Innovative Methods of Teaching Integrity and Ethics in Management Education

Introduction

This chapter seeks to demonstrate the innovative ways of integrity teaching and integrity education management in colleges and universities. It is an exploration of learning and integrity competences acquisition from innovatively defined and designed case studies including practical examples (interviews, video-conferencing, web-based meetings, shared workspaces, wikis, virtual meeting spaces, and social and professional web networks).

Impediments to integrity skills acquisition in institutions of higher learning can be the result of the following: poor integrity management, a lack of consultation with employees and owners or their representatives/CEO’s, company directors/, who knowingly or unknowingly perpetrate a toxic management environment as they aim to implement a “bottom line profit” philosophy at all cost. Knowledge and competence transfer delivery in educational settings and in small to medium training service providers, personality conflicts, which can result in people delaying or refusing to communicate a philosophy of integrity in the managerial process; and the personal attitudes of individual employees, which may be due to lack of motivation or dissatisfaction at work can lead to insufficient or inappropriate integrity teaching. Integrity as defined in this chapter suggests a person whose self is sound, undivided and complete.

This chapter explores innovative methods of teaching integrity and ethics in management education at institutions of high learning, as well as integrity training programs in business enterprises. There is a multitude of impediments to acquiring integrity skills and ethical communication practices in both educational institutions and in the workplace. These impediments can result from poor integrity management; a lack of consultation and communication with employees; or a toxic management environment often unknowingly perpetrated by owners who implement a “bottom line profit” philosophy. Impediments to communicating ethical standards and practices can be found in individual attitudes: a refusal or unwillingness to communicate integrity philosophies because of personality conflicts, personal attitudes toward integrity and ethics, or a lack of motivation or dissatisfaction related to work. Impediments beyond individual personalities may be the problem, such as language or cultural barriers (Harvey and Griffith, 2002), or ineffective or inefficient efficient channels of communication needed for the implementation of integrity management training and guidance. Awareness of such impediments is the first step in educators and managers acquiring the necessary tools for managing integrity and ethics education and training.

Integrity learning challenges us to face new experiences and enables us to develop a global mindset. Self-examination of values, personal, cultural or organizational, can come from new experiences, from our leaving the safety of what we know and experiencing something new and different. A global mindset allows us to transcend the constraints of our experiences and belief systems and to see the world for what it really is. In order to approach the fast-paced global world, people need to work across disciplines and think holistically. Integrity and ethics education for an increasingly global frame of reference will require educators and managers to inculcate those in their charge with adaptability and flexibility while balancing this with the tools of instilling ethical reasoning and a commitment to one’s own individual moral equilibrium. The process of refining these emerging global integrity competencies will be accomplished through the use of E-learning, blended learning, social media and personalized learning environments. The process of teaching integrity in education and management to acquire global integrity competence benefits from a video-conference and collaborative blog-based methodology.