With the current state of the economy, I find it very interesting that we are taking stock and questioning everything from consumption and , morality to education and ethics. This article in NYT questions whether the time is now to retrain MBA programs.
Since I don’t have an MBA, my opinions are slightly skewed. So forgive me. But I was in B-school as an undergrad and quit in favor of a more liberal arts oriented Communications major. I don’t think that communications is necessarily divorced from business – you need business skills even as a communications professional. However, what I valued most about the Comms. school was the priority and focus on ethics, standards and morality that were ingrained into the students as part of journalism school training.
And that is exactly what the critics of the current b-School programs purport:
…..that they graduate with a focus on maximizing shareholder value and only a limited understanding of ethical and social considerations essential to business leadership.
I have said this before because I truly believe in this. This recession is a boon in a way – because it has stopped the self-perpetrating cycle of greed and consumption and is forcing individuals, communities, charities and even organizations to stop and reflect. In the 1950s, this introspection resulted in an increased focus on vigorous quant and analytical skills from MBA schools. This time, it will result in a stronger focus on corporate, social and ethical responsibility AND creativity. Because, the bottomline is never the only ultimate deciding factor.
Corporate/social/ethical responsibility matters not only for its own sake, but also for the long-term sustenance of relationship between a corporation and its customers, community, etc. It is thus in the corporations’ interest to be ethical, because if recent cases of corporate malfeasance are any indication, unethical conducts will eventually come back to haunt them.