Have you ever considered if business education has been dominant on monetary values, around profitability, stakeholders, or power?
Let’s consider private education, as an example that was presented in class. Students in private education institutions might consider themselves consumers when paying for educational services. They might expect certain simplicity from curriculum and specific teaching as well as certain economic tools to be taught, which according to my experience, can affect education values and leave complex discussions outside the curriculum.
Linguistic and value-based characteristics in business
Painter-Morland’s article “Philosophical assumptions undermining responsible management education” (2015, p. 62) discusses how the pursuit of profit often undermines society's efforts to promote human well-being. Monetary values have a significant impact on the way that businesses operate, which can lead to negative consequences for individuals and communities. The article shares several interesting metaphors similar to "wealth is health" that reinforce the idea that material possessions and financial success are the key components of human well-being.
The article presents the dominant languages within business schools through “econophonics” and “potensiphonics”. Within “econophonic” language, money is used to dictate and justify all actions. According to my observations, this embodies when employees’ well-being and values are dismissed when pushing to reach financial milestones. The reward is high, but compromising on moral or ethical values bothers longer than what the reward lasts. I guess in some sense this “econophonics” is fueled from “potensiphonic” in business. A “potensiphonic” language, has an emphasis on power and supremacy, delivered as aggressive business metaphors.
The means for “potensiphonic” language could be to motivate employees to aim higher and to maintain employee unity under pressure. This can take place in corporate cultures that foster intense competition and prioritize individual success over collaboration and reflection, leaving little room for alternative perspectives or critical self-reflection. This pressure to conform to a specific set of values and behaviors can lead to blind spots in business decision-making and limit opportunities for innovation and creativity.
The article “Exploring and exposing values in management education: Problematizing final vocabularies in order to enhance moral imagination” also discusses linguistics and value. It describes the problematic belief about the value-neutral vocabulary used in management education and the limited vocabulary that students can be exposed to (Fougère, Solitander and Young, 2014, p. 176).
According to my observations, this can have negative societal consequences, causing inequality and create blind spots. People respect others according to what they have and not much about who they are as a person. When people are valued primarily based on their financial status, rather than who they are as individuals, it can lead to a narrow focus on financial metrics and a failure to recognize important environmental factors that could impact the business.
Personal values and beliefs in teaching and learning
Both articles consider value-free education detrimental as in teaching events there is always a person, the lecturer, with a certain power. During the Corporate Sustainability lecture, this was referred as the hidden curriculum. The one with power, the lecturer or a trainer, tells participants what matters, who matters and where should the students' time be spent during a course. Therefore, the lecturer’s values and learning methods already affect the class.
Few years ago I attended a corporate sustainability course as part of an education program. The teacher gave examples on how he fostered sustainability in his life. He was a vegan but could eat animals if he knew from which farm the animal came and if the animal had a good life. This value-based decision would have been interesting to discuss with the class, but this time students weren’t given space for discussion, therefore the teacher's values affected the class teaching and thinking.
Given the previous example, I agree with Fougère, Solitander and Young (2014, p. 179) that students should be left with space and facilitated by a teacher to be safely skeptical about values and views presented in teaching. I’d guess it's impossible to completely separate personal values and beliefs from teaching, and that attempting to do so can result in a superficial and incomplete understanding of complex issues, but students should be allowed to develop their values and beliefs through critical thinking and exposure to a variety of perspectives, rather than being influenced by their teachers.
The business world is full of strong values, and students will come across these values when entering work life. Having a different kind of values and beliefs in classrooms require students’ ability to consider others' perspectives and find a common understanding. If silos are broken already in classes and understanding formed, could be easier to break those also in a business context?
Although I have three business degrees, I haven’t previously considered how value-free these programs were. I have taken for granted the education values given to me in class, which do not limit only to teaching events. Educational Institutions also have values that can influence students. Not necessarily in class, but in other communications.
From individual self-interest to a holistic view of the system
If business education still reinforces individual self-interest, education should be changed so that student sees and starts to value the entire system and what it is built from. Business education should emphasize the interconnectedness of various systems and stakeholders, and highlight the importance of creating shared value.
The incentives for a successful student should be changed to include us instead of the student itself. This can help create a more sustainable and socially responsible approach to business, which benefits everyone in the long run.
Note: This text is based on my original course assignment on Corporate Sustainability at Hanken Open University 2023 with title "Rethinking Values in Business Education: Challenging Dominant Paradigms and Fostering Critical Thinking"
References
M.Fougère, Solitander N. & S.Young (2014), Exploring and exposing values in management education: Problematizing final vocabularies in order to enhance moral imagination, Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 120, Issue 2.
Painter-Morland, M. (2015). Philosophical assumptions undermining responsible management education. Journal of Management Development, 34(1), 61-75.
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