2003-2004 Huckabay Teaching Fellowship Application
by Brosh Teucher

 

THE IMPACT OF THE UW BUSINESS SCHOOL’S CURRICULUM ON UNDERGRADUATES’ VIEWS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS BGS AND BUSINESS ETHICS ISSUES

 ABSTRACT

Recent revelations of business scandals in Corporate America have underscored the importance of ethics education in business schools. The UW Business School requires undergraduate students to take a single core business ethics class throughout their studies. This class is titled “MGMT 320: Business, Government, and Society” (BGS). Although it is a critical course, the impact of this class on students’ attitudes and values hasn’t been assessed so far. Thus, we propose to examine and evaluate the immediate and long-term impact of the class and the undergraduate curriculum on the guiding values and attitudes of undergraduate business students towards BGS topics. To accomplish this goal we propose a longitudinal assessment project utilizing a web-based survey and interviews. The findings will be conveyed to the school’s community. Recommendations and research-based applications will be incorporated into the class’s instructor manual. Findings and conclusions will serve as foundations for curriculum design, class development, and instructor training.

 BACKGROUND

The increasing numbers of unfolding business scandals and corruption cases underscore the critical nature of ethics in the business realm. The debate over the guiding ethical values of business leaders and their subordinates has also touched on the business education field. Debate has been going on regarding the role and effectiveness of ethics classes in business schools[1].

The UW Business School is the leading business school in the Pacific Northwest. Every year approximately seven hundred seniors graduate with a business degree from this school. Upon graduation many of the students take on positions in companies in Washington State and across the country. The knowledge, skills, and attitudes that these students have acquired during their undergraduate years should serve them at the beginning and perhaps throughout the entirety of their professional career.

Currently the school requires undergraduates to take only one core course that focuses directly on business ethics. This course is MGMT 320: Business, Government, and Society (BGS). This is a four credit, upper division course required by for all business majors. The class meets twice a week for one hour and fifty minutes. The UW catalogue describes the course as: “Political, social, and legal environment of business. Critical managerial issues from historical, theoretical, ethical perspectives; their impact on organization. Corporate political power, boards of directors, capitalism, industrial policy, business ethics and social responsibility, alternative corporate roles in society.” Thus, the goal of the course is to expose the students to a wide variety of key issues and to broaden their perspective on the function and operation of business.

According to the instructor’s manual prepared by Susan Helf and Berna Polat in 2000, MGMT 320 is one of a handful of courses that examine business ethics and non-bottom-line corporate behavior. The other required courses that examine business and social issues are MGMT 200 (Introduction to Law, required for admission to the Business School) and MGMT 430 (Business Policy, actually one option of two capstone classes). The only business ethics elective class, MGMT 323 Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility is offered on an irregular basis (It is not a popular choice; in Winter Quarter 2003 only 11 out 40 openings were filled).

In light of the recent business events, and the premier position of the UW Business School, the question arises is: What values and attitudes regarding business ethics and BGS issues does the UW Business School promote through its undergraduate curriculum? The UW Business School’s mission statement[2] stresses encouraging student’s personal responsibility and ethical behavior. The statement also asserts a commitment to the school’s internal and external community. However, up to date no assessment has been conducted to evaluate the attitudinal “end product” of the educational process and whether the school’s explicit values are conveyed to the students.

THE PROJECT

We are interested in knowing to what extent the current curriculum supports and promotes the values expressed in the school’s mission statement. Moreover, we want learn how the curriculum influences student’s BGS and ethics related attitudes[3]. Given the centrality and criticality of the MGMT 320 course in the undergraduate curriculum, we focus our attention on the unique impact of this particular class.

To address these questions we propose a longitudinal study of students’ BGS and ethical attitudes. The design of the study will be a pre-post quasi-experiment. By utilizing a web-based survey, we will assess students’ attitudes at three times: Just before taking the MGMT 320 class, immediately after the end of the class, and several months following the end of the class. A control group of students who do not take the MGMT 320 class at the time will be surveyed concurrently with the experimental group. Some interviews will be conducted to augment the quantitative data with qualitative insights.

This is an exploratory study. We do not have any preconceived notions or hypothesis regarding the direction of the findings. Nor we wish to impose our personal values on the assessment process. We believe that any finding will serve future curriculum development and instructor training. Based on the project’s results we will form recommendations to improve the curriculum in a way that will further emphasize she school’s values and broaden the students’ learning. We will update the MGMT 320 instructor’s manual to include the results and related instructional guidelines. The results of the study and the derived recommendations will be presented to the business school’s administration and teaching community.

Ms. Susan Helf, who is experienced in teaching many classes in the business school and has been coordinating the MGMT 320 class for two years, will work closely with the applicant Brosh Teucher on the following topics: Survey development, results interpretation, curricular recommendations, and applications.

We strongly believe that both Brosh and the UW Business School will greatly benefit from this project. Brosh will gain valuable experience in assessing and evaluating the educational outcomes of a curriculum and a course. The process of translating project findings into practical teaching recommendations will enhance his skills as a teacher and a future professor. The business school community will gain critical insight into the educational outcomes at the undergraduate level. The findings of the study will serve as a foundation for improving the MGMT 320 class, the undergraduate curriculum, and the quality of instruction of the BGS and ethics domains. Thus, this project has the potential to enhance the performance of the Business School in three key domains: the overall quality of undergraduate program, the professional development of the school’s graduates, and the contribution of the Business School to a healthy business community and society.