Professor Suzanne Benn
Professor of Sustainable Development at University of Technology, Sydney.
Dr Suzanne Benn came to Macquarie University as Professor of Education for Sustainability and Director of ARIES in 2008. Suzanne has an academic background in the sciences and social sciences and obtained her PhD in Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She has wide interdisciplinary experience in implementing learning and change for sustainability across industry and the range of educational sectors. Before coming to Macquarie University, she spent ten years researching and lecturing in the area of business education for sustainability, corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability and organisational change in the School of Management at University of Technology, Sydney. In March 2011 Sue returned to UTS as Professor of Sustainable Development.
Suzanne has led consultancy and research projects on the topic of organisational change and sustainability for a number of Australian organisations, including the then Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage, Westpac Banking Corporation, Total Environment Centre, IAG Pty Ltd, AMP Capital Investment, Textiles and Fashion Industries Association, NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and Port Kembla Port Authority. Her professional interests include the development of links between community-based organisations, government and corporates and she has worked extensively with the Landcare organisation in Australia in an attempt to promote cross-sectoral collaboration. She has also conducted major Australian Research Council grant-funded projects on topics such as the communication of corporate social responsibility through social networks, collaboration and governance for sustainability.
Research Interests
Suzanne’s research interests range across corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility, business education for sustainability, and corporate governance and organisational change for sustainability. She has conducted extensive case-study research on change for sustainability in Australia, Europe and China, published by Routledge in the text, Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability, now in its second edition (co-authored by Dexter Dunphy and Andrew Griffiths). She is the lead editor of the 2007 Routledge publication, Corporate Governance for Sustainability, which she co-edited with Dexter Dunphy.
Since 2005 she has worked with ARIES on action-research projects designed to introduce sustainability into the business school curriculum and to foster learning partnerships between the business schools and industry. She has contributed learnings from these projects at professional development workshops conducted at the prestigious Academy of Management (US) as well as in academic publications.
Her academic publications include two books and more than 80 refereed journal articles, book chapters and refereed conference papers, including three Best Paper awards.
Teaching
Professor Benn has modified and taught curriculum on sustainable business at the University of Shanghai, and led the introduction of these programs into the undergraduate and postgraduate business curriculum while employed at the University of Technology. She has a strong interest in interdisciplinary curriculum development and holistic approaches to learning for sustainability.
Professor Benn also supervises a number of PhD students in the area of corporate social responsibility, sustainability and education, learning and change for sustainability.
Selected Publications
Books
Benn, S, Dunphy, D and Perrott, B (eds) (in preparation) Cases in Corporate Sustainability and Change: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Prahhan, Vic: Tilde University Press.
Benn, S & Bolton, D (2011) Key Concepts in Corporate Social Responsibility. Sage Publications.
Dunphy, D, Griffiths, A & Benn, S (2007) Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability - 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
Benn, S & Dunphy, D (eds) (2007) Corporate Governance and Sustainability: Challenges for Theory and Practice, London: Routledge.
Dunphy, D, Griffith, A & Benn, S (2003) Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability, London: Routledge.
Book chapters
Benn, S and North, J (2010) 'Contributing to Sustainable Development', in Tomorrow Today, UNESCO, pp. 151-153.
Dunphy, D and Benn, S (in press), ‘Leadership for Sustainable Futures', in R. By and B. Burnes (Eds), Organizational Change, Leadership and Ethics, Routledge, London and New York.
Benn, S and North, J (in press) 'Contributing to Sustainable Development' in Tomorrow Today: a UN copyright publication for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO.
Benn, S and Kearins, K (in press) 'Sustainability and Organisational Change' in D. Boje, R. Badham and B. Burnes. Handbook of Organisational Change, Sage Publications London.
Benn, S (2010). ‘Managing sustainably’, in S Clegg (ed.), Managing Organizations: Fundamentals and latest thinking, The Marketing & Management Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Ltd, London (online at http://hstalks.com/go).
Benn, S and Dunphy, D (2009) Leadership for Sustainability. In R. Staib (ed), Business Management & Environmental Stewardship, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan,pp. 56-75.
Benn, S (2008). Organisations and Society: Sustainability Deconstructed. In S. Clegg and C. Cooper (Eds) Handbook of Organisational Behaviour. London: Sage Publications. pp 356-373
Benn, S (2008). Sustainable Development. In Stewart Clegg and James Bailey (Eds.) International Encyclopaedia of Organisation Studies. (pp 1491-1494), Thousand Oaks: Sage
Benn, S, Dunphy, D, & Griffiths, A (2006). Integrating human and ecological factors. In Dora Marinova, D. Annandale and J. Phillimore (Eds.) International Handbook of Environmental Technology Management. (pp. 222-241). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Benn, S & Probert, P (2006). Sustainability Initiatives in South Wales and New South Wales. In Stefan Schaltegger, Marcus Wagner and Walter Wehrmeyer (Ed.) Managing the Business Case for Sustainability. (pp. 542-552). London: Greenleaf Publishing.
Jermier, J, Forbes, L, Benn, S & Orsato, R (2006). The new corporate environmentalism and green politics. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. Lawrence & W. Nord (Ed.) The Sage Handbook of Organisational Studies. (pp. 618-650). London: Sage Publications.
Benn, S, Dunphy, D & Griffiths, A (2005). Changing Corporate Culture to an Environmental Ethos. In Robert Staib (Ed.) Environmental Management and Decision Making for Business. (pp. 180 - 191). Hampshire, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillam.
Griffiths, A, Benn, S & Dunphy, D (2005). Organisational Structures and Roles. In Robert Staib (Ed.) Environmental Management and Decision Making for Business, (pp. 169 - 179). Hampshire, Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillam.
Benn, S & Onyx, J (2005). Negotiating Interorganisational Domains: The Politics of Social, Natural and Symbolic Capital. In Ann Dale and Jenny Onyx (Eds.) A Dynamic Balance; Social Capital and Sustainable Community Development. (pp. 87 - 104). Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press.
Griffiths, A, Dunphy, D & Benn, S (2005). Corporate sustainability: integrating human and ecological sustainability approaches. In Mark Starik and Sanjay Sharma with Carolyn Egri and Rick Bunch (Ed.) New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations - Emerging Ideas, Approaches and Tools for Practitioners and Researchers. (pp. 166 - 186). Suffolk, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
Benn, S & Bubna-Litic, D (2004). Degrees of change: Is the MBA sustainable? In Chris Galea (Ed.) Teaching Business Sustainability (Volume 1): from theory to practice. (pp. 82-94). Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
Benn, SH (2000). Progress towards Education for Sustainability at UNSW. In W. van den Bor, P. Holen, A. Wals, and W. Leal Fihlo (Ed.) Integrating Concepts of Sustainability into Education for Agriculture and Rural Development. (pp. 231-224). Frankfurt: Peter Lang Publishers.
Journal articles
Benn, S and Martin, A (2010) 'Learning and Change for Sustainability Reconsidered: A Role for Boundary Objects'. Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol 9, (3), 397-412.
Benn S, Todd L, Pendelton J (2010). 'Public Relations Leadership in Corporate Social Responsibility'. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol 96 (3): 403-423.
Angus-Leppan, T, Benn, S and Young, L (2010). ‘A sensemaking approach to tradeoffs and synergies between human and ecological elements of corporate sustainability’. Business Strategy and the Environment Special Issue. Vol 19 (4): 230-244.
Angus-Leppan, T, Metcalf, L, and Benn, S (2010). ‘Leadership Styles and CSR Practice: An examination of sensemaking, institutional drivers and CSR leadership’. Journal of Business Ethics. 93 (2): 189-213. This article is available at the following link for those with a SpringerLink license:
www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0221-y&sa_campaign=Email/ACE/OF
Benn, S and Baker, E (2009) ‘Advancing Sustainability Through Change and Innovation: A co-evolutionary perspective’. Published online December 2009. Journal of Change Management, 9:4, 383-397.
Lawrence, P, Davis, D and Benn, S (2009) 'Barriers and Incentives to Ecological Modernisation'. Accepted for Sustainable Management and Marketing, ANZAM Conference, 2-4 December 2009
Metcalf, L and Benn, S (2009) 'Are Ethical Companies' Shares Less Likely to be Bought and Sold in Difficult Economic Times?' Accepted for Sustainable Management and Marketing, ANZAM Conference 2-4 December 2009
Chelliah, J and Benn, S (2009) 'HP Australia: Sustainability in Supply Chain Strategies'. Proceedings of Business and Information, International Conference on Business and Information, Kuala Lumpur, July 6-8 2009 at http://bai2009.org/file/Papers/1217.pdf
Xing, K, Ness, D, Benn, S and Qian, W (2009) 'A Framework for Sustainable Product Service Systems: With particular reference to ICT industries. 7th ANZAM Operations, Supply Chain and Services Management Symposium 2009. Theme: Integration through Innovation. Adelaide, South Australia. 8-10 June 2009.
Brown, P and Benn, S (2009) 'Toxic risk and governance: the case of hexachlobenzene’, Special issue, Toxic Risk and Governance, P. Brown & S. Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. 90, (4), 1557-1558.
Benn, S, Brown, P and North-Samardzic, A (2009) 'Decision-making in the "risk society": challenges for organisational legitimacy and governance'. Special issue, Toxic Risk and Governance, P. Brown & S. Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. 90, (4), 1655-1662
Benn, S & Jones, R (2009) 'Forming corporate identity: symbolic capital, industry perspectives and community participation'. Special issue. P. Brown & S. Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. 90, 4, 1593-1604
Benn, S, Dunphy, D & Martin A (2009) 'New forms of governance: the relationship between corporations, government and communities'. Special issue. Toxic Risk and Governance P. Brown & S. Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. 90, 4, 1567-1575
Benn, S & Dunphy, D (2009) 'Action research as an approach to integrating sustainability into MBA programs: an exploratory study'. Journal of Management Education, Special issue, Greening Across the Management Curriculum, 33, 276 - 295.
Chelliah, J, Benn, S and Low, S, (2008) "HP Australia: Strategies in Response to Global Sustainability". The Management Case Study Journal, pp. 38-47.
Benn, S (2007) 'New processes of governance: cases for deliberative decision-making'. Managerial Law: International Journal of Law and Management, 49, number 5/6, 196-205.
Benn, S, Dunphy, D & Griffiths, A (2006) 'Enabling Change for Corporate Sustainability: An Integrated Perspective'. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management. 13, 35-44. Best Paper 2006-2007.
Benn, S & Dunphy, D (2005) 'Towards New Forms of Governance for Issues of Sustainability: Renewing Relationships between Corporates, Government and Community'. Electronic Journal of Radical Organisation Theory, 9 (1), 1 - 29.
Benn, S & Dunphy, D (2004) 'A Case of Strategic Sustainability: the Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Centre’. Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice, 6, 258-268.
Benn, S, Dunphy, D & Griffiths, A (2004) 'Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability: The Way Ahead'. The Tela Papers, 12, 1-37.
Benn, S & Dunphy, D (2004) 'Can democracy handle corporate sustainability? Constructing a path forward'. Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice, 6, 141-155.
Benn, S (2004) 'Managing toxic chemicals in Australia: a regional analysis of the risk society'. Journal of Risk Research, 7 (4), 399-412.
Bubna-Litic, D & Benn, S (2003) 'The MBA at the crossroads: design issues for the future'. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM, 25-36.
Benn, S (1997) 'The EHCA 1985 (NSW): A Historical Perspective on Issues Arising in the Control of Toxic Chemicals’. Australian Journal of Political Science, 32, 49-64.