“What we learn today is how we behave tomorrow”: a study on students' perceptions of ethics in management education
The Authors
Fernanda Duarte, Lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, Penrith South DC, Australia.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of studying ethics in a business management degree.
Design/methodology/approach – The method used is qualitative design with some quantitative elements. Data were collected through an anonymous survey with 119 students from a management subject, and analysed in the light of deontological and theological theories of ethics.
Findings – A large majority of the students surveyed (95 percent) believed that the study of ethics in management is important, and that they had personally benefited from studying ethics in the subject surveyed (84 percent). Four major thematic patterns emerged in the responses: a teleological view of ethics; a “hybrid” view of ethics; a link between ethical behaviour and leadership; and a gap between the ideal and practice of ethics.
Research limitations/implications – The study had a small sample and referred only to one subject. Further studies should be done with larger samples, comparing different cohorts of students, or students at different stages of a degree.
Practical implications – The study draws attention to issues that emerge from the teaching of ethics in management, in particular the need for sustained efforts to foster critical thinking and reflexivity among management students.
Originality/value – The paper is based on an original study that addresses the current gap in studies investigating management students’ attitudes to studying ethics. It is particularly valuable for ethics teachers.
Article Type:
Research paper
Keyword(s):
Business ethics; Ethics; Leadership.
Journal:
Social Responsibility Journal
Volume:
4
Number:
1/2
Year:
2008
pp:
120-128
Copyright ©
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN:
1747-1117
Introduction
The focus of this Special Issue of Social Responsibility Journal is on ethics and morality in business practice, a topic which – albeit not new – has attracted a renewed interest in the wake of the corporate scandals of the 1990s and early 2000s. Hand in hand with the practice of business ethics is the training of ethical practitioners, an issue that has been the object of extensive research from various perspectives since the 1970s (Allen et al., 2005; Lowry, 2003). While there does not seem to be a consensus on how business ethics should be taught (Kochunny, 1994; Sims and Felton, 2006), there is a general agreement among scholars in the field that ethics should be an integral part of curricula in business schools (see, for example, Block and Cwik, 2007; Crane, 2004; Harris and Guffey, 1991; Milton-Smith, 1995; Pamental, 1989; Sims and Felton, 2006).
A significant proportion of works on ethics in management education is concerned with the role of the teacher in imparting knowledge to students, but not much research has been done in recent times on students' perceptions in relation to the study of ethics in undergraduate management subjects. This paper contributes to addressing this gap through a discussion of the findings of a qualitative study carried out at an Australian university, which investigated the students' perceptions of the relevance of studying ethics to future managers. The first part of the paper provides a brief overview of the main theoretical perspectives on ethics, and the second discusses the main findings of the study in the light of the theoretical perspectives examined.
Ethics: key theoretical perspectives and concepts
In order to understand the nature of the students' responses in the study, it will be useful to briefly examine the main theoretical perspectives on ethics, and associated concepts. Before anything, it is important to understand the meaning of ethics. Derived from the Greek word ethos – which refers to the conventional customs and norms of a given culture – the term ethics can be understood in two ways:
- as a traditional field of philosophical inquiry dating back to ancient Greece, which is concerned with values as they relate to human conduct; and
- as the systematic study of norms and values that guide how people should live their lives (Desjardins, 2006, p. G3).
The latter meaning is particularly relevant to the purpose of this paper, given its focus on students' understanding of norms and values within the context of management education.
The study of ethics can be either descriptive or normative (Boatright, 2007, p. 23). Descriptive ethics involves empirical research or inquiry into the actual rules and standards of a particular social group. Normative ethics is concerned not only with what people believe they ought to do, but also with what they really ought to do. It therefore entails taking a position. Nevertheless, it must be recognised that these two categories are in actual fact intertwined, as even the most empirically minded individuals engage in prescription as well as description. There is therefore no conceptual barrier to combining descriptive with normative ethics.
As this paper deals specifically with ethics in the sphere of business management, it will be useful to provide a definition for the particular type of ethics characteristic of this sphere. For the purpose of this paper, business ethics is defined as “a specialized study of moral right and wrong as they apply to business institutions, organizations and behaviour”(Velasquez, 2006, p. 12). In short, it refers to “values, standards and principles that operate within business” (Desjardins, 2006, pp. 8-9).
Main perspectives on ethics
This section is written with two caveats: first, what is provided below is only a very sketchy overview of the key theoretical perspectives on ethics; the section is essentially descriptive and will not appraise the perspectives examined. Second, the categories discussed are not to be seen as discrete and mutually exclusive; in real-life situations involving complex ethical issues, they often overlap.
For the purpose of this analysis, two major systems of ethics will be considered – the deontological and the teleological ethics systems. Associated with the ideas of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Virtue ethics is another type of deontological ethics, and refers to personal qualities that constitute the basis for a person to lead a virtuous, noble life. It is not a formal system of rules, but a set of personal traits that, if put into practice, will ensure that the “right thing” is done in an ethically complex situation. From this perspective, the fundamental issue is what character traits make a person a “morally good human being” (Velasquez, 2006, p. 110), and this is determined by exercising judgement, rather than applying a universal set of rules like in the Kantian model. Virtue ethics can be traced back to Aristotle (384-322 BC), who devoted a great deal of time and effort to grasping the essence of “human virtue”. For him, the good is happiness, which is “an activity of the soul” (Russell, 1994, p. 185), and human virtues such as courage, self-control, generosity, magnificence, patience, amiability, truthfulness and wittiness (Fisher and Lovell, 2006, p. 103) are a means to happiness. Another deontological approach to ethics is the perspective of religion (Hartman, 2005, p. 9), which is a rule-based enterprise (e.g. the Ten Commandments). Here, principles and rules are believed to come “directly from God”, and faith – not reason, intuition or knowledge – is the element that provides the foundation for a moral life (Hartman, 2005, p. 9).
The teleological system of ethics includes theories which are based on the assumption that the ethical implications of an act can be determined by looking at its probable outcome or consequences (Hartman, 2005, pp. 6-7). In other words, the “rightness” or “goodness” of one's action is not inherent in the action per se, but can only be judged by its consequences (or ends). The philosophy most representative of this approach is utilitarianism, historically epitomized by the work of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Bentham was of the opinion that the moral rightness or wrongness of an action is a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. From this perspective, the “greatest happiness” principle is the foundation of morals; that is, actions are ethical if they promote happiness, wrong if they promote the opposite of happiness. Utilitarianism is the dominant ethical perspective in the business sphere, and can be seen as a “calculating approach” to ethics (Fisher and Lovell, 2006, p. 126), as it assumes that the “quantity of happiness” can be measured
A common example of business utilitarianism is the adoption of ethical principles – not because it is the “right thing to do” – but because of the image enhancement which this may produce, in view of society's increased demand for ethical conduct in the business sphere. A positive company image creates what is known in the literature as “reputational capital” (Firestein, 2006; Fombrun, 1996; Fombrun and Shanley, 1990; Inglis et al., 2006; Jackson, 2005; Petrick et al., 1999; Suh and Amine, 2002) or advantages accruing to companies from a good reputation which may lead to positive outcomes in areas such as improved employee morale, increased strategic flexibility and enhanced financial performance.
Equipped with a basic knowledge of the key theoretical perspectives on ethics, we proceed to examine the findings of the study on students' perceptions of ethics in management education.
The study
The study was carried out in May 2007, at the School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Australia. The idea for the study emerged from a comment made by one of my students, a couple of years ago, about what he perceived to be “too much ethics and social responsibility” in our Bachelor of Business Management degree (from hereon BBM). The student's comment was a source of concern, as it made me wonder whether this was just the personal opinion of one individual, or a general attitudinal trend among the students in the degree. When our School invited expressions of interest for its annual research grants, I submitted a proposal for a study with two broad aims:
- to ascertain the extent to which students believe that ethics is a relevant topic for future managers; and
- to ascertain whether management students believe they have gained any benefits from their study of business ethics in the BBM degree.
The proposal was accepted and I proceeded to recruit participants from a third year subject called “Power, Politics and Knowledge” (from hereon PPK), which is part of the BBM. A total of 119 students with an average age of 25 years and from various backgrounds participated in the study; the majority had work experience. The reason for using purposive sampling was two-fold:
- PPK is premised on the assumption that power is a normal feature of management, and therefore managers must learn how to use it ethically. Ethical considerations are thus embedded in this subject, which ensured that the participants had at least a basic knowledge of ethics, in order to address the survey questions.
- From a more pragmatic perspective, as the coordinator of PPK I am well acquainted with this subject's structure, content and schedule of delivery, which gave me greater control over the data gathering processes, carried out during the last week of session.
Methodology
The study was primarily qualitative, in that my interest was to identify thematic patterns based on the students' personal experience of studying ethics in a management degree. However, the design also included elements of the quantitative method to establish the broad numerical trends in the responses to the main questions of the survey.
The instrument of data collection was an anonymous questionnaire survey containing two open-ended questions and one multiple choice question. The open-ended questions were:
- Do you believe that studying ethics is important for future managers? Why? Why not?
- Have you gained any benefits from studying ethics in the Bachelor of Business Management? Please explain why or why not.
These questions were specifically designed to obtain information on the students' experience of studying ethics in the BBM. The multiple-choice item consisted of a polemic statement, designed to elicit a more spontaneous response among the students. The statement read:
It's all very well to talk about ethics in business management, but the reality is that, at the end of the day, what matters is a company's ability to remain competitive and profitable.
Students were instructed to tick the appropriate box indicating whether they “agreed”; “disagreed” or were “indifferent” in relation to the statement. Space was provided for further elaboration if so desired.
How important is the study of ethics for future managers?
The qualitative survey yielded rich data which articulated a variety of themes associated with the notion of business ethics. I was relieved to see that the findings in the study were largely at odds with the comment made by my student who believed there was an excessive emphasis on ethics in the BBM. The great majority of survey respondents expressed the view that “it is important for future managers” to study ethics (95 per cent), and also felt that they had benefited from studying ethics in the BBM (84 per cent).
In qualitative terms, the responses reflected a reasonably good grasp of the meaning of ethics, and also a relatively high level of reflectivity acknowledging issues such as:
- the importance of morality and responsibility in managerial decision making;
- consideration of the consequences of one's action;
- empathy with stakeholders;
- compassion towards subalterns;
- recognition of people's rights and justice; and
- the need for managers to “do the right thing”.
Only a few participants stated that they did not see value in studying ethics in the BBM, on individual or deontological (religious) grounds. Below are three responses in this category:
Undecided – studying it (ethics) won't really change much. I think ethics is largely individual …
I think it is important to some extent. I don't think it should be emphasised because it's an individual choice.
Not really, my Christian faith is the core influence.
Analysis of responses to Question 1 revealed two major thematic patterns informed by the two systems of ethics discussed earlier: the first category of responses reflected an essentially teleological (or utilitarian) view of ethics, and the second reflected a “hybrid” perspective on ethics which incorporated elements of both the teleological and deontological systems. There was also a third category, which included responses that established a link between ethical behaviour and leadership. These thematic patterns are examined and illustrated below.
Teleological responses
Most respondents conceptualised ethics in largely utilitarian terms as “a means to an end”, which is not surprising in view of the fact that the study took place in the context of business management education. Many of the participants expressed the view that ethics is a response to societal pressures and expectations, and that it is important for society to perceive business as “doing the right thing”. Here the operating concept is “reputational capital”, discussed earlier and reflected in the selection of responses below to Question 1:
Yes, definitely, so that the company has a good reputation.
Yes. Today's society expects more from their business/industry. Clean/low emissions, green practices, etc. Shareholders and stakeholders want to be seen as good corporate citizens also.
Yes, corporate ethics is becoming a highly scrutinised area of business, and it would be beneficial for managers to study it, as it is becoming essential to hold good solid values.
Yes, I believe ethics is important for future managers. This is because satisfying society is the main driver of contemporary business organisations; hence if a company is not ethical, then society will not approve of it; so, survival for that organisation is difficult. Managers need to be aware of this.
Yes, ethics is important because society is demanding that organisations act more ethically now than they used to.
Some students in the teleological category explicitly referred to the negative social impacts of corporate collapses and other events involving unethical behaviour in the last decade, and their effects on business:
Yes, societies will demand [ethics] from future managers. This would have been emphasised by recent events such as the Qantas take-over and businesses collapsing in strange circumstances.
Due to mass media and the collapse of large multinational companies such as HIH, Arthur Andersen and Enron, the public and institutions are placing greater pressure on business organisations to act ethically. Thus as a manager, it is important to know what ethics is and what constitutes ethics.
These responses reflect important consciousness shifts that have occurred in the past two decades – to a large extent due to the spread of the mass media – which have created greater public awareness of corporate malfeasance, and accordingly a growing demand for ethical behaviour (Duarte, 2006).
In this category, there were also responses that conceptualised ethics more thoughtfully as a tool for fair decision-making and effective management. Below are some examples:
Yes, I believe the study of ethics is an invaluable tool when entering the workforce in your chosen career, particularly in higher levels of management where bigger decisions are usually made. It also requires you to empathise with others and use your people's skills.
Yes, I believe it is important, as in the future we all will be in a position of decision making where these decisions will affect certain stakeholders in a way or another. So, having a good background in ethics studies is significant.
Yes, as managers the decisions we make have ethical implications whether they realise it or not. Therefore, studying it makes individuals reflect on the possible ethical implications their decisions may create.
I strongly believe [studying ethics] is important as managers are constantly involved in interactions and situations that often rely on individual moral conscience and judgement. By means of studying ethics, future managers will be better equipped to handle these interactions and situations.
Hybrid responses
Despite the predominance of teleological attitudes among the students surveyed, there were also responses that incorporated elements of the deontological system of ethics. These “hybrid” responses conceptualised ethics essentially as a means to an end, but also incorporated a “moral point of view” (Boatright, 2007, pp. 8-9) or the assumption that the best course of action is that supported by the best reason, and that the interest of others must be considered. The excerpts below are illustrative of the “hybrid” category of responses:
Yes, it is important to understand how unethical behaviour can affect an organisation's reputation. As managers we should learn to be just and fair when making decisions.
Yes, as future managers and as citizens, it is our responsibility to ensure that business does the right thing in the future, not only in economic terms, but in legitimate and responsible ways.
Yes. It is always important for managers to behave in ways that are ethical and consider the greater good of the organisation and its employees. The study of ethics will help future managers become aware of the positive and negative implications associated with one's behaviour, and hence will allow them to think about how ethical/unethical behaviour has future effects.
Yes, as well as forming a personal basis of ethics, it is important for managers to take into consideration ethical practices and not just profit and finances. Companies in the future need to be ethically responsible.
Ethics and leadership
In addition to the two categories discussed above, there emerged a third thematic pattern related to a notion that Boatright (2007, pp. 20-2) calls role morality – in other words, the type of morality specific to a particular professional role. Here the underlying message is that as company leaders, managers are expected to meet the expectations of the company's stakeholders, and also to set a good example to their employees. The link between ethical behaviour and leadership is evident in the following responses:
[Ethics is] important because as a manager you are at times looked upon by those under you as a role model and therefore by your demonstrating ethical behaviour, they can learn from you.
Yes, having high standards of ethical practices set role models for others to follow; one gains respect from others.
Yes, because part of a manager's job in organisations is to act ethically and lead others to act ethically.
While there were only a few responses in this category, it was reassuring to see that some students were able to establish the important connection between ethics and leadership. This perspective goes beyond the simplistic assumption that being a good manager is synonymous with being able to ensure profitability and productivity.
The “daunting gap” between ideal and practice
As evident in the above excerpts, the responses to the core question of the survey were overwhelmingly positive, indicating a predominant trend towards a normative approach to the study of ethics; that is, the view that future managers should study ethics in order to achieve certain outcomes (e.g. to meet societal demands; to gain or maintain a good reputation; to make fair decisions, or “do the right thing”). However, the responses to the polemic statement, which implied that economic performance should come before ethical behaviour, revealed traces of what Desjardins (2006, p. 9) refers to as the “daunting gap between ethical judgement and behaviour”. Here, there is a clear fissure between the ideal of ethics and the perceived difficulty – for some the impossibility – of achieving it in professional practice. As noted by Boatright (2007, p. 22) many of the moral dilemmas facing contemporary managers result from conflicts between their individual beliefs and their role as professionals. Whereas as individuals they may honestly believe in ethical practice, as professionals they often find themselves in an unsettling conundrum where there is a temptation, or shareholder pressure, to place economic performance and productivity above ethical principles.
This thematic pattern figured prominently in the survey data. While the majority of participants responded positively to the question regarding the importance of ethics in management education, and also to the more specific question regarding benefits from studying ethics in the BBM, a significant number of respondents (42 percent) indicated agreement with the polemic statement. My initial reaction to this was one of dismay: how can my students be so thoroughly indoctrinated into conventional business dogma? How can they still put profits above ethics after our numerous discussions during the semester about the importance of ethical behaviour in business? Nevertheless, an examination of the qualitative comments written by most of the respondents in the space provided below the statement revealed that indicating agreement with it did not necessarily mean that they condoned what was being said. Students were merely expressing their (somewhat cynical) perceptions of the “business world”, and hoping that “society” would intervene to force businesses to behave more ethically. Below are some typical statements given in qualification of their response to the polemic statement:
I only agree with this statement because [I think that] a company's ability to make profits should be hindered if they engage in unethical practices. It's society's role to disallow this.
Unfortunately, I have to agree … but as times change people are becoming less tolerant of unethical behaviour …
It is unfortunate that most businesses are only concerned with profits and most leaders are managers [who] will do whatever it takes to make a profit and reduce expenses.
Companies put too much pressure on managers and they are forced to deviate from ethical behaviour to whatever is required to succeed or make profit.
In this category, there were also responses that revealed something akin to a feeling of powerlessness in the face of ethical abuses in the business sphere. The following quotes are illustrative of this perspective:
[I agree] because this is a fact of life. Business is exactly what it is, Business. People want to make profits; that is the primary objective and it is common for people to act unethically. Unethical behaviour is an extremely difficult concept to overturn (original emphasis).
Has a manager or an average employee any say when it comes to ethical dilemmas in an organisational situation? The top management in all the companies want to make a profit and they really don't care if it affects the management overall or not. There are many employees in major corporations who do what they are told and they don't have a say in the ethical decision making.
Nevertheless, it was reassuring to find out that a slightly higher percentage of students (43 percent) disagreed with the polemic statement, suggesting that they may be “taking aboard” the ethical concepts and issues studied in the course. The comments below reveal a strong tone of disapproval of the profit motive as the main driver of business firms, and awareness of the need to incorporate ethical principles in business practices:
I chose to work for a non-profit making organisation specifically to avoid fitting in with this statement.
I don't agree with this statement; however it is still the mentality of some organisations, and if we worked for them we would probably be easily swayed.
Making profits is essentially the role of business; however, ethics in business management is something that has to be taken seriously …
A number of students who disagreed with the polemic statement explicitly acknowledged the need for balance between profits imperatives and ethical behaviour, suggesting a link between ethical behaviour and economic performance:
Sometimes a lack of ethics can cause a business to go belly up and then there is no way to make profits. The best way is a balance of both …
While a company needs to make a profit it also has to be socially responsible and behave in an ethical manner. By gaining profits via unethical practices the company is creating a negative public image.
The ability to gain financial objectives gives an organisation power, thus it is their responsibility to give back to society and improve the standards of society as a whole.
From studying corporate social responsibility I have learnt that an organisation has a responsibility to all its stakeholders, not just shareholders/owners. Organisations need to balance their focus on profits with their other responsibilities, e.g. environmental.
Summary and conclusion
This paper has discussed the findings of a qualitative study carried at an Australian university on students' perceptions of the relevance of studying ethics in an undergraduate business management subject. The findings indicated that the great majority of participants consider the study of ethics relevant to future managers, and indeed believe they have gained benefits from studying ethics in the Bachelor of Business Management. The general gist of the responses is aptly surmised by one of the participants, who stated: “What we learn today is how we behave tomorrow”.
Three main thematic patterns emerged from the analysis of the survey responses, namely responses revealing teleological (or utilitarian) attitudes to ethics, responses reflecting a combination of teleological and deontological attitudes, and responses linking ethics to leadership. It was clear from the findings that the predominant kind of ethics and morality amongst the students is underpinned by the teleological system, which did not come as a surprise, given the context of the study. Most respondents viewed ethics as “a means to an end” – as a means to foster reputational capital by enhancing the company's image, or as a means to achieve leadership and fair decision making. However, many of the comments also revealed an “ethics of care” (Velasquez, 2006, p. 60) – the need to be mindful of people's wellbeing, to do “the right thing”. The findings were reassuring for a teacher who takes the study of ethics in management seriously: it seems that my students have been listening.
There was, nevertheless, something disturbing about the responses to the polemic statement, in that many of them conveyed an impression of resigned powerlessness and passive acceptance of the status quo (“That's the way things are”). This prompted a number of questions for me as a teacher:
- Does this mean that the students have been so thoroughly indoctrinated into conventional managerial dogma that they are unable to imagine more democratic alternatives to the status quo?
- Does this mean that they are still unable to grasp the meaning of critical thinking?
- Does this mean that they have no sense of the role of human agency in social transformation?
Fisher and Lovell (2006, p. 33) warn that in the process of dialectical transformation of society there is always a “risk of social capture” – that is, feeling “trapped” in a particular version of social reality that is not particularly desirable. If this is indeed a trend among management students, ethics teachers have a crucially important role to play in order to persuade students that their individual voices do count in the shaping of more humane and equitable managerial practices – in the creation of a better society. The role of an ethics teacher is not to indoctrinate students into a particular world view, but to treat them as “active learners and engage them in an active process of thinking and questioning” (Desjardins, 2006, p. 9). An important conclusion to draw from this paper is that continuous debate on ethical dilemmas and a more explicit effort to foster critical thinking and reflexivity are essential features in the teaching of future managers in order to avoid the paralysing effects of social capture.
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