This Guide is intended to be of use to university business school staff, students and alumni engaged in research, enterprise, administration and learning.
Professor Huw Morris, Dean, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School said:
"There has been much criticism over the last two years of business schools in the US and UK for their role in teaching many of the people who led and managed the banks and other financial services industries which contributed to the current economic downturn. The guidelines are not intended as a rigid code or a means of policing behaviour.
"They are instead intended to encourage all associated with business schools to ask the right questions when planning their teaching, research and other activities. We welcome feedback, on this draft code, and look forward to amending and developing it to meet the challenges and dilemmas our colleagues face on a day-to-day basis".
Many professional bodies in the field of business and management have codes of ethics which inform the work of their members. In addition, most UK universities have ethics procedures and on occasion codes of practice which inform decisions about research and related matters. Notwithstanding these developments there are few guides available from UK based academic and scholarly associations.
This Guide is intended to provide advice and guidance for UK business school academics and their students about the ethical questions and issues that may need to be considered when considering a range of learning, teaching, research and enterprise issues. This guide is not intended to be a strict code or point of prescription. It is intended instead to be a point of reference and to inform debate about our work.
