First, Harvard Business School’s Centennial celebrations on April 8, 2008, which marked the 100th anniversary of its founding as the world’s first two-year masters program in management education in 1908.
The School's stated mission is to "Attract, develop, place, and continue to engage men and women of faith, character, and professional ability who will become outstanding leaders and positively influence a world we wish to improve.
[12] One of the creators of the student-led effort expressed interest in pushing for a long-term goal of creating a central regulatory board that would oversee business conduct.
[13] In a larger context, the MBA Oath represents a small step towards professionalizing the management field in ways similar to the medical and law professions.
HBS Professors Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria are working with the World Economic Forum and the Aspen Institute to create an MBA Oath that might be used globally.
Through these codes, professional institutions forge an implicit social contract with other members of society: Trust us to control and exercise jurisdiction over this important occupational category.
On balance we believe that a profession, with well-functioning institutions of discipline, will curb misconduct because moral behavior is an integral part of the identity of professionals: a self-image most are motivated to maintain.