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Using a Faculty Survey to Kick-Start an Ethics Curriculum Upgrade

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Abstract

The article briefly reviews the external pressures for teaching business ethics. It then summarizes why teaching business ethics across the curriculum is essentially a necessity in the current environment. This leads to a discussion of six commonly adopted elements used when seeking to improve a business ethics curriculum. The case study uses these six elements to provide insights into contemporary challenges facing many business schools. The particular contribution of this article is in the area of methods to assess the status of the curriculum. The case study provides details about a faculty survey used as a compelling tool to kick-start a business ethics curriculum upgrade, not only based on the information that it yields, but the potent opportunity for conversation and collaboration. The conclusion summarizes the contemporary challenges and opportunities that business schools face. The instrument itself is in the appendix.

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Notes

  1. See De George (2012) for a listing of major books and history of the field.

  2. The number of areas for measurement in the AACSB assurance of learning matrix has varied in the last 2 years as the departments vied for inclusion but struggled with direct measurement issues. Ethical reasoning has always been one of the areas included and used as a model of an area with a coherent assessment strategy. The factors used in the assessment focused on stakeholder identification, (ethical) problem identification, and articulation of ethical options.

  3. The class is similar to business and society classes, but it focuses more on applied skills such as how to work with government, government as an employer, and government as a source of assistance.

  4. Essentially, we were taking an action research approach.

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Correspondence to Montgomery Van Wart.

Appendix: Example of Survey to Faculty in a College of Business

Appendix: Example of Survey to Faculty in a College of Business

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Van Wart, M., Baker, D. & Ni, A. Using a Faculty Survey to Kick-Start an Ethics Curriculum Upgrade. J Bus Ethics 122, 571–585 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1779-y

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