Building Ethical Capacity in Business Schools

Abstract

Critics have called for reform in business schools and business organizations in the wake of recent ethics scandals. Given the inherent, yet undefined, relationship between business practice and business education, a key question is the role of business schools in meeting challenges and opportunities in business ethics. Business schools must deliver business education, including both curriculum and experiences, infused with an ethics perspective. Ethical capacity is defined as the ability of a business school to effectively and sustainably integrate an ethics perspective into its programs and processes. This paper provides a conceptual and practical approach for building the ethical capacity of business schools.