Prof Derick de Jongh, Director of the University of Pretoria’s Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (ALCRL) and Dr Yolande Steenkamp, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the ALCRL, participated in the Academy of Management Specialised Conference with the theme “Responsible Leadership in Rising Economies Conference” hosted by the IEDC-Bled School of Management in Bled, Slovenia on 23 – 25 October 2019.

 

The vision of this AOM conference was to point out that management education and scholarships often fail to develop the critical, creative, and socially relevant and responsive mindsets that are required to transform businesses and society, and to solve global challenges while being locally responsive. This conference specifically looked at what “responsible leadership” means in the context of a rapidly changing world, particularly in rising and transforming economies. The conference explored how the scholarly management community, in collaboration with businesses, policy makers, NGOs, media, and other stakeholders interested in the new role of business in society, could best support the development of responsible management and sustainable innovation.

 

Prof De Jongh and Dr Steenkamp alongside Prof Josef Wieland and Mr Dominik Fischer (Leadership Excellence Institute at Zeppelin University, Germany) and Dr Gary Kendall (Chief Sustainability Specialist at Nedbank) jointly presented preliminary findings based on an ongoing joint research study between the ALCRL and Zeppelin University. The presentation took the form of a symposium session focused on ‘Collaborative Leadership for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Implications for Developed and Developing Economies’. Special emphasis was made on Goal 17 of the SDGs “Partnerships for the goals” during the symposium. 

 

The research focuses on how organisations from the public, private or civic sector, both within and across national boundaries, collaborate in efforts to address climate change, end poverty, fight inequalities and protect the planet. Given the significant role of partnerships, the importance of understanding the role of leadership amidst the strategies, practices, and challenges of collaborative efforts become clear. The on-going project proposes to conduct in-depth, qualitative research of multi-sector partnerships undertaken in the interest of the SDGs through a comparative analysis of partnerships that exist in South Africa and Germany.

 

From left: Dr Yolande Steenkamp, Prof Derick de Jongh, Prof Josef Wieland, Mr Gary Kendall and Mr Dominik Fischer