Paul Shrivastava is professor of management and organizations, at the Pennsylvania State University. He served as chief sustainability officer and director of the Sustainability Institute, until July 1, 2022. In November 2023 he was elected as co-president of the
Club of Rome
The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...
. Previously he was the executive director of
Future Earth
Future Earth is an international research program which aims to build knowledge about the environmental and human aspects of Global change, and to find solutions for sustainable development. It aims to increase the impact of scientific research o ...
, an international sustainability research program. Before that, he was distinguished professor and director of the David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at
Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
.
Early life and education
Shrivastava was born in
Bhopal, India
Bhopal (; ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to presence of various natural and ...
. He attended the St. Joseph's Convent School in Bhopal. He received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
The Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal (MANIT or NIT Bhopal or NIT-B) is a public technical university located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is part of a group of publicly funded institutions in India known as National I ...
, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta or IIM-C) is a public business school located in Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was the first Indian Institute of Management to be established, and has been recognized as an Institu ...
and a Ph.D. from the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
.
Academic career
Shrivastava held the Howard I. Scott Chair in Management, a distinguished professorship at
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...
, and was Associate Professor of Management at the
Stern School of Business
The Leonard N. Stern School of Business (also NYU Stern, Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business schools, business school of New York University, a private university, private research university based in New York City. Founded ...
,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
. He was awarded a
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
Senior Scholar award to study Japanese corporate environmental management at
Kyoto University
, or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan.
The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...
, Japan. He has also taught at the Helsinki School of Economics, and
IIM Shillong. He is the author of ''Bhopal: Anatomy of a Crisis'' (1989), a book that launched the field of organizational
crisis management
Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envi ...
. He founded the Organizations and Natural Environment Division of the
Academy of Management
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...
(the world's largest academic professional association in Management studies).
He was distinguished professor and director of the David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at
Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
,
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
.
In February 2015 Shrivastava was appointed Executive Director of
Future Earth
Future Earth is an international research program which aims to build knowledge about the environmental and human aspects of Global change, and to find solutions for sustainable development. It aims to increase the impact of scientific research o ...
, an international research programme for sustainability and global environmental change. He also holds the International Research Chair in Art and Sustainable Enterprise at ICN Business School,
Nancy, France
Nancy is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, annexed by France under King Louis X ...
. In these roles he combines scientific and artistic approaches to sustainable development, exemplified in the conference Balance unBalance 2011, and his book ''Learning from the Financial Crisis'' (edited with Matt Statler) published by
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...
He has published 17 books and over 100 articles.
He has served on the editorial boards of several leading management studies journals, on the board of trustees of
DeSales University
DeSales University (DSU) is a Private university, private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, United States. The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. N ...
, on the board of the Finance and Sustainability Initiative, Montreal, and as senior advisor to the
Indian Institute of Management Shillong.
Research emphases
Shrivastava's major contributions to the field of business management are concepts for understanding strategic industrial and environmental crises and
crisis management
Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envi ...
, corporate strategies for sustainability and sustainable strategic management. His contributions to management practice include crisis management techniques, environmental and sustainability strategies, and use of the arts for creativity and sustainability programs.
Shrivastava's professional work is rooted in a concern for human-technology-nature relationships. Having grown up in the small town of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh in the 1950s and 60s, he was enchanted by the promise of technology to improve the lives of people. He studied engineering in college and graduated first (gold medal) in his mechanical engineering class. He received a Post Graduate Diploma in Management at IIM Calcutta and Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh. The
Bhopal disaster
On 3 December 1984, over 500,000 people in the vicinity of the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate, in what is considered the world's worst ind ...
(the worst industrial accident in history) revealed the two-headedness of technology, and he turned to examining the risks and crises associated with industrial technologies, leading to systematic studies of crisis management. The field of crisis management has emerged since then as a vital field of study. It is concerned with identifying systemic causes and consequences of crises. It has led to development of crisis management and crisis prevention practices in the areas of industrial disasters, computer disasters, risk management, worker safety, metals mining and oil industries.
He developed "embodied learning" methods wherein concepts are intertwined with physically and emotionally engaging activities to create learning experiences that endure and transform. His course "Managing with Passion" is an events management course in which students learn by planning, organizing, training for and participating in a real event – a
USA Triathlon
USA Triathlon (USAT) is the national governing body for the multisport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. USA Triathlon is a member federation of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and ...
sanctioned public triathlon race. Students gain understanding of concepts that are interwoven with physical activities, emotional activities, cognitive exercises and online activities.
An element in Shrivastava's professional work is the creation of new organizations. In 1976, along with six entrepreneurs from Microcomp Pvt. Ltd., and eSocrates, Inc., he helped launch the
HCL Enterprise
HCL Technologies Limited (d/b/a HCLTech) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational information technology (IT) consulting company headquartered in Noida. Founded by Shiv Nadar, it was spun out in 1991 when HCL entered into the softw ...
group of computer companies. He has also created academic organizations such as the ONE Division of the
Academy of Management
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...
, the David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, the World Business School Council for Sustainable Business and non-profit organizations (Industrial Crisis Institute). He has co-founded two academic journals: ''
Industrial Crisis Quarterly'' published by
Elsevier
Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...
, and ''
Organization & Environment
''Organization & Environment'' (''O&E'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the fields of "management, organizations, and environmental sustainability." The current Editor-in-Chief is Michael Russo (University of Oregon). Formerly it w ...
'' published by
SAGE Publications
Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California.
Sage ...
. He is steering WBSCSB in collaboration with UN-Principles of Responsible Management Education and Global Responsible Leadership Initiative, to create a report on the Next 50 Years of Management Education to be presented at Rio+20 Conference in May 2012.
Shrivastava has been studying corporate sustainability for the past two decades. Despite the scientific understanding of global
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
, global poverty, and biodiversity decline, global leaders are unable to reach effective international agreements to address these challenges. He suggests that science alone will not solve the problem of sustainability. Humans have to find a new way of engaging nature, that allows them to care and preserve it in enduring ways. Shrivastava is extending the scientific understanding of sustainability to the realm of the arts, which as the repository of human emotions offer a vehicle for creating passionate engagement between humans and nature. This project uses transdisciplinary approaches to science and arts in aesthetic inquiry into sustainability issues. This collaboration of a dozen researchers in France, Canada, USA and India, has produced results including the Balance unBalance 2011 conference and Montreal Degrowth 2012 conference.
His work has been featured in ''
The Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...
'', ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'',
''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'', ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'', and ''
The Montreal Gazette
''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the only English-language daily newspape ...
'', and on the ''
MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour''
Awards
* The Academy of Management ONE Division Distinguished Scholar Award 2023
* IIM Calcutta Distinguished Alumni Award, 2016.
* AACSB Influential Leader, 2015.
* ONE Founders Award, The Academy of Management, 1998.
Publications
Partial List of Publications:
* Shrivastava, P., ''Bhopal: Anatomy of a Crisis'', Vol. 2. Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd, London.: 1992.
* Shrivastava, P., ''Strategy Formulation and Implementation.'' Cincinnati, OH: Southwestern Publishing Co., 1994.
* Shrivastava, P., A. Huff and J. Dutton (Eds). ''Advances in Strategic Management'', Vol. 10. 1994, Greenwich CT.: JAI Press.
* Shrivastava, P., and C. Stubbart, ''Advances in Strategic Management'', Vol 12 (A & B), (Challenges from Outside the Mainstream, Challenges Within the Mainstream), Greenwich CT: JAI Press, 1995.
* Shrivastava, P., ''Greening Business: Profiting the Corporation and the environment''. Cincinnati, OH: Thomson Executive Press, 1996.
* Shrivastava, P., A. Huff and J. Dutton (Series Eds). ''Advances in Strategic Management: Organizational Learning and Strategic Management'', Vol. 14. 1997, Greenwich CT.: JAI Press.
* Timo Busch and P. Shrivastava, ''Corporate Strategies for Global Climate Change'', Greenleaf Publishers, London, 2011.
* Paul Shrivastava and Matt Statler, ''Learning from the Global Financial Crisis: Sustainably, Reliably, Creatively''. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto CA, 2011.
*
Alfred Marcus, Paul Shrivastava, Sanjay Sharma, and Stefano Pogutz (Eds), ''Cross Sector Leadership for the Green Economy'', Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012.
* Shrivastava, P, and O. Ivanova, “Corporate Legitimacy Challenges from the Occupy Wallstreet Movement”, ''Human Relations'', August, 2015.
* Persson, Sybil, and Paul Shrivastava, “Which paradigm for a caring and sustainable HRM? Insights from traditional Chinese thought”, accepted ''Management Organization Review'', Sept 2015.
* Machalaba, C., Daszak, P. and P. Shrivastava, “Future Earth and EcoHealth: A New Paradigm Toward Global Sustainability and Health”, International Association for Ecology and Health, December 2015. DOI: 10.1007/s10393-015-1076-6.
* Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, Paul Shrivastava & Adam Sulkowski, Using Proactive Legal Strategies for Corporate Environmental Sustainability, 6 ''Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law''. 1 (2016). Available at: http://repository.law.umich.edu/mjeal/vol6/iss1/1
* Mark Stafford-Smith, David Griggs, Owen Gaffney, Farooq Ullah, Belinda Reyers, Norichika Kanie, Bjorn Stigson, Paul Shrivastava, Melissa Leach, Deborah O’Connell, “Integration: the key to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals”. ''Sustainability Science'', July 2016.
* Shrivastava, P, and C. Cucuzella, “The art of regenerative regional development: Echigo Tsumari”. ''Culture and Dialogue'', Sept 2016.
* Anik Bhaduri, Janos Bogardi, Afreen Siddiqi, Holm Voigt, Charles Vörösmarty, Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Stuart E Bunn, Paul Shrivastava, Richard Lawford, Stephen Foster, Hartwig Kremer, Fabrice Renaud, Antje Bruns, Vanesa Rodriguez Osuna, “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals from a Water Perspective”. Frontiers in Environmental Science, section ''Freshwater Science'', September 2016.
*
*
* Shrivastava, P., E. G. Schumacher, D. M. Wasieleski, and M. Tasic, “Aesthetic Rationality for Sustainability Decision-Making: Exploring Cognitive and Emotional Factors of an Aesthetics Process”, the ''Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences'', March 2017.
*
*Shrivastava, P. Mark Stafford-Smith, Karen O’Brien, Laszlo Zsolnai, “Transforming Sustainability Science to Generate Positive Social and Environmental Change Globally”, One Earth, 2, April 24, 2020.
Link
References
External links
International Research Chair in Art and Sustainable Enterprise www.ircase.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shrivastava, Paul
Academic staff of Concordia University
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta alumni
Living people
1951 births
Academic journal editors
American academics of Indian descent