Responsible leadership development through management education: A business ethics perspective

Abstract

Whilst business has contributed hugely to human development and economic progress, there is, at the same time, an intensifying debate about its complicity in aggravating the sustainability risks that society is currently facing. This debate also has a bearing on the role of management education in shaping the ethical and functional paradigms in the light of which businesses are created, developed and managed, as well as the parameters in the light of which they are evaluated and rated to be successful or not. This concept paper explores the emergence of a new paradigm in management education, namely one that incorporates the development of responsible leadership. In doing so, the paper contends, management education will have to engage with three critical issues, namely the meaning and place of ethics in theories of management, the development of managers as responsible leaders and the design of a curriculum that will effectively integrate matters of ethics and responsibility across the spectrum of management subjects.