Proposed Standards and Business School Responsibilities

Ethics Resource Center 2003
ERC Fellows

 The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) Fellows wish to express their strong view that business ethics must be made an essential part of the curriculum of schools of business. The business scandals of the past two years have not only brought significant harm, both directly and indirectly to millions of people, but have also made abundantly clear the importance of ethical behavior in business. Failure to recognize this fact has greatly harmed the reputation of American business both at home and abroad. And though few would ever say that business in the fashion that brought down Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen is acceptable, for far too long a wide-ranging neglect of business ethics has been condoned in schools of business. Unfortunately, there can be no doubt that the recent scandals and a disregard for ethics are connected.

American business draws many of its leaders, managers and employees from the undergraduate and graduate students of schools of business. If these individuals do not sufficiently appreciate the broad range of ethical behavior expected of them as business managers and leaders, American business and society, as a whole, will suffer the consequences. Business schools have a responsibility to acquaint their students with the ethical challenges they will face in the business world. Beyond that, business schools must provide tools to their students to help them meet these challenges both legally and in a manner that reflects the highest standards of ethical business practices. A solid ethical foundation must be the basis upon which one's business career is built.

Inasmuch as schools of business provide the education and training grounds for business practices it is crucial that students are exposed at the core level not simply to finance, accounting, management and marketing, but also to ethical reasoning and methods for resolving the difficult problems in these disciplines. Just as the former subjects are not left to integration across the curriculum by faculty who are neither trained nor educated in these areas, similarly the treatment of business ethics should not be left to faculty housed in other functional areas or to "teachable moments" in other courses. For the AACSB to suggest that this is desirable is to deny by its practice, what is explicitly required by its standards.

Accordingly, the Ethics Resource Center Fellows call upon the AACSB and all schools of business to ensure the proficient education of students of business in the area of business ethics so as to develop both their knowledge and competency in this area. This should be not only for undergraduate students, but also MBA students. It requires positive attention in standard business courses, as well as special attention in separate courses in business ethics.

Neither American business nor business schools exist in a vacuum. American business has made significant steps to develop codes of ethics and the training of its employees in those codes of ethics. Its efforts continue in these areas. However, those efforts are hindered if schools of businesses are not fully committed to the education of their students in the skills and knowledge associated with business ethics.

The danger is that business schools pay lip service to business ethics. Surveys have indicated declining levels of honesty in students entering universities. They have also pointed to declining concern about social issues by those who come back out of the university pipeline at the MBA level. Is it any wonder that business scandals occur, when financial performance is the ethos of required courses, while ethical performance is left to scramble to find a few minutes in courses taught by those who have little sympathy for the subject matter and less professional training in this area? We do not think so. The AACSB should have the courage of its convictions and require not only the inclusion of business ethics in separate courses, but also evidence that schools of business are making a concerted effort to develop the ethical competency of their students in core areas of the business curriculum.

The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) Fellows Program is a select group of corporate, government, non-profit and educational leaders who share an expertise and strong practical interest in the fields of organizational ethics. The Program provides an intimate forum for meaningful dialogue around cutting-edge ethics issues, which then prompts the formation of collaborative working groups and research teams to address these issues. An emphasis is placed on work products or research outputs with practical applications for member organizations as well as the broader business community.



The Ethics Resource Center is one of the oldest nonprofits in the United States addressing the issue of ethics. Established in 1922, we work with businesses, nonprofit organizations, schools and governments around the world to create ethical work environments through education, research, training, and global partnerships.