Harvard Business School Evaluates Past Performance

Harvard Business School has begun reevaluating its practices after drawing fire for the high-profile role its graduates have played in an unprecedented financial crisis that some allege stemmed from recklessness or negligence.

The case study—being written by a task force formed in November by HBS Dean Jay O. Light to research the implications of the financial crisis for HBS—will analyze the School’s performance in preparing students during the lead up to the financial crisis.

HBS Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs W. Carl Kester said that the case aims to examine every facet of life and education at the school.

“There will be a certain amount of what we’re doing well or not well,” Kester said. “It will really be something that cuts across our lives here.”

The faculty will use the case findings to discuss implications for curriculum and methods of attracting students at a faculty meeting next month, according to Paul M. Healy, an HBS professor and co-chair of the task force.

Healy declined to comment on the task force’s findings so far, saying that the case is unfinished.

Kester said that the school has used cases to analyze its performance in the past and that it has a culture of reexamining itself.

“If you were a fly on the wall in one of our meetings, you might not think you were at one of the world’s best business schools because we’re always asking ‘What’s wrong?’” he said.

Media critics have increasingly pointed to Harvard Business School—the alma mater of former Merrill Lynch chief executive John A. Thain, recently ousted General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, and Bush administration Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox—as the source of the irresponsible activity that bred the crisis.

Last month, Philip D. Broughton, a HBS alumnus, wrote an article for London’s Sunday Times entitled “Harvard’s masters of the apocalypse.” Harvard Business Review has published several blog posts on this issue, including one titled, “Are MBAs the Problem?”

In 2001, the Business School reworked its curriculum after the Enron scandal to include a required, full-credit course on corporate accountability. According to Kester, current students also frequently debate ethical dilemmas in other classes.

“The people who are being criticized graduated between 20 and 30 years ago,” Kester said.

Students said they generally agreed that they are being adequately prepared for the challenges of the business world, said Patrick S. Chun ’04, co-president-elect of the HBS Student Association. He said he believed the problem was marketing.

“Maybe HBS hasn’t been as proactive as it could be in casting the vision of the MBA as a modern need for businesspeople,” Chun said. “We need to show what we’re learning from this experience.”

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.