A View From The Top: Deans on Australian Business Schools

Abstract

Australian business schools are often viewed by senior university managers as 'cash cows' because of their revenue‐raising capacity. However, a competing view has emerged that challenges their status as 'cash cows' and contends, instead, that business schools should focus on maximising 'public value' as a means to enhance their legitimacy. Using the analytic framework of 'public value,' a broad cross section of Australian business schools deans was interviewed. These interviews afforded a greater understanding of how the tensions inherent in these competing narratives are reconciled, and how they impact on the day‐to‐day management of business schools in Australia.

The value of public business education in Australia: challenges and opportunities for decision makers

“…Recent articles by Hogan et al (2020, 2021a, b) on the state of higher education in Australia assisted with identifying the most critical literature. However, the net was cast wider to capture a complete array of insights.…”

“…Juggling competing narratives. As Hogan et al (2021b) point out, business deans are only too aware of the complexities in operationalising their missions across commercial, professional and academic interests that are extremely difficult to reconcile. These deans are quite conscious of their obligations to society, perhaps because, at heart, they are, for the most part, academics who believe in the moral responsibilities associated with education (Davies and Thomas, 2009; Hogan et al , 2021b).…”

“…As Hogan et al (2021b) point out, business deans are only too aware of the complexities in operationalising their missions across commercial, professional and academic interests that are extremely difficult to reconcile. These deans are quite conscious of their obligations to society, perhaps because, at heart, they are, for the most part, academics who believe in the moral responsibilities associated with education (Davies and Thomas, 2009; Hogan et al , 2021b). Schools that have done well out of pursuing commercial interests have likely, at least before the pandemic, stood in good stead for resourcing the accomplishment of more intangible objectives like advocacy and virtue signalling.…”

“…As Hogan et al (2021b) have discussed, business school leaders add further perspective concerns stemming from their schools' competing narratives, namely, that of being a “cash cow” versus an academy of knowledge creation, learning and application of that knowledge to various socio-economic problems. These leaders must, therefore, balance the quest for legitimacy in the eyes of external stakeholders with adhering to their university's economic goals, which recently have entailed cross-subsidising less profitable but arguably more legitimate or traditional disciplines, such as the pure sciences, arts and the humanities more broadly (Green et al , 2017; Parker and Guthrie, 2010; Winter and O'Donohue, 2012).…”

“…How much a business school “ought” to contribute to, or even lead the social responsibility agenda, is unclear, particularly when the paradigm of the purpose of business being growth and profit maximisation continues to exist – despite the interventions of corporate social responsibility, triple-bottom-line reporting and shared value (Muff et al , 2013; Porter and Kramer, 2011; Schoemaker, 2008). While social value aims are evident throughout Australian business school mission statements and the strategic aspirations of Australian business deans (Hogan et al , 2021a, b), operationalising such virtues across teaching and research functions is undeniably difficult. So far, decanal efforts have concentrated on “bolt-on” courses in ethics and sustainability instead of more integrated learning outcomes across degrees (Fisher and Bonn, 2017).…”