ABSTRACT
Over the last several years, Brazil has faced huge economic, social and environmental crises. A mindset shift must be made in response, toward new ways of thinking, perceiving and acting. Such an enhanced mindset, grounded in holistic education and new values, is needed to reach towards sustainability (Leiserowitz, Robert & Thomas, 2004; Kumar, 2015). Education plays a central role in changing mental models and worldviews (Garrity, 2012). The Business School of UNISINOS, one of the country’s largest private universities, 1 is taking action to develop a sustainability mindset among management students. For the past 20 years, it has implemented pedagogical and research programs that are oriented toward social innovation, social entrepreneurship and sustainable development. In particular, its undergraduate major program in business administration, called GIL (Gestão para Inovação e Liderança – Major in Management for Innovation and Leadership) has implemented a fresh pedagogical approach of transformative learning, which acts on the deepest levels of knowledge (Sterling, 2011; Blake, Sterling & Goodson, 2013). To explore both how this approach is implemented and its results, this book chapter offers a case study on the research question “How to develop the sustainability mindset among management students, using a holistic education and a transformative learning pedagogical approach?” A participatory action research approach (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2007; Thiollent, 2003) was adopted, interviewing students, professors and other stakeholders involved in the process. The differences of the approach from the management education mainstream were studied, as were the competencies developed by management students and the evolution of their sustainability mindset. Data analysis was based on group discussion sessions among researchers. This was associated with the crossing of the data from the interviews, guided by both Bardin’s (1994) perspective and Kumar’s (2015) three dimensions of holistic education: head (thinking), hands (doing) and heart (being). Results were found at both the individual and the organizational level. At the individual level, this case study highlights the role of the personal missions of professors and stakeholders. Regarding the impact on management students, the results show an expansion of their worldviews, an acquisition of new values and an increase in social competencies such as empathy, cooperation and critical thinking. At the organizational level, the case study shows the importance of an institutional culture that enables innovation in educational processes and its powerful impact on stakeholders. As students interacted with social projects, they gained a practical understanding of third sector management and its key challenges. Using knowledge they had acquired at the university, they also contributed to the improvement of the social (non-profit) organization through new fund-raising projects. Holistic education and spiritual intelligence were found to be vital in developing a sustainability mindset.
