Reflective essay
Part 1
Summary of articles
Focusing on ‘cheating in business schools', Moneo (1) asserts that business students cheat more than students in other fields. In most cases, business students engage in academic dishonesty through plagiarisms (copying other's original ideas), and crib notes or cheat sheets (take a quick reference during a test). For example, the first study on business students and cheating reported that in 2002 and 2004, out of 5,000 business students from different universities, 56% were involved in academic dishonesty. McCabe (1) adds that students who study Master of Business Administration cheat more than other students. For example in the U.S. and Canada, MBAs students cheat and the major reasons are that they want to get-it-done- in other words, they do not their work with core competencies but they focus on completion even without the idea on how the task is done (McCabe, 1). In addition, they want to speed up the task to achieve their desired visions and goals in an illegal way. They focus on earning a higher grade point average (GPA) through the dishonest way. Students very well know that a higher GPA matters since it is the path towards applying for a scholarship, joining an organization and extra-curricular activities, among other programmes. Thus, GPA unlocks many opportunities since organizations look at GPA to know whether a student is hard-working and ambitious. For example, 74% of MBAs students engage in academic dishonesty through the use of cheat sheets, internet, and other means (McCabe, 1). Students are aware that MBA is associated with various benefits such as high paying jobs and job security and for this reason, they look forward to hitting the bottom line and succeed in the business world.
In comparing cheating in business students with other students, (Klein et al, 197) asserts that business students are the worst offenders. It is not arguable that academic dishonesty has led to business fraud in the corporate world. Note that students who develop cheating behavior at school transfer these behaviors to the real world and this is why there are various cases of cheating by accountants. It is important to understand that in today's business world, the capital markets expect accountants to show integrity and honesty in presenting financial statements. Thus, professors in educational institutions should prevent cheating. In 2004, the Primetime reported that cheating by business students is not only a recurrent behavior but it is also intricate (Klein et al, 197). In other words, cheating is a practice that will continue to increase since students report that they look forward to attain good grades. The authors assert that the negative side of academic dishonesty is that it will affect future employers because students who cheat in the classroom will develop unethical behaviors at the place of work. It is important to note that there is a correlation between cheating in college and cheating at work. For example, a study conducted in 2003 showed that the total costs of fraudulent behavior in the U.S is $50 billion annuall (Klein et al, 198). In addition to this, modern business encounter various scandals from the top company officers and the major scandals are associated with employees stealing from employers. This is an indication that students who engage in cheating behaviors in college display dishonest workplace behaviors. Lawson (190) also supports that classroom cheating is correlated with cheating in the real world. He adds that business students lack personal ethics and they have low ethical standards. However, they very well know that ethical behavior in the classroom as well as in the business world really matters since business students will become business professionals or rather business leaders in the future (Lawson, 190). Thus, they will be important people in the business world in making a decision concerning business practices and thus, they need to practice business ethics. They also understand that they behaviors whether ethical or not will influence the business world. However, students do not apply these positive attitudes about ethics in the classroom and in the business world. In other words, there is a big difference in how students perceive ethics and how their practice ethics. Despite the fact that there are aware that their behaviors have an important impact in their academic and professional life, they tend to show lower ethical standards (Lawson, 198). At home, students are at a higher risk of making unethical decisions. Another thing that influences business students toward cheating is the belief that the business world is full of unethical behaviors. They use this belief as a self-fulfilling's prophecy and for them, they do not see academic dishonesty as unethical behavior.
Granitz & Loewy (294) asserts that it is important to apply ethical theories in order to understand why students engage in academic dishonesty. First, it is important to note that Internet is associated with benefits and losses in that teachers can now use the Internet to meet students' needs and interest, and the negative side is that Internet has increased cheating since it is now easy for students to copy homework assignments (Granitz & Loewy, 294). However, students use ethical reasoning before engaging in academic cheating. For example, deontologists assert that rules justify whether the act is morally right or wrong. Therefore, under this theory, plagiarism is wrong. However, students believe that plagiarism is not wrong since there are no rules to guide them. In other words, the faculties do not set clear guidelines and as a result, students do not know what plagiarism is (Granitz & Loewy, 296). Focusing on utilitarianism, human beings should weight the outcome of action so that they can choose the act that will produce the greatest happiness's. Focusing on the academic setting, plagiarism is associated with higher grades and therefore, students appeal to utilitarian while cheating. Focusing on rational self-interest theory, people make choices to benefit themselves and in this case, students cheat to benefit themselves. Another ethical theory that justifies cheating is ethical egoism. Students are influenced by self-interest without considering the harm. In cheating, students focus on attaining a great value such as being clever. Students also use cultural relativism to justify cheating. They may argue that plagiarism is acceptable and there is no problem with it considering one's cultural background (Granitz & Loewy, 297). The last theory that students use to justify cheating is situational ethics. In this theory, students approach an ethical dilemma using a particular context rather than adhering to ethical standards. Granitz & Loewy (298) conducts research to understand the different theories and the findings show that students apply all discussed ethical theories. However, the most applied theory is deontology 41.8% (they plagiarized because they did not know), situational ethics 19.9% ( they plagiarized because they were forced by circumstances), Machiavellian 18.4% ( deny the charge), cultural relativism 8.5% ( they followed the norms of their culture) utilitarianism 5.7% ( they focused on outcomes and plagiarism would help them attain good grades) , rational self-interest ( students focused on satisfying themselves) (Granitz & Loewy, 299).
Part 2
The primary goals of ACU's integrity policy
Academic integrity is the act of showing honest, diligence, respect, and moral behaviors in an academic setting. Students can show academic integrity through various practices including being responsible to own studies, respecting others, adhering to ethical requirements, adhering to assessment requirements, among other practices. Failure to show academic integrity is called academic dishonesty. In other words, academic dishonesty is cheating either through plagiarism, sabotage, failure to adhere to examination regulations, collaborating in completing one's assignment, among other practices (OFFICE OF THE PROVOST, 1). Having understood the academic integrity and academic dishonesty, it is important to note that the primary goal of the academic integrity is to create a Christian environment and to ensure ethical codes in academic settings and personal lives. In addition, the academic integrity focus on communicating and interpreting the ethical codes and expectations to faculty and students so that they may become accountable and responsible for their behaviors. The major things that ACU is trying to achieve in this policy to ensure that the students and faculty conduct themselves effectively by honoring the ethical codes. It also focus on seeing a strong partnership between the administration, staff, and students so that they may promote academic credibility, and practice the best practices (OFFICE OF THE PROVOST, 1). The ACU's integrity policy is effective in that it focuses on eliminating all forms of fraud in academic settings and it also adds academic values. In addition, its objective is to promote excellence in teaching, ensure legitimate co-operation between students, and promote professional behaviors.
Part 3
Why do business students cheat?
From my own perspective, students cheat due to a results-oriented mindset. In other words, they embody this mindset so that they can achieve effectiveness and meet their goals. It is also important to note that students are influenced by the belief that business professionals in the real world are interested in whether students achieved the desired results but they do not consider the means in which the results were achieved. Thus, students are willing to engage in academic dishonesty to achieve success. They do not consider integrity or ethical standards but they focus on attaining higher grades. I also think that business students cheat due to the fear of failure. They want to improve their development and get good jobs in the future. From the perspective of the research readings, students have various attitudes as to why they cheat. Granitz and Loewy (296) use deontology theory to assert that students cheat due to lack of clear guidelines from the faculty members and lack of institutional policies. Students might argue that the education institution lacks effective communication and thus, they have little information concerning cheating and other unethical behaviors. Thus, students lack internal motivation and as a result, they develop low moral responsibility which leads to cheating (Granitz & Loewy, 296). The authors also employ the utilitarianism theory to argue that students cheat because the act itself is associated with positive outcomes. Business students very well know that if they cheat, they will attain good marks and as a result, they will get good jobs. Situational ethics also explains why students cheat by stating that factors such as rewards, punishment, social factors, among other things that are beyond one's control influence cheating (Granitz & Loewy, 296). For example, students may cheat due to parental pressure. Thus, students focus on academic success to make parents happy and to avoid letting the family down. Other students are influenced by ethical egoism and they want to prove how genius they are and they want to be ahead of others. Lawson (191) adds that students cheat due to the belief that the business world is characterized by unethical behavior. Thus, they make less ethical choices and show a willingness to engage in unethical behaviors.
Cheat-proof assessment method
The rate of academic cheating is high, and in response to this problem, there should be considerable resources to prevent cheating. From the research articles, the major reason as to why students engage in academic dishonesty is because they do not understand academic integrity or rather the ethical standards (Kolb et al, 2). Note that the school administrators and instructors should not only lower cheating rates but they should let the students know why cheating is wrong. In other words, it is very important if students recognize academic honesty. Thus, the only way that the college can to prevent students from cheating is to help students develop a moral sense for them to differentiate between right and wrong (Kolb et al, 2). Thus, the cheat-proof assessment method is an ethical development program that allow all students to participate in the seminar to learn writing skills, codes of conduct and academic integrity. The education institution should focus on helping students improve academic integrity by teaching them about academic dishonesty such as plagiarism (Kolb et al, 2). As a result, students will develop honesty and responsibility and more importantly abide by the ethical standards in an honorable and virtuous way.
The implications of widespread cheating among business students
Today, business students are highly valued in the business world since they are expected to apply their business skills and knowledge in managing organizations. Thus, students' ethical behavior will impact the business world either positively or negatively. Given that business students engage in academic dishonest more than students from other fields, it means that their behaviors will have a negative implication to the economy, to the business professionals, and to the society (Teixeira & Rocha, 664). In the economic perspective, the widespread cheating among business students will affect the marketplace. Note that the underqualified individuals will be employed and this means that they will be unable to solve real-life problems. Failure to solve problems will not only ruin the university reputation but will also cause economic underdevelopment due to the underproduction of knowledge. In addition, qualified people will lack employment since their positions are taken by disqualified employees. In the business professionals' perspective, academic dishonesty will cause serious consequences that may ruin the employer as well as the organization reputation (Teixeira & Rocha, 665). When an underqualified employee is given a specific task, he or she would not apply the required skills and as a result, the employee will damage the structural integrity and make the business professional encounter losses. On society perspective, society is negatively affected in that employees will have fake degrees and as a result, there will be a lack of knowledge (Teixeira & Rocha, 665). The employees will also lack a sense of responsibility and as a result, organizations and industries will suffer from errors and disasters.
Work cited
Granitz, Neil, and Dana Loewy. "Applying ethical theories: Interpreting and responding to
student Plagiarism." Journal of business ethics 72.3 (2007): 293-306.
Klein, Helen A., et al. "Cheating during the college years: How do business school students
Compare?" Journal of Business Ethics 72 (2007): 197-206.
Kolb, Kenneth H., Kyle C. Longest, and Alexa J. Singer. "Choosing Not to Cheat: A Framework
to Assess Students' Rationales for Abiding by Academic Integrity Policies." International
Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 9.1 (2015): n1.
Lawson, Raef A. "Is classroom cheating related to business students' propensity to cheat in the"
real world"?" Journal of business ethics 49.2 (2004): 189-199.
McCabe Donald. MBAs Cheat. But Why? Harvard Business Review, 2009
Moneo Shannon. Cheating said to be on rise in North America B-schools. THE GLOBAL AND
MAIL. 2014
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST. Academic Integrity Policy. Abilene Christian University, 2009
Teixeira, Aurora AC, and Maria Fatima Rocha. "Cheating by economics and business
undergraduate Students: an exploratory international assessment." Higher Education 59.6
(2010): 663-701.
