Reflections on the adoption of critical management studies in teaching business ethics

This paper reports on a comparative study of the introduction of Critical Management Studies into an MBA course in business ethics. The course was delivered on two occasions, both times with a similar method of instruction, but CMS was introduced to students at markedly different times in the teaching session. The implications of the research suggest that, given the prevailing economic focus of business management practice, the introduction of CMS into the MBA curriculum requires a careful, considered and almost gentle approach, with some consideration of students' apparent appreciation of their values, their capacity for reflection and the maturity of their critical thinking about the impacts of business in society.