It is a great delight to write a foreword to this book, indeed one more contribution in the long stretch of works of research, writings, and series by the normative ethicist, teacher, researcher, scientist, and hard-working author Kemi Ogunyemi of the Lagos Business School, Nigeria, on the theme of Ethics.
The topic of Ethics, though ancient in its origins, has in our time and place become a novel and compelling subject, both in its theoretical and practical engagements, resounding globally and with new impetus. In the media reporting on global and local cases of scandals around the themes of corruption, disorientation, misgovernance, abuse of public trust, unethical behaviors, valueless lifestyles, it makes sense to accept the fact that “there is a better way to do business”—namely, the ethical way.
This conclusion, found on every page in the new edited book of Dr. Ogunyemi titled “Teaching Ethics Across the Management Curriculum,” has a simple argument, which is, that the road to principle is also the road to higher performance, richer results, and ultimately to sustainability, the new buzzword of the 21st century.
The challenges facing the modern world are many. The questions for humanity at this time and in all continents revolve around many contradictions and antinomies and border on issues of meaning and meaninglessness, truth and relativity, poverty and wealth, governance and economic stability, crises of leadership and management of resources, environmental degradation, and the overall threats to legacies inherited as tradition, as well as value orientation and questions of life by a new generation of young people, eager to live well and move on, but not knowing how. Humanity has received many good gifts. Translating them intoreality for large populations across the globe is possible. The optimism is hinged on value-orientation and value-driven leadership. Education is the key to this new way especially if founded on knowledge and character.
This new book sets out as a well researched and articulated program for the orientation of the youth of the modern world to ethical values, across the management curriculum. It is a study into the preparation of future leaders of tomorrow for the challenges of doing development as humans, not robots, and running business ethically. The research is a successful attempt to bring down the teaching, research, and training of “Ethics” as a practice, from its lofty sounding position in the clouds to become real principles that real people, leaders, and youth can use to get better results on the fundamental questions that confront humankind. It is this type of Ethics teaching and training contained in the following pages that is at work in helping careers, building businesses, making decisions, dealing with people, and developing relationships.
In 11 short chapters, Dr. Ogunyemi and the other contributors to this volume build a method for the transformation of students and teachers by curriculum development, which cuts across a good number of functional disciplines. The work delves into promoting entrepreneurship ethics; codes of conduct; accounting and corporate finance courses; dealing with the lies found behind Statistics; ethics in international branding and recruitment and what happens in the various business disciplines. The work concludes with a strategic focus on re-enforcing compliance with international business and enabling learning for students with pragmatic results that lead to ethical career choices and the good habit of keeping promises.
Because this is a topic of very vast significance, the work, in my humble estimation and having taught and researched myself for the greater part of my life on the topic of Ethics in Education and in my own career for the last 40 years as a teacher, has earned itself an endearing place in libraries, classrooms, teaching halls, homes, and places of research, training, and governance.
I highly recommend this new book to all. It considers a theme of acute shortage and gives room for discussions surrounding the normative and positivist approaches to Ethics in building curricula of studies for a new generation. It is modest to conclude that amongst the many writings on the subject, this work by Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi shall join the few enduring ones.
Msgr. Prof. Dr. Obiora Ike
Professor of Ethics and Intercultural Studies
Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu State, Nigeria
Director, Catholic Institute for Development Justice Peace and Caritas,
CIDJAP Enugu, Nigeria
Globethics.net Nigeria National Contact