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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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Business Grads Promise a More Ethical Future

MBA Class of '09 pledges to remember that greed isn't good

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(Newser) – The next generation of business school grads may change the face of finance for the better, the New York Times reports. MBA programs across the country are seeing an explosion of interest in ethics courses, and at Harvard Business School a full 20% of this year's grads have signed a pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good."

Professors say the ethics boom isn’t just a passing fad inspired by hatred of Bernard Madoff and his ilk, but is rather a generational shift in thinking about business. “I don’t see this as something that will fade away,” said one Wharton School prof. “It’s coming from the students. I don’t know that we’ve seen such a surge in this activism since the 1960s.”

Students signing Harvard's voluntary MBA Oath pledge not to further their own narrow ambitions at the expense of others.
Students signing Harvard's voluntary MBA Oath pledge not to further their own narrow ambitions at the expense of others.   (Shutterstock)
Business professors say the financial crisis has helped inspire more students to focus on ethics.
Business professors say the financial crisis has helped inspire more students to focus on ethics.   (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
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The courses make people aware that the financial crisis is not a technical blip. They see inequities and the role of business to address them. - Bruce Kogut, director of an ethics center at Columbia Business School

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ksu92
May 30, 09 9:32 AM CDT
Oh, bull. These low-lifes are getting MBAs because it is a license to steal. The only 'greater good' in their craven minds is an untraceable offshore bank account, and dreams of building a mansion at the corner of Croesus and Mammon. "Because any man with a briefcase can steal more money than any man with a gun." -- Don Henley Reply
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AOgan
May 31, 09 9:20 AM CDT
After having taken an ethics class, I still believe that this whole concept is a joke. People will do what they want to do - their morals are formed throughout their life, not in a college ethics course. Reply
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wwwonderer
Jun 1, 09 11:45 AM CDT
I concur. How much of this 'explosion' is about trying to APPEAR ethical to potential employers/the public. Why haven't we seen something DRIVEN by the schools? Why aren't more ethics classes MANDATORY? The scary thing is how many school are teaching business as usual. And ultimately, you hit it on the head AO. True right/correct and wrong/incorrect behavior can often be determined without the use of classes.
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