Critically review the cognitive hierarchy model of human behavior in relation to the natural environment. Defend the positions of diverse stakeholders. Evaluate tools for stakeholder engagement. Investigate a real-world natural resource challenge and propose a stakeholder engagement approach.
This course prepares students to recognize the causes of stakeholder behaviors and equips them to engage with different stakeholder groups.
Stakeholders relate to each other and the natural environment in different, often conflicting ways. In the era of collaboration it is important to understand stakeholder motivations, effective ways for engaging with stakeholders, and how stakeholder values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors may be influenced. This course equips anyone seeking a career in, or adjacent to, natural resource management with pertinent skills for working within the human dimension.
The Bible instructs us to be stewards of nature (Gen. 1:26-28, Gen. 2:15), love our neighbors (Matt 7:12), and promote peace (Rom 12).
This course prepares missional students to be better-informed stewards of creation and peace-makers through recognition of the value-systems of different stakeholders and equips them with tools for stakeholder engagement and collaboration.
Learners are exposed to different human value systems and ways in which contextual realities in different parts of the world underpin stakeholder behavior.
Learners consider the motivations of cross-cultural stakeholder groups and propose a stakeholder engagement plan for a real-world natural resource challenge in a country other than their own.
Learners are exposed to real stakeholder perspectives and practical tools for stakeholder engagement and collaborative decision-making.
Real-world examples challenge learners to confront their own values and to consider the perspectives of different stakeholder groups and ways to bring diverse stakeholders together around a common goal.
