While wondering to what extent aiming at profit maximization is ethically viable; I read a blog post by the former dean of the Yale School of Management Joel M. Podolny highlighting the Business Schools’ responsibility in the 2008 crisis: “Are Business Schools to Blame?” (March 30, 2009 – Harvard Business Review). Joel Podolny identifies 3 main reasons explaining the burden put on MBAs:

Firstly, leadership is taught as a soft, big picture oriented course contrasting with the details on which hard, quantitative courses focus. Such dysfunctional divide between the challenges of management and leadership under-considers values and ethics. Secondly, the fact that MBA degrees compete with one another in terms of graduates’ salaries increases doesn’t foster that a MBA is before all a professional degree requiring responsibility and accountability. Finally, Business Schools emphasize the success of their former graduates but don’t accept responsibility for the harm they do.

How will Business Schools demonstrate a greater affinity with society’s interests? This question needs to be answered for trust to revive between people and Business Schools.

At Sauder and elsewhere I see changes. Building-up on my previous blog post introducing Social Business, I notice for instance sprouting and flourishing degrees in Social Entrepreneurship, Market Regulations, Sustainable Economies, and so on and so forth. More relevant to us, even our Syllabus in COMM 101 has been changed to welcome guest speakers on Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Enterprises. Furthermore, a new Social Enterprise Club has been created this year and there are opportunities to work on Social Business Developments in Africa at Sauder with SE 101. These great though “trendy” changes make me wonder: To what extent is such awareness due to the current economic downturn? Will we forget about these social and ethic priorities when we will be “rolling in money” again? I hope not and I believe that whatever happens, the new degrees I mentioned earlier will at least be existing and hopefully be understood as an essential ingredient to what led and leads to success.