George Washington University announced this fall that they will provide a new curriculum for its graduate business school, a year after AU's Kogod School of Business updated its own Master of Business Administration degree program.
The GWU School of Business will now emphasize ethical business practices and globalization in all graduate-level business classes, according to Murat Tarimcilar, associate dean of graduate programs at GWU.
"Ethical business practices have always been important to address in MBA programs, but we decided it's not about having one ethics course, instead we're going to incorporate this into every single class," he said.
Business classes that may not have included discussion of ethics previously will now use examples and situations that relate to the new curriculum. For example, a business management class might discuss how to work with an international company that doesn't meet domestic child labor laws, Tarimcilar said.
Kogod's MBA program changed its curriculum in the fall of 2007, according to Kogod Associate Dean Lawrence Ward.
Kogod MBA students take a two-semester class called "Strategic Decision-Making in a Global Environment" that ties ethical business practices and globalization to other areas of the business program, according to Ward. Kogod's curriculum change included changing the length and subject matter of "Strategic Decision-Making" so that it applied to all topics and international business.
"Our perspective is an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, to educate and engage students," he said. "We made our move last fall and I don't anticipate that we will be making any short term changes."
Both Kogod and the GWU School of Business are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, which accredits schools based on their inclusion of certain topics in curriculum.
"The AACSB dictates what subjects business schools have to teach in the curriculum, both at the graduate and undergraduate level," Ward said. "Ethical business practices is one of those things, whether it's in one class or spread out over several."
GWU's change in curriculum also is a response to the increasingly competitive market of graduate business schools, Tarimcilar said.
Other graduate business schools in the United States have previously updated or overhauled their curricula, including Yale University in 2006, he said.
Ward said GWU's decision to revamp their MBA program was natural, considering there are about 40 different business programs in D.C. alone, including online schools.
"I think GWU's decision is based on differentiating themselves in a crowded marketplace in Washington, D.C.," he said. "My sense is they are responding to what we and others in the marketplace have done."
GWU's new curriculum helped recruit the best applicant class ever, in terms of GMAT scores and work experience, Tarimcilar said.
But the changes are only effective if applicants are interested in the school's specialty, said Roger Volkema, a Kogod professor.
"The areas that GWU picked aren't up-and-coming areas; they're up, but not up-and-coming," he said. "Ethics in business is something we've been talking about for five or 10 years now."
Jasmin Paulson just started her first year as a Kogod graduate student. During her first ethics class, she will discuss legal, ethical and social issues in business.
But she said she expects to talk about ethics and internationalism in all of her business classes, because of the nature of the material.
"In light of so many recent business failures, it's all the more important that students have a framework for ethical business solutions," Paulson said.
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