Two decades ago a research report was published titled: Business and Technology Management Curriculum: Changing Requirements.
The report is a comparative study of four graduate degrees from highly ranked universities.
During the research process, opinions of business, industry, academia, and accreditation agencies were reviewed to establish required outcomes of a graduate program in business and technology management:
Accreditation guidelines from regional and professional organizations were studied;
A matrix aligning industry, academia and accreditation requirements was created;
A survey instrument was developed using the outcome as established by the matrix;
A survey of professionals employed in the fields of business and technology management was conducted.
Survey Outcome
- Ethics was identified as an area not covered in any of the four-degree curriculums, and not considered a responsibility by surveyed professionals.
Potential Cause
Beginning around 1990, business schools may have embraced the concept that what is unethical may not necessarily be illegal.
This revelation may be the root of false advertising methods used as marketing tools to affect consumer behavior.
Current contracts are written to avoid product liability suits by wording to limit or transfer liability to additional parties.
Businesses appear to use unethical logic more frequently by becoming at-one with their auditors or licensors with serious outcomes. Refer to number five below.
This culture of unethical . . . although not illegal behavior also appears more frequently in politics. Politicians intentionally make contradictory statements regarding issues, even on the same day . . . when addressing different audiences.
As for the citizen . . . ignorance of the law is not considered a defense.
Developing "The Guide" entries requires some degree of proofing for normal or abnormal behavior within the system under observation.
1. Ethics, sometimes known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. (Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia)
2. Workplace Ethics: 62 Things that are legal, but 22 of them are unethical. (Ethics Alarms)
3, What's legal? The fact that something is legal doesn’t make it ethical. You might think it’s obvious, but it is not. (The Business Ethics Blog)
4. Social Norms: Are group-held beliefs about how members should behave in a given context. (Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia)
5. Arthur Anderson ethical issues, and research papers on the subject of Ethics. Additional Research Documents available from (StudyMode).