Newsmakers

As a Management Professor in the Leavey School of Business, Michael Santoro shares his extensive expertise, which includes areas such as human rights, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility. When Cambridge University Press reached out and asked him to create a blog entry for the Cambridge Core, he used the opportunity to discuss the business school case for conscientious capitalism, as well as the Business School’s new initiative in this field. The piece touches upon a number of key tenets of this concept and shares Professor Santoro’s preferred methods of teaching it in the classroom setting.

An excerpt from the piece:
“Business schools are the ideological temples of neoclassical economics and a big reason students go to worship there is that – let’s face it – they want a “piece of the action.” This does not mean that all business students are greedy, though admittedly a few graduate into full-fledged psychopaths who will be a menace to society. Most business school students have simple, understandable financial goals – to own a home, perhaps help support a family, and generally to achieve a bit of financial security in an uncertain world. It’s hard to criticize that. Many of them will go on to lead companies, create jobs and wealth, and contribute to the public good. In that sense business schools, like the free market system they feed, can be forces for social betterment even without fully embracing altruistic ends for their own sake. At Santa Clara University we go a step farther and encourage students to embrace what we call Conscientious Capitalism, which, simply put, means that we ask students at some time during their studies to reflect on their values and commit to becoming humane and public-spirited business leaders.”

Read the full article here»

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