Die Anmeldung beginnt erst am 02.10.2026 um 08:00 Uhr. Sie endet am 12.10.2026 um 23:59 Uhr

Die Anmeldung ist eingeschränkt auf folgende Gebiete oder Studiengänge:

• Masterprogramm Management: Management & Entrepreneurship / alle Semester
• Lehramt an Berufsbildenden Schulen / Berufliche Fachrichtung Wirtschaftswissenschaften / alle Semester

Activism in organisations is becoming more and more prevalent. As we are living in a polycrisis world, employees increasingly seek to impact society and the environment positively either through aiming for a formal responsible career, e.g. as sustainability or CSR managers or becoming involved as an internal activist or social change agent. Recent examples are Microsoft employees protesting against military contracts over AI and cloud services provided to the Israeli military amid the Gaza conflict or Dutch university staff protests institution’s ties with Israeli entities.

However, activism can penetrate organisations from more angles. CEOs can be activistic and include a political dimension to their organisational practices. Here examples include Ben & Jerries‘ founders who from the onset included political messages in their marketing and setup of the company. Other forms of activism include shareholder activism, that tries to stir the organisation into a for the shareholder favoured direction or brand activism which at times can be used as a marketing stunt.

In this course we will dissect activism in organisations from all these different angles and discuss literature on responsible careers, employee activism/ internal social change agents, CEO, shareholder and brand activism. We will critically examine if activism always has to be for the greater social good or if there can also be a downside of activism for the wider public.

The students will learn about the broad set of activisms in organisations and critically distinguish different forms and their purposes. Presentations about current examples of each form and a final project work about this example will help students to link theory learned in class with the practical reality outside.

The students will learn about the breadth of activism in organisation. The practical examples and theoretical underpinning enable them to critically question the different motivations for activism and its wider purpose. Additionally, students will grasp the challenges activism faces and the scrutiny they face from the public.

Students will develop:
- Analytical skills, by examine one form of activism further and critically engage with theoretical readings in depth
- Interpersonal competencies
- Thematic knowledge in the different concepts of activism in organisations
- Have the confidence to hold a discussion about different forms of activism in organisations and critically explain benefits and drawbacks

The practical relevance of the class lays in the active participation of the students in presenting examples of each form of activism and then develop a more detailed project work on this example. For this, students will sign up for one topic in the first session and can already prepare and develop their project work throughout the semester. Examples can be freely chosen and can also include startups or entrepreneurial ventures and even organisations that have not so far been activistic or target of internal activism. In those latter cases the students are asked to examine why this is the case, what is feared, or which risks might hold them back to take a stance or which organisational structures hinder employees to become active.

Weitere Informationen zur Lehrevaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/lehre/qualitaetsmanagement/evaluation/lehrveranstaltungsevaluation.html