The Interdisciplinary Responsible Management Competence Framework: An Integrative Review of Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability Competences

Abstract

At the centre of responsible management (RM) learning is the development of managerial competence for ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS). Important contributions have been made from each: the ethics, responsibility, and sustainability disciplines. However, we are yet to integrate these disciplinary contributions into a comprehensive interdisciplinary RM competence framework that corresponds to the interdisciplinary nature of RM challenges. We address this priority in this paper and report on the findings of an integrative structured literature review of 224 management competence articles across the ERS disciplines. Our thematic template analysis has produced an interdisciplinary RM competence framework of three layers of personal, behavioural, and intellectual competences and independent and interdependent competence dimensions. The resulting 3 × 2 competence matrix framework accommodates 33 interdisciplinary ERS competence themes and 90 subthemes in the six competence domains of being and becoming, acting and interacting, knowing and thinking. To the RM discussion, we contribute an interdisciplinary competence framework that enables the development of responsible managers who tackle the inherently interdisciplinary issues of RM. To the competence discussion, we contribute the interdependent competence dimension and future research directions through the lens of response-ability.JBE Section: Business Ethics Learning and Education

A conceptual framework for understanding the learning processes integral to the development of responsible management practice

“…So too is the nature of knowledge required by a 'responsible' manager. Laasch et al (2022) identify 'knowledge' as one of six competence domains for responsible management. Montiel et al (2020) builds on Hibbert and Cunliffe's (2015) work on facilitating learning about responsible practice through 'threshold concepts', suggesting that responsible practice requires managers to acquire new realms of knowledge and patterns of knowledge.…”

“…Recent studies use a practice-based conception of RM placing the manager at the centre of moves towards organisational responsibility and recognising the situated, social nature of RM (Chapple et al, 2020;Gherardi and Laasch, 2021). At the level of the individual manager the focus has been on values, behaviours and competences, even emotions that predispose them to behave responsibly (Laasch et al, 2022;Carmeli et al, 2017;Osagie et al, 2018). This has included the possession of certain virtues and traits (Crossan et al, 2013) where personal qualities, such as moral integrity led individuals to manage responsibly (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999) and develop through a progressive understanding of "who to be" and "how to be".…”

“…, 2020; Gherardi and Laasch, 2021). At the level of the individual manager the focus has been on values, behaviours and competences, even emotions that predispose them to behave responsibly (Laasch et al. , 2022; Carmeli et al.…”

“…So too is the nature of knowledge required by a “responsible” manager. Laasch et al. (2022) identify “knowledge” as one of six competence domains for RM.…”

The Principles for (Ir)Responsible Management Education: An exploration of the dynamics of paradox, the hidden curriculum, competencies and symbolization

“…In this sense, competency frameworks become a tool to question and challenge organisational narratives. In the design of an inter-disciplinary RM competency framework, Laasch et al (2022) define competencies grounded in ethics, responsible and sustainability literature as ‘complementary’. Their framework develops commonly adopted approaches to competence as ‘KSA’, Knowledge (knowing), Skills/doing (acting) and Attitudes (being) (e.g.…”