Since when did ethics become ‘mushy?’

A few months ago, I included a comment in a post wondering about the ratio of MBAs to clinicians in health care organizations. I was not saying MBAs are always bad and clinicians are always good but in the aggregate, this ratio would give one a relative feel about the values of a company. As you can imagine, I got interesting responses on both sides of the coin.

Well, a recent article in the NY Times and an episode from The Daily Show with John Stewart reminded me to be afraid, very afraid of some of the whiz kids that are graduating from our best business schools.

In response to the culture of greed that had permeated our society leading to the current recession, students at Harvard’s business school developed an “M.B.A. Oath” and shared it with other business schools around the country. The oath is unbinding and unlikely to be anything more than symbolism but the fact that only 20% of graduating Harvard M.B.A. students agreed to take the oath is troubling.

Apparently, the part of the oath that graduating students objected to was, “I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner." REALLY? Jon Stewart highlighted this discrepancy in a recent comedic clip on his show (See below – but be warned, the clip includes some language not suitable for children).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
MBA Ethics Oath
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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Just in case you missed it, here are some quotes from the Harvard and MIT M.B.A. students included in the interview: “It's impossible to uphold the oath and still be responsible to your shareholders" or better yet "I feel that ethics is a really fuzzy subject." Again, REALLY? Since when did ethics become a fuzzy subject? Makes you wonder how much whiz kids like these contribute to the escalating costs in health care.

It is good to see business schools realize that we need high ethical standards for business leaders just like other professions (like the Hippocratic Oath for physicians) but as a society, we have to send a message to business leaders that we will hold them accountable to high ethical standards whether they take an oath or not. ~BAA