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Ethics
by leon on June 27, 2007
Smith says one reason why business schools struggle is because there's a lack of case studies for the basic courses like finance, organizational behavior and strategy. As a result, they are failing to incorporate ethics and social responsibility into every subject, from operations to economics.
"It's not a matter of preaching about right and wrong," he says. "It's about helping students understand how ethical issues arise in business and giving them some tools to make choices. There are certainly bad apples out there, but many people make the wrong decisions because they don't see the big picture and what the consequences could be for themselves, their companies and society."
The trouble is that unless ethics is incorporated into subjects, it becomes meaningless. The experience of former US Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara, is instructive here. In his biography In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, the former business executive wrote:
"The defining moments in my education... came in my Mathematics and philosophy curricula. The ethics courses forced me to begin to shape my values; studying logic exposed me to rigor and precision in thinking. And my mathematics professors taught me to see math as a process of thought - a language in which to express much, but certainly not all, of human activity."
Could it be that the training in rigor undermined ethical values, notwithstanding what was learned in the ethics courses? You might ask whether the focus on analysis undermined the so-called "soft data" - the devastated peasant family crouched over the body of a dead child as opposed to relying on body counts? And could it be that focus on analysis resulted in a war that was fundamentally ill-conceived, badly conducted and ultimately immoral?
Certainly those questions come to mind again when we consider the record of the first MBA president, George W. Bush.
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Vote for Why business schools struggle to teach ethics:
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Rating: 7.20 out of 5 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Chuck Gallagher
(07/01/07 2:50pm)
Response from:
tower defense
(05/05/09 6:50pm)
Yet, society places a premium on success at all costs, which fosters an environment for inevitable ethical dilemmas. It's time we take responsibility as adults to reverse the trends supported by this current ethics study.
Response from:
Most business schools struggle to teach ethics and social responsibility simply because they don't know how to go about it, according to the experts. Not enough case studies or expertise, they say.
Response from:
news.fatpitchfinancials.com
Most business schools struggle to teach ethics and social responsibility simply because they don't know how to go about it, according to the experts. Not enough case studies or expertise, they say.
Response from:
BizzBites.com
Most business schools struggle to teach ethics and social responsibility simply because they don't know how to go about it, according to the experts. Not enough case studies or expertise, they say.
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Not only are adults aware of the ethical issues in our country, but youth are also bombarded with choices and ethical issues. Recently a "Teen Ethics Poll" was released by JA Worldwide™ (Junior Achievement) and Deloitte & Touche USA LLP (Deloitte). The results, featured on the Junior Achievement web site and reported in an article in USA Today dated December 6, 2006, support the concept that unethical decisions start at an early age. "The notion that large numbers of students feel somewhat unprepared to make ethical decisions, coupled with the fact that they feel pressure to succeed at all costs, is a troubling combination," said David Miller Ph.D., Executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Assistant Professor (Adjunct) of Business Ethics.
Published survey results showed that 69% of teens admitted to such unethical behavior as lying, 34% to illegally downloading music, and 22% to cheating on tests. The most interesting statistic in the ethics survey and perhaps the most telling is that 81% of the students who feel significant pressure to succeed believe that the pressure will either remain the same or increase as they enter the workforce. With statistics like this, it's no wonder that ethical issues and ethics conferences abound.
Everywhere they turn, they are observing people, real or fictional, moving to the top by choices they make. Unfortunately, they do not observe that there are negative consequences to those choices. What happens in the home? Some cheat on their taxes. Others behave in ways that demonstrate success is measured by looks, money. Many parents live on credit to impress the external world and then are unable to pay the debt. Yes, the youth are surrounded by many different messages regarding ethical choices.
Over the years, through many ethics speaking engagements, I have found that young people thirst for reasons to do the right thing. Yet, society places a premium on success at all costs, which fosters an environment for inevitable ethical dilemmas. It's time we take responsibility as adults to reverse the trends supported by this current ethics study.
The Choices Foundation provides a forum through which ethical behavior is taught to high school and college students during their formative years. Perhaps, if a young person is exposed to real life effects of unethical behavior, he or she will have a frame of reference as to the real negative consequences that can follow.