................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................
Significan
A Tale of Two Professions: Taking a Critical Look at the World Challenging their own perspectives of corporate social responsibility, 17 WMU business and health and human services students trekked to India for two weeks with Dr. Tim Palmer, meeting up with social work students from Australia. In search of change taking place in the developing economy, including India’s new corporate social responsibility mandate, this group of students and faculty found room for change in themselves. During the program, students toured one of India’s largest and fastest growing cities, Bangalore (officially known as Bengaluru); attended and participated in cultural events; and visited non-governmental organizations as well as businesses to learn the many forces at work in this expanding economy.
26 Significant Insight
“Our goal was to expose students to the spectrum of social stratification across India, giving them the opportunity to critically analyze the role of business in society,” says Palmer. “The students challenged their own biases about corporate social responsibility and their preconceptions of India. They also challenged each other, resulting in personal and academic changes that we did not expect.” The first belief that was challenged had nothing to do with India. Palmer and the WMU students learned of the mismatch between what is taught in business schools today and the perception by the social work students about what is taught. “Their belief was that a business’s only obligation is to the stockholders,” says
Palmer. While the WMU group was surprised by this perspective, they were able to dispel many of the misconceptions. “I was able to teach many of the social work students that the more nuanced view we teach our students today is that business and society are tightly coupled and that long-term organizational success requires healthy communities,” says Palmer. And, while students were changing their perspectives about one another, they were also learning about changes in corporate social responsibility and the business environment taking place in India. “My hope for the human services students was that the India Gateway Program would provide exposure to another world where human services work could