The social innovation lab: An experiment in the pedagogy of institutional work

Abstract

The Social Innovation Lab is a pedagogical experiment within the MBA programme of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Exploring social innovation through the lens of institutional work, the Lab asks participants, who have not formerly identified themselves as social change agents, to begin to think and act like system innovators. The Lab develops an action heuristic by drawing on research in the fields of institutional theory, positive organizational scholarship, critical pedagogy, network theory, and stakeholder engagement, among others. This heuristic focuses on shifting from a corrective action lens to a transformative action lens. Using this lens, Lab participants engage in real-world, real-time social innovation projects of their own devising.