Ethical concerns in business education

Business in India is neither new nor ever was in acute need of b-school graduates to start and run the business. For founders of great organizations, their experience was the best teacher. Business empires were established and sustained even before the formal business education took a shape in India. The incidence of globalization leads to phenomenal growth in number of organizations, expansion and diversification of businesses that call for more professionalism in management of organizations. As the demand catches up for business education, the number- of institutions, pupils, placements, and the like rose phenomenally, but the ethical concerns are getting marginalized. The stakeholders in business education include: the Institutions, Students and Parents, Government and various academic bodies like UGC, AICTE, NAAC and the like, Academicians and scholars, and the corporate entities. The onus is on all the stakeholders and the media to set high standards of ethical practices in business education, and ensuring compliance. Business Ethics is being incorporated as core subject by most of the universities in India, and elite management institutions like IIMs have been taking the cause further. The institutions must strive to inculcate ethical values among their pupils right from the grassroots level, which can be done through measures such as recruiting right staff, ethics training and reorientation of students and staff and the like. Also more of academic, government, non-government and industry cooperation, adding spiritual dimension to the curriculum, rating institutions on ethical parameters, ethical partnerships that safeguard learners’ interests, build trust and mutual respect go a long way in upholding the ethical values in business education.