Sustainability and ethics : the perception and relevance for current and future managers.
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Date
2015
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Abstract
Sustainability and Ethics are topics that have increasingly become key across modern
organisations. Sustainability is a priority interest for many organisations as the world’s
resources are at threat if organisations do not take responsibility for ensuring that they utilize
resources sparingly, preserving scarce resources for future generations. Business schools
have incorporated the need of business organisations into the curriculum in line with current
business requirements. The Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme is a
management education qualification that is ideal for people wishing to develop or enhance
their skills and knowledge across the entire spectrum of modern management. MBA studies
feed into the running of today’s organisations hence not only does their curriculum matter
to business but also the level of understanding, concept application and practicality of
learning. These affect the body of knowledge that MBA’s apply or must apply in their
respective organisations. It is therefore important to determine if MBA students are
implementing their learning in their organisations as they represent the current and future
managers. However individuals have different perceptions and would have varied opinions
of the relevance of their learning to business practice. The primary purpose of this study was
to determine if current and future managers are contributing towards sustainability and ethics
in their organisations based on their learning. This exploratory study sought to address in
particular the understanding of subjects of sustainability, ethics and related topics, the
perceptions of future managers and the relevance of the MBA programme based on student
perceptions. An outline questionnaire was designed to examine various aspects of the topics
of sustainability and ethics as well as the MBA students’ perceptions of other aspects of the
curriculum. A non-probability purposive sample of 100 current MBA students was obtained
from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Graduate School of Business and
Leadership. The salient findings of this study show that there is a gap between student
perceptions on topics of sustainability and ethics and implementation of their learning in
their organisations. The study found that though MBA students have an understanding of the
meaning of sustainability and ethics and understand the relevance for their organisations
there is need for managers to focus on implementation of their learning.
Description
Master of Business Administration. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville 2015.
Keywords
Sustainability--Management., Strategic planning--Management., Sustainable development., Business ethics., Management--Moral and ethical aspects., Executives--Professional ethics., Theses--Business administration.