Cheating as an ethical issue affecting students

Introduction

            The business community in the contemporary society has increasingly demonstrated a steady decline in matters of ethics at the office level. As a result, there has been increased concern among the business scholars to include, as part of education, instructions in ethics. The scandals encountered at Tyco, WorldCom, Enron and Arthur Andersen, just to mention but a few have made the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools Of Business)  body to struggle in determining the measures to be put in place especially at the higher education level so as to prevent ethical embarrassments in the future. The Center for Academic Integrity in a study done on some business majors found out that 74% admitted to cheating (O’clock & Okleshen, 1993).

Even in the recent past, at least 10 percent of a 1^st year class at the in the Fuqua School of Business at the Duke university were found out to have cheated in a final exam, a take-home exam, to be precise. Despite the school’s stand and emphasis on ethical behavior, this still had to occur; so unfortunate. At the moment Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) is on a case probing around 26 companies in the US with big names such as AIG Insurance, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Lehman Brothers, just to mention but a few. The cause for concern is to find out the real reason behind the financial crisis that each is facing currently. The fraudulent deals to be unearthed are so big that a renowned and retired FBI agent hinted that it could dwarf the Enron financial deal (Velthouse, Davis & Hodis, 2007). This paper will discuss cheating as an ethical issue affecting students

Cheating as an ethical issue affecting students

By improving the ethical behavior of business students, we can argue that ultimately, the business climate will also change positively. In the efforts thus, the business scholars have pursued an initiative to research the reason behind cheating among students and exactly to what degree per each business student that cheating occurs. A comparison was undertaken pitting business student against non-business ones, graduates against non-graduates, traditional to non-traditional, male against female, and even older against the younger. Some researchers have even gone an extra mile in examining personality variables, cultural demographics, PET (Personal Ethical Threshold) and integrity culture (Pratt, 2009).

According to these researches, there is a firm belief that we will be equipped to bring our business students future ethical conduct about if we could understand their ethical decision making criteria. Earlier, studies indicated that gender and age are the most consistent in behavior prediction in matters of ethics. A meta-analysis by O’Clock, P. & Okleshen, was conducted of 47 separate gender-related studies and a further 35 of former age-related studies in 1998. The references were for studies done between the years 1985 to the year 1994. It found parallel and concurrent connections between ethical behavior and the female gender and the same behavior being associated with older age. At a young age, women were found to have developed a more ethical attitude and external factors influence them to a much lesser degree than men. On a more general platform, the behavior and attitude becomes more ethical with age (O’clock & Okleshen, 1993).

Among business managers, a study conducted recently however indicates that age has no role to play in the ethical behavior in their moral reasoning. Students still in their development stage of maturity might have age as a factor but almost certainly; this is not the case for already matured students. In context, perhaps there arises the need to make distinction between maturity and age, just maybe. Chronologically, it is highly unlikely that age by itself can make a person more ethical. The general conclusion is that a woman will tend to act more ethically than a man and that an older student tends to be more ethical than a younger one.

Now to the particulars of a business student being more ethical than a non- business one; to this is one, there is a creditable disagreement. A look at some research notes indicate that non-business students are more ethical than their business counterparts (O’clock & Okleshen, 1993) added to the conclusion that this also crosses cultural lines. Some were inconclusive in their findings. All these inconsistencies made O’clock & Okleshen to conduct a meta-analysis so as to examine the real effect on ethical conduct on a business major as opposed to a non-business major.  Unfortunately, their results were also inconclusive. They too had to sum it up by concluding that it was difficult to make a causal; connection between a major or ethical perceptions for a student.

Comparison major attempts within business have been carried out and they point to a possibility of a more or even less ethical behavior. Thus, we can say that business majors increasingly come from different sources of science; for instance while finance and accounting derive from the quantitative science, marketing and management disciplines draw theirs from behavioral science. A likely source in the differences of perceptions could be the derivation. Considering the accounting majors for example, yielded a fact of their being more ethically aware and compliant than their other business major counterparts. This can be due to the fact that the discipline in which accountancy falls in calls for a more rule-based approach than, say, marketing or management per say. According to O’clock & Okleshen (1993), there was however no correlation existing between the ethical perceptions and business majors.

Te DIT (Defining Issues Test) has been extensively used to analyze and determine these effects. This includes those made by O’clock & Okleshen (1993) of a major course, this criteria works by measuring the subject development from a moral perspective. However, while using a Multidimensional Ethics Scale research criteria, this determines the ethical mode of reasoning behind specific decision making, the scores for accounting majors scored highest compared to liberal arts which clocked the lowest points. Of most researchers, many tend to gauge the ethical mentality and/or moral development that determine the business student’s ethics. However, no study has been undertaken to query whether the cause of action taken by a student’s prediction will be executed. We can all argue that after an ethics tutorship session, a business student will have learnt the ethical path to be taken at every opportunity and the likely action that is generally and ethically acceptable. Whenever questions arise in line with a proposed or perceived ethical issue, there is a “mechanical” mastery to give the “perfect” answer. Notwithstanding, the eventual challenge will be manifest when the case scenario will be a dilemma that is ethically demanding. However, the big question now being, whether the student will execute the conduct previously predicted (Lawson 2004).

Consider the researches carried out on customers who get excess change at the till. For the lucky customer, the questions raging in their minds are, “Do I tell the cashier of his/her mistake and give back the extra cash? What if I just keep my mouth shut and pocket the money” The research came to a conclusion that the more committed the consumer is to the seller, the higher the chances of his reporting the latter’s error. The study however also indicates of many a consumer confessing to having pocketed the cash. Amongst university students, just like the society in general, cheating especially examination cheating is a daily business affair. Most or all of them will cite cheating in examination as a way to avoid the drop that comes with bad or poor results but the bottom line is that the vice however much justification it may be accorded by the students in question is downright unethical (Malone, 2006).

Researchers are always grappling with the idea on how to determine the conduct of a customer who received more than he was generally entitled to. The conclusion that one may have is that if queried whether they would relinquish the extra cash, more would be inclined to say they would give it back without second thought but practical sense indicates they won’t. The case study in question was set up by use of a similar process of initially asking the students on their cause of action when and if given excess change and the next one is by actually giving them a better or poorer score than what they actually got. This practical application was meant to prove beyond reasonable doubt whether the student can actually do what they said or merely just say it and never do (Clark, 2006).

In essence, it has been generally concluded that if students are tutored to act ethically while still in the lecture halls, there is a higher degree that they will act the same when faced with practical real-life circumstances that question their moral and ethical standing. Of all studies examining university students, all are mean to observe their reaction to ethical dilemmas. More focus and emphasis should be exerted by administrators in business schools and different faculties to ensure that the curriculum is well suited and accomplishing the purpose of teaching and coaching an employee who will display high standards of ethical responsibility. There is an urgent need for educators, scholars and faculty administrators who will strive to enforce valuable integrity into the minds of graduates or soon-to-be employees at the “manufacturing” stage. It is also evident that more insight is needed in addressing this problem since the cases of cheating by university students is hitting all-time highs. In the future, study should be directed towards exploration into the intensity of effort exerted by administrators especially in business schools in order to establish how they respond to the big calls to adequately equip students in the business faculty with the endowed capability and power to be ethical in their future work places (Sims, 1993).

Open any newspaper or press release today and chances are that you will not fail to get a story reporting on an unethical corporate big-gun. Most illegal behavior is causing businesses to make the front pages of the dailies for all the wrong reasons: bad ethics. Any day, any week, any daily and there is a story running focusing on unethical behavior or decision by a corporate chief or parastatal head. Shareholders, customers and employees are bearing the blunt of bad ethics levied on them by the same leaders they trusted to accomplish the vision they so much embody; not to mention the high cost of rebuilding the corporate image that they will have to shoulder thereafter. Whenever ethical norms are compromised or violated, the shareholders always endure unending suffering; lost revenue, investments and at times, their only means of a livelihood.

On the other hand, the society stands to benefit as a whole from ethical decisions from the leaders in any enterprise (Albaum, 2006). Scholars entering today’s business enterprise working environment will encounter a very complex set up; in that many corporations are these days providing free training for their workers on ethics matters. Some have even gone a further step in creating a new position for ethical officer. Duties of the said officer may vary from employee training to executive advice on ethics related matters (Swartz, 2003). A recent study indicated that at least above 40% of the Fortune 500 and over 50% of Fortune 100 corporations had hired an ethics officer by the year 2004 (Corporate Compasses, 2004). The increasingly important need of an ethics officer is a clear indicator that can be seen in the considerable increases in membership of two separate associations that deal in professional ethics (Clark, 2006).

Business ethics, as corporation chiefs are learning are more complicated especially when it comes to negotiating deals on an international platform. Online and face-to-face ethics are some of the ways large companies are using to train their workers to equip them for the at times hostile international business environment (Brubaker, 2003). In essence, university graduates are tomorrow’s leaders. These are supposed to be ethical individuals who will uphold the ethical standards of a company and enact systems and foundations that will assist others and guide them into ethical behavior. The level of ethics training in current business schools is however in question on whether it is adequate (Lawson 2004).

Cheating is a very serious ethical issue among the students in all disciplines globally. Nonetheless, it is significant for the education sector to ensure that the students do not cheat in exams so as to ensure that competent individuals join the workforce. This will definitely improve the general working environment and economy of the society as a whole. I must admit that having been enrolled to study a degree course at the university exposed me to several cases of cheating and it is true that I have been tempted in several occasions to actually cheat. Furthermore, I can remember a day that I was almost tempted to open up a book that contained some information that was being examined, but I stopped when a lecturer came in. I can admit strongly that cheating is unethical and should be discouraged completely.

Conclusion

This paper will discuss cheating as an ethical issue affecting students. Cheating is a very serious ethical issue among the students in all disciplines globally. However, it is significant for the education sector to ensure that the students do not cheat in exams so as to ensure that competent individuals join the work force. This will definitely improve the general working environment and economy of the society as a whole.

References

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