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While the world is in the grips of a global recession, comparative to that of the Great Depression of the 1930’s people look to the leaders of corporate America and abroad for answers. These leaders answer with their hands outstretched for public funds in order to triage their hemorrhaging companies as the public rightfully questions their judgment. Corporate powerhouses such as Merrill Lynch, AIG, Bear Sterns and the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have collapsed from within due to a combination of overleveraging, excessive rewards for short-term growth and most importantly bad decision-making. Schemers of Wall Street and Bay Street alike such as the incarcerated Bernard Madoff have created huge economic bubbles that burst, leaving thousands devastated. How could MBA graduates like Richard Fuld and other top tier executives let this happen? The public now holds them responsible and some of those concerned are looking to the education of these shamed leaders for answers.
Are the business schools of the world developing leaders with a skewed sense of right and wrong, willing to circumvent the law in the name of growth and profit? What should the role of business schools be in teaching tomorrow’s business leaders moral judgment and ethical behavior? “People have a right to question where these guys are coming from. And business schools have a responsibility to the next generation.” Richard Powers, Director of MBA Programs at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. The current mismanagement of large multinationals such as General Motors and whole industries mainly the U.S. housing market has put these questions at the forefront for educators. Numerous schools have taken measures to try and curve this behavior in the future.
Five years ago the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business was at the leading edge of ethics awareness. They started a graduation pledge. The pledge is taken in a ceremony in which a silver ring is passed from one alumnus to another. Each ring carries a unique serial number and with it the student enters a professional brotherhood built on the foundation of knowledge and ethics. “We are essentially saying to our graduates that this is the profession you’re in and like any profession you should have a code of ethics that you live and die by,” says Glenn Rowe Director of the Executive MBA Program for Ivey.
Other schools have developed comprehensive curriculum that evolves around the correct ethical behavior and appropriate reactions. The George Washington University School of Business recently claimed to have revolutionized the MBA program with a program built on the pillars of theories and practical applications of ethical leadership, corporate responsibility and globalization.
Are these models effective though? The Richard Ivey School of Business has no actual business ethics courses but instead relies on the power of a voluntary oath and the network of graduates that uphold its values. The median age of an MBA student is 29. So is it even possible to curb unethical behavior with curriculum? “Yes, to an extent, it is. Exposing students to ethical models and questions, deliberating over ethical dilemmas and interacting with faculty and practitioners who choose to model ethical leadership can raise a student’s ethical I.Q,” proposes Dr. Mitchell J. Neubert, Chavanne Chair of Christian Ethics in Business at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business.
Regardless of your answer, educators and institutions have their work cut out for them. The leaders of tomorrow will be exposed to the type of large scale scandals and corporate collapses that continue to set records for their avoidable financial loss. They will require an education that not only relies on a network of responsible managers to model their behavior after but the wisdom to make independent decisions when faced with a situation that places an angel and a devil on their shoulders.
decline in enrollment from countries such as China, India and South Korea since 2006. The Economic Times of India recently reported a 25% reduction of Visa applications from Indian citizens. This reduction was not a result of the difficulty of citizens qualifying for the Visas but rather the reductions in the financial aid packages being offered by American universities to Indian students, decreasing the desire of many of them to apply for Visas. This trend is noticed in other Asian countries as well. Those same countries are developing their own schools equipped with a globalized curriculum and an abundance of potential students. This drain of talent has prompted many North American business schools to develop partnerships with Asia in order to have a hand in shaping the graduate education of this highly competitive candidate pool.
E-learning or distance education allows individuals that are challenged geographically, financially or otherwise to become students at a grade school, undergraduate, graduate or professional development level. The benefits of distance education programs are countless. It unifies rural residents with big city campuses and facilitates the learning and growth of a wider range of people. Distance education as an arm of the traditional public university is not a new concept. However, the programs have been dramatically updated from VHS tapes and correspondence packages into virtual work groups, online examinations and chat forums. Private institutions have also used online learning as the main system of program delivery and many offer fully online programs. The internet acts as a conduit to transfer the courses from professor to student after tuition is paid of course. Although the cost of attending satellite is considerably cheaper than attending in person i.e. no accommodation fees or transportation fees there is still a cost. What if there was no cost?
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Relegating the “all or nothing,” mommy-wars mentality back to the 20th century, 
