MBA Oath is a voluntary student-led pledge that asks graduating MBAs to commit towards the creation of value "responsibly and ethically". As of January 2010, the initiative is driven by a coalition of MBA students, graduates and advisors, including nearly 2,000 student and alumni signers from over 500 MBA programs around the world. By formalizing a written oath and creating forums for individuals to personally commit to an ethical standard, the initiative hopes to accomplish three goals:
to make a difference in the lives of the individual students who take the oath, to challenge other classmates to work towards a higher professional standard, whether they sign the oath or not, and to create a public conversation in the press about professionalizing and improving management.
MBA Oath (short version)
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. This oath I make freely, and upon my honor.
History
Although the MBA Oath has formalized a written version of an ethical code of conduct for managers, the concept behind ethics in business can be traced back to the initial formation of management education in the early 20th century. Rakesh Khurana, a professor at Harvard Business School, traces the evolution of the management degree in his book From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton University Press, 2007). According to Khurana, the original intent of instituting a management degree was to educate a managerial class that would run America’s corporations in a way that would serve the broader interests of society rather than the narrowly defined interests of capital or labor.
Despite the fact that initial business schools were established with an eye towards serving the public good, Khurana notes that business schools have strayed away from their initial intent. As Khurana stated in a December 2007 interview, “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.”
Impetus
The impetus for the MBA Oath arose following two separate events. First, Harvard Business School’s Centennial celebrations on April 8, 2008, which marked the 100th anniversary of its founding as the world’s first two-year masters program in management education in 1908. As a part of the Centennial celebration, HBS faculty led students in case discussions regarding the “future of the MBA.” During these sessions, HBS students reflected on the first 100 years of management education and how it might change in the coming 100 years.