Economist.com |Is the MBA responsible for moral turpitude at the top? :

“SEVERAL of the corporate scandals that took place in the early years of this decade are currently being replayed in courtrooms from New York to Alabama. The trials of top executives at HealthSouth, Tyco International and WorldCom are reminding the public how unethical was the behaviour of some of the nation’s top managers only a few short years ago.

The finger of blame for this behaviour is sometimes pointed at the MBA, the degree offered by business schools from Harvard to Hawaii. Perhaps this is not as odd as it sounds. After all, MBAs lay as thick on the ground at Enron as managerial hubris, and disinterested outsiders are not alone in asking whether there might have been some connection.”

Do we really think the primary place for social and moral teachings is in the management schools teaching twenty and thirty year olds the latest theory on business and economics? Yes, these schools can and are exposing future manager to difficult situations. But, no, it is not the primary responsibility of these institutions to instill the core values of ethical and legal decision making. Here is an article on the issue worthy of a read.

BusinessPundit talks about this movement which according to The Economist is
One of the biggest corporate fads of the 1990s—less overpowering, no doubt, than dotcom mania, but also longer-lived—was the flowering of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). The idea that it is not enough for firms to make money for their owners is one that you might expect to be an article of faith among anti-globalists and eco-warriors. Many bosses now share, or say they share, the same conviction.