Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 10:51:01 AM EDT
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The Hippocratic Oath is often rendered in modern parlance as “do no harm,” with little recognition that it also goes on to trash physician-assisted suicide and abortion. It also advocates celibacy. So it’s safe to say the Hippocratic Oath isn’t entirely sound, though the basic principle is a good one. That would be why medical schools continue to administer some form of the oath (often sans anti-abortion, pro-celibacy tidbits).
But aside from the obvious power wielded by medical professionals, why not have a similar oath for other professions? In the wake of Wall Street’s meltdown, shouldn’t MBA’s also have to recite an oath to do no harm — or at least be a little less greedy at the expense of lower-order workers?
That is the thinking behind the MBA Oath, published in May by a group of Harvard Business School students. I learned of this thanks to recent MBA graduate Elana Berkowitz, writing in the across-the-pond Guardian newspaper. The oath-takers pledge themselves to “act with utmost integrity and pursue [their] work in an ethical manner,” along with other good things. It starts out by emphasizing the purpose of business professionals is “to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone.”
Fine language, I suppose, and it’s certainly a better graduation tradition than the old one — waving $20 bills about. Crassness has never been a bad business strategy in this country, apparently. But count me as a cynic, at least of the value of the oath in and of itself. The Hippocratic Oath is all good and dandy, but I wonder what it would accomplish in a world without malpractice lawsuits and the FDA. On the business side of medicine, health insurers have been allowed to do considerable harm in large part because of government-sanctioned insulation from the full force and effect of lawsuits.
Will MBA’s be any more motivated by this oath in the absence of a vigorous government regulatory structure? I doubt it. As a Jew, I’ve grown to appreciate the value of communal guilt. It’s the difference, they say, between us and Catholics. They guilt themselves individually. We guilt each other. Theirs may be more efficient, but ours is better at enforcing good behavior in the community. The same, I think, is true in the case of policing bad business behavior.
So let them take this oath. It’s a fine bit of PR and probably will help a few here and there to feel good about their chosen profession. But my guess is the largesse afforded MBA’s when the paychecks are cut is more a motivating factor. A counter-balance with as much force on the bottom-line seems necessary, and that’s a renewed appreciation for the necessity of regulation.
P.S. Elana Berkowitz, to her credit, made these points as well. I don’t want to make it sound like she was just cheerleading the MBA Oath. I’m a little wary, though, of her hope for a “cultural shift within the business community.” Wary, but hopeful, especially if the research she cited by MIT behavioural economist Dan Ariely holds water. |
| Brad Pilcher :: The Businessperson's Hippocratic Oath... A Start? |
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