The Wall Street Journal recently announced that ethics courses are useless becau

Question

The Wall Street Journal recently announced that ethics courses are useless because ethics cannot be taught. Although few people would turn to the Wall Street Journal as a learned expert on the teaching of ethics, the issue raised by the newspaper is a serious one.

Read the article below then answer the question.

Why Aren't Business Ethics Classes Making Businesses More Ethical?

Scott B. Rae — February 13, 2013

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a story, "Does an 'A' in Ethics Have Any Value?" (Feb. 6, 2013) that examines the success business schools are having teaching ethics. Dr. Scott Rae, who teaches business ethics here in the Crowell School of Business, responds to that article.

The recent article by Melissa Korn in the Wall Street Journal is encouraging because it recognizes the efforts of more business schools to integrate ethics throughout their curriculum. She recognizes the long standing debate over how to do that — with specialists in specialized courses, or with professors taking responsibility themselves for the ethical dimension of their respective disciplines.

It is also encouraging to see recognition that students need regular discussion of ethics throughout their time in school, as opposed to one time in a course when they get it. It's also encouraging to hear profs in other business schools recognize that what they are doing is not working to prevent the scandals and "perp walks" that still occur in the corporate world. However, there may be a good reason why it's not working. And that's because universities committed to philosophical relativism can't teach ethics. They can teach strategy, procedures and decision making, but their overall worldview does not allow for absolute values that are necessary to undergird morality.

Chuck Colson recognized this years ago when he was invited to Harvard Business School to speak on "Why Harvard Can't Teach Ethics." You can read his speech at colsoncenter.org. He made precisely this point and got little in the way of challenging questions from the students. This is why Christian universities, like Biola, are well positioned to teach a substantive business ethic for students that can give specific direction and a compelling rationale for ethical behavior, all informed by a Christian worldview. Though it may be that simply getting a good grade in ethics does not necessarily translate to ethical behavior in the marketplace, I like the chances of that better in a Christian university than in universities committed to a postmodern view of truth and morality.

1.Can ethics be taught?

2.Do business ethics classes have value in the workplace?

Explanation / Answer

Answer: (1) Ethics cannot be taught until one imbibes them. Merely providing information about the ethics cannot make anyone ethical. It is therefore important that the business schools need to take certain steps in which they can practically infuse ethics in the students. Providing information about the theories and models of ethics cannot substitute an inner drive for being ethical. Ethics are absolute and cannot be taught through relativism. The ethical perspectives differ from one culture to the other and many factors both external and internal like culture, religion and values impact on the ethical values of the individuals. Therefore ethics cannot be taught but they need to be gradually developed through comprehensive ethics development programs.

(2) The business ethics classes do have value at the workplace but they do not have an absolute control over the workplace. They create awareness about ethics in the students but whether the student will follow ethics totally depends on their own perspectives about ethics.       

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