Is It Vital that Business Ethics Is Taught as a Compulsory Module in Business Schools - Research Proposal Example

 Question: Is it vital that business ethics is taught as a compulsory module in business schools? 1. Research Question and Motivation The motivation for this research came from a quote by the former president of BP and the current chairman of the Institute of Ethics (IBE), Sir Peter Walters. He proclaimed that "It is essential that tomorrow's managers know how to recognise and cope with the ethical dilemmas they will all face in the course of their careers. Business ethics teaching on management courses is vitally important." (IBE, 2010). In 1986 the IBE was created was established to encourage high standards of business behavior based on ethical business values. However the question this paper seeks to answer is whether or not business ethics should be taught to aspiring business professionals as a compulsory degree module before they enter the qualified business world. The fact that a dedicated ethical business institute has been established highlights the fact that the subject is widely debated and holds much interest in the business industry. This papers content is also highly relevant in the current climate as the existing economical situation stresses. Adam James writing in The Guardian argues it was the business schools that flooded the banking world with the unethical graduates which facilitated the economic plunge. (The Guardian, 2009). The topic of teaching ethical business practices will be an ongoing argument and this research paper does not seek to answer if business ethics ARE currently taught, rather SHOULD they be taught, not as an optional unit in a business degree but as a compulsory module. One of these ongoing arguments is highlighted in The Guardian (2009) where David Crowther, professor of CSR at Leicester business school, argues that the teaching of business ethics has been commonplace for over ten years (well before the current banking turmoil) and that the present financial crisis was caused by the behaviour of graduates who went to business school in the time of Thatcherism and Reaganism. This is counter argued by the Association of MBAs, which state that just 20% of UK MBA courses have a mandatory CSR module, so if business students do not want to study business ethics then they can choose not to. So this snapshot can conclude that the question of ARE business ethics currently taught cannot be answered in the time frame of this research project as the there are too many ongoing debates to reach a robust, finite answer. However the question of SHOULD business ethics be taught as a compulsory module for business students can be answered to a degree of satisfaction. 2. Literature Review From my research I have discovered that there are a wide variety of journals, press releases, academic books and web blogs with information on the topic of studying business ethics. This should provide me with access to a range of arguments around the subject matter. Michael Hoffman (1983) outlines and argues against some criticisms of business ethics in education in his publication on Ethics in Business Education: Working toward a Meaningful Reciprocity. He argues that criticisms of business ethics in education have been suggested because of a misunderstanding of the nature of business and/or ethics. Hoffman (1983) states that for business ethics to be effective a mutual relationship amongst economic, social and moral concerns needs to be formed. He suggests that education starts from within the workplace and that for the education of business ethics to be effective organisations need to work with universities to reach the ultimate goal of successful business ethics education. Wesley Cragg examines the traditional attitudes towards business ethics; he agrees with Hoffman (1983) that these attitudes do not recognise that a primary purpose of ethics is to facilitate collaboration. Further that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, business like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperation is rendered difficult or impossible. However Cragg (1997) expands in his paper that practical learning forms just one aspect of ethics. He argues that the education of ethics should be developed to include personal values and how these personal values can be implemented to form a relevant, modern day education system. From my initial readings I have found that of Cragg’s three points the collaboration and implementation of ethical business practices are the most discussed by philosophers on the subject but perhaps it is the personal ethical values point that is most relevant to modern day education and possibly this research should seek to discuss this point further? I have grouped the literature together as primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are literature that contains direct information about the education of business ethics. The secondary sources are literature that can be used to support the primary sources in building an argument for this research paper. Table 1. Primary Sources Hoffman Michael. 1983. Ethics in Business Education: Working Toward a Meaningful Reciprocity. D. Reidel Publishing Company. Massachusetts. Cragg, Wesley. 1997. “Teaching Business Ethics: The Role of Ethics in Business and in Business Education”Journal of Business Ethics, vol 16, pp 231 – 245 Buchholz, R., 1989, Fundamental concepts & problems in business ethics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs Cooke, R.A. and Ryan, L.V., “The relevance of ethics to management education” Journal of Management Development, vol. 7, no. 2, pp 28-38 Cowton, C.J. and Cummins, J., 2003, “Teaching business ethics in UK higher education: progress and prospects” Teaching Business Ethics; vol.7, no. 1, pp. 37-54 Crane, F.G., 2004 “The teaching of business ethics: An imperative at business schools” Journal of Education for Business. vol. 79, no. 3; pp. 149-151 Donaldson, J., 1989, Key issues in business ethics, Academic Press, London Donaldson, T. and Werhane, P., (eds) 1999, Ethical issues in business: a philosophical approach, 6th edn, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J. Buchholz, R., 1989, Fundamental concepts & problems in business ethics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs Cooke, R.A. and Ryan, L.V., “The relevance of ethics to management education” Journal of Management Development, vol. 7, no. 2, pp 28-38 Table 2. Secondary Sources Bryman Alan, Bell Emma. 2003. Business Research Methods. Oxford University Press. New York Corbetta Piergiorgio. 2003. Social Research: Theory, Methods and Techniques. Sage Publications. London Yin Robert. 2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. (3rd Edition). Sage Publications. London 3. Research Design I plan to use primarily qualitative research to collect the raw data to provide information on my question and hypotheses through a combination of correlation research (survey and interview based) and relevant case studies, these will be backed up by previously written academic research and existing quantative research. 3.1 Correlation Research I plan to research why the business students that opt out of the currently non-compulsory business ethics and CSR module elect not to study what is arguably a vital component to the present economic situation. This research shall be conducted using a questionnaire; I hope to get a large amount of data so propose to give out 250 questionnaires with the expectation that I will get 100 responses. I think this sample size will be large enough to get a representative view, I will have to ensure that I target a variety of universities and corporations. Survey questions could include: Why did you choose to undertake a Business MBA? Is there a compulsory CSR / Business Ethic module on your course? What are your views on the cause of the current economic situation? Are you interested in Business Ethics? Do you think that teaching CSR would have made any impact on the economic nosedive? I also would like to analysis the views of ethical business education from the point of view of both the student and current employees (the business person). Therefore I shall use a more in-depth interview technique, where I will set up telephone or face to face meetings with both students and business professionals and ask them a series of pre determined questions. 4. Expected Results from Analysis: Recommendations and Limitations I expect the results will indicate a considerable divide between the perceived theoretical implementation of business ethics from the students and the reality of the implementation of the professional business person. I also believe that my findings will suggest that students are more compliant than business people to respond to the question of business ethics but this might be because students have a more negative view of the ethics of business than the professionals working in the industry. Reason and Rowan (1981) argued against quantitative research, they prefer to use qualitative methods for management research, stating that “in human enquiry it is much better to be deeply interesting than accurately boring.” The limitation of using qualitative research is that it can be ‘vague, imprecise and at worst elusive’ (amo, 2010). However the research method is used in this paper to understand the current situation from the perspective of both the business student and the business professional therefore the open and broad nature of qualitative research is best placed to gain these results. Bibliography Bryman Alan, Bell Emma. 2003. Business Research Methods. Oxford University Press. New York Corbetta Piergiorgio. 2003. Social Research: Theory, Methods and Techniques. Sage Publications. London Yin Robert. 2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. (3rd Edition). Sage Publications. London Hoffman Michael. 1983. Ethics in Business Education: Working Toward a Meaningful Reciprocity. D. Reidel Publishing Company. Massachusetts. Cragg, Wesley. 1997. “Teaching Business Ethics: The Role of Ethics in Business and in Business Education”Journal of Business Ethics, vol 16, pp 231 – 245 Buchholz, R., 1989, Fundamental concepts & problems in business ethics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs Cooke, R.A. and Ryan, L.V., “The relevance of ethics to management education” Journal of Management Development, vol. 7, no. 2, pp 28-38 Cowton, C.J. and Cummins, J., 2003, “Teaching business ethics in UK higher education: progress and prospects” Teaching Business Ethics; vol.7, no. 1, pp. 37-54 Crane, F.G., 2004 “The teaching of business ethics: An imperative at business schools” Journal of Education for Business. vol. 79, no. 3; pp. 149-151 Donaldson, J., 1989, Key issues in business ethics, Academic Press, London Donaldson, T. and Werhane, P., (eds) 1999, Ethical issues in business: a philosophical approach, 6th edn, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J. Gardiner, L. and Lacy, P., 2005, “Lead, respond, partner or ignore: the role of business schools on corporate responsibility” Corporate Governance, vol.5, no. 2, pp 174-185. www.aorn.org/journal/2001/janrc.htm Accessed 24/03/2010 Buchholz, R., 1989, Fundamental concepts & problems in business ethics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs Cooke, R.A. and Ryan, L.V., “The relevance of ethics to management education” Journal of Management Development, vol. 7, no. 2, pp 28-38 Read More