The times changed – did business ethics too? : Worldwide Reactions

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We spoke with MBA Alumni Chapter Presidents from all over the world to get their feelings on job markets, ethics and everything from Madoff to merchandising. Here’s what they had to say this week. . . .

This week’s question: Do you think the business culture has changed significantly or slightly over the last 20 years, and is this related to what graduates are learning at business school?

Business changes with the times. . .  but do ethics?

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Jeff Plank – University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA ’93

• I think it has changed slightly, but actions now have more impact due to globalization, size of companies, increased connectivity, speed of information flow and ability of one person to do a lot of harm (more harm than in the past).

Phillip Price – Australian Graduate School of Management, EMBA ’03:

• I think the business culture in Australia has become significantly more focused on quality decision making and sound business models over the last 20 years.  I think it has only changed slightly in relationship to ethical conduct with respect to community & environment however.  This has partly reflected greater acceptance and use of the business management tools taught at business schools (in conjunction with greater investor and regulatory scrutiny of management conduct).  Ethics and CSR have not been widely taught until recently (which I think is also reflected by the lack of take-up of this concept by businesses.
  

Doug Clark  – University of California, Berkley Haas School of Business, MBA ’98:

• Clearly a change for the worse has happened, but MBAs are a small percentage of those in business. This is a systemic problem tied to the decline in religious and ethical beliefs nationwide.

Kahua Kali, University of California, Berkley Haas School of Business, MBA ’95

• Yes, in the past 15 years since I have been in business school, I do believe that the business culture has changed, because the generations have changed and have different values, attitudes and expectations.  I haven’t been in school for a while, but am involved in the MBA programs here in Hawaii as a mentor and judge for their business plan competitions. They are teaching and promoting different values now and lessons.  As I said, when I was in school, my values were about taking care of people, my planet and profitability. Then it was all about profit, and ethics was a class that most MBA candidates had to take and made fun of. We had a lot of ‘debates’ about what is now called ‘social enterprise’, ‘ sustainability’ and the ‘green movement.’My classmates questioned why I was in business school if I didn’t care about making a profit and the bottom line. I felt that money is important, but also more. Now that is what they are teaching in the top 20 business schools, as well as many more. I now teach these lessons in our entrepreneurial trainings to thousands of entrepreneurs and CEOs. They are open and appreciative of knowing that they can incorporate their values and passions and beliefs into their companies, and it’s a good thing.The trick though, is to see the future trend and prepare this current generation of b-school students for what’s to come, not just look at the past.

Joaquim Paiva Chaves – INSEAD MBA, ’85

• Ethics have always been determined by your family and your school. Early on, our parents example is critical and plays the most important part in this programming procedure at the beginning of our knowledgeable life (>5 years and < 20 years). If they have strong moral values, we will be well prepared to face future challenges. If their example is not ethical, however, it becomes be very difficult to correct this early influence, but marriage and the rest of the family can help.School learning is always important but it becomes critical at the point when we leave home for studies, because, besides our early convictions on values, we’ll need periodic help to distinguish between ethical and non ethical behaviors in complex situations. Here business schools should play an active role in the upgrading process. Thanks you to all our alumni presidents today.  MBAs, have a comment?  Agree? Disagree? Rant and rave in our comment section below and then head over to  CareerMee and post your resume on our site for  top, global recruiters to find.