Monday, July 7, the School of Business welcomed 150 students to the 2015 class of the Master of Arts in Management program. As an important part of their first day of orientation, Professor Sean Hannah, Student Services Director, Matt Imboden, and Professor Jim Janke, discussed the honor system within the business school.
Professor Sean Hannah, Tylee Wilson Chair of Business Ethics, contributed to this orientation session by discussing the concept of honor in the practice of business. Dr. Hannah invited the new MA students to begin to consider future positions not just as careers or jobs, but as an office– with duties and responsibilities. In illustrating his point, Dr. Hannah shared the words of Alfred North Whitehead: “A great society is a society in which its men [and women] of business think greatly of their functions.” “Low thoughts [about business] mean low behavior, and after a brief orgy of exploitation low behaviour means a descending standard of life.”
Dr. Hannah concluded his remarks by discussing professional identity and mindset. By comparison of cultures within organizations, a legal culture (where individuals “seek to avoid doing bad”) versus an honor culture (where individuals “seek to do good”), students are encouraged to embrace and embody a culture of honor, and exemplify honor that is the brand in the School of Business and Wake Forest University.