Strathclyde Business School and the Institute of Business Ethics have collaborated with the Institute for Global Ethics UK Trust (IGE) to produce a 24 hour consultation, bringing together students, academics and representatives of the business sector.
Participants discussed the issue of "Are business schools doing enough to promote cultures of integrity in business?" on December 2 and 3 at St George's House, Windsor Castle. The consultation was sponsored by the Comino and Gordon Cook Foundations as part of a long term project led by IGE.
IGE's aim was to bring together students from business schools in the UK who have signed up to the Harvard MBA Oath, to meet with academics and business people, in order to address the questions of what is currently being provided in business ethics education and the responsibility business schools have for raising awareness of the importance of ethical approaches to business, and what business is looking for in the leaders of tomorrow.
Strathclyde's involvement stems from the fact that MBAs at Strathclyde (full time 2009-2010 class) were the first students in the UK to set up a UK Chapter and sign up to the Harvard MBA Oath - a voluntary pledge for graduating MBAs and Executive MBAs started by the Class of 2009 at Harvard to 'create value responsibly and ethically', with currently over 2,500 signatories worldwide. The overall mission of the founders of the MBA Oath is to facilitate a widespread movement of MBAs who aim to lead in the interests of the greater good and who have committed to living out the principles articulated in the oath.
Michael Cooper, MBA graduate 2009-10, instigated the initiative amongst his fellow students. His work in setting up the first MBA Oath UK chapter brought him to the attention of the IGE chief executive Sheila Bloom, who approached him during the summer with the idea of such an event. Michael attended the conference, acting as facilitator in one of the group sessions.
MBA students and academics from business schools across the UK attended, together with representatives from companies such as Balfour Beatty, Telefonica Europe and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The keynote speaker was Andrew Phillips OBE, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, city lawyer, cross bench peer and founder president of the Citizenship Foundation.
Michael Cooper said the invitees were 'direct and forthright' with their opinions, addressing the question of whether business was doing enough to promote a culture of ethics in education. Attendees were asked to discuss where the gaps in business education were while in their separate groups of MBAs, academics and business representatives, then the groups were mixed to discuss what could be done to solve the perceived gaps.
Michael said, "A set of recommendations was arrived at and there will be a recommendation report produced early in the new year. There is also the possibility that we carry out another consultation exercise next year, this time with a wider range of organisations with a stake in business education."