The MBA oath - a kind of hippocratic oath for managers dreamt up by students at an Arizona business school in 2004 - has gone a bit viral in the last couple of months.
Why has it caught people's attention right now? And is it a sign of a genuine shift in values away from short-termism and towards sustainability? Or a pointless exercise in CSR-washing?
Full text of the Oath:
As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone. Therefore I will seek a course that enhances the value my enterprise can create for society over the long term. I recognize my decisions can have far-reaching consequences that affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and in the future. As I reconcile the interests of different constituencies, I will face choices that are not easy for me and others.
Therefore I promise:
- I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner.
- I will safeguard the interests of my shareholders, co-workers, customers and the society in which we operate.
- I will manage my enterprise in good faith, guarding against decisions and behavior that advance my own narrow ambitions but harm the enterprise and the societies it serves.
- I will understand and uphold, both in letter and in spirit, the laws and contracts governing my own conduct and that of my enterprise.
- I will take responsibility for my actions, and I will represent the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly.
- I will develop both myself and other managers under my supervision so that the profession continues to grow and contribute to the well-being of society.
- I will strive to create sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide.
- I will be accountable to my peers and they will be accountable to me for living by this oath.
It's an interesting idea but it's hard not to think this is some kind of cynical exercise; if not by those who created it, then by those who signed it. In credit-crunched times, what better way to distance yourself from the stigma of 'greed is good' capitalism than market yourself as an ethical person who only wants to do things for the common good and create 'sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide'? Surely managers shouldn't need an extra incentive to not be corrupt - it's already illegal! Also, it's pretty pompous.
On the other hand, something that acknowledges there is more to business than creating short-term shareholder value has some worth, and it makes the right noises about sustainability, accountability and so on. It would be interesting to see how the MBA students who signed get on in teh next few years. Will they live up to these highfalutin' promises?
In modern times we see the decay of moral and honour. If we could educate and in some way make the persons who follow this education believe in this oath, so that they become more honour bound then maybe corruption could be less in the world. But the law should be more stricter in this subject. Violation of this oath in any way should require severe punsihment.
It's an interesting thought. I must admit, call me an old cynic, but I find it difficult to believe that a few bullet points at the beginning of someone's career will lead to a life of selflessness. I think it's good that companies are thinking about ethical questions for the first time, but I'm not sure they all approach it well.
But perhaps there's a bigger question: should businesses be organisations with a moral dimension at all? I would argue that businesses and their employees cannot really be "moral" in themselves. Businesses aren't "moral", people are. Businesses are just neutral frameworks, structures that allow people to work together according to certain rules which let them operate smoothly. If we relied on them to impose moral behaviour as well, I don't think we'd get very far.
So, the way to "do good" with a company is surely to have it run by people who set specific ethical goals that the company must achieve. The rest is just words!
Businesses should be morally based for lets be honest an empty office/building is not a business is just a premises, businesses are people if you are sitting in the fields or in an office.
And the oath can be shrunk down to say " I will be honest, trustworthy and truthful in all my fairs and actions, irregardless of who it is." To me these three are the core beliefs/virtues (if that is what they are) management should strive for, that long speech even if you print it on your office wall so you dont forget you will need to blow it up to A3 sheet or more. Not practical.
Victoria, I did the Global Executive MBA program at IESE Business School, Barcelona, and they are very big on ethical, CSR and and sustainable business (they run an annual conference called Doing Good and Doing Well). The MBA had one module located in Silicon Valley which blew me away, so it was interesting to see Stanford high on your list in the video clip (I think I sat in that very lecture hall!)
It was amazing to see how far ahead Californian companies are with this stuff, and almost anything else to do with human resources management - as the clip says, CSR tends to be driven by such "corporate" departments which are close to the corporate strategy and obligations of the company to the outside world. Anyway, in my experience practically anything which happens in companies in California, sooner or later will work its way to the companies of Europe, so I think it's just a matter of time...!
Hi everyone,
My name is Max Anderson. I'm one of the students who has helped develop the oath.Thanks for thinking about it and discussing it. Love to have the thoughts and suggestions. We are in need of a tagline or simplification. Victoria, "Don't Be Evil" is great, but since, as you mention, Google already uses it, we don't think it'd be very ethical to steal it.
To the cynics out there. I understand the concern that some may have signed the oath simply as a self-promotion exercise. Maybe some have. But the people I talk with about the oath tend to be genuinely enthusiastic and optimistic about it. We know that this is no silver bullet. No one will become a good leader overnight simply by saying these magic words. But we think its important to make a formal, public declaration of your values. It helps you feel accountable to them. At least that's our philosophy. For changing the field of management, we feel the oath is necessary, but not sufficient. We also have to look at the law, how business schools train students, and how we as a society create the expectations that business people live up (or down) to.
