04/07/97 BLEEDING HEARTS AT B-SCHOOL?

BLEEDING HEARTS AT B-SCHOOL?

CARING, SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS, self-sacrificing. Is this the new MBA? A survey of over 2,100 students at 50 graduate business programs paints a picture starkly at odds with the breed's self-centered, money-grubbing image.
The survey finds 79% of the students feel a company must weigh its impact on society--by how it deals with the environment, equal opportunity, workers' families, and other such issues. Half say they would accept lower pay to work for a company they find ''very socially responsible''; 43% claim they wouldn't work for an employer that isn't responsible.
True, these future execs aren't oblivious to traditional precepts. They rank customer responsiveness as the top characteristic of a well-run company, followed by product quality. Social concerns lag: environmental responsibility is 12th; community involvement, 15th. The survey, by Students for Responsible Business, was sponsored by such companies as Kinko's. To many MBAs, says the survey's director, Mark Albion, a former Harvard business school professor, ''social responsibility is not just a nice thing to do.''
By Keith Hammonds
EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT