The world has been making noises about the role the business schools, especially Harvard Business School, played in bringing about the global financial downturn. Doubts on the culpability of the B-schools began a long time back when the Enron – being run by Jeffrey Skilling, an HBS product went bankrupt. Then came, John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, and Christopher Cox, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission both products of HBS and mired in controversies.
Answering the debate over the extent of business schools' culpability, the Dean of HBS, Jay O Light in an article on harvardbusiness.org pointed out that it has been a period of reflection and considerable introspection for business schools. Referring to the HBS summit, Centennial 2008, Light said that more than 2,000 world leaders gathered in the summit to discuss seminal issues such as the future of market capitalism, globalisation, and leadership in the 21st century.
However, he said, “We never imagined they would come together in such dramatic fashion as we witnessed the financial crisis, a global recession as deep and painful as any since the early decades of the last century, with fundamental questions about the role and responsibility of business schools in the mix.”
While accepting that the B-schools must share some of the blame, he said, “Yes, there are lessons to be learned and things we have to do differently. But to suggest that business schools and the MBA are the root cause of the global financial crisis is simplistic nonsense that ignores the obvious reality of the many complex and interrelated factors that underlie the problem.”
Voicing similar opinions, Steve Kerr, advisor to and former Chief Learning Officer for Goldman Sachs, in another article on harvardbusiness.org said, “The notion that MBA education has such a massive influence upon its students that it can be blamed for todays financial and economic crisis is absurd. If you don't agree, did you remember to thank the MBAs for the largely uninterrupted booming economy we all enjoyed from the early 1990's until last year?”
The HBS, according to the HBS Dean, is now making changes in the way they teach risk management (without stifling the focus on innovation and entrepreneurialism). Light, in his article, said, “I believe that business schools can and will be part of the solution. The core of our teaching here at HBS will be more important than ever before. We will help our MBA program students see the big picture and anticipate the impact of their decisions as well as offer them a deeper understanding of the financial crisis.” Light signed off his piece with a promise to get to the heart of the cause of the crisis. He assured that business schools, and Harvard Business School in particular, will play its role in shaping the future of management education to meet the needs of a new century.
