Teaching business ethics: have we missed the financial crisis bus? - Julia Clarke

Leeds University Business School

Teaching Ethics, the Social

Responsibility of Business Schools?

Julia Clarke

HEA Social Sciences learning and teaching summit:

Teaching Ethics: The Ethics of Teaching

June 2014


Overview

• What are the responsibilities of Business Schools?

• How do we meet these responsibilities?

• A case study from the University of Leeds


20th Century Leaders

“Whoever has the most when he dies, WINS.”

(Larry the Liquidator, Other People’s Money)


21st Century Leaders

ETHICAL MINDSET

• Honest and ethical was the second most sought-after

characteristic that employers seek in a new manager,

cited by 55%.

• Employers want business schools to emphasise the

importance of ethics and prioritise sustainability in their

teaching.

• Professional bodies have a role to play in embedding

standards of ethics and practice in the curricula of

business schools

(ABS, CMI, QAA, 2014, p.9)


Principles for Responsible

Management Education

Principle 1 | Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of

students to be future generators of sustainable value for

business and society at large and to work for an

inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Principle 2 | Values: We will incorporate into our

academic activities and curricula the values of global

social responsibility as portrayed in international

initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

Principle 3 | Method: We will create educational

frameworks, materials, processes and environments that

enable effective learning experiences for responsible

leadership.


Principles for Responsible

Management Education

Principle 4 | Research: We will engage in conceptual and

empirical research that advances our understanding about the

role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of

sustainable social, environmental and economic value.

Principle 5 | Partnership: We will interact with managers of

business corporations to extend our knowledge of their

challenges in meeting social and environmental

responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to

meeting these challenges.

Principle 6 | Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialog

and debate among educators, students, business,

government, consumers, media, civil society organisations

and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues

related to global social responsibility and sustainability.


Integrating Ethics into Business

(Teaching)

“The natural tendency in our society of professionals

is to call in the experts …. When the problem is how

to relate ethics to business decision-making, that

tendency leads us to call in ethics specialists much

as we would call in specialists in international

relations when faced with a question about the US

balance of trade.”

Goodpaster, Conscience and Corporate Culture


The Inter-Disciplinary Ethics

Applied CETL

Established in 2005 following successful bid for

HEFCE funding

Integrating ethics into the curriculum

Founding members included School of Philosophy,

Business School and Faculty of Earth and

Environment

Close links from start with HEA as remit to spread

good practice beyond Leeds


Achievements

Developed a series of case studies that are delivered within

personal and professional development modules in year 1 and

year 2.

Developed final year, taught postgraduate and MBA optional

modules on Business Ethics and CSR.

Developed an online MA in Professional Ethics

Undertaken a range of consultancy work

All of the teaching is genuinely inter-disciplinary


Use of Case Studies in Corporate

Ir(responsibility)

Integration

Grounded in practice

Content Outcomes

Facts

Ethical concepts

Process Outcomes

Critical scrutiny of beliefs

Analysis of arguments

Novel solutions


The Story so Far –

The Positives

Bringing students into contact with

corporate responsibility

professionals

Student projects applying ethical

theory to real life business

scenarios

Extension of inter-disciplinarity into

pedagogical research and

knowledge transfer

Students taking ethics beyond the

curriculum


The LUBS CSR Interns

• of


Successful Facebook Page

• 141+ followers

• UPDATE

• INVOLVE

• AWARENESS


CSR Industry Insight Evening

• Guest speakers

• Strong attendance

• Engaged students

• Networking opportunity


Wordpress Blog

• Clear, concise articles

• Engaging students &

faculty

• Providing case

studies & examples


CSR in Action Day

• Strong student involvement

• Building links with the community

• Projects completed in collaboration with recognized

organizations

• Local benefits


Other Activities

• Green Impact

• Links with other interest groups

• Professional development

• Earth Hour Big Switch Off


Benefits to Other Students

• Opportunities to get involved with CSR

• Raised awareness of CSR in LUBS & industry

• Opportunities to develop C.V

• Greater communication of

other LUBS opportunities


The Story so Far –

The Less Positives

“The Social Responsibility of

Business Schools is to teach

students how to make a profit”

“Too much in my module

already”

Disincentives created by the

University’s financial model


Business schools being ethical

• CSR internships can have an impact

• But should only be one part of a School’s CSR strategy

• => Business Schools should have a CSR strategy and

leadership from the top

• Those academics who teach and research CSR have a

particular responsibility


Business schools teaching ethics

• A “no escape” model integrating CSR into the core

curriculum

• Setting and enacting a clear corporate mission that

normalises ethics within the curriculum

• Helping students appreciate the constructed nature of

knowledge across the Business School curriculum

Teaching business ethics: have we missed the financial crisis bus? - Julia Clarke

Education

Transcript of Teaching business ethics: have we missed the financial crisis bus? - Julia Clarke