A634. Ethics in Schools

The teaching of ethics in schools provides a valuable context in which future managers can make choices. Ethics is mainly concerned with making choices in a fog of uncertainty. Whereas legal choices can be fairly straightforward, ethical choices may not; a common saying being “what is legal is not always ethical.” Therefore managers need to understand both themselves (emotional intelligence) and the corporate culture in which they operate. The former can be taught outside of ethics classes. Emotional intelligence is large umbrella that covers all manner self-assessment and self-awareness attributes and then seeks to apply them in a leadership role. Corporate culture cannot be taught in a class, what can be taught is how to influence and create positive corporate cultures that embody and reward ethical actions.


This is all well and good for people, like myself, that have spent close to six years study management and leadership; to include several dedicated courses to ethical leadership. However many people in leadership positions are not trained managers. They may be experts in medicine, finance, retail, or marketing but they lack a formal background specific to management. It is safe to say that most managers have advanced degrees (though in some fields it is not required) but are those degrees heavy on managerial principles. For example, a young doctor graduates from school and goes to work for a local hospital. After many years of diligent work this doctor is promoted to a Chief of Staff position. The doctor undoubtedly has a wealth of medicinal knowledge, a great deal of practical experience, and most likely some ethical training. But was that training in managerial ethics? Most likely it was in the ethics of practicing medicine. To be sure there would be some overlap but does this equate to being able to make organizational decisions regarding everything from finance to patient care? Maybe…and the variances can be much greater in organizations where leadership roles do not always require formal education such as store or regional managers in a retail environment. In many instances schools may take a shotgun approach to ethics where they hope something sticks while their students graduate with finance degrees. 

This does not mean that these other courses are not teaching ethics. Accounting degrees require ethical guidelines as do law degrees, or any other professional path. Ethics is required across many spectrums. However not all ethics focuses are created equally. Accounting may focus on making ethical accounting choices; leadership ethics focuses on social, personal, and corporate responsibility. It is a fine but very important point.


This begs one final question. Do you want managers that are only trained in Organizational Leadership being in charge of doctors and surgeons when they have no formal training as such? A case can be made that one should need medicinal training to make informed choices regarding the leading of medical organizations. This argument can be extended to any number of professions.


MBA’s are just one form of leadership school but really ALL schools are graduating future leaders. Ethical management, not just the ethics of a particular field, needs to be a focus in all forms of higher education, not just the MBA.