critical review

Introduction

The business world has recently witnessed numerous instances of shocking behavior from certain leaders in the form of unethical practices and incompetence . Academic experts feel that these unfortunate incidents could set a bad example for aspiring business professionals . Although many business school deans have expressed that this trend is the result of a flawed curriculum , Bennis and O 'Toole in their article How Business schools lost their way ' feel that there are more intricate factors that have resulted in the flop of the business education system which need to be

deeply examined so as to improve the quality of professional managers . In Educating by Ethics : Business Deans perspective , Evans and Marcal reinforce the need to teach the importance of ethics to future managers . It is not only the right thing to do , but also the best thing to do from a business perspective . The lack of faith in the business leaders among the general public has only reiterated the fact that following a strict code of ethics helps win and retain customers

Extensive research has been carried out in the sphere of business during recent years , as business academicians of this era have started to measure their student 's growth by considering scientific parameters such as regression analysis . Hence , Bennis and O 'Toole refer to these methods as scientific model and feel that such methods have little significance in training students to face real-world business scenarios . Business schools have also experienced a substantial shift in their missions , as more emphasis is now being given to academic research . Also , most of the professors in these schools are academic experts , rather than professionals with extensive first-hand experience . They feel that the first major pitfall of these schools is the assumption of business as a science rather than a discipline . They also emphasize that business school education needs to be centered upon practical learning like Law and Medical schools , rather than scientific research favored by physicists and economists

Before the 1960s , business education was based on practical experiences and business acumen . However , there was not much research in this area to theoretically quantify learning . Business schools started to witness rapid changes as the demand of managers educated with professional degrees increased by leaps and bounds . Carnegie and Ford foundations started to fund research in Business education , which marked the beginning of a new phase in professional business education . The massive amount of scientific research forced a reduction of conventional trade school education and training . This compromise has had far-reaching consequences as it has led to a downward spiral of ethical business practices and essential managerial skills . theless , it would not be very wise to completely switch back to old methodology of teaching . The authors acknowledge that there is an urgent need to balance the importance given to practical business education and scientific research

Bennis and O 'Toole also feel that a bulk of scientific research based on data collection under standard conditions , would not come in handy as major problems faced by...