The Certificate in Responsible Management rewards MBA students at George Washington for their focus on developing responsible management and leadership skills. Learning goals of the certificate are summed up in the six "Principles of Responsible Management", which were developed under the UN Global Compact in 2007.
Requirements
The certificate program requires that students participate in community service, service learning, coursework and a final reflective paper related to the PRME principles. Students must also contribute towards this group blog during the process. All components must take place over the course of 3 semesters. Each applicant needs to submit all documentation by March of his/her year of graduation to Patti Niles at pniles@gwu.edu
Coursework: 6 credit hours. These credits can either be from specific CSR related courses or any other course that ties into the PRME principles (examples include: sustainability classes, CSR classes, business ethics, etc.). Most classes can count if you are able to pull out the principles of responsible management about that class. If you have questions about whether or not a specific course would count, please contact Patti Niles at pniles@gwu.edu or (202) 994-5206.
GW Community Service: At least 15 hours for each of 3 semesters (for a total of 45 hours) must be spent outside of the classroom, contributing to a group or club that improves the university community. This is not limited to Net Impact and can be any George Washington University organization. Again, as long as you can pull out the ideas of responsible management, it will count.
Service Learning: At least 50 hours total must be spent participating in a service learning activity before March of his/her year of graduation. At least ten hours of the service must be to the same organization.
What counts as service?
To be a responsible manager, one must take account and appreciate the interactions between what a business does and the communities it affects. Therefore the goal of the service component is for each applicant to engage with and learn more about communities to ensure that he/she will be in a better position to engage them effectively as a manager. An example of an activity that would not qualify is one that is more of a fundraising effort done in ‘isolation’ of the community it is intended to effect. An example of a service opportunity that would qualify is an activity through which applicants work directly with community organizations, people or groups, and would therefore result in direct engagement and learning. Still have questions about whether or not a specific service activity you have or plan on participating in counts? If so, please contact Professor John Forrer at jforrer@gwu.edu or (202) 994-5248.
Blog: All applicants must blog about the coursework they would like to count, the GW community service and service learning components. Please share your experiences and establish a dialogue with other applicants.
