What Role Does MBA Education Play in Current Economic Crisis?

In a December 2008 report, the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education delves into the financial crisis, raising key questions about leadership and MBA education that aren’t likely to be answered for years to come.

Some of the questions business faculty are grappling with in this report include:

• How can they use this complicated and historical calamity as a “teachable moment” through which to equip students with mindfulness about the real-world effects of their actions?
• What attitudes and skills can faculty convey to their students–the business leaders of the future–that might help to avert potential future crises?
• How can students develop the confidence in the workplace to speak up in the face of possible hostility when their companies undertake actions that are unwise or unethical?
• How can faculty help students develop a healthy skepticism of accepted wisdom and the skills to think rigorously and critically about the actions and culture of their companies and industries?

A Deeper Look

These questions are a good first step in examination. I would follow them with a deeper inquiry into the structure of business school itself from the application and acceptance process to socially-accepted standards of conduct and structure, to grading and performance.

The implicit code of conduct in any organization is always a more telling and powerful indicator of future behavior than the explicit code. In other words, students aren’t just learning about business leadership from what they’re taught inside the classroom. They’re also learning from what the school and faculty do, focus on, promote and reward outside the classroom.

I’m glad that business educators are exploring the issues, and asking the tough questions. My caution is that in our haste to define it, label it, and get back to business as usual, we’ll fall back on outdated methods that treat the symptoms, and obscure the source. I’m with Einstein. If we’re looking for long-term solutions we have to move above the level that we created the problems on.

Whatever your organization’s vantage point in the financial crisis, I encourage you to be open to the opportunity to not only transform your way of doing business, but more importantly to examine and explore how you view business and the world as a whole. This is a good time to reframe the social structures and organizational beliefs that encourage and reward success for some, prosperity for the few and an unwavering focus on the end at the expense of the means.