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A recent Wall Street Journal article asks: Is taking the MBA Oath enough to keep more than 100,000 new MBA students from turning into corrupt businessmen, like many of their predecessors have become?
The WSJ article, titled "Promises Aren't Enough: Business Schools Need to Do a Better Job Teaching Students Values," likens the MBA Oath to a chastity vow—in that a steadfast commitment to values, in lieu of proper moral education, can easily stir up a "false sense of moral inoculation," making the oath-taker more, not less, prone to violating the points set out in the oath. Oaths, after all, are just words—in the case of a chastity vow, they won't protect against the consequences of unprotected sex.
The same thing is true in our case of the business student who has sworn off unethical behavior, but who is lacking in ethical education—"MBAs who take an ethics oath without enough supporting leadership education are likely more vulnerable to ethical breaches." Those who take chastity vows are often the ones who end up…in trouble.
The article continues to explain how business education has become more "scientific" in recent years due to an increasingly strong emphasis on economics and statistics. During such a shift, true moral teaching gets neglected. Leadership courses end up focusing on public speaking and social influence, and business ethics courses focus more on legal ethics than on anything else. The long-term impact of one's actions is rarely discussed, and thus hardly grasped by b-school students.
The solution, according the Rodrigo Canales, B. Cade Massey, and Amy Wrzesniewski, authors of the WSJ article, is that business school teachers better prepare their students for "the difficult decisions they will face, often under enormous pressure."
Most people have no trouble keeping to a set of values when things are running smoothly; it's when the going gets tough that people turn to desperate (and sometimes unethical) measures.
Business schools need to simulate such challenging situations through experiential learning because "students otherwise find it far too easy to believe they would never engage in the reprehensible behavior that others have." To truly understand vulnerability, and its consequences, students must face challenges during their education, so they know how to handle them once they're out in the real world.
The authors conclude by reiterating how a pledge to do the right thing likely won't lead to the right thing, when faced with a serious ethical challenge in business. Action-based leadership training, perhaps alongside an oath, will properly prepare students for the battle ahead.
My personal view, for what it’s worth, is that a stated, public commitment to an ethical code of conduct is an excellent first step towards carrying out that code of conduct. There are tons of studies showing that people who write down commitments or tell someone their latest resolution tend much more to stick to that diet, exercise plan, or whatever even if facing their favorite éclair or a normally overwhelming urge to hit the snooze button instead of getting up and going to the gym. However, I agree that a one-time oath taken five, ten, or thirty years ago will not provide lifetime immunity from the temptation frequently presented by major financial reward or loss. Ethical education is a life-long need. Perhaps alumni magazines and reunions should include refresher courses on leadership with an ethical component. Or perhaps the oath should be modified to include a commitment to continue ethical training – essentially a commitment to obtain booster shots.
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