Business Ethics Education: Development of Responsible Business Managers (Essay Sample)

To what extent does business ethics education influence the development of responsible business managers?
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Abstract
Several scholars have questioned the impact of business schools in shaping the ethical practices and standards of managers. Despite several programs in business schools teaching business ethics, there still exist cases of unethical practices in business. This situation has increased the public demand for business schools to make changes to the business ethics courses and also for the managers to be responsible managers. This research paper has four parts. The first portion explains rationale for researching on this topic. The second part reviews the issues that have been raised concerning the subject. The third part discusses the concerns that led to the introduction of the business ethics education. It gives details of the ethical situations in companies that necessitated its introduction. The fourth section addresses the issue of responsible management, why it is important for a leader to be responsible, how managers become responsible and the relationship between ethics and responsibility. The last part discusses the ways in which business ethics education influences the development of responsible leaders and how the managers can improve and maintain the obligation for the long term.
Key words: business ethics education; responsible managers; responsible management; ethics
Table of contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Abstract PAGEREF _Toc445147612 \h 2Research rationale PAGEREF _Toc445147613 \h 4Issues concerning the business ethics education PAGEREF _Toc445147614 \h 6Concerns/ reasons that lead for the introduction business ethics education PAGEREF _Toc445147615 \h 7Responsible management PAGEREF _Toc445147616 \h 10Solution on the extent to which business ethics education influences the development of responsible managers PAGEREF _Toc445147617 \h 13Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc445147618 \h 19References PAGEREF _Toc445147619 \h 21
Research rationale
Ethics is the scope of moral principles or sets of values that determine what constitutes to be right or wrong behavior, what is genuine or false and what is acceptable or not acceptable conduct (Paliwal, 2006). The good behavior is ethical while the bad one is unethical. Business ethics is the addressing of the issues of right or wrong in business situations, transactions, activities and decisions (Matten & Crane, 2010). The issues of ethics in business have been there for several years as the business professionals and educators try to identify the values that should define how business activities take place in healthy environments. Ethics have become a primary aspect of the industry environment. It has led to the introduction of business ethics education to teach the company managers to become responsible leaders in business. This paper aims at identifying the extent to which business ethics education influences the development of responsible business managers.
Business ethics education involves giving the necessary information that will affect the cognitive moral development of business managers. It provides a learning environment that significantly boosts the moral reasoning skills of the business leaders. The basis for conducting this form of education is to improve the ethical reasoning, ethical principles, practical applications and moral reasoning (Lynn, 2006). Therefore, this paper will research on whether the knowledge gained from business ethics education improves the moral development of managers.
This research paper is important because there are several ethical violations that have led to several companies in the world to be in the spotlight for unethical practices. These violations have involved breaches of private and public agreements and trust. Other violations may include the production of defective products and selling them to unsuspecting customers, destruction of the environment by depositing of the waste products, and failure to meet business agreements. Several of such violations has led to business scandals throughout the years, and business has become a target of publicity and public embarrassments. This research will investigate how ethics education can help stop these ethical violations.
It is necessary to undertake this research to investigate whether the opposers of business ethics education are right or wrong. The skeptics of business ethics education commonly cite the numerous scandals by organizations, the financial crisis experienced in the world and some countries, the irresponsibility of economic theorists, and other unethical practices to argue that the education in the line of business ethics cannot have any impact. They claim that the company ethics education cannot influence the decisions, perceptions and conduct of the players involved in the business activities.
In addition, this research will analyze the effectiveness of the courses in business ethics offered by the business schools. These programs aim at equipping the potential leaders with the basics of ethics, the importance of ethics in the business organizations, and how to apply the ethics knowledge in a practical situation in the management position. This education does not end there, and other companies have introduced similar programs into their activities (Gasparski, Lewicka- Strazalecka, Dariusz, & Boleslaw, 2012). This paper will determine whether the courses are effective in managers to be responsible.
This research will also study why despite the variety of programs in business schools and organizations, there are still several cases of unethical practices involving business. This statistic raises several questions on whether the business ethics education has any impact on the development of responsible managers. Does the current education offer the necessary competencies or is there need to undertake some changes on the programs? This issues discussed in the above paragraphs provides the rationale for conducting this research. This study aims at identifying the extent to which business ethics education influence the development of responsible business managers.
Issues concerning the business leaders ethics education
Can ethics education help business professionals deal with the current ethical dilemma and make moral decisions in the business world? There isn’t much research that has been done on this subject. However, there are a few writers who have made attempts to research on whether there is a need for the introduction of business ethics education in the curriculum of trade schools. There has arisen a growing request for the initiation of managers to enroll for ethics teaching in business schools due to the several events in the society (D.Mele, 2008). Despite the subject of business ethics being under study for several years, there have been several opinions concerning the means of the ethics education and how to implement effective programs. In most of the literature reviewed, the authors addressed various strategies that business ethics education should follow. Some of the suggested strategies included service opportunities, pedagogy, and other perspectives that business schools should adopt (Christensen, Pierce, Hartman, Hoffman, & Carter, 2007). Other authors recommended that business schools should have well-programmed courses to offer high levels of business ethics.
Other studies assessed the education of ethics on general themes like the age at which one should take the education, level of education recommended for these studies, gender differences and the ability of the ethics education to influence the moral development.
Concerns/ reasons that led to the introduction of business ethics education
Ethics education helps managers to understand and eliminate the dangers of rationalization (Macdonald, 2014). Research has shown that most of the cases of unethical behaviors in organizations occur because people do not see the wrongness of those practices. This condition of rationalization results from poor reasoning where people do not take the time to openly and transparently determine the consequences of some of the corrupt decisions. A course in business ethics, therefore, is important for the sole reason of educating managers on some of the vital rationalizations and gives necessary skills to help them determine the logic of ethics behind some decisions, agreements and actions.
The topic of ethics has very diverse opinions. Its definitions also vary depending on the environment, beliefs and profession. These different definitions sometimes do not have a definite meaning to business managers. Business ethics education gives the enterprise managers the chance and platforms to talk about ethics and share their opinions. These discussions help in the acquiring of invaluable information to those who are not well knowledgeable. The education also contributes to eliminating the several myths and understandings that people have about ethics. The managers can also come to an agreement on what is the correct definition of ethics in a business industry and what actions will constitute to be ethical or unethical. The knowledge acquired in this course proves vital in instilling a sense of the importance being ethical in all business activities and raise concerns about unethical practices in the organizations the managers are leading.
The education gives the manager an opportunity to study a variety of scholarly materials and articles written about ethics. Proper choosing of these materials can help the managers to understand the reasoning behind principles and give and a good understanding of what exactly constitutes to be ethics in the business environments. These studies also help in learning about first rate reasoning of ethics. This type of reasoning increases the capacity of an individual to engage in practical ethical rea...