Business Grads Promise a More Ethical Future

MBA Class of '09 pledges to remember that greed isn't good
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 30, 2009 6:37 AM CDT
Business Grads Promise a More Ethical Future
Students signing Harvard's voluntary MBA Oath pledge not to further their own narrow ambitions at the expense of others.   (Shutterstock)

The next generation of business school grads may change the face of finance for the better, the New York Times reports. MBA programs across the country are seeing an explosion of interest in ethics courses, and at Harvard Business School a full 20% of this year's grads have signed a pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good."

Professors say the ethics boom isn’t just a passing fad inspired by hatred of Bernard Madoff and his ilk, but is rather a generational shift in thinking about business. “I don’t see this as something that will fade away,” said one Wharton School prof. “It’s coming from the students. I don’t know that we’ve seen such a surge in this activism since the 1960s.” (More business stories.)

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