Vol 1: Oct 2004
AACSB Provides Resource Center for Teaching
Business Ethics
Colleges of Business are working to effectively address business ethics education globally. AACSB International is assisting in this initiative by providing an online Ethics Education Resource Center (www.aacsb.edu/eerc). The purpose of the Center is to provide resources, links, online cases, exercises, articles as well as many other resources. The Center was developed through the work of an AACSB Ethics Education Task Force. The task force outlined four themes which they feel comprise the heart of business ethics education: responsibility of business in society, ethical decision making, ethical leadership and corporate governance. The importance of these areas is explained and some of the challenges to teaching business ethics are explored.
AACSB International provides guidelines for accreditation and expectations with respect to business ethics education.
The new standards reaffirm the importance of ethics education for business graduates and emphasize its position among curricular requirements. The Committee gave ethics education more prominent placement in the standards to make clear the Association’s belief of its importance in business education. Ethics education is called for in the general knowledge and skills portion of the standards for undergraduates, and in the management-specific portion of the standards for undergraduate and master’s students. (AACSB Expectations, http://aacsb.edu/resource_centers/EthicsEdu/overview-expectations.asp).
As the ethics content expert for the site, I have had the opportunity to explore what schools across the country are doing with the business ethics programs. I have written case studies on Kansas State University, Dusquene University and Stanford University. Additional case studies are in the works. Programs, classes, extracurricular activities of each school are highlighted. Dusquene provides an example of an University committed to applying what they teach by having all business students sign a comprehensive code of ethics. Kansas State requires both stand alone business ethics classes and does a good job of integrating business ethics into the curriculum.
In terms of additional resources which allow marketing professors to integrate ethics into their curriculum, professors can sign up for Wall Street Journal abstracts of business ethics topics (simply go to professorjournal.com and register for this free service). Three abstracts (with questions) are emailed to you each week and they serve well as in class exercises or examples. O.C. Ferrell, Colorado State University, writes the weekly business ethics abstracts for the WSJ.
Free business ethics cases and case notes are made available through the Aspen Institute (www.caseplace.org). These cases relate to many social and business ethics issues. There are links on the site to University, government and organizational business ethics centers with explanations of the key differentiating features of these sites.
Although this site is in its infancy, it provides many diverse materials and connections with resources to assist in teaching business ethics. Please visit the site and let me know if you have additional ideas for global resources which would enhance its contribution to the discipline.
Dr. Linda Ferrell
Assistant Professor
Department of Management and Marketing
University of Wyoming
College of Business
Laramie, WY 82071
Marketing Insights is a publication of the Marketing Management Association