Focus on IÉSEG’s Center for Organizational Responsibility (ICOR)
04/20/2015
In 2014, IÉSEG established its Center of expertise for Organizational Responsibility, ICOR, a cross-departmental academic center that coordinates all of the School’s different activities on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, ethics and social innovation.
Composed of and coordinated by members of IÉSEG academic staff from different departments, its creation is in line with the School’s values and mission to prepare its students to become complete and international managers who initiate change, and who contribute to the development of responsible, innovative and enlightened organizations.
ICOR aims to advance state-of-the-art pedagogy, develop sound academic research, and to bridge academic research with business practices. The Center’s activities are organized around 4 main interrelated pillars: learning and education; research; service to society and stakeholder relationships; and operations.
In terms of learning and education, the School already runs a large number of courses (core courses and electives) on topics related to organizational responsibility across its different programs. It is now developing a ‘certificate in business ethics and sustainable organizations’ in addition to the continuous process of integrating ethics, social responsibility and sustainability in a transversal manner across courses of all programs.
Professors involved in ICOR publish research on these topics in international journals. In order to increase the visibility of research, to encourage the development of existing projects, develop new areas of research and academic exchanges, the center organizes conferences, symposia and workshops. For example, it will co-organize on 11-12 June an international CSR research seminar at the Paris campus entitled “Innovative Practices and Emerging Trends: Extending the Corporate Responsibility Research Agenda”. The event is organized with Audencia Nantes School of Management (France), and the Louvain CSR Network of the Louvain School of Management.
In terms of service to society, one of the goals of ICOR is to install and reinforce IESEG as a key player on these issues at the regional and national levels. IÉSEG for example, already participates actively in the Catholic University of Lille’s Chair in Social Business and with other stakeholders, including the World Forum Lille, in the development of an international barometer on the state of CSR. Another important objective of is to enhance the visibility of related initiatives and actions developed by the IÉSEG students.
Regarding the operations of the School, IÉSEG has already committed to important international and national schemes, such as UN Global Compact, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, The UN Principles for Responsible Management Education and “Campus Responsables”.
More information on ICOR is available here.