Management has never been taken seriously as a profession — despite sporadic campaigns to elevate it alongside professions such as law, accountancy and medicine. Its professional ambitions have always been constrained by the lack of clarity or uniformity in what managers actually do. And the stereotype of the average MBA graduate as a grasping, bottom-line fixated financial manipulator has certainly not helped.
But now the balance is being redressed. Last year a group of 33 second-year students on Harvard Business School's MBA programme created an 'MBA Oath' as a way of establishing clear and unequivocal professional standards.
The oath combines the tone of the American Constitution with that of an annual report: "As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone. Therefore I will seek a course that enhances the value my enterprise can create for society over the long term. I recognise my decisions can have far-reaching consequences that affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and in the future. As I reconcile the interests of different constituencies, I will face choices that are not easy for me and others."
Then eight promises follow. They include "I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner" and "I will strive to create sustainable economic, social and environmental prosperity worldwide."
The popularity of the MBA Oath has surpassing all expectations. The initial aim was to persuade 100 of the Harvard class of 2009 to sign up. At the last count, more than 3,900 MBA students worldwide had signed up and there is now even a book about the idea.
And the Harvard oath isn't alone. The Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona introduced an MBA oath in
2006 and every graduate from Canada's Richard Ivey School of Business takes a pledge to act ethically and with integrity. They are then presented with an Ivey Ring. For some, professional management comes with a ring attached.
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