Financial Crisis - Are MBAs part of the problem?

Recent discussions have focussed on the extent to which Business Schoolsí MBA programmes, particularly in the USA, may have been responsible for the global financial crisis. Many MBA graduates do indeed work in Financial Services and of those graduating in the 1980s and 90s some will have been promoted to senior positions such as to assume responsibility for the actions of those firms which are now under the spot light. However, many MBA graduates also work in other sectors of the economy and in the public and not-for-profit sectors, so any blanket condemnation of MBAs or Business Schools is unhelpful and plainly wrong.

Indeed the trend in the 21st Century, in the UK at least, has been marked by a growing emphasis in business school programmes on business ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. These areas are increasingly demanded by todayís graduates, employers of all kinds and society at large.

Jonathan Slack, Chief Executive, Association of Business Schools (ABS) says:

ìFor our part, ABS, which comprises all of the UK Business Schools, has included these important issues into Guidelines and the National Subject Benchmarks which inform the development of all courses at Undergraduate and Masterís levels including the MBA since 1997. This and other initiatives have helped to shift teaching and research from simple shareholder models to more complex stakeholder models of business and society and the required leadership and management values and practices which resultî.

ìIn 2004, ABS became a national partner in the UK Governmentís Corporate Social Responsibility Academy which further embedded social, environmental and ethical considerations into the delivery of our partner business schoolsí programmes and research effortsî.

Currently, many UK business schools are participating with others in Europe in the European Association for Business in Society and are also involved with the United Nations Global Compact on the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative. Schools are actively embedding the UNís Principles of Responsible Management Education into their programmes and delivery.

Prof. Howard Thomas, Chair of the Association of Business Schools and Vice-President of European Foundation for Management Development (Efmd) incoming President of AACSB summarises:

ìOur ongoing work with UK business schools on issues such as ethical, corporate and social responsibility helps to ensure that business education remains both rigorous and relevant. The role of business schools is still to teach the basic foundations of running a business, leading management teams, and looking after the bottom line, while always taking on board the strategic importance of its role and impact in the wider world. The ABS is proud to be influencing UK business education in this way.î