed.


  • 13.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 16:21
    Here is an issue with many layers. Is pinestripes an appropriate measure
    of social and environmental issues in busines schools? What is the
    relationship between CSR and sustainability and corporate environmental
    management? What is the field of SIMS and ONE within the academy? And so
    on.

    Here are some simple thoughts. First CSR, sustainability and corporate
    environmental management are issues of our time linked by a concern to
    better understand the relationships business organizations, business
    activities and managers have with a range of human and natural interests
    and systems. The importance of these relationships has risen during the
    past decades, principally because of the nature of economic development,
    technological change and social expectations. They have also arisen
    because many of these issues have not been well factored into the choices
    of business practitioners, the curricula of business education nor the
    dominant models of the firm we have drawn on for the past 80 years or so.

    In that sense there is no real distinction between these concerns as they
    all connect to the notion of what these relaionships are like and how they
    impact the activities and economic purpose of the firm.

    This would lead me to suggest that the best measure of a business school's
    attention to these and similar contemporary issues is the extent to which
    'questions' of organizational relationships are addressed across the
    curricula as much as through dedicated business and environment and CSR
    courses. That is, the leading school are, in my view, educating managers
    critically to question the appropriateness of long held models of business
    that no-longer seem to fit the complex reality of our interconnected
    world.

    My suggestion is that few BSchools have yet addressed that task and that
    means in my view most B Schools do a dis-service in their education of
    managers fit for 30 or more years work in a world that will be
    fundamentally different from the assumptions of the traditional models
    they are taught.

    Trouble is that while we need critical managers of this kind it might be
    quite damaging to most BSchools to teach the form of reform capitalism of
    the kind I advocate. While totally appropriate to the coming world such
    an approach would be totally at odds with the dominant paradigm inhabited
    by so many curreent managers, firms, public policy makers and academics.

    Nigel Roome

    Daniel Janssen Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility, Solvay Business
    School, Free University of Brussels
    and University Chair of Sustainable Enterprise and Trnsformation, Erasmus
    University Rotterdam



    > David,
    >
    > This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    > environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    > we
    > are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of the
    > AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    > environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    > struggle
    > with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this issue
    > and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued for
    > the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    > at
    > the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally from
    > a
    > society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    > that
    > hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would support
    > environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    > being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times on
    > a
    > short example of this:
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1
    >
    >
    > Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    > marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    > society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    > issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    > Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    > WRI/ASPEN
    > is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    > issue
    > too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    > conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.
    >
    > -Joe S.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > ==============================================
    > Joseph Sarkis
    > Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    > Graduate School of Management
    > Clark University
    > 950 Main Street
    > Worcester, MA 01610-1477
    >
    > Phone: 508-793-7659
    > Fax: 508-793-8822
    > URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    > jsarkis@clarku.edu
    > ==============================================
    >
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    > Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    > find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    > environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    > about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    > the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    > tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    > identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    > would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    > think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    > content for particular reporting purposes.
    > For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    > and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    > clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    > how many dedicated courses in each area.
    >
    > David
    >
    > --
    > David Levy
    > Professor, Department of Management
    > University of Massachusetts, Boston
    > 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    > Tel: 617-287-7860
    > http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/
    >


  • 14.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-09-2005 23:25
    I've been here at SIT (www.sit.edu) for 3 years following a PhD in
    corporate environmental management, and it's my charge to teach among
    other things a CSR course (Organizational Accountability and Civil
    Governance) in our graduate management program. These are master's
    students who in some cases considered MBA's but decided on the "dark
    side" of non-MBA professional management/leadership programs to which
    SIT belongs. For most, I believe, the motivator was the strong links
    we have to the NGO world - where most are headed - plus the overtness
    of our commitment to social justice and sustainability in our
    mission. Yet even with a self-selected group of future managers who
    want to learn most of the MBA curriculum but would never set foot
    anywhere near a corporation if they could help it, awareness of and
    interest in the environmental side of things is enigmatic. For most,
    ostensibly social issues like diversity, human rights, child labor,
    landmines, street children etc etc are a major focus. They single-
    mindedly devote themselves to such causes, going to work for the
    NGOs, government agencies, and consultancies that focus on them. On
    a personal level, they are generally very positive to environmental
    protection, vote that way, buy organic, oppose GMOs, etc etc. As a
    whole, politically and ideologically, they are quite different from
    MBA students as a whole, and SIT is unlike typical B-schools.

    But here's my main point: Despite all this, with sustainability and
    social justice rhetoric and intentions omnipresent throughout our
    school, and sympathetic sets of students and other stakeholders, it
    seems exceedingly difficult for us to evolve our curriculum away from
    a siloed, fragmentary treatment of social/ethical and environmental
    issues, and towards something more sophisticated and integrated. I
    think that we as faculty and they as students still lack a systemic
    sense that can deal with whole crises with multiple environmental,
    social, energy-related, political etc manifestations and drivers.
    Certain rich teaching cases get us part of the way there, but then
    "megatrend fatigue" appears to set in, and people return to their
    single-issue devotion, where resources and career opportunities are
    concentrated.

    I am concerned that we are stuck in the natural end-phase of an
    educational and professional-development paradigm that conspires to
    stifle integrated, whole-systems thinking, even as dramatic events
    and trends like the the latest hurricanes, global peak-oil economics,
    fast population growth, pandemic fears, and water shortages manifest
    at a whole-systems level. Books like Kunstler's The Long Emergency
    hint at the possibility of new cyles of radical change that will make
    current career choices, investments, corporate strategies, etc. as
    irrelevant as last summer's real estate deals in New Orleans.
    Perhaps there are a few too many doomsaying books out there these
    days, and things will not change quite so much. But are we educating
    20/30-something managers for effective leadership through possible
    periods of radical social/environmental/energy-related/... systemic
    change? Do the Pinstripes winning criteria test for this? I'd like
    to know.

    Ralph Meima


  • 15.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 09:00
    Dinah,

    I will keep this short.

    I cannot AGREE with you more.

    1. EPA is anthropocentrically focused.
    2. Organizations are anthropocentrically focused.
    3. More systemic analysis and research is needed.

    My concern is that with so much anthropocentric focused ideals and
    philosophy (SIM and Pinstripes, and sustainability) the environment is bound
    to lose when push comes to shove and a choice has to be made between
    economics, social issues (other than environment), and the natural
    environment.

    Anthropocentric perspectives do take into consideration environmental
    issues, but as one of many many variables, thus, the marginalization. EPA
    may not marginalize as much as other institutions and organizations, but
    sustainability allows organizations to aid in the marginalization.

    I do not say we should not consider other dimensions, I am just saying let
    us put the environment at the focus, dare I say, on the ONE-list a
    biocentric/ecocentric view?

    Otherwise, what makes us different than SIM as a research group?

    In terms of research, unfortunately we live in a tradition of reductionist
    scientific research controlling for many variables, but unable to consider
    the influences of every factor. That is how we do research, that is the
    best model we have. Even various elements of systems modeling makes
    simplifying assumptions. I think for our group, the simplifying assumptions
    should not assume away the centrality of the environmental issues.

    In terms of the Pinstripes survey (and why Andy King originally asked the
    questions), I agree with a lot of Alfie Marcus's comments about the process.
    Also, do we even need rankings?

    -Joe S.




    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    > Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    > Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    >
    > I cannot disagree more.
    >
    > Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large) suffers
    > from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    > emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    > source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean Air
    > Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases, and
    > thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other impacts.
    > Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    > cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    > (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in tuna.
    > Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    > interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    > nature.
    >
    > Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure environmental
    > performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    > pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    > human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    > databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    > for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    > that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human species
    > is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are (biologically,
    > emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    > well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if we
    > suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.
    >
    > I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems thinking
    > and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental problems
    > - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many years
    > focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be multi-media.
    > There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    > policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    > disciplines.
    >
    > Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    > Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    > National Center for Environmental Research
    > 8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    > Washington, DC 20460
    > 202-343-9687
    > 202-233-0678 (fax)
    >
    > Courier Delivery Address:
    > USEPA, NCER
    > Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    > 1025 F Street NW
    > Washington, DC 20004-1409
    >
    >
    >
    > Joseph Sarkis
    > <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    > EDU> To
    > Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Organizations cc
    > and the Natural
    > Environment Subject
    > Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    > 11/09/2005 07:00
    > AM
    >
    >
    > Please respond
    > to
    > Organizations
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    > Discussion
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > David,
    >
    > This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    > environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    > we
    > are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    > the
    > AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    > environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    > struggle
    > with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    > issue
    > and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    > for
    > the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    > at
    > the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    > from a
    > society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    > that
    > hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    > support
    > environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    > being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times
    > on a
    > short example of this:
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1
    >
    >
    > Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    > marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    > society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    > issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    > Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    > WRI/ASPEN
    > is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    > issue
    > too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    > conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.
    >
    > -Joe S.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > =============================================Joseph Sarkis
    > Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    > Graduate School of Management
    > Clark University
    > 950 Main Street
    > Worcester, MA 01610-1477
    >
    > Phone: 508-793-7659
    > Fax: 508-793-8822
    > URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    > jsarkis@clarku.edu
    > ===========================================-----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    > Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    >
    > find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    > environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    > about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    >
    > the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    >
    > tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    > identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    > would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    > think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    > content for particular reporting purposes.
    > For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    > and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    > clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    > how many dedicated courses in each area.
    >
    > David
    >
    > --
    > David Levy
    > Professor, Department of Management
    > University of Massachusetts, Boston
    > 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    > Tel: 617-287-7860
    > http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/
    >


  • 16.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 09:27
    --- Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion wrote:
    To me, the ratings do not have face validity.
    --- end of quote ---

    Just a note: I believe both Penn and Harvard opted not to participate this year.

    What of Alfie's challenge? Should the ranking be used? Would you advise a student to use the list in making a decision about where to apply or attend?

    AK


    Andrew King
    Associate Professor of Business Administration
    Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
    202 Chase Hall
    Hanover, NH 03755

    Cell: 603-359-0369


  • 17.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 10:51
    One of the useful things about rankings (and indicators for that matter) is
    the spirit of competition it engenders, and the desire to outperform. I can
    imagine this might resonate with at least some business school types!

    Anastasia

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Joseph Sarkis
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:00 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes


    Dinah,

    I will keep this short.

    I cannot AGREE with you more.

    1. EPA is anthropocentrically focused.
    2. Organizations are anthropocentrically focused.
    3. More systemic analysis and research is needed.

    My concern is that with so much anthropocentric focused ideals and
    philosophy (SIM and Pinstripes, and sustainability) the environment is bound
    to lose when push comes to shove and a choice has to be made between
    economics, social issues (other than environment), and the natural
    environment.

    Anthropocentric perspectives do take into consideration environmental
    issues, but as one of many many variables, thus, the marginalization. EPA
    may not marginalize as much as other institutions and organizations, but
    sustainability allows organizations to aid in the marginalization.

    I do not say we should not consider other dimensions, I am just saying let
    us put the environment at the focus, dare I say, on the ONE-list a
    biocentric/ecocentric view?

    Otherwise, what makes us different than SIM as a research group?

    In terms of research, unfortunately we live in a tradition of reductionist
    scientific research controlling for many variables, but unable to consider
    the influences of every factor. That is how we do research, that is the
    best model we have. Even various elements of systems modeling makes
    simplifying assumptions. I think for our group, the simplifying assumptions
    should not assume away the centrality of the environmental issues.

    In terms of the Pinstripes survey (and why Andy King originally asked the
    questions), I agree with a lot of Alfie Marcus's comments about the process.
    Also, do we even need rankings?

    -Joe S.




    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    > Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    > Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    >
    > I cannot disagree more.
    >
    > Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large) suffers
    > from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    > emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    > source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean Air
    > Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases, and
    > thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other impacts.
    > Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    > cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    > (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in tuna.
    > Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    > interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    > nature.
    >
    > Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure environmental
    > performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    > pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    > human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    > databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    > for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    > that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human species
    > is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are (biologically,
    > emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    > well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if we
    > suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.
    >
    > I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems thinking
    > and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental problems
    > - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many years
    > focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be multi-media.
    > There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    > policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    > disciplines.
    >
    > Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    > Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    > National Center for Environmental Research
    > 8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    > Washington, DC 20460
    > 202-343-9687
    > 202-233-0678 (fax)
    >
    > Courier Delivery Address:
    > USEPA, NCER
    > Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    > 1025 F Street NW
    > Washington, DC 20004-1409
    >
    >
    >
    > Joseph Sarkis
    > <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    > EDU> To
    > Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Organizations cc
    > and the Natural
    > Environment Subject
    > Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    > 11/09/2005 07:00
    > AM
    >
    >
    > Please respond
    > to
    > Organizations
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    > Discussion
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > David,
    >
    > This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    > environmental issues should play within sustainability. The difficulty
    > we
    > are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    > the
    > AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    > environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    > struggle
    > with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    > issue
    > and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    > for
    > the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to me
    > at
    > the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    > from a
    > society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    > that
    > hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    > support
    > environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of
    > being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times
    > on a
    > short example of this:
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1
    >
    >
    > Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    > marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    > society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    > issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    > Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    > WRI/ASPEN
    > is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    > issue
    > too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    > conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.
    >
    > -Joe S.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > =============================================Joseph Sarkis
    > Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    > Graduate School of Management
    > Clark University
    > 950 Main Street
    > Worcester, MA 01610-1477
    >
    > Phone: 508-793-7659
    > Fax: 508-793-8822
    > URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    > jsarkis@clarku.edu
    > ===========================================-----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    > Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    >
    > find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    > environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    > about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    >
    > the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    >
    > tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    > identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    > would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    > think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    > content for particular reporting purposes.
    > For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    > and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    > clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    > how many dedicated courses in each area.
    >
    > David
    >
    > --
    > David Levy
    > Professor, Department of Management
    > University of Massachusetts, Boston
    > 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    > Tel: 617-287-7860
    > http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/
    >


  • 18.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 11:21
    There are always some good reasons for ranking business schools which I do
    not want to dispute here.

    These aside, I wonder whether a focus on ranking directs our attention away
    from the key issue at hand?

    In light of the environmental/social pressures on our planet and humanity,
    it seems to me that it may be even more useful for us to spend our time and
    effort toward accelerating integration of environmental and social issues
    into business education. Depending on what type of MBA/business programme
    you have been running in the past and what colleagues you have on your
    faculty, the path towards this aim may be different.

    Making environmental and social concerns an "issue" that helps us to locate
    our schools or departments on some ranking scheme risks distracting our
    attention away (?) Perhaps it helps build credibility of these issues in
    academia, but does it always address the real issues?

    How about simply awarding each year a price(s) to innovative MBA or other
    post-graduate programmes and sharing these case studies with a larger
    audience? Examples in the sphere of organizations/businesses are the annual
    awards by the Schumacher Society, The Right Livelihood Award, or (not
    related to sustainability) the Baldwin/ EFQM awards honouring companies for
    their total quality management.

    This approach would give recognition and facilitate the sharing of
    experiences. Students could also find out what type of programme would suit
    them best.

    Svenja

    Svenja Tams PhD
    School of Management
    University of Bath
    BA2 7AY, UK
    ++44 (0) 1225 386 683


    -----Original Message-----
    From: David Levy [mailto:david.levy@UMB.EDU]
    Sent: 09 November 2005 03:16
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to
    the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report
    tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to
    identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I
    think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    content for particular reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and
    how many dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 19.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 11:53
    Quick thoughts...

    Building on some of the points below, I was teaching at RPI (when they still
    had an Environmental Management & Policy program) when we were ranked by
    WRI--no Aspen at that time. Although it was a good marketing tool for the
    program, we had the same sets of questions internally. If the very schools
    teaching business leaders can't make environment (and social) issues a part
    of the 'organizational culture' themselves, how can businesses expect to
    learn how or move in that direction. In other words, a historical
    representation of "Environment" as a bag on the side of the firm, to select
    leadership positions in some firms seems to mimics what's happening in
    B-School (or vice versa). We develop separate "environment program" (i.e.,
    EH&S departments of firms) instead of indoctrinating every sub-major, class,
    etc., with some elements of environmental training (at least in the US). If
    we are to move to creating "environmental cultures" in organizations (where
    the environment is just one of the set of considerations for every employee
    and every department and every decision), then we should start by ending the
    environmental silo-ing going on in the educational institutions themselves.
    Ok, so let's change that tomorrow--sound good?

    (However, when schools develop "sustainability Coordinators" and Presidents
    include "sustainability or environment" in the overall institutional agenda,
    then that's a good start to moving in an integrated direction across
    campus.)

    Yours,
    Kevin Fletcher

    --------------------------------------------------------
    Kevin A. Fletcher
    Director of Programs & Administration
    Audubon International
    46 Rarick Road, Selkirk, NY 12158
    Phone: (518)767-9051 ext 26; Fax: (518)767-9076
    Email: kfletcher@auduboninternational.org
    Website: http://www.auduboninternational.org
    "Fostering more sustainable human and natural communities--one person, one
    place at a time."
    -------------------------------------------------------


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Svenja Tams
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 11:21 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    There are always some good reasons for ranking business schools which I do
    not want to dispute here.

    These aside, I wonder whether a focus on ranking directs our attention away
    from the key issue at hand?

    In light of the environmental/social pressures on our planet and humanity,
    it seems to me that it may be even more useful for us to spend our time and
    effort toward accelerating integration of environmental and social issues
    into business education. Depending on what type of MBA/business programme
    you have been running in the past and what colleagues you have on your
    faculty, the path towards this aim may be different.

    Making environmental and social concerns an "issue" that helps us to locate
    our schools or departments on some ranking scheme risks distracting our
    attention away (?) Perhaps it helps build credibility of these issues in
    academia, but does it always address the real issues?

    How about simply awarding each year a price(s) to innovative MBA or other
    post-graduate programmes and sharing these case studies with a larger
    audience? Examples in the sphere of organizations/businesses are the annual
    awards by the Schumacher Society, The Right Livelihood Award, or (not
    related to sustainability) the Baldwin/ EFQM awards honouring companies for
    their total quality management.

    This approach would give recognition and facilitate the sharing of
    experiences. Students could also find out what type of programme would suit
    them best.

    Svenja

    Svenja Tams PhD
    School of Management
    University of Bath
    BA2 7AY, UK
    ++44 (0) 1225 386 683


    -----Original Message-----
    From: David Levy [mailto:david.levy@UMB.EDU]
    Sent: 09 November 2005 03:16
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to the
    Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report tends
    to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to identify
    them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also would be a bit
    concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I think about our
    courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social content for particular
    reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs and
    courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make clear
    which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and how many
    dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 20.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 12:16
    This pinstripes discussion has earmarks of a new problem domain. There
    is no consensus on terminology or language
    (SIM/ONE/CSR/Sustainability?). Stakeholders and roles are confused.
    Relationships among actors are not normalized. Boundaries, and sub
    boundaries, are not well established (separate environment and social
    content areas, or teach complexity?).

    Perhaps rankings and metrics are premature. Simply counting does not
    seem to do justice, for example, to the impact of one professor at U
    Penn who touches 200-300 students each year in a single, wildly popular
    course on basic environmental literacy. Perhaps a more valuable service
    would be mapping the current state of the domain, using a
    pinstripes-like survey. Such a survey could be more inclusive, taking
    stock of those left out parties who have spoken up in this discussion.

    Trudy


    Trudy Heller, Ph.D.
    Executive Education for the Environment
    610 543 0499
    heller@execed-environent.com
    www.execed-environment.com

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Joseph Sarkis
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:00 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Dinah,

    I will keep this short.

    I cannot AGREE with you more.

    1. EPA is anthropocentrically focused.
    2. Organizations are anthropocentrically focused.
    3. More systemic analysis and research is needed.

    My concern is that with so much anthropocentric focused ideals and
    philosophy (SIM and Pinstripes, and sustainability) the environment is
    bound
    to lose when push comes to shove and a choice has to be made between
    economics, social issues (other than environment), and the natural
    environment.

    Anthropocentric perspectives do take into consideration environmental
    issues, but as one of many many variables, thus, the marginalization.
    EPA
    may not marginalize as much as other institutions and organizations, but
    sustainability allows organizations to aid in the marginalization.

    I do not say we should not consider other dimensions, I am just saying
    let
    us put the environment at the focus, dare I say, on the ONE-list a
    biocentric/ecocentric view?

    Otherwise, what makes us different than SIM as a research group?

    In terms of research, unfortunately we live in a tradition of
    reductionist
    scientific research controlling for many variables, but unable to
    consider
    the influences of every factor. That is how we do research, that is the
    best model we have. Even various elements of systems modeling makes
    simplifying assumptions. I think for our group, the simplifying
    assumptions
    should not assume away the centrality of the environmental issues.

    In terms of the Pinstripes survey (and why Andy King originally asked
    the
    questions), I agree with a lot of Alfie Marcus's comments about the
    process.
    Also, do we even need rankings?

    -Joe S.




    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    > Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    > Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    >
    > I cannot disagree more.
    >
    > Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large)
    suffers
    > from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate matter
    > emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the main
    > source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990 Clean
    Air
    > Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality decreases,
    and
    > thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected, among other
    impacts.
    > Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    > cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    > (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in
    tuna.
    > Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly
    > interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    > nature.
    >
    > Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure
    environmental
    > performance in terms of pollution/emissions? Concentrations of
    > pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem disfunction? And/or adverse
    > human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research limited by available
    > databases or availabe knowledge?) These are questions for society, and
    > for social/human quality of life. It has seemed to me for a long time,
    > that the outcome of concern with the most traction for our human
    species
    > is to determine adverse human health outcomes, as we are
    (biologically,
    > emotionally and politically) most concerned with the survival and
    > well-being of our species. As a species on top of the food chain, if
    we
    > suffer, no doubt other species suffer too.
    >
    > I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems
    thinking
    > and focusing on integrated systems which underlie environmental
    problems
    > - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many
    years
    > focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be
    multi-media.
    > There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    > policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    > disciplines.
    >
    > Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    > Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    > National Center for Environmental Research
    > 8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    > Washington, DC 20460
    > 202-343-9687
    > 202-233-0678 (fax)
    >
    > Courier Delivery Address:
    > USEPA, NCER
    > Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    > 1025 F Street NW
    > Washington, DC 20004-1409
    >
    >
    >
    > Joseph Sarkis
    > <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    > EDU>
    To
    > Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Organizations
    cc
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    Subject
    > Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    > 11/09/2005 07:00
    > AM
    >
    >
    > Please respond
    > to
    > Organizations
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    > Discussion
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > David,
    >
    > This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    > environmental issues should play within sustainability. The
    difficulty
    > we
    > are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of
    > the
    > AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes the
    > environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to
    > struggle
    > with that and the term sustainability has not been much help on this
    > issue
    > and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know others have argued
    > for
    > the fact that you can have both and should have both, but it seems to
    me
    > at
    > the expense of environmental issues. Politically (and more generally
    > from a
    > society perspective) these issues are linked. This could be something
    > that
    > hinders environmental progress. Because there are those who would
    > support
    > environmental issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations
    of
    > being a 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York
    Times
    > on a
    > short example of this:
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1
    >
    >
    > Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    > marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and
    > society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    > issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    > Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    > WRI/ASPEN
    > is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money making a social
    > issue
    > too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance courses are socially
    > conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I feel better.
    >
    > -Joe S.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > =============================================Joseph Sarkis
    > Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    > Graduate School of Management
    > Clark University
    > 950 Main Street
    > Worcester, MA 01610-1477
    >
    > Phone: 508-793-7659
    > Fax: 508-793-8822
    > URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    > jsarkis@clarku.edu
    > ===========================================-----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    > Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but
    I
    >
    > find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    > environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students
    ask
    > about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them
    to
    >
    > the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new
    report
    >
    > tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard
    to
    > identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also
    > would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers -
    I
    > think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    > content for particular reporting purposes.
    > For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs
    > and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make
    > clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations,
    and
    > how many dedicated courses in each area.
    >
    > David
    >
    > --
    > David Levy
    > Professor, Department of Management
    > University of Massachusetts, Boston
    > 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    > Tel: 617-287-7860
    > http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/
    >


  • 21.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 12:38
    Kevin,

    My quick thoughts.

    You bring up a good point. Do we intersperse environmental topics
    throughout the curriculum and throughout various research programs
    (decentralize), or do you incorporate it as a discipline within business
    with links throughout, but weak links?

    Centralization does not necessarily have to be siloization (are all the
    functions in the various schools siloized? They may or may not be depending
    on the school's strategy). The pluses of centralizing a field and topic is
    that you start achieving critical mass and resources and political power
    will tend to follow. So are a lot of small voices in various disciplines
    more effective than a concentrated large voice? An environmental
    centralization will allow the traditional disciplines to be integrated under
    one umbrella (have an environmental strategist, environmental
    economist/finance management, environmental marketer, environmental
    operations management, etc. in one department?).

    Decentralization would guarantee that the voice is at least heard in each of
    the traditional disciplines and could potentially encourage more
    interdisciplinary work. But, whose voice will usually be heard, promoted,
    encouraged in that discipline? Typically it will be one that focuses on core
    issues in that discipline, rather than on the side issue of the environment
    (or social issues).

    I am not an expert on organizational structure and governance, but we still
    seem to live in the traditional functional world and organizational
    structures. I think the best way to get visibility for organizations and
    the natural environment is to have a strong functional voice that all can
    hear and know. It does not mean that it cannot be integrative. I think that
    was one of the goals of breaking out ONE.

    Now does it mean that others want to hear this big voice? Now that's another
    story.

    Of course there are matrix structures too, with pluses and minuses.

    -Joe

    ==============================================
    Joseph Sarkis
    Professor of Operations and Environmental Management
    Graduate School of Management
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610-1477

    Phone: 508-793-7659
    Fax: 508-793-8822
    URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    jsarkis@clarku.edu
    ==============================================


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Kevin Fletcher
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 11:53 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Quick thoughts...

    Building on some of the points below, I was teaching at RPI (when they still
    had an Environmental Management & Policy program) when we were ranked by
    WRI--no Aspen at that time. Although it was a good marketing tool for the
    program, we had the same sets of questions internally. If the very schools
    teaching business leaders can't make environment (and social) issues a part
    of the 'organizational culture' themselves, how can businesses expect to
    learn how or move in that direction. In other words, a historical
    representation of "Environment" as a bag on the side of the firm, to select
    leadership positions in some firms seems to mimics what's happening in
    B-School (or vice versa). We develop separate "environment program" (i.e.,
    EH&S departments of firms) instead of indoctrinating every sub-major, class,
    etc., with some elements of environmental training (at least in the US). If
    we are to move to creating "environmental cultures" in organizations (where
    the environment is just one of the set of considerations for every employee
    and every department and every decision), then we should start by ending the
    environmental silo-ing going on in the educational institutions themselves.
    Ok, so let's change that tomorrow--sound good?

    (However, when schools develop "sustainability Coordinators" and Presidents
    include "sustainability or environment" in the overall institutional agenda,
    then that's a good start to moving in an integrated direction across
    campus.)

    Yours,
    Kevin Fletcher

    --------------------------------------------------------
    Kevin A. Fletcher
    Director of Programs & Administration
    Audubon International
    46 Rarick Road, Selkirk, NY 12158
    Phone: (518)767-9051 ext 26; Fax: (518)767-9076
    Email: kfletcher@auduboninternational.org
    Website: http://www.auduboninternational.org
    "Fostering more sustainable human and natural communities--one person, one
    place at a time."
    -------------------------------------------------------


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Svenja Tams
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 11:21 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    There are always some good reasons for ranking business schools which I do
    not want to dispute here.

    These aside, I wonder whether a focus on ranking directs our attention away
    from the key issue at hand?

    In light of the environmental/social pressures on our planet and humanity,
    it seems to me that it may be even more useful for us to spend our time and
    effort toward accelerating integration of environmental and social issues
    into business education. Depending on what type of MBA/business programme
    you have been running in the past and what colleagues you have on your
    faculty, the path towards this aim may be different.

    Making environmental and social concerns an "issue" that helps us to locate
    our schools or departments on some ranking scheme risks distracting our
    attention away (?) Perhaps it helps build credibility of these issues in
    academia, but does it always address the real issues?

    How about simply awarding each year a price(s) to innovative MBA or other
    post-graduate programmes and sharing these case studies with a larger
    audience? Examples in the sphere of organizations/businesses are the annual
    awards by the Schumacher Society, The Right Livelihood Award, or (not
    related to sustainability) the Baldwin/ EFQM awards honouring companies for
    their total quality management.

    This approach would give recognition and facilitate the sharing of
    experiences. Students could also find out what type of programme would suit
    them best.

    Svenja

    Svenja Tams PhD
    School of Management
    University of Bath
    BA2 7AY, UK
    ++44 (0) 1225 386 683


    -----Original Message-----
    From: David Levy [mailto:david.levy@UMB.EDU]
    Sent: 09 November 2005 03:16
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but I
    find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students ask
    about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point them to the
    Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new report tends
    to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard to identify
    them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also would be a bit
    concerned about the potential to massage the numbers - I think about our
    courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social content for particular
    reporting purposes.
    For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs and
    courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make clear
    which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations, and how many
    dedicated courses in each area.

    David

    --
    David Levy
    Professor, Department of Management
    University of Massachusetts, Boston
    100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    Tel: 617-287-7860
    http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/


  • 22.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 13:27
    Interesting. Does anyone find a contradiction between the inclusive,
    cooperative nature of sustainable development and the notion of
    competing on the topic to see who is better?


    *************************************************
    Andrew J. Hoffman
    Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise
    The University of Michigan
    Phone: 734-763-9455
    Fax: 734-615-4323
    Email: ajhoff@umich.edu
    Web: http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/ajhoff/
    *************************************************

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Anastasia O'Rourke
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 10:51 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    One of the useful things about rankings (and indicators for that matter)
    is the spirit of competition it engenders, and the desire to outperform.
    I can imagine this might resonate with at least some business school
    types!

    Anastasia

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Joseph Sarkis
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:00 AM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes


    Dinah,

    I will keep this short.

    I cannot AGREE with you more.

    1. EPA is anthropocentrically focused.
    2. Organizations are anthropocentrically focused.
    3. More systemic analysis and research is needed.

    My concern is that with so much anthropocentric focused ideals and
    philosophy (SIM and Pinstripes, and sustainability) the environment is
    bound to lose when push comes to shove and a choice has to be made
    between economics, social issues (other than environment), and the
    natural environment.

    Anthropocentric perspectives do take into consideration environmental
    issues, but as one of many many variables, thus, the marginalization.
    EPA may not marginalize as much as other institutions and organizations,
    but sustainability allows organizations to aid in the marginalization.

    I do not say we should not consider other dimensions, I am just saying
    let us put the environment at the focus, dare I say, on the ONE-list a
    biocentric/ecocentric view?

    Otherwise, what makes us different than SIM as a research group?

    In terms of research, unfortunately we live in a tradition of
    reductionist scientific research controlling for many variables, but
    unable to consider the influences of every factor. That is how we do
    research, that is the best model we have. Even various elements of
    systems modeling makes simplifying assumptions. I think for our group,
    the simplifying assumptions should not assume away the centrality of the
    environmental issues.

    In terms of the Pinstripes survey (and why Andy King originally asked
    the questions), I agree with a lot of Alfie Marcus's comments about the
    process.
    Also, do we even need rankings?

    -Joe S.




    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of
    > Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
    > Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:17 AM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    >
    > I cannot disagree more.
    >
    > Environmental issues are social issues, as society (writ large)
    > suffers from pollution. Consider the huge impacts of particulate
    > matter emissions on lung function and premature death. These were the
    > main source of social benefits in cost benefit analysis of the 1990
    > Clean Air Act Amendments. When ecosystems break down, water quality
    > decreases, and thus drinking water and/or fisheries are affected,
    among other impacts.
    > Mercury emissions from power plants end up in water, and because they
    > cannot be broken down readily are passed up the foodchain
    > (bioaccumulate) to high human health threatening concentrations in
    tuna.
    > Thus, the human system (say "society") and the environment are tightly

    > interlinked. ONE, by its name, addresses questions of anthropocentric
    > nature.
    >
    > Now, the question to the ONE community is, do you measure
    > environmental performance in terms of pollution/emissions?
    > Concentrations of pollutants in the environment? Ecosystem
    > disfunction? And/or adverse human health outcomes? (Or is ONE research

    > limited by available databases or availabe knowledge?) These are
    > questions for society, and for social/human quality of life. It has
    > seemed to me for a long time, that the outcome of concern with the
    > most traction for our human species is to determine adverse human
    > health outcomes, as we are (biologically, emotionally and politically)

    > most concerned with the survival and well-being of our species. As a
    > species on top of the food chain, if we suffer, no doubt other species
    suffer too.
    >
    > I think the ONE community is better served by applying systems
    > thinking and focusing on integrated systems which underlie
    > environmental problems
    > - many if not most of which have social causes. EPA has for many
    > years focused on single media problems, but solutions need to be
    multi-media.
    > There is a gradual shift in the agency to apply more multi-media
    > policies. ONE should also think along disciplines, not within
    > disciplines.
    >
    > Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    > Economics and Decision Sciences Research National Center for
    > Environmental Research 8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    > Washington, DC 20460
    > 202-343-9687
    > 202-233-0678 (fax)
    >
    > Courier Delivery Address:
    > USEPA, NCER
    > Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    > 1025 F Street NW
    > Washington, DC 20004-1409
    >
    >
    >
    > Joseph Sarkis
    > <jsarkis@CLARKU.
    > EDU>
    To
    > Sent by: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Organizations
    cc
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    Subject
    > Discussion Re: Pinstripes
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    > 11/09/2005 07:00
    > AM
    >
    >
    > Please respond
    > to
    > Organizations
    > and the Natural
    > Environment
    > Discussion
    > <ONE-L@AOMLISTS.
    > PACE.EDU>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > David,
    >
    > This is one of the concerns I have about the whole issue of the role
    > environmental issues should play within sustainability. The
    difficulty
    > we
    > are having is something that was mentioned over a decade ago at one of

    > the AOM meetings early in ONE's life where the debate was what makes
    > the environment different than other SIM issues. We are continuing to

    > struggle with that and the term sustainability has not been much help
    > on this issue and has caused a lot of this murkiness. And I know
    > others have argued for the fact that you can have both and should have

    > both, but it seems to me at the expense of environmental issues.
    > Politically (and more generally from a society perspective) these
    > issues are linked. This could be something that hinders environmental

    > progress. Because there are those who would support environmental
    > issues, but may be deterred because of the connotations of being a
    > 'blue state' topic. See a recent article in the New York Times on a
    > short example of this:
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07air.html?emc=eta1
    >
    >
    > Overall, it seems this is a SIM award and not a ONE award. This is a
    > marginalization of the environmental issues faced by organizations and

    > society. SIM seems, to me, to be focused primarily on anthropocentric
    > issues, environmental issues play a role, but a more peripheral one.
    > Unfortunately, what I thought was primarily an ecological focus by
    > WRI/ASPEN is now much more focused on social issues. Isn't money
    > making a social issue too? It addresses poverty. Thus, all our finance

    > courses are socially conscious...let me mark down 8 courses...there I
    > feel better.
    >
    > -Joe S.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > =============================================Joseph Sarkis Professor
    > of Operations and Environmental Management Graduate School of
    > Management Clark University 950 Main Street Worcester, MA 01610-1477
    >
    > Phone: 508-793-7659
    > Fax: 508-793-8822
    > URL: www.clarku.edu/~jsarkis
    > jsarkis@clarku.edu
    > ===========================================-----Original Message-----
    > From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    > [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Levy
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 PM
    > To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: Re: Pinstripes
    >
    > Rankings can always be useful to push schools in a good direction, but

    > I
    >
    > find the new system is weaker and less useful in the way that it puts
    > environmental and social content together. I have a lot of students
    > ask about environmental content in MBA programs, and I used to point
    > them to
    >
    > the Pinstripes reports, but it's lost its value for this. The new
    > report
    >
    > tends to neglect the niche players in enviro mgt - or at least, hard
    > to identify them. With a broader view of social responsibility, I also

    > would be a bit concerned about the potential to massage the numbers -
    > I think about our courses, and the temptation to emphasize the social
    > content for particular reporting purposes.
    > For next time, they should go back to reporting environmental programs

    > and courses separately from the social issues courses! - at least make

    > clear which schools have specialized grad programs, concentrations,
    > and how many dedicated courses in each area.
    >
    > David
    >
    > --
    > David Levy
    > Professor, Department of Management
    > University of Massachusetts, Boston
    > 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA
    > Tel: 617-287-7860
    > http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/
    >


  • 23.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 13:32
    If we think about this as a matter of supply and demand, let's focus on
    demand for business minds with knowledge about environmental problems,
    how to analyze them and how to manage them. About 10 years ago I was
    trying to continue in my career as environmental manager in the USA
    (after having been an environmental manager for a large Swedish
    multinational in Hungary). I found that the field was dominated by
    environmental engineers and lawyers ensuring that a firm remained
    compliant. Where I ask is there a role for an individual with business
    training who also studied environmental issues in Bschool?
    In later work at a large US pharma firm, I found that the EHS people
    were isolated from mainstream business decision-making and developed
    their own parallel world of measurement systems and reporting structures
    which were not integral to core business management questions.

    What is the situation today? Has it improved? What is the market value
    of a Bschool student with environmental/SIM training? What's jobs are
    they being trained for? Is there a list of environmental jobs chosen by
    recent MBAs? Why are we wracking our brains to come up with
    reasons/solid performance measures for programs in
    Environment/SIM/Sustainability at BSchools when it may not matter
    anyway?

    Why is it that in environmental classes offered at Wharton (where I was
    a post-doc) the majority of students are undergrads with a sprinkling of
    MBA students? Reason, as we were told: undergrads are still more
    idealistic and open-minded in their interests. MBAs are more driven,
    single-minded, and conscious of having to pay off significant school
    debt.

    (Mind you, I care about these things!) Maybe like Alfie, I got out the
    wrong side of bed this morning, but I doubt it.

    Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    National Center for Environmental Research
    8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20460
    202-343-9687
    202-233-0678 (fax)

    Courier Delivery Address:
    USEPA, NCER
    Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    1025 F Street NW
    Washington, DC 20004-1409


  • 24.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 13:56
    Andy Hoffman just pointed out the potential contradiction between the
    inclusiveness/cooperativeness of sustainable development and the notion of
    educational programs competing to be the best at infusing these values.

    I agree. I see an even more egregious contradiction between (a) the
    importance of transparency many incorporate in the notion of sustainability,
    and (b) the quite limited transparency about the Pinstripe methodology used
    to assess educational institutions and faculty pioneers.


    Mike Toffel
    Haas School of Business
    University of California
    545 Student Services Bldg #1900
    Berkeley, CA 94720-1900
    Office: (510) 642-9949
    Cell: (510) 847-8160
    Email: toffel@haas.berkeley.edu
    http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/toffel/


  • 25.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 14:10
    I'll bite, even though I know this discussion is getting off target. I didn't get out on the right, or left, side of the bed today.

    There's no problem with striving, even competing to improve. Competition can be a good thing. It only becomes unhealthy when those striving to do better try to do so through deception or destruction.

    The argument should be about whether or not these Pinstripe measures can discern betterment from deception or destruction. I would hope my school or any other would act on any competitive urge to do better at infusing the values of sustainable development. My fear, of course, is that they'll always go with the low hanging fruit or symbolic efforts. Thus, we should seek measures that embrace competition, but the right kind of competition -- a race to the top, not the bottom.

    Best,
    Mike

    *********************************************
    Michael L. Barnett, PhD
    Department of Management, BSN 3527
    College of Business Administration
    University of South Florida
    4202 E. Fowler Avenue
    Tampa, FL 33620
    Phone: (813) 974-1727
    Fax: (813) 974-1734
    Website: http://coba.usf.edu/barnett
    View my research on my SSRN Author page:
    <http://ssrn.com/author=414796>


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Mike Toffel
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 1:56 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Pinstripes


    Andy Hoffman just pointed out the potential contradiction between the
    inclusiveness/cooperativeness of sustainable development and the notion of
    educational programs competing to be the best at infusing these values.

    I agree. I see an even more egregious contradiction between (a) the
    importance of transparency many incorporate in the notion of sustainability,
    and (b) the quite limited transparency about the Pinstripe methodology used
    to assess educational institutions and faculty pioneers.


    Mike Toffel
    Haas School of Business
    University of California
    545 Student Services Bldg #1900
    Berkeley, CA 94720-1900
    Office: (510) 642-9949
    Cell: (510) 847-8160
    Email: toffel@haas.berkeley.edu
    http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/toffel/


  • 26.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 14:14
    In reference to Dinah's statement,

    "the EHS people
    were isolated from mainstream business decision-making and developed
    their own parallel world of measurement systems and reporting structures
    which were not integral to core business management questions.",

    this closely matches what I found in an ethnography of corporate
    environmental management at LM Ericsson over 10 years, published in
    my doctoral dissertation in May 2002. I called the resulting model
    of how CEM practices evolve "the green squeeze" model.

    Ralph Meima

    On Nov 10, 2005, at 1:31 PM, Koehler.Dinah@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV wrote:

    > If we think about this as a matter of supply and demand, let's
    > focus on
    > demand for business minds with knowledge about environmental problems,
    > how to analyze them and how to manage them. About 10 years ago I was
    > trying to continue in my career as environmental manager in the USA
    > (after having been an environmental manager for a large Swedish
    > multinational in Hungary). I found that the field was dominated by
    > environmental engineers and lawyers ensuring that a firm remained
    > compliant. Where I ask is there a role for an individual with business
    > training who also studied environmental issues in Bschool?
    > In later work at a large US pharma firm, I found that the EHS people
    > were isolated from mainstream business decision-making and developed
    > their own parallel world of measurement systems and reporting
    > structures
    > which were not integral to core business management questions.
    >
    > What is the situation today? Has it improved? What is the market value
    > of a Bschool student with environmental/SIM training? What's jobs are
    > they being trained for? Is there a list of environmental jobs
    > chosen by
    > recent MBAs? Why are we wracking our brains to come up with
    > reasons/solid performance measures for programs in
    > Environment/SIM/Sustainability at BSchools when it may not matter
    > anyway?
    >
    > Why is it that in environmental classes offered at Wharton (where I
    > was
    > a post-doc) the majority of students are undergrads with a
    > sprinkling of
    > MBA students? Reason, as we were told: undergrads are still more
    > idealistic and open-minded in their interests. MBAs are more driven,
    > single-minded, and conscious of having to pay off significant school
    > debt.
    >
    > (Mind you, I care about these things!) Maybe like Alfie, I got out the
    > wrong side of bed this morning, but I doubt it.
    >
    > Dinah Koehler, Sc.D.
    > Economics and Decision Sciences Research
    > National Center for Environmental Research
    > 8722F, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    > Washington, DC 20460
    > 202-343-9687
    > 202-233-0678 (fax)
    >
    > Courier Delivery Address:
    > USEPA, NCER
    > Room 3319E Woodies Bldg
    > 1025 F Street NW
    > Washington, DC 20004-1409
    >


  • 27.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 14:33
    Mike,

    I noticed that your school was top small school in Pinstripes. When I go to
    its website, I see it has 42,000 students overall.

    -Joe S.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Barnett, Michael
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 2:10 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    I'll bite, even though I know this discussion is getting off target. I
    didn't get out on the right, or left, side of the bed today.

    There's no problem with striving, even competing to improve. Competition
    can be a good thing. It only becomes unhealthy when those striving to do
    better try to do so through deception or destruction.

    The argument should be about whether or not these Pinstripe measures can
    discern betterment from deception or destruction. I would hope my school or
    any other would act on any competitive urge to do better at infusing the
    values of sustainable development. My fear, of course, is that they'll
    always go with the low hanging fruit or symbolic efforts. Thus, we should
    seek measures that embrace competition, but the right kind of competition --
    a race to the top, not the bottom.

    Best,
    Mike

    *********************************************
    Michael L. Barnett, PhD
    Department of Management, BSN 3527
    College of Business Administration
    University of South Florida
    4202 E. Fowler Avenue
    Tampa, FL 33620
    Phone: (813) 974-1727
    Fax: (813) 974-1734
    Website: http://coba.usf.edu/barnett
    View my research on my SSRN Author page:
    <http://ssrn.com/author=414796>


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Mike Toffel
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 1:56 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Pinstripes


    Andy Hoffman just pointed out the potential contradiction between the
    inclusiveness/cooperativeness of sustainable development and the notion of
    educational programs competing to be the best at infusing these values.

    I agree. I see an even more egregious contradiction between (a) the
    importance of transparency many incorporate in the notion of sustainability,
    and (b) the quite limited transparency about the Pinstripe methodology used
    to assess educational institutions and faculty pioneers.


    Mike Toffel
    Haas School of Business
    University of California
    545 Student Services Bldg #1900
    Berkeley, CA 94720-1900
    Office: (510) 642-9949
    Cell: (510) 847-8160
    Email: toffel@haas.berkeley.edu
    http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/toffel/


  • 28.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 14:36
    Hi Joe. Yet another example of the problems with measurement! That's the St. Pete campus that was top small school. USF has 4 campuses (campi?), or more correct, had 4 campuses. The St. Pete campus recently became (or is becoming) fully independent. Tampa, where I'm at, is the main campus, and has about 33,000 of those 42,000 students I think. Bottom line: St. Pete is a small school. I certainly don't fault you for falling into that trap, since we try to trick you every step of the way -- USF (University of South Florida) isn't really even in the south of Florida!

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Joseph Sarkis
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 2:33 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes


    Mike,

    I noticed that your school was top small school in Pinstripes. When I go to
    its website, I see it has 42,000 students overall.

    -Joe S.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Barnett, Michael
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 2:10 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Pinstripes

    I'll bite, even though I know this discussion is getting off target. I
    didn't get out on the right, or left, side of the bed today.

    There's no problem with striving, even competing to improve. Competition
    can be a good thing. It only becomes unhealthy when those striving to do
    better try to do so through deception or destruction.

    The argument should be about whether or not these Pinstripe measures can
    discern betterment from deception or destruction. I would hope my school or
    any other would act on any competitive urge to do better at infusing the
    values of sustainable development. My fear, of course, is that they'll
    always go with the low hanging fruit or symbolic efforts. Thus, we should
    seek measures that embrace competition, but the right kind of competition --
    a race to the top, not the bottom.

    Best,
    Mike

    *********************************************
    Michael L. Barnett, PhD
    Department of Management, BSN 3527
    College of Business Administration
    University of South Florida
    4202 E. Fowler Avenue
    Tampa, FL 33620
    Phone: (813) 974-1727
    Fax: (813) 974-1734
    Website: http://coba.usf.edu/barnett
    View my research on my SSRN Author page:
    <http://ssrn.com/author=414796>


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Organizations and the Natural Environment Discussion
    [mailto:ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Mike Toffel
    Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 1:56 PM
    To: ONE-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Pinstripes


    Andy Hoffman just pointed out the potential contradiction between the
    inclusiveness/cooperativeness of sustainable development and the notion of
    educational programs competing to be the best at infusing these values.

    I agree. I see an even more egregious contradiction between (a) the
    importance of transparency many incorporate in the notion of sustainability,
    and (b) the quite limited transparency about the Pinstripe methodology used
    to assess educational institutions and faculty pioneers.


    Mike Toffel
    Haas School of Business
    University of California
    545 Student Services Bldg #1900
    Berkeley, CA 94720-1900
    Office: (510) 642-9949
    Cell: (510) 847-8160
    Email: toffel@haas.berkeley.edu
    http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/toffel/


  • 29.  Pinstripes

    Posted 11-10-2005 14:59
    To all:

    I have enjoyed watching this discussion unfold inthe last few days. I don't recall having a subject so fire up our mutual cyberspace.

    By coincidence, I called Rich Leimsider of the Aspen Institute last week to discuss the methodology for the study, so my timing is good here. Like many of you, I had a difficult time understanding how the rankings were created by using the web site. I figured I'd go to the source. And yes, three of the four scores are solely based on class content. They rate all categories numerically, and actually develop Z-scores to rank schools.

    Rather shocking to me was the fact that three of the four categories are likely to be correlated with school size and yet no size adjustments were made.

    But there is a big picture issue here. Essentially, the Aspen Institute tries to refine its methodology annually. But I am not sure a number of changes they have made over the years really do enhance the ratings. For example, they used to separate social and environmental content and have parallel rankings, but now Apsen/WRI combine them. And they used to assess student experience outside of the classroom, but now do not. Particularly with respect to that last change, I worry greatly about what these rankings show. How can you not include student experiences like the creation of green business plans? I can state from experience at Oregon that nothing would better prepare a student for a green career than to apply their learning in this way. Furthermore, the rankings do not account for dedicated programs and concentrations, which really seems perverse.

    Rich and I also talked about research, and in a word, they count hits in a very large number of journals--more than a hundred. No effort is made to adjust for the impact of the research nor of multiple authors. We can't expect them to exhibit the care of a well-run tenure and promotion committee, but I do not think this is a careful measure of research.

    Naturally, the Aspen Institute cannot be expected to make perfect assessments, but I really think their questionable methodology is not consistent with the significant faith and credit that prospective students place on these ratings. That's the major problem I have with them.

    Perhaps a subset of us could act as a sounding board for the approach they take next time. Of course there will be the inevitable lobbying, but I believe that we can work together to improve their measures.

    Mike Russo