1 / 18

The Rejuvenation of Business Education

The Rejuvenation of Business Education . Robert Shaw. Our discussion . 1 The justification of a curriculum Skills Let us examine the business curriculum The American Business School debate Business ethics. The justification of a c urriculum . Philosophical

derica
Download Presentation

The Rejuvenation of Business Education

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The Rejuvenation of Business Education Robert Shaw

  2. Ourdiscussion 1 The justification of a curriculum Skills Let us examine the business curriculum The American Business School debate Business ethics

  3. The justification of a curriculum • Philosophical • The natureof knowledge (mind) • Liberal education (Paul Hirst) • Knowledge or skills? • Sociological • Relate adequately to society • Who does it advance? • Psychological • Implicit learning theory • Spiral curriculum • Rhythmic claims of freedom and discipline

  4. Structure of knowledge • Learning domains • Aristotle • Current base structure • science • mathematics • humanities • aesthetics • applied • medicine • law • accounting • Primary & secondary education (literacy fad) • Unity of human understanding – PhD, German tradition, corruptions

  5. Skills – a reminder of the basics • The current premise of tertiary education • Public or private benefit • Treasury determination, 1989 • Control of the curriculum • Transfer of skills • What is a skill? • Physical skills • Cognitive skills • Reading • Thinking • Business? • Tanks & Yanks

  6. Justification of curriculum • Levels of assessment/justification • Award objectives • Course objectives • Student objectives • Award / course objectives

  7. Business curriculum - international context • Some trends • America - massive dissatisfaction with Business Schools • Europe - holds to traditional awards / course structures • Australia - massive commercialisation • Calls for greater insight & leadership (bygovernment, by business & in education) • Science – more about less • Entrepreneurship example • Western metaphysics / English • Pathway strategies

  8. Business curriculum - studentcontext • Student diversity • Expectations • Force grade, objective and award deflation & inflation • Cross-cultural meanings • Textbook problems (Daft/motivation, subordinates/NZ) • Student dishonesty • Universal • Challenge of the West – Eastern and Asian • Students not with traditional or “our” values • Distance education most vulnerable • New methods of dishonesty • Cheating culture • Login/password transfer • Purchasing assignments ($120 or less) • Memory enhancers – Modafinil ($39.12 for 30) & Retalin

  9. Let us examine the business curriculum First we need a theory. Any of the dimensions of justification mentioned earlier might be relevant, but we are going to pick on Kant’s theory.

  10. A Kantian model for curriculum assessment • Immanuel Kant • Enlightenment, 1784 • Rational justification • Theories of ethics • The moral person according to Kant • Autonomous OR • Heteronomous

  11. Heteronomous or autonomous • The moral person / leader / manager is • EITHER Heteronomous– follows rules • OR Autonomous – independent in thought and action • If you are morally autonomous, you • Make your own decisions • Do so rationally • Have strength-of-will sufficient to act as you decide • The ethical theory became a theory in psychology - moral development • Piaget – 3 stages • Kohlberg – elaborates 3 to 6

  12. Kant’s theory Piaget’s levels Kohlberg’s stages

  13. The big debate • What is the purpose of a Business School? • Teach traditional knowledge & skills (accounting , planning …) ☺ • Should graduates be • Honest and reliable (Heteronomous) • Creative & independent (Autonomous) • Business ethics is the battle ground

  14. Business ethics pedagogy • Two basic pedagogical strategies • Examples / issues → Theory OR • Theory → Examples • The theory of ethics • Well understood • Well structured • Same theory for medicine, engineering, law, education, public policy, environmental ethics, accounting, business … • Corporate social responsibility (not just about ethics)

  15. Poor approach • Lesson 1: Business Calling • Lesson 2: The Morality of Capitalism • Lesson 3: Organizational Ethics • Lesson 4: Social Responsibility • Lesson 5: International Ethics • Lesson 6: Employee Relations • Lesson 7: Advertising Ethics • Lesson 8: Financial Ethics • Lesson 9: Conclusion • But, Sandel takes this approach and does well: government bailouts, same-sex marriage, surrogate pregnancy, immigration reform.

  16. Outline of an ethics curriculum • Greek ethics – what is the good life? • Theories about decision-making - stoicism, cynicism, hedonism, Christian ethics, utilitarianism, virtue ethics,pragmatics, deontological theories • “Modern ethics” - topics: free will/determinism (moral responsibility), objectivity/subjectivity, naturalism, emotivism, rationality • Continental philosophy – Nietzsche, Foucault Adam and Eve by Albrecht Dürer (1507)

  17. Thank you.

More Related