Business Schools at the Crossroads? A Trip Back from Sparta to Athens

Maria Jose Murcia (), Hector O. Rocha () and Julian Birkinshaw ()
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Maria Jose Murcia: IAE Business School, Austral University and University of British Columbia
Hector O. Rocha: IAE Business School, Austral University
Julian Birkinshaw: University of London

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, vol. 150, issue 2, No 15, 579-591

Abstract: Abstract Some business schools have come under considerable criticism for what observers see as their complicit involvement in the corporate scandals and financial crises of the last 15 years. Much of the discussion about changes that schools might undertake has been focused on curriculum issues. However, revisiting the curriculum does not get at the root cause of the problem. Instead, it might create a new challenge: the risk of decoupling the discussion of the curriculum from broader issues of institutional purpose. In this article, we argue that the most pressing need facing business schools is not to teach new courses to be responsive to social demands and stay relevant. Instead, it is to revisit their basic mission—the principles and beliefs on which they were founded—and then to re-evaluate their curriculum design choices in this light. We contrast the Spartan and Athenian educational paradigms as a way of shedding light on the nature of a coherent response.

Keywords: Ancient Greece; Business schools; Curriculum issues; Mission; Scandals; Sparta and Athens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3129-3

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