Value-Based Organising

Introduction

Based primarily in RSM's Department of Business-Society Management, the focus of the Value-Based Organising (VBO) theme is on how economic organisations interact with different environments – institutional, societal, economic and natural. In such interactions, values can compete, complement or run parallel to each other, and this defines the conditions under which organisations can engage in shared value creation and help to find solutions to societal problems instead of contributing to them. Taking this approach has resulted in key research questions moving from the periphery to the core of management research, teaching and practice.

Excellence in research

Excellence in research is integral to the VBO theme and to all of ERIM’s undertakings. As a result of the VBO’s success in this regard and the cross-border nature of the issues involved, interdepartmental and international collaboration on themes such as sustainability and ethics is very strong.

Issues management is a core strength of the VBO research theme and this requires multiple levels of analysis, particularly societal and organisational, from a variety of perspectives.

A growing emphasis on psychology-based research has strengthened the theme’s expertise in experimental methods resulting in publications in top management journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and California Management Review.

Societal relevance and impact

A priority for ERIM is the development of new knowledge that is at once relevant and impactful. Being problem-driven the VBO theme is strongly orientated towards practical relevance and gives considerable attention to valorisation – the societal and managerial relevance of research.

This desire for meaningful impact and knowledge creation has resulted in faculty members within the VBO theme dedicating their expertise to establishing centres of excellence that exist specifically to build bridges between science and society. These centres are:

Conducting scientific research as well as applied research for the business community, the centre has an outstanding reputation for developing and expanding knowledge in the field of corporate communication.

Find out more: Corporate Communication Centre

The mandate of this centre is to help provide a clearer understanding of the challenges posed by changing Earth systems and to search for credible for ways to help scale-up business solutions that can lead to achieving global sustainability.

Find out more: Centre for Eco-Transformation

Advancing the study of the new field of behavioural ethics, the centre advocates that in addition to a prescriptive approach in which a moral principle is communicated and evaluated, a behavioural (descriptive) approach is also needed, which examines how individuals make actual decisions and engage in real actions when they are faced with ethical dilemmas.

Find out more: Erasmus Centre of Behavioural Ethics

A virtual flexible learning network of professionals, academics and practitioners from around the world, the centre’s focus is on enhancing scientific knowledge about cross sector partnerships, and strengthening partnership practice as a result.

Find out more: The Partnerships Resource Centre

People

ERIM takes great pride in developing a collaborative and highly professional working environment where researchers share common goals and strive together to achieve impactful research that reaches the highest academic standards.