Fostering Ethical Competence in Business Education

Abstract

Due to recent scandals—for example, during the financial crisis—ethical competence and behaviour has been recognised as an important area of attention for managers. This trend indicates the relevance of business ethics as an integrated part of the education of (future) managers in Higher Education institutions. At the same time, there is a growing demand that higher education is more pertinent to the needs of the working environment. Based on these premises, a missing link between Business Education and ethical needs in working environments can be recognised. In order to close this gap two questions arise: Which ethical competences do future managers need? How can Business Education comply with these requirements and support students to develop these ethical competences during study processes? This contribution will address these questions and, in doing so, draw from curriculum theory. The key goal of the contribution is to discuss the main aim of Business Education in Higher Education institutions and what this means with respect to fostering ethical competence. Based on these remarks, empirical studies of curricula in Business Education are presented. One conclusion is that it seems important—especially for the intention of Business Education—to design more action-orientated curricula to foster ethical competence. These curricula are based on practical ethical problem situations. The requirements for acting in these situations define the competences respectively knowledge, motivation, and attitude aspects in ethical business behaviour. In conclusion, an action-orientated curriculum for Business Education will be presented.