At the annual conference of business school in Berlin MBA-Channel.com interviewed Francesca Gino from Harvard Business School. The economist wrote her PhD at home in Italy, in Harvard she researches issues like negotiations and decision making, teamwork, ethics and innovation.
Francesca Gino
Your studies prove that executives are often prejudiced and have a tendency to estimate their own value higher than their peers. That hinders fairness in leadership and can result in risky behaviour and bad decisions. Is a business school where elites meet a good place for inward looking and self-reflection?
Indeed, I meet a lot of executives who report how they conducted difficult negotiations or managed a complex project, explaining “The others were entirely prejudiced, only I understood the underlying issues, no one else caught up with me...” and so forth. It is only human that we aim at owning our successes and try to blame others or the circumstances for our failures. But in my experience it is much easier to realize one’s own misbehaviour and to accept new ways in a classroom than under stress in the office. At school we discuss case studies but only to learn from them – without the financial pressure of a real deal. And it helps the MBA students to realize that other real great people are not infallible either.
You are an expert for decision making. How does one find a good business school? In the rankings one of the more prominent criteria is the achieved income after graduation – but that is not necessarily a good measurement for ethics and well taught leadership qualities.
Rankings are an important way to get oriented. Still, I would always advise to spend some time with face-to-face meetings at open days, or during master classes at selected business schools in order to meet the lecturers and speak with other students. Ask about student services, how and where tutors and lecturers can be reached, how long the offices and facilities on campus are open and try to get an idea of who else might be attending the programme. After all, an important benefit of an MBA programme is the opportunity to meet participants from a wide range of varied backgrounds.
Should ethics and sustainability be an explicit part of the curriculum, as it is increasingly the case?
Unfortunately, business schools were a little slow to react. Only after some of the big company scandals in the US, and the global financial crisis in 2008 did these subjects come into the focus of the business education sector. To anchor ethics and sustainability more deeply in management education is both right and important. I would hope, however, that in the future ethics does not remain a separate subject but rather becomes a substantial part of all courses. Ethical aspects are as important in marketing as they are in human resources, business management or finance.