| There is a need to study the role of leadership education in today's four-year business colleges. The traditional business degree includes the teaching of marketing, accounting, management, finance, and business law to name a few. These skills are essential for the manager to plan, schedule, control, and direct the operations of a business, government, or non-profit agency. But hard skills are not enough. Effective leaders are inspirational, trustworthy, influential, visionaries, strong communicators, and provide an ethical environment for internal and external customers, clients, and community members.; Leadership is a popular topic recently, where news articles or television cite instances of unethical behavior of leaders in the public sector, private industry, and governmental agencies. Breaking news of executives looting corporate accounts, securities and wire fraud, corrupt business cultures, tax evasion, excessive bonuses, exotic accounting practices, and conspiracy charges have shocked the nation.; This research project had a three-stage process. Stage One was a content analysis of college business program descriptions and course descriptions.{09}A MS macro was constructed of leadership terms from prominent authors on the subject of leadership. The macro searched AACSB and ACBSP accredited business program descriptions and course descriptions for these terms. Stage Two was a mailed survey to business school deans focusing on the content on leadership education. Stage Three consisted of telephone interviews with business deans on the importance of teaching leadership in today's four-year business programs.; Evidence from the content analysis suggests leadership is not integrated in four-year business programs in the United States. The mailed survey indicates ethics is present or should be and opinions differ as to how it should be included. The deans' telephone interviews reflect a need for leadership education and suggests were it is present in a curriculum, the faculty provided the catalyst.; The teaching of management skills exposes the student to analytical skills for problem solving and the importance of schedules and directing employees to follow them. But integrating effective leadership attributes with the analytical skills of management provides undergraduate business students with the essential elements of a four-years business degree. |
