Can business ethics be taught?

Post-Enron, business schools are boosting ethics courses. But critics say book learning won't change much.

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the March 21, 2007 edition

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Eager to supply companies with leaders who clearly know right from wrong, business schools are investing heavily in courses and centers where ethics are debated day and night.

But according to experts in executive behavior, all that time, talent, and treasure spent on ethics education is unlikely to change the way top managers behave in the workplace.

Touching off this debate among consultants and academics are survey results published by the Journal of Business Ethics earlier this year. A team of five researchers investigated programs at 50 top-ranked master of business administration (MBA) programs in the United States and abroad.

Among the findings:

• One in three programs requires course work in ethics, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility.

• The number of stand-alone ethics courses in MBA curricula has increased by 500 percent since 1988.

• Thirty-nine of the 50 schools have a center dedicated to ethics, corporate social responsibility, or sustainability.

These developments at top-tier schools reflect trends unfolding across the broader landscape of business education, says John Fernandes, president and CEO of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), which counts 1,100 member schools in 71 countries. In his opinion, the focus on ethics is sure to pay future dividends in the corporate world in terms of fewer instances of lying, stealing, and other forms of malfeasance.

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