New Harvard dean working on MBA oath

ralph

692 1.074

Posted May 12, 2010 00:40

So in case people haven't heard HBS has a new dean - Nitin Nohria. I was checking out his biography and came across an interesting piece of information:

A Hippocratic Oath for Management

The conduct of doctors is guided by the Hippocractic Oath, which provides a normative framework that shapes their identity and orientation towards society. In light of the diminished public trust in business managers, is it time for management to embrace its own hippocractic oath, that would spell out a common understanding of their role in society and the conduct expected of them? Would such an oath be useful? What would be the content of such an oath? How would it get institutionalized (become accepted and taken for granted)? How would it be enforced? These are the questions that animate this line of research.

It seems that recently Harvard has been pushing for more ethically-correct business practices, with the whole "MBA oath" pushed by a group of students not too long ago (I seem to remember a topic on this board about that.)

Does this strike anyone as interesting? Harvard doesn't really need the positive PR of electing such an ethically-inclined dean. What gives? Are they really trying to change their image purely because.... it's the right thing to do?

So in case people haven't heard HBS has a new dean - Nitin Nohria. I was checking out his biography and came across an interesting piece of information:

<blockquote>

A Hippocratic Oath for Management

The conduct of doctors is guided by the Hippocractic Oath, which provides a normative framework that shapes their identity and orientation towards society. In light of the diminished public trust in business managers, is it time for management to embrace its own hippocractic oath, that would spell out a common understanding of their role in society and the conduct expected of them? Would such an oath be useful? What would be the content of such an oath? How would it get institutionalized (become accepted and taken for granted)? How would it be enforced? These are the questions that animate this line of research.</blockquote>

It seems that recently Harvard has been pushing for more ethically-correct business practices, with the whole "MBA oath" pushed by a group of students not too long ago (I seem to remember a topic on this board about that.)

Does this strike anyone as interesting? Harvard doesn't really need the positive PR of electing such an ethically-inclined dean. What gives? Are they really trying to change their image purely because.... it's the right thing to do?

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted Jul 09, 2011 20:06

Seems like the new dean at Harvard has been busy! I just read that, among the many changes he's been enacting, he's also reducing the program's dependence on case studies.

Not sure what he would replace these with - the case study is generally considered a cornerstone of MBA curriculum - but it could be interesting to see what's next - computer simulations? virtual businesses? If anybody has the resources to help MBA curriculum evolve, it's Harvard.

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ibanker

34 58

Posted Jul 10, 2011 13:38

As I understand it, the Dean is trying to have classes over by lunch time and then have students working with companies on real problems. They are referring to this as "field studies".

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/academics/fieldbasedlearning.html

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted Jul 10, 2011 19:38

That method of learning seems infinitely more relevant than case studies. But it prompts the question: what is Harvard adding to the equation, if more and more learning is done through internships and "field studies?"

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Evan2007

103 206

Posted Jul 11, 2011 16:58

They're adding the structure. Harvard gets these students in the door at these companies.

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted Jul 16, 2011 19:48

True, but in an age where you can watch MBA lectures on YouTube and connect directly with the management of top companies through email, it seems to me that Harvard's value-add is becoming increasingly diminished.

The total cost for a Harvard MBA is $112,400.00. The question is, is the network and structure the school provides still worth it?

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted Jul 20, 2011 18:45

Does Dean Nohria have the courage to admit that HBS?s core methods produce hard hearts, superficial thinking, and arrogance? Is he serious enough about nurturing competence and character to ease the callous competition in the classroom and introduce time for reflection? The new dean could break the cycle of greed by rejecting money-hungry applicants in the first place and halting the current flow of new-minted MBAs into the financial industry. Now that would be radical, and that would make a positive difference in our world.

Basically, it's great that he's taking this seriously, but breaking the cycle of greed is a pretty preposterous proposition - and against most of what Harvard stands for.

Good piece in the Nation today about the new dean's mission to reform Harvard. It's interesting, I think a lot of the press around this is positive, like people are happy to see somebody try to do something - but at the same time there is a lot of skepticism (I can't say that I'm not skeptical, either.)

The author of the Nation piece talks about Dean Nohria's Indian background and how it gives him new insights on the insularity of Harvard's culture, the MBA oath, and Harvard's role in the global financial crisis, but ends with this rhetorical question:

<blockquote>Does Dean Nohria have the courage to admit that HBS?s core methods produce hard hearts, superficial thinking, and arrogance? Is he serious enough about nurturing competence and character to ease the callous competition in the classroom and introduce time for reflection? The new dean could break the cycle of greed by rejecting money-hungry applicants in the first place and halting the current flow of new-minted MBAs into the financial industry. Now that would be radical, and that would make a positive difference in our world.</blockquote>
Basically, it's great that he's taking this seriously, but breaking the cycle of greed is a pretty preposterous proposition - and against most of what Harvard stands for.

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Evan2007

103 206

Posted Jul 20, 2011 22:01

Even Michael Porter is talking like this these days. I would love to believe that a shift is really happening at HBS and other elite business schools.

After reading that book "What they teach you at Harvard Business School" (or something like that) by the British journalist who got into HBS and survived to write about his experience, I'm skeptical.

HBS attracts ambitious people, and ambitious people are a mixed bag. Always will be, I think.

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted Jul 21, 2011 18:33

I would love to believe that a shift is really happening at HBS and other elite business schools.

Me too. I'm skeptical as well, though - unless ethics are somehow institutionalized by these elite campuses (like making the MBA oath mandatory giving an "ethics certificate" post-graduation with the possibility of it being revoked) I'm assuming that all this talk of business morality will be tossed out the window at the next economic upturn.

In today's Economic Times there's a good piece on business schools like IIM in India that are introducing ethics as subjects - and focusing more on the business needs of emerging markets. There's a good quote from a Harvard prof saying that the school's new on-the-ground approach to its curriculum is actually a shift in philosophy:

Harvard school professor Srikant Datar says, business schools in the West are changing and reforming their curricula to reduce the current focus on "knowing" (facts, framework, theories) to "doing" (capabilities and techniques) and "being" (values, attitudes, and beliefs).

He implies that before there was more of an emphasis placed on making connections and networking - but this shift is to more of a cognitive understanding - and ethics presumably is key in this new approach.

Interesting - but again, I'll believe it if things likes this are still happening in the next upturn.

<blockquote>I would love to believe that a shift is really happening at HBS and other elite business schools.</blockquote>
Me too. I'm skeptical as well, though - unless ethics are somehow institutionalized by these elite campuses (like making the MBA oath mandatory giving an "ethics certificate" post-graduation with the possibility of it being revoked) I'm assuming that all this talk of business morality will be tossed out the window at the next economic upturn.

In today's Economic Times there's a good piece on business schools like IIM in India that are introducing ethics as subjects - and focusing more on the business needs of emerging markets. There's a good quote from a Harvard prof saying that the school's new on-the-ground approach to its curriculum is actually a shift in philosophy:

<blockquote>Harvard school professor Srikant Datar says, business schools in the West are changing and reforming their curricula to reduce the current focus on "knowing" (facts, framework, theories) to "doing" (capabilities and techniques) and "being" (values, attitudes, and beliefs).</blockquote>
He implies that before there was more of an emphasis placed on making connections and networking - but this shift is to more of a cognitive understanding - and ethics presumably is key in this new approach.

Interesting - but again, I'll believe it if things likes this are still happening in the next upturn.

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