Responsible Management Education and the Challenge of Poverty

Socially Responsive Organizations and the Challenge of Poverty and its companion Responsible Management Education and the Challenge of Poverty: A Teaching Perspective edited by Milenko Gudic, Carole Parkes and Al Rosenbloom are books that should be required in all areas of education and not limited to management education. My review focuses on the use of these books in Schools of Education that are educating the future teachers and education leaders in the United States. However, since most Schools of Education collaborate with the Humanity, Science and Business community, the review will be inclusive of all of these disciplines. The first book, Socially Responsive Organizations and the Challenge of Poverty provides the reader with the issues including much valued international statistics, the challenges, the responses and the discussion of the future. Not only does the first section elaborate on the statistics of poverty in many countries, but it also provides knowledge about poverty and the effects of resources on poverty, specifically water and energy, that need to be acknowledged in order to understand the underlying causes of poverty with the repercussions that occur when society struggles to access basic human needs. The second section focuses on the challenges and specifically elaborates on housing, food and labor with section three targeting the responses to these challenges. Finally, innovative solutions are brought forward providing the reader with a look into the future. The second book, Responsible Management Education and the Challenge of Poverty: A Teaching Perspective follows similar format as the first book. It is divided into five sections. The second section, contain chapters that specifically help in the development of redesigning existing courses or in the development of new courses. Specific readings are included in this section and suggestions for vocabulary development is stressed. The third section focuses on the community and again provided guidance for inclusion in courses. Even though these books were written to focus on including poverty as a challenge for business and management education, the information and statistics, the suggestions for inclusion in the curriculum, and the future challenges could be used in other courses at a University or College. In education, teachers and administration are all struggling with how to motivate and aid students, many who are living in poverty. All are trying to accommodate the vast changes occurring due to global immigration and diverse population. Cultural needs, English as a second language, and rural and urban societal structures impact the curriculum not only in what is taught but in the pedagogy of that content. These two books address the information Education professionals need to begin to make that accommodation in their classrooms and in their schools. -- Judith Bazler, Academic and Business Research Institute