The results from a new study on cheating among MBA students conducted by the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University is quite disheartening. From Bloomberg.com:
The study found 56 percent of MBA students acknowledged cheating….The study offered two main explanations for the cheating: the pressure-cooker atmosphere of business school leaves many students willing to compete by any means available, and corporate scandals have distorted the standards of many business students.
So what these students are telling us is that the “ends justify the means” and “I might as well get started cheating now, because that is what I will need to do in corporate America.”
Another study found that more than 70% of undergraduate business students admit to cheating.
Corporate America has helped to corrupt our culture with all of its scandals. My only hope is that the entrepreneurial generation will create a new breed of American business leaders that seeks to do well in business without sacrificing their integrity. That is why we need to infuse not just legalistic ethics, but morality and values into business education.