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Royal distinction and research honour for ‘founding father’ of RSM

Royal distinction and research honour for ‘founding father’ of RSM

Professor Dr Frans Van Den Bosch was honoured twice during his Valedictory Symposium and Farewell Address, on Friday 11 May at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).

Dr Van Den Bosch, Professor of Management Interfaces between Organisations and Environment, partly retired this spring after a distinguished career of 28 years with RSM and 12 years with Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), a joint research institute of RSM and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). During this time he supervised more than 30 PhD theses and published more than 200 articles and research papers. He was presented with the Civil Order of Orange-Nassau (Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau), a royal medal of distinction for his contribution to society as a local and regional councillor. The award was presented by Jan Paantjens, Alderman (Wethouder) of the City of Halderberge in the Dutch province of Brabant. Dean of RSM, Steef van de Velde described Prof. Van Den Bosch as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of RSM.

In his farewell address, Prof. Van Den Bosch referred to the statement that ‘nothing is as practical as good theory’, and elaborated on ‘good’ management theory and its practical application to business and society. Management is likely to be the most valuable resource of goal-oriented organisations, but the legitimacy of managers was diminishing in the media and in public debate, he said. And if this is the case, how can a more solid theoretical foundation of management contribute as a co-ordinating mechanism for creating value for business and society?

Four scientific challenges are presented by these two questions, argued Prof. Van Den Bosch. First, a managerial perspective on research into management is required. Second, he proposed a context-neutral approach to defining the generic core activities of management. Thirdly, he suggested that the purpose of management of organisations should be defined as the creation of strategic value for society, and finally, he discussed recent discussions of the importance of management models for the creation of Strategic Value, and the problems and challenges of changing management models in organisations, otherwise known as Management Innovation.

Prof. Van Den Bosch concluded with four recommendations for everyone involved in management; researchers, practitioners, educators, and to governmental and regulatory agencies. “These agencies have to look after management models and their creation of strategic value for society. In the context of the present financial and economic crisis, Prof. Van Den Bosch recommended that these agencies must consider correcting not only the ‘invisible hand’ of the market, but also pay attention to its close connection with the ‘visible hand’ of management,” he said.

Prof. Van Den Bosch’s Valedictory Symposium earlier in the afternoon took the theme of Management Innovation: Rigor and Managerial Relevance and featured presentations from a former CEO, a former government minister, and academics from universities around the world. During the symposium, Prof. Van Den Bosch was presented with honorary membership of the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), a joint research institute of RSM and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), by Professor Dr Marno Verbeek, Professor of Finance, Scientific Director for ERIM and Dean of Research at RSM. The ERIM award is given only to researchers in management who have contributed to the reputation of ERIM, and Prof. Van Den Bosch is only the second person to receive the award since its inception.

Finally, Henk Volberda gave Frans van den Bosch the first copy of the book ‘Frans van den Bosch: A view from within’, a volume of essays by his former PhD students. You can have a look at the short video here.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe. It is located in the international port city of Rotterdam where core Dutch values of openness, flexibility and acceptance of diversity have attracted businesses on a global scale. Our emphasis is on ground-breaking research and practices relevant to business; our primary focus is on developing business leaders who carry their innovative ideas into a sustainable future. Our portfolio includes a broad array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes. www.rsm.nl

For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@remove-this.rsm.nl.