BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS: BRINGING INITIATIVES AND REALITY INTO BUSINESS ETHICS EDUCATION

A new paradigm imposes special demands on business ethics education: (a) merging financial and social imperatives; (b) stemming recurrent scandals without being compliance obsessive; (c) infusing ethics awareness into all areas of business to remain relevant to the real world, motivate students, and keep up with innovations; (d) mediating cross-cultural differences to promote competitiveness and foster positive social integration. However, four barriers- assumptions, goals, disciplines, and context-impede the ability of business ethics education to meet those demands. Identifying and analyzing the barriers, this article advocates breaking them down. To breathe life into the suggestion of bringing more reality into ethics education, the article offers practical recommendations for business schools in redesigning ethics initiatives.