At George Mason University the MBA program has a 1.5 credit legal environmnet requirement but no ethics requirement.  Discussion is on-going and a 1.5 credit business ethics course may soon be added to our MBA core (hopefully not at the expense of the law course).  All MBA courses except the legal environment and managerial accounting are 3 credits.

In our EMBA and undergrad programs, a three credit legal environment course is required for all students but no requirement exists for ethics.
Rick

----- Original Message -----
From: Bill McDevitt <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, October 8, 2005 9:01 am
Subject: Re: law and ethics treatment in MBA programs

> Dan:
> 
>         In St. Joe's professional MBA program, ethics is a 
> separate 
> 3-credit course that's required. It's usually taught by Management 
> faculty 
> with a background in ethics or by business law faculty.
> 
>         Business Law is a 3-credit elective in the MBA program.
> 
>                         Bill
> 
> At 12:34 AM 10/8/2005, you wrote:
> >ALSBers,
> >
> >I am interested in how many credits MBA programs around the 
> nation devote 
> >to ethics, and how often ethics (in a *substantial, explicit* 
> way) is 
> >combined with law, or another topic, in the same course.  Do any 
> of you 
> >have MBA programs where ethics is a separate course in the 
> program?  If 
> >ethics is a separate course, how many credits is assigned to it, 
> and who 
> >teaches it?  is it the business law faculty, or bus. law faculty 
> plus 
> >non-bus.law faculty, or only non-bus. law faculty, or ...?  Do 
> the 
> >philosophy department's faculty have any role to play in teaching 
> ethics 
> >in your MBA program?
> >
> >In our new MBA program, each of our courses is 2 credits, and 
> meets at 
> >night.  The classes meet for 8 weeks, for 3.25 hours (minus a 5-
> minute 
> >break) per week (about 25.3 hours total).  Law and ethics are 
> combined 
> >into one required course (called Legal and Ethical Environment of 
> >Business.).  There has arisen a disagreement among the MBA 
> faculty as to 
> >how much time should be devoted to law and how much to ethics in 
> this 
> >course.   We are not currently assessing legal skills, abilities 
> or 
> >knowledge in our current MBA program assessment scheme.  Some MBA 
> faculty 
> >have said AACSB does not require that law be assessed in an MBA 
> program.>
> >I am concerned that law is getting a smaller role than it should 
> have in 
> >our MBA program and that that role may shrink even further.
> >
> >In addition to the questions above, I am wondering what role 
> exactly does 
> >AACSB think business law education should play in an MBA program? 
> is it 
> >true that AACSB is more concerned about teaching MBA students 
> ethics than 
> >teaching them legal principles, skills of legal analysis, etc.?
> >
> >One of my colleagues, an extremely bright and reasonable person 
> who has 
> >published articles with legal aspects, said (if I understood 
> correctly) 
> >that if managers act ethically, they will automatically be acting 
> >legally.  Therefore, teaching business students law was less 
> important 
> >than teaching them ethics (or at least I *think* this professor 
> was 
> >suggesting that conclusion).  What do you all think about those 
> propositions?>
> >Thanks for any info you can provide.
> >
> >Dan Levin
> >--
> >Daniel A. Levin, JD, MBA
> >Associate Professor of Business Law
> >Minnesota State University, Mankato
> >Dept. of Accounting & Business Law
> >Morris Hall 150
> >Mankato, MN 56001
> >507.389.1827
> >[log in to unmask]
> >[log in to unmask]
> 
> William J. McDevitt, Esq., J.D.
> Chair & Associate Professor
> Saint Joseph's University
> Dept. of Management
> 5600 City Avenue
> Phila., PA  19131-1395
> Phone: 610/660-1634
>    (Fax: 610/660-1229)
> [log in to unmask] 
>