Image via WikipediaToday I had a cursory Google search for the words "sustainability MBA" which yielded quite surprisingly over a million sites. Since the development of the first MBA program by Harvard University over hundred years ago the content of MBA courses have reflected the changing landscape of business. In my own brief career I have seen the inclusion of quality and lean management principles into the core curriculum which was intended to provide MBA candidates with generalist management knowledge to function effectively as future CEO's and business leaders. The business school fraternity decided to differentiate the MBA "product" by adding specialisms ranging from human resource management to the European MBA without altering the philosophical approach to teaching the subject and science of management which was and still is being dominated by "Friedman fundamentalism" i.e. the role of business is profit making.
Then came the "Dot Com" era when some of my fellow MBA classmates sought to make their fortunes by working for small internet start-ups for little pay but with share options which could yield astronomical returns if the company's IPO was the darling of the investors. In hindsight it seems naive but true but then the bubble burst and we were all given a reality check. As MBA's we rationalized the "Dot Com" bubble with even some bestsellers along the way, if you don't write a book and make a buck then being qualified to act as CEO is not a bad fall back position.
However the lessons of the Dot Com era were quickly forgotten until the Financial Crisis and fall of Lehman Brothers the scene on the evening news of highly sophisticated but dazed MBA's leaving Lehman Brothers, London offices with there belongings in cardboard crates sent warning signals across the global business community.
So the Business Schools again did their market research and re-branded providing course offerings in business ethics, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and now the MBA in Sustainability, inviting NGOs, green activists and labour leaders to conferences in effect elevating the entire environmental and social activist community to the status of management gurus.
Therefore it can be perceived sustainability has been hijacked by Business Schools as another flavor of the month with no fundamental shift in the philosophical principles being taught to new MBA's. At a recent "sustainability" research conference I attended I inquired if anyone new the carbon footprint of the event only to receive smiles of amazement but strikingly no real answer not even a crude guess.
From an academic perspective we do not know enough about our planet or how human impact from industrialization affects our planet but what we know is that there is a relationship between environmental degradation and human suffering and it is this effect that we must address as MBA's. Therefore it may be considered premature by academia to anoint MBA's with the mantra of sustainability gurus of their organisations. If this premature repositioning of the MBA as a "Sustainability MBA" or "MBA in Sustainability" is a case of I say tomato... you say "toomaytoe" the MBA as a useful qualification may loose some of its appeal to young graduates who may be inclined to pursue post graduate qualifications in environmental sciences.
However I firmly support the efforts by business schools to influence the sustainability agenda through instruction and training in the core MBA program not as a bolt on subject or specialism..... which if the recent sentiments of leading bank officials are a window into the collective conscience of their boardroom, business academia has an enormous challenge.... but then how can you challenge your major patron...
Then came the "Dot Com" era when some of my fellow MBA classmates sought to make their fortunes by working for small internet start-ups for little pay but with share options which could yield astronomical returns if the company's IPO was the darling of the investors. In hindsight it seems naive but true but then the bubble burst and we were all given a reality check. As MBA's we rationalized the "Dot Com" bubble with even some bestsellers along the way, if you don't write a book and make a buck then being qualified to act as CEO is not a bad fall back position.
However the lessons of the Dot Com era were quickly forgotten until the Financial Crisis and fall of Lehman Brothers the scene on the evening news of highly sophisticated but dazed MBA's leaving Lehman Brothers, London offices with there belongings in cardboard crates sent warning signals across the global business community.
So the Business Schools again did their market research and re-branded providing course offerings in business ethics, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and now the MBA in Sustainability, inviting NGOs, green activists and labour leaders to conferences in effect elevating the entire environmental and social activist community to the status of management gurus.
Therefore it can be perceived sustainability has been hijacked by Business Schools as another flavor of the month with no fundamental shift in the philosophical principles being taught to new MBA's. At a recent "sustainability" research conference I attended I inquired if anyone new the carbon footprint of the event only to receive smiles of amazement but strikingly no real answer not even a crude guess.
From an academic perspective we do not know enough about our planet or how human impact from industrialization affects our planet but what we know is that there is a relationship between environmental degradation and human suffering and it is this effect that we must address as MBA's. Therefore it may be considered premature by academia to anoint MBA's with the mantra of sustainability gurus of their organisations. If this premature repositioning of the MBA as a "Sustainability MBA" or "MBA in Sustainability" is a case of I say tomato... you say "toomaytoe" the MBA as a useful qualification may loose some of its appeal to young graduates who may be inclined to pursue post graduate qualifications in environmental sciences.
However I firmly support the efforts by business schools to influence the sustainability agenda through instruction and training in the core MBA program not as a bolt on subject or specialism..... which if the recent sentiments of leading bank officials are a window into the collective conscience of their boardroom, business academia has an enormous challenge.... but then how can you challenge your major patron...
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