Growing the Business Practitioner: The nature and purpose of legal studies for the non lawyer

Abstract

Lyman Johnson explained the tenuous relationship between business people and the law in his paper, Corporate Law Teachers as Gatekeepers (2009). He draws upon the work of Milton Friedman explaining that ‘executives must also conform not only to the law but also to rules “embodied in ethical custom”’. Recent global corporate collapse has demonstrated that while many business practitioners complied with the law, they did not embody the ethical custom of their time. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has caused business people, governments and educators to consider the nature of business education and how is serves the wider community. Of particular focus is the nature and extent of ethical education in our business schools. This paper explores the current nature of business education and suggests that future graduate profiles should include statements which reflect the specific behavioural requirements of graduates’ workplaces. Students should be provided with the opportunity to experience and explore values in team learning situations, work integrated learning and significant projects. Teachers are challenged to create assessments which will measure student learning achievement and success in a broader business perspective. This will require a change in curriculum design to incorporate affective behaviours in business practice and embody an ethical framework reflecting society’s growing expectations of a socially responsible business community.