1.CSR Considerations in Formal Business Educational Programs
There are widespread fraud and non-ethical practices in many organizations today. Business schools should take responsibility for the socially and ethical menaces happening in organizations today. The sole purpose of business schools is to train, equip and present business experts who will make the workplaces more productive. Unfortunately, business schools are failing terribly in this regard.
The fraud, scandals and inconsistencies evident in the workplaces today are because of knowledge and experience inadequacy in employees. Research shows that two-thirds of individuals aged 19-23 are not conversant with social and ethical issues. Thus, in my opinion, it becomes challenging for these individuals to identify a moral dilemma. Worse still is they cannot be able to address any ethical issue because they do not know anything about it. These kinds of individuals are the ones seeking employment in organizations. There is nothing as costly and dangerous as bringing on board half-baked employees.
For a majority of business leaders, college is the place they go before they venture into employment. Therefore, I propose business colleges need to put more emphasis in preparing these candidates for the corporate world by equipping them with social responsibility and ethics education (Barber and Venkatachalam 387: Nicholls, Hair, Ragland and Schimmel 133). Sadly, I have noted that most colleges do not take ethical training as seriously as they do other subjects such as sustainability and innovation. In addition, most business schools compete to provide business leaders who are competent in applying traditional business skills yet very few use the same energy to provide socially and ethically upright business experts. Moreover, colleges that teach their students about business ethics do so up to an abstract level offering very little information and knowledge to students.
In my opinion, the best way to teach ethics and social responsibility is to furnish students with the tools to discern and expand personal values and a wisdom of personal responsibility. Notably, when students learn their passion and make decisions consistent with their passion, their values become resilient and instinctive. Thus, it is essential to integrate ethics in almost all subjects. We need to move away from the notion that socially responsible decision making occurs only at the corporate level, it starts from college. If colleges fail to integrate this vital subject in the curriculum, then I think organizations risk constant fraud, high turnover rate, work disputes, substandard work and injustices in the workplace as well as the society.
2.Gap between Employee Skill Level and Performance Level
The skills gap that most employers are concerned about starting right in colleges. I think teachers should be strict about student’s ability to organize their work, meeting deadlines, agree to rules and regulations as well as self-discipline. The primary reason why teachers should be strict on these issues is that they will be equipping future leaders with the necessary skills they require in the corporate world. Emphasis is put on colleges to training students on writing, mathematics abilities, technical knowledge and reading. Nonetheless, I would like to mention that these are not the kind of skills gap experienced by employers. These skills can be taught to the workers through on the job training. Moreover, everyone has the competencies to learn new techniques if provided with the training. The skills gap most common in the workplaces include time management, adaptability, self-motivation, professionalism, strong work ethics, accountability, and punctuality (Tulgan, 55). Unfortunately, these skills cannot be instilled in workers through training. Research indicates that the skills level and performance level are directly linked. Employees who lack the necessary “soft skills” have poor productivity. On the other hand, employees who succeed are rich in “soft skills” (management, adaptability, self-motivation, professionalism, strong work ethics, accountability, and punctuality).
To reduce the skills gap in the corporate world, I recommend appraising skilled employees with bonuses, promotions, salary increment and many other incentives to encourage better performance and motivate the rest of the workers. Inadequate employees who show no signs of improvement should be fired and replaced with skilled employees. Moreover, colleges should strive to instil soft skills to students while in colleges. Students should be penalized for lateness, disorganization, absenteeism, poor time management and poor work ethic. This strategy will assist students to acquire the soft skills required for outstanding performance and productivity in their places of work.
3.
In any formal writing, I am expected to use my original words and thoughts without copying another person’s work. Ideally, there is no need to cite my thoughts and ideas. Nonetheless, if I borrow words and ideas of another person and use them in my writing, then I am required to cite the acquired content correctly (Lipson 42). Citation helps to prevent academic plagiarism. If I include another person’s work in my essay without citing, I acknowledge that the work is originally mine. Lack of citation, in this case, is a serious offence and I can be accused of plagiarism. In addition, I will lose some marks for the failure of citing borrowed words and ideas.
References
Barber, Nelson and Venkatachalam, Venky. “Integrating Social Responsibility Into Business School Undergraduate Education: A Student Perspective.” American Journal of Business Education, vol. 6, no. 3, May/ June 2013, pp. 385-396. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1054415.pdf
Nicholls, Jeananne, Hair, Joseph, Ragland, Charles, and Schimmel, Kurt. “Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability Education in AACSB Undergraduate and Graduate Marketing Curricula: A Benchmark Study.” Journal of Marketing Education, vol. 35, no. 2, August 2013, pp. 129-140. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e5ea/03ef0d6cc021e56069a8f7ecca1c359413ad.pdf
Lipson, Charles. Doing honest work in college: How to prepare citations, avoid plagiarism, and achieve real academic success. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2008. Print.
Tulgan, Bruce. Bridging the Soft Skills Gap: How to Teach the Missing Basics to Today’s Young Talent. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2015. Print.
