Ethics Education in Business Schools: Emerging Issues and Challenges (original) (raw)

Managers’ Views on Ethics Education in Business Schools: An Empirical Study

More and more scholars are expressing their apprehensions regarding the current state of management education. The increased number of corporate scandals has fueled their concerns that training students to have sound business ethics upon graduation has failed. Consequently, research is emerging that focuses on the lack of impact that business ethics teaching has had on students in recent years. Remarkably, the voice of managers has barely been heard in this area, even though they are the ones who are among those best suited to evaluate graduates’ capabilities to solve ethical dilemmas. This research npresents the managers’ view on the role of business schools in training students in business ethics, and the managers’ evaluation of business schools’ success in that area. The findings reveal that managers are quite disappointed with the lack of improvement in the ethics of graduating students. Managers nonetheless provide a range of ideas for business schools to work on, and particularly, call for closer collaboration between industry and business schools.

Creating cultures of integrity: Ethics education in UK business schools

2014

Ethical behaviour has now assumed a crucial role in business decision-making. Recent corporate scandals and responses by regulators have created an environment in which there is a heightened awareness of business ethics. There has been extensive debate on the role of the business school in the moral and ethical development of future professionals and criticism has been levelled at business schools adopting a narrow focus which overestimates the importance of profit at the expense of morals. The global economic crisis of 2008 formed the backdrop for an initiative – led by the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE) UK Trust, in collaboration with the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), and supported by the Comino and Gordon Cook foundations – to explore how the current curricula in UK business schools might need to be scoped differently to provide new business leaders with the tools for becoming the strong ethical leaders of the future. Business schools have traditionally devoted considerable attention to the financial aspects of business education. Courses in areas such as financial management, investment appraisal, cost analysis and accounting are commonplace. For items to appear in the primary financial statements of a company they must have a monetary value, which is almost always based on historic cost or current market estimates. Such rules, while promoting reliability and comparability of information, do little to encourage managers, analysts or shareholders to consider the importance of non-financial criteria such as how sustainable, environmentally aware or ethically responsible the company is. However, there is now an increased concern for responsible management and recognition of the increased visibility and importance attached to ethical and sustainable business. In 2010, the Association of Business Schools published its draft ethics guide, “intended to encourage all associated with business schools to ask the right questions when planning their teaching, research and other activities.” The 2012 British Academy of Management conference included, for the first time, a professional development workshop specifically focussed on the teaching of business ethics. The development of the next generation of managers and leaders will increasingly be informed by moral considerations as well as by traditional objectives such as maximisation of shareholder wealth. This report considers the role of business schools in educating managers in preparation for this challenge.

A PROPOSAL FOR THE STRUCTURE OF MORAL AND ETHICAL EDUCATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND ADULT BUSINESSPEOPLE: WHAT TO TEACH AND WHY

Given that international accreditation agencies for business school programmes require the teaching of ethics, this chapter addresses what to teach. What should we teach and why? Additionally, The contents of the chapter assume and support through examples of research the following premises:(1) Ethical values and norms are not universal, but vary across cultures;(2) Ethical values and norms vary across vocations and life roles;(3) Ethical values and norms vary within the individual and are dependent upon the situation;(4) ...

Enhancing Ethics Education at an Australian University: Griffith Business School's Ethics Education (GBSEE) Project

Abstract: This paper reports on a project which examined current ethics education content at Griffith Business School and proposed a way forward for GBS to enhance its ethics education contribution. In so doing, the project also reported on likely elements of best practice and associated issues for consideration by any University seeking to enhance its ethics education. An abbreviated version of the literature review carried out to substantiate the recommended options is also included in this paper. Keywords: ethics education, ethics teaching, Australian business schools, core courses, stand-alone ethics courses, ethics electives. Yes Yes

Effectiveness of ethics education for 3rd level business students

2017

This dissertation examines the effectiveness of ethics education for third level business students, examining the importance of ethics education and the most effective methods used in delivering it, and whether the current methods used by educators is achieving the required emphasis on the importance of ethics in business. First reviewing the literature that surround the topic of ethics education, then examine through survey the effectiveness of ethics education and ethics sensitivity with a comparison between business undergraduate students to students in other majors, this survey was given to students of business and other fields both under and post graduated to form a base for comparison to be used in the analysis of the data , a total of four semi-structured interviews also were conducted with three educators and academics and one postgraduate students, this was done to gain in depth expert opinions on the ethics education , The results demonstrated that while business students showed generally the same answers to other students, 69.05% of business students answered yes to question five of the survey, taking a major ethics class, which gave a significant increase to their ethical sensitivity, this would help students in their future roles giving them the confidence to continue their progress regardless of the public view proving that business students are not less ethical than any other students of other majors.

Business Ethics - Challenge for Management and Education

2015

In today's globalization process and economic crisis, the realisation of ethical principles is of utmost importance, since ethics may appear as the crucial factor in terms of comparative advantages. Paper will show changes in long-term period by comparing results from researches conducted in 1996, 2007 and 2015. Survey is conducted among students of Faculty of Business and Economics at University at Zagreb, as future active participants in Croatian economy. Research results could indicate changes in business behaviour ethics with respect to possible business situation under consideration among students. We must not neglect ethical principles in specific areas where it would be desirable even to exceed the existing formal standards (like, for instance, in the area of environmental protection), thinking of life conditions for future generations. On long term basis, results could influence treatment of ethical issues through the process of management education.

Shaping Ethical Behaviors through Teaching Business Ethics-How to create Ecology for Ethical Practice?

2014

Introduction-It is known fact that business faculty in ethics courses spend a lot of time teaching theories of ethical reasoning and analyzing those big, thorny dilemmas-triggering what one professor called "ethics fatigue." It is also evidenced that some students find such approaches intellectually engaging; others find them tedious and irrelevant. However, there are lot of empirical evidences of teaching business ethics integrating ethics curriculum with the higher education elsewhere of the globe. Teaching business ethics for shaping behaviour is incomplete progress of ethical scholarship. But how, which way, is there any best evidence? Purpose of the work-This paper explores what are ongoing global practice is shaping the ethical behavior of business and management students, attempts identify the best practices from the meta-sources of ethical literature on business curriculum. Secondly, author's attempts to validate ongoing practices for shaping ethical behavior across the various literatures based on review and observations. Thus, the study looks on feasibility for designing ecology for ethical practice for shaping behavior of management students. Methodology-The study adopts qualitative methodology research engaging review based content analysis of available literature and evidences. Policy Implications-The outcomes will have policy implication for designing the ethical ecology for ethical practice by the b-schools for shaping the ethical behavior of students of B-Schools. Conclusion-This paper concludes that shaping the behaviour through ethical practice of students substantiate only the incongruity of outcomes which is an undoubting estimation of scholars of business ethics. hers by ting

Ethics Courses Teaching Linkage to Quality Management Education

Research Anthology on Business and Technical Education in the Information Era, 2021

Almost every management institution in India has an ethics course in their curriculum that is focused upon inculcating the value set in an individual. To understand the role of ethical education in accelerating the quality of management education, this chapter provides a discussion of implications of the questions of quality, dilemma, and pedagogy of ethical training. In the introduction, the authors emphasize on the reasons of focusing upon the ethical education, then give a brief history of ethics education in Indian management institutions. In order to show the significance, authors also show the place of ethics course in top 10 business institutions in India. Further, the authors describe the main focus of the chapter that is the contribution of ethics in management education.