Skip to content

Ethics Education of Business Leaders. Emotional Intelligence, Virtues, and Contemplative Learning

    Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Ethics Education of Business Leaders. Emotional Intelligence, Virtues, and Contemplative Learning.’ Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, 2016

    How can business schools educate future business leaders to make ethical decisions? This is really a challenge as business schools focus on one-dimensional rationality and cognitive intelligence. They teach the “Homo oeconomicus” model and related
    theories (agency theory, profit, or shareholder maximization) which promote individual, selfinterested behavior. Not unsurprisingly business schools produce graduates who are more selfish and morally disengaged than non-business graduates (Grant 2013). Today, there is a strong imbalance in business education between teaching abstract, rational concepts, and providing opportunities for personal, moral growth.

    Ethics Education of Business Leaders. Emotional Intelligence, Virtues, and Contemplative Learning