B-schools teaching #MeToo, NFL protests & Trump

MBA is no longer just about finance, marketing, accounting and economics

Tim Vogus, a professor at Vanderbilt University’s business school, was stoking the debate in his classroom one day this fall, asking first-year MBA students about one of the most successful, and controversial, companies of the day. On the syllabus was Uber, a case study in both sensational business success and rampant corporate misbehaviour.

“A toxic culture might be obvious when you think about Uber,” Professor Vogus said. “But I’m an old person. What is this whole ‘bro’ thing?”
 

There were some awkward chuckles, and then hands started popping up. “It’s carrying fraternity culture with you into adult life,” said one student, Nick Glennon. Another student, Jonathon Brangan, said, “It’s arrogance mixed with the feeling of invincibility.”

An MBA education is no longer just about finance, marketing, accounting and economics. As topics like sexual harassment dominate the national conversation and chief executives weigh in on the ethical and social issues of the day, business schools around the country are hastily reshaping their curriculums with case studies ripped straight from the headlines.

At Vanderbilt, there are classes on Uber and “bro” culture. At Stanford, students are studying sexual harassment in the workplace. And at Harvard, the debate encompasses sexism and free speech.

“There’s a turning point in what’s expected from business leaders,” said Leanne Meyer, co-director of a new leadership department at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. “Up until now, business leaders were largely responsible for delivering products. Now, shareholders are looking to corporate leaders to make statements on what would traditionally have been social justice or moral issues.”

Several factors are contributing to these revised syllabuses. Bad behaviour by big companies has thrust ethics back into the news, from Wells Fargo’s creation of fake accounts to sexual harassment at Fox News to the litany of improprieties at Uber. Some millennials are prioritising social and environmental responsibility.

And a new generation of chief executives is speaking out about moral and political issues in the Trump era. “Something has changed,” said Ed Soule, a professor at the Georgetown McDonough School of Business. “I would be kidding you if I told you there wasn’t a different vibe in the classroom.”

This fall, Professor Soule assigned coursework covering sexual harassment at Uber, how companies like Amazon respond when attacked by Trump and the social justice protests by NFL players. “Ethics and values have taken on more significance,”Professor Soule said. “It has to do with all of the things going on in this administration, often things that challenge our understanding of ethics and leadership.”

Professors are reacting to the news, but they are also responding to calls from students for classes that deal with ethics. Students also realise that as leaders of increasingly diverse work forces, they will need to understand their employees’ perspectives on national debates, and how corporate decisions affect them.

One way that some business schools are responding is by drawing on the social sciences, like behavioural economics and psychology. Gender is an issue that students are particularly interested in, according to the Forté Foundation, which works with business schools to help more women advance into leadership roles. The foundation has developed a tool kit for men, with tips like choosing a name such as “ally” or “liaison” to denote a sense of partnership, or using role-playing scenarios about sensitive situations, like what to do if a colleague says, “She only got the promotion because she’s a woman.”

Two dozen schools have started groups based on the program, including groups called the Manbassadors, for men committed to gender equity in business, at the business schools at Columbia, Dartmouth and Harvard.

The goal is “making sure that as men we’re very aware of some of the privileges we’re afforded simply because of gender,” said Alen Amini, a third-year student at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a founder of its Manbassadors group.

As previously taboo subjects enter the classroom debate, students and professors are still adjusting.

“It can get pretty controversial,” said Aaron Chatterji, an associate professor at the Duke University Fuqua School of Business who is starting a class about activism among chief executives. “I’ve never taught a class where I’ve had students talking about gay rights or drug addiction.” 

© 2017 The New York Times