“Indigeneity matters: The value of Indigenous perspectives by, with and for ANZAM”

Speakers:  Diane Ruwhiu, Jarrod Haar and Mark Jones

The words ‘by, with and for Māori’ is a phrase that expresses the significance of action that is meaningful, authentic, and beneficial to Māori communities. Here, we use them to frame a dialogue with our ANZAM Heads of School Management to consider how Indigenous perspectives add value ‘by, with and for’ ANZAM.

By: ANZAM must acknowledge that it represents institutions and members whose activities are taking place on the ancestral lands of Indigenous communities. As such, ANZAM has a responsibility to build cultural responsiveness into its processes that respects and honours our Māori and Australian First Peoples in practice. This includes a clear commitment to meeting obligations of agreements such as the Treaty of Waitangi and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

With: Embedding Indigenous perspectives into ANZAM requires Indigenous leadership that is recognised by the institution and individual academic collaborators. As business school educators, we have an opportunity and responsibility to ensure we are providing programs that are not only accessible but are authentically and productively drawing Indigenous onto-epistemologies into our institutional academic processes and practices (curriculum and conferences).

For: In general, faculty will benefit from a stronger sense of cultural competency in research and teaching. Our students will be exposed to different cultural views and approaches in business that better prepares them for the reality of working in a globally diverse world. Importantly, there is the transformative potentiality when Indigenous students and communities ‘see’ themselves, their languages, knowledges, images and forms of organisation in the content and delivery of our management programmes.

Associate Professor Diane Ruwhiu. (Ngāpuhi) is a faculty member of the Department of Management, Otago Business School. In 2021, she was a recipient of a National Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching excellence award (Kaupapa Māori category).

Professor Jarrod Haar (PhD) is a Professor of Human Resource Management in the Department of Management and has tribal affiliations of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Mahuta.

Mark Jones is a Karajarri and Yawuru man, having recently submitted a PhD, First Peoples Enterprise Success: The Third Wave, in the School of Management at RMIT University.

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE