My Letter to a Leading National Daily

Sir, It was interesting to read your article titled “Course in biz ethics must at new IIMs” which talked about the course in Business Ethics being made mandatory at IIMs. I feel we would be fooling ourselves if we believe that by virtue of making these courses mandatory, students passing out of the hallowed portals are less likely to commit or participate in corporate frauds. It would most likely remain as just another course with a certain number of credits to be obtained! And of-course grab front-page headlines in all leading national dailies!

Ethics forms part of an individual’s core values; something that is inculcated, gets moulded and etched inside oneself during the very early stages of one’s life with the key stakeholders in this process being the child’s family and school. Trying to change these values or inculcate new ones during an MBA program would be leaving it too late! Hence I believe that if we are really serious about tackling this menace of corruption we (all sections of society including academia and corporates) should focus on developing similar course content for school students. The probability of it creating an impact on the future minds of the country is much higher.