Can Ethics be Taught?

Updated on: Saturday, December 10, 2011

The argument that a graduate student is too old to be influenced or that values are acquired solely in elementary school, is just not true. Sure, we learned not to hurt our friends or to steal their pencils, but we never had discussions about the role of executive compensation or financial reporting. The values that have to do with the practice of business management have to be taught in a business school; otherwise they will never be covered.

For too many years we have been teaching students in business school to make as much money as they can as long as what they do is legal. What we need to do is move to a situation where we teach people what is right and to teach people how to really create value and to make a contribution to the greater good. Its not about whats legal, its about whats right.

Business schools need to recognise the professional duties of managers towards society at large and revise their very core narratives about what management is and what society expects of it. As management educators, we are responsible for advancing, transmitting and perpetuating not just the technical knowledge, but also the values and service attitudes that should be driving this profession.

It is time that we reject the fallacy that being a steward of the greater good is incompatible with creating competitive returns for shareholders. Or that the values of professionalism and social responsibility are inconsistent with innovation and entrepreneurship.

It is absolutely achievable that business schools can teach ethics and educate future managers in a manner that produces global citizens who understand that the choices they make day in and day out can and will impact the people and communities in which they operate.

The MBA Oath was initiated by students of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 2004-05. Our oath establishes a commitment to respect the rights and dignity of all people affected by the corporation. It establishes a commitment to combat corruption. I have no doubt that if we were successful at creating a consensus around a set of principles across business schools around the world, decisions would have been quite different right now.

(The writer is President, Thunderbird School of Global Management, US)

Times of India

Can Ethics be Taught?

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