Developing Moral Character in Business Education

Businesses have a crisis in leadership that has been brewing over a few decades. A paper by Crossman, et. al. (2013) delves into the need to develop character and values in business education in order to provide future leaders guidelines for appropriate behavior. From ethical crisis ranging from Lehman Brothers to Enron the business community has important functions in society that also include setting a standard of behavior. 

According to the authors there has been movement on the ethical side of educating business students since major scandals have damaged the country. Yet the movement has not delved deep enough into how students learn about ethics and develop character.  To help them identify what their values are it helps in identifying their moral compass through difficult situations. 

According to (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) an analysis of cultures, religion, moral philosophers and others have revealed some universal values:

Wisdom: The cognitive ability to be creative, love of learning, judgment, curiosity, and perspective.

Courage: Emotional strengths to accomplish goals in the face of resistance that include bravery, perseverance, honesty and zest.

Humanity: The interpersonal skills that include love, kindness and social intelligence.

Justice: Community strengths that strengthen society through teamwork, fairness, and leadership.

Temperance: The skills to avoid excess through forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation.

Transcendence: The strengths that connect to a larger universe that includes appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality.

Certain teaching methods have formed successful values through moral awareness. These include role-playing, collaborative learning, self-reflection, and service learning (Comer & Vega, 2008).  It is through the fostering of a greater understanding of society, working with others, and understanding the self that moral fiber is flexed and grown.

Character is something that is in our core, based within deep seated values. As difficult situations become apparent there is a blending of the situation with our personal values. It is also believed that situations often override character in most cases unless there are clear values that are being violated. That is assuming the person made the distinction. In situations where strong values have developed, character may supersede the situation itself.

There will always be those beyond the reach of ethical decision making. Business students who feel that earning the most money regardless of costs on others or those in excessive need of social approval that always follow the pack are likely to have an ethical malfunction in difficult situations. Despite this, there are others, with proper character training can overcome multiple pressures. To teach the standard sets the expectations for students to reach and may become relevant in their careers.

The authors argue that teaching ethics and moral character in a class is beneficial. It helps students understand moral dilemmas and learn how to reflect on the issues. A greater solidification of the student’s values can help them draw upon those values when the time is needed.

The report brings forward some important concepts. A class on ethics and moral reasoning is beneficial for moral development but is limited. Infusion throughout courses would appear to be the best approach as it becomes laced with other concepts within memory. When moral dilemmas arise and people seek answers they often look for examples and being able to find these important examples through multiple pathways furthers the potential draw and ethical conclusion. The values taught should be universal to cultures, religions and peoples to make them most applicable whereby students can build off the basics in any way they see fit to create personalization of character.

Crossman, M. et. al. (2013). Developing leadership character in business programs. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12 (2). 

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. 2004. The VIA Classification of Character Strengths. Retrieved from http://www.viacharacter.org/www/en-us/viainstitute/classification.aspx

Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. 2008. Using the PET assessment instrument to help students identify factors that could impede moral behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 77: 129–145.

Focusing on Selling Experiences versus Products in the New Economy

Service dominated logic or S-D Logic may be a better viewpoint to train managers and teach college students about the nature of modern business. Considering how much society has changed over the past few decades the movement from tangible goods to service offerings creates a fundamental shift in the economic system. This fundamental shift should be incorporated into training and education so that decision-makers can master new economic conditions.

A total of 75% of all business revenue is currently service oriented while 80% of the GNP is service related (Ford & Bowen, 2008). That is a huge number! With this fundamental change from agricultural, products, and commodities to service oriented offerings it is necessary to train managers on the new S-D vantage point of seeing and perceiving their operations in a new light. Such an approach will help decision makers view organizations and problems from a perspective that actually reflects current economic activities.

The differences in technique are significant. According to Vargo and Lusch (2004), a shift from products to intangibles, specialized skills, knowledge and processes requires companies to focus more on marketing and integrate of operational processes. If an organization is selling experiences (i.e. service) then their approach to management would be completely different and decisions would focus closely on enhancing that perceived value.

The selling of experiences occurs whenever a company uses services as the stage and products as the prop (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). Where companies once showcased their products and earned revenue they are now making the majority of their revenue from the services attached to those products. There is a fundamental shift in thinking that focuses on the intangible but extremely important psychological experiences of services while less on the give market value of products.

Let us put this to an example. An organization sells an electric toothbrush and earns a few dollars of revenue. Under traditional economic models the sale is made when the transaction is completed. Yet in a service economy it is possible to sell the experience of being beautiful with white teeth. The selling of the toothbrush may be part of a beauty makeover service that transforms a person’s image and comes with teeth whitening, cosmetics, hair products and other related offerings. The products are secondary to the service.

Changing the perspective creates greater opportunities to maximize revenue generation streams. The economic approach adjusts to better reflect modern economic conditions. Operations become more of a support and enhancer to experiences than a logistical path of selling products. The very way people are trained, the type of systems used, and the marketing mix adjust to enhance the experiences and positive feelings of customers.

Tips:

-View experiences as service.

-Sell products that enhance that experience.

-Adjust management styles, organizational structure, and operations to enhance experiences of customers.

-Focus on the total customer experience.

-Raise the perceived value of products with service.

-Integrate operations into the marketing strategy.

Ford, R. & Bowen, D. (2008). A service-dominant logic for management education: its time. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 7 (2).

Pine, B. & Gilmore, J. (1999). The experience economy. Boston, MA: HBS Press.

Vargo, S.  & Lusch, R.(2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68 (1)