Sustainability and ethics : the perception and relevance for current and future managers.

Abstract

Master of Business Administration. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville 2015.

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.