The Association to Advance Collegial Schools of Business (AACSB): The Strategic Human Resource Management and Change Management impacts of accreditation

摘要

The thesis addresses two questions: Q1. Can AACSB accreditation provide a lever to improve strategic human resource capabilities and therefore improve overall competitive advantage of business schools? Q2. How will management staff at university business schools perceive the structural and procedural changes which may occur as part of AACSB accreditation? In order to explore the deeper SHRM impacts of AACSB accreditation, it was necessary to conduct in depth research into the matter so it seemed appropriate, after establishing the research focus, to use a qualitative, iterative approach in the conduct of interviews, reporting of the findings and analysis of the data. Purposive sampling was chosen as it allowed for engagement with the upper management team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) who were most directly involved with the research question and they were also considered to be subject matter experts. Staff at the University of Otago, New Zealand were also interviewed for comparative purposes. Findings show that AACSB accreditation may add positively to the competitive position of Australian business schools and that there may be considerable change management implications as a result of accreditation.