As students graduate from business schools across the country, some at least are thinking about issues more substantive than whether to get a Beemer or a Mercedes once they get hired. According to this New York Times article, they actually have (gasp) ethics on their mind.
For example, graduates at Harvard have an MBA oath, which the students put in place, that they can voluntarily sign to “create value responsibly and ethically.” So far, more than 700 people have signed it, many of whom aren’t even from the school.
There are some out there criticizing the article, since the 20 percent of Harvard graduates who had signed the oath prior to the article’s publication means, of course, that 80 percent hadn’t signed it. And, sure, signing an online oath doesn’t mean much unless you actually apply what it says in your job.
But what matters here is that the oath was even written in the first place. How many business schools have something similar? Probably not too many prior to that article being published. But something tells me that’s going to change.
Harvard is one of the top business schools in the country, if not the world, and they also have a great deal of influence in the business community. As more business students get wind of Harvard’s oath, the more likely it is they start implementing similar pledges at their programs. Those types of promises can get today’s (and tomorrow’s) businesspeople thinking in a socially responsible, ethical manner. And the more people thinking that way means the more people acting that way.
