At the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School we are in the unusual position of being an ancient university with a long heritage of teaching and research, while also being a modern business school, for which we have adopted the naming and branding of our alumnus Adam Smith.
As with many organisations, we value and are valued, we evaluate and are evaluated, in ways that are often partial, overlapping, designed for specific purposes, and difficult to align. Indeed, alignment might not be the most beneficial way to proceed.
Economic sociologists Boltanski and Thévenot published On Justification: Economies of Worth in 1991. It contained the striking idea that our economies and societies nurture many orders of worth and value, which do not always fit together. They list seven orders of worth: market, industry, civil, domestic, inspired, fame, and sustainability. The key message is that we operate across a number of dimensions in which our services offer value, are valued and evaluated. Identified below, is how we as a business school offer worth and value.
- We develop and undertake educational and research services. In being an international business school, we are a successful exporter of degree programmes and are aware of the competition among business schools locally and internationally.
- Our research develops into long-term programmes, often in collaboration with other universities and with user communities. It is often technical and planned: qualities that pave the way for our research having impact.
- As part of a university we are keenly aware of our role in civic society, notably in devising programmes of learning and teaching and awarding degrees to our students.
- We realise that our teaching and research find their way into many places including businesses, households and societies, which we can think of as domestic, multiple and varied spaces. Creating more of these spaces becomes an enjoyable challenge. As we work locally and internationalise, so we become domestic globally too!
- Supporting creativity among a wide range of organisations is a serious responsibility, especially in how we design and assess learning and teaching, make spaces around assessment, and make our research open to engagement.
- While fame may be an unusual claim to value, business schools are also marketing research organisations, nurturing a brand. Our link to Adam Smith differentiates our business school and demonstrates our interdisciplinary approach.
- Regularly, questions of ethics and sustainability inspire our students. Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments provides further impetus to these vital qualities, which we aim to bring into economy and society through an impartial spectator who allows us to anticipate the worth of our actions, and help us to reflect.
The Adam Smith Business School offers an education experience that is enhanced by history and innovation, by tradition and creativity, and by the combination of leading edge research and practical achievement. Our students graduate with the skills needed to compete in a global workplace, and with friendships and networks that last a lifetime.
