Who Moved Our Cheese? Reclaiming Professionalism in Business Education

A variety of pressures in the organizational field of business education are rapidly steering educators toward deprofessionalism - a course from which it will be difficult to deviate if they do not recognize the pattern and act on it soon. In the wake of falling government support, business schools (as well as other segments of higher education) have become much more dependent on revenues from two sources - student tuitions and corporate contributions in the form of donations and subsidized tuitions for employees. As a result, the power of business and students has increased substantially vis-a-vis business schools. As popular press "rankings" have taken the place of more nuanced metrics of quality, they have been blamed for introducing a wide variety of changes that threaten business school professionalism. A set of standards for business education might take the form of ethical commitments to serve not just business and students, but first and foremost, the broader society.