MBA Oath: Long way to go

After the appointment of one of its strongest advocates Nitin Nohria as Dean of Harvard Business School, the MBA Oath has regained spotlight. The question remains however is whether such an oath is meaningful in a context where the MBA graduate is expected to work purely to achieve higher targets and greater profits with little or no attachment to ethics. With Nitin Nohria’s appointment as dean of Harvard Business School (HBS) came reams of newsprint on the MBA Oath – a ritual conceived by a few Harvard students and given prompt fillip by Nohria.

Nohria holds the view that the MBA Oath needs to be as ritualistic (and hopefully meaningful) a practice like the Hippocratic Oath which doctors take worldwide. In an address to media after becoming the dean. According to him, the oath sought to help those “who have power and privilege in a society to conduct themselves in a way where they exhibit the highest standard of personal conduct… then they will endorse society’s trust and be able to fulfill their responsibilities that come with their positions of power in a way that will benefit society.”

The concept behind ethics in business can actually be traced back to the initial formation of management education in the early 20th century. Business schools have strayed away from their initial intent. The university-based business school of today is a troubled institution, one that has become unmoored from its original purpose and whose contemporary state is in many ways antithetical to the goals of professional education itself.

Today, Oaths are a must in a profession. If doctors take it, then MBAs also should. While there are no foolproof guarantees that people will act ethically, pledges and oaths remind them to aim for the highest professional standards. The oaths serve as a reminder for business school graduates to act with integrity, prudence and transparency.

The MBA Oath concept has attracted more brickbats than bouquets over time. Primary among the arguments is the notion that signatures on such pledges fade as fast as the paper they are signed on as the business manager’s real world and the one at the campus are poles apart. An oath for MBA though might help some but the fundamentals of ethical leadership and business practice cannot be taught by either a business school or using an oath. It may be a good step in the direction. One can get a perfect A+ in an ethics course and take the Oath and still be a super crook and morally corrupt. Knowing ethics and being ethical are two different ball games and either the Oath or an ethics course in a b-school may be a necessary condition but not sufficient.

It is believed that while the global financial crisis gave rise to MBA oaths and pledges, singing on a piece of paper blindly is not going to avert the next financial crisis. The only thing the Oath may do is help nail a person for the problem if caught.