Responsible management education calls for a fundamental curriculum transformation

Abstract

Purpose Business education is stuck in outmoded ideas of business, the market and the world. We have known this for decades, but little has changed. As problems like climate change and inequality worsen, the challenge of creating responsible management education is not to find ways to integrate new electives into that outdated curriculum. The challenge is to fundamentally transform the curriculum, shedding some concepts, models and values while adding a new focus that properly reflects the powerful influence of business and inspires a new set of aspirational values through which business school graduates will be developed. Design/methodology/approach This is a Viewpoint essay, based on the author’s 30 years tenure as a professor in business education and research. In more recent years, the author has devoted his writing, speaking, research and teaching on reforming the curriculum and research norms to bring them more in line with the needs of the 21st century. Findings Too much attention in business education has been placed on the “how” of business, the tools in the core; not enough attention is devoted to “why” they will be deployed. This Viewpoint recommends (1) a re-envisioned core, (2) a focus outward on the role and purpose of business in society, (3) a focus inward on character, seeking to instill the notion of “management as a calling” and (4) an alignment of the supporting structures of the educational environment to reinforce a set of internally derived aspirational goals. Research limitations/implications This is a Viewpoint essay, and as such, is meant to stir debate and discussion over the future of business education. The real impact of this article will be measured, not by how often it is cited, but instead by how often it is used to stir change within the world’s business schools. Practical implications Business schools are facing numerous challenges from Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models to high tuition to questions over their value proposition. Today, society has serious questions about the role of business in society, and business students are asking for more from their business school experience, desiring content that reflects the challenges they will face. The proposals in this article are one professor’s views on how to address them. Social implications Businesses play an increasingly powerful role in addressing humanity’s challenges, but it’s not clear whether it will be a positive one. To be sure, businesses hold enormous powers of ideation, production and distribution to provide solutions to society’s problems at the scale we need them. They also hold the potential to multiply the effects of the darkest of human impulses and result in exploitation, materialism and greed. There is an urgent need to nurture a new breed of business leaders who view business not only as a means to profitability but also as a vehicle to serve society. Originality/value There are numerous calls for reforming business education, and this Viewpoint adds to that conversation. Some of the content is new and original, based on 30 years of teaching, writing and course development. Some of the content builds on and supports what others have discussed. Until there is real change, these arguments need to be restated, improved, amplified and applied when the institutions of academia are ready.