Creating an Interdisciplinary Business Ethics Program

Abstract

Driven by recent accreditation mandates, a changing legal environment, and multiple high-visibility corporate ethics scandals, many business schools are responding to the growing movement within higher education to integrate ethics into the curricula. The literature suggests that the amount of attention given to ethics varies widely among institutions, and has not been coherently developed. Moreover, institutions have struggled to tie related projects and instruction to the overall concept of assurance of student learning. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for institutions interested in creating an interdisciplinary business ethics program that combines critical success factors, assurance of student learning and continuous quality improvement. Using a nationally recognized business school's ethics program, we provide an example of how our model can be applied at other institutions based on their own unique vision, mission and goals.

Innovation Through Developing a Total Enterprise Computer Simulation: Teaching Responsible Decision Making

“…Although not the primary focus area of this research, methods used to analyze ethics research provide some useful insight. Towell et al (2012) constructed a framework for an interdisciplinary ethics program, but the research is theoretical in nature, so outcomes were not assessed. Ritter (2006) conducted research surrounding moral reasoning in the curriculum and exposed one class to an additional ethics subject as an experimental group and another class as the control group was not exposed to this ethics subject.…”

“…The business community is increasingly confronted with multifaceted issues concerning CSR, the environment and sustainability, and as a consequence, are struggling to maintain both profitable and sustainable goals to achieve competitive advantage (Fernando, 2011; Seaton & Boyd, 2008). Towell et al (2012) argue that business graduates exposed to a silo of a single business discipline do not have the ability and capacity to address these multifaceted and complex challenges. An educational environment which focuses on a traditional transmission approach to delivery with a disconnected and nonintegrated disciplinary view to business, devoid of broader contextualization or emphasis on responsible decision making, is bound to fail to meet the complex and varied needs of industry.…”