Course Description
Designed to help students deal with the ethical implications of an increasingly complex business world. Covers methods for analyzing and applying personal values, recognizing organizational and environmental forces that influence ethical behavior, and heightening the student's abilities to recognize ethical issues and engage in effective moral debate in a business setting.
Athena Title
Business Ethics
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in MGMT 5440E
Prerequisite
MGMT 3000 or MGMT 3000H or MGMT 3000E
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
- Students will be able to recognize the ethical implications of a business decision and identify, conceptualize, and reconcile the conflict of interest that exists in every business decision with an ethical dimension to it. - Students will be able to conceptualize and analyze the internal and external environments of the firm in the context of corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, issue and crisis management, and technological change. - Students will be able to identify and apply the essential elements of good corporate governance and conceptualize the relationship between corporate governance and legitimacy. - Students will be able to identify, conceptualize, and differentiate among ethical decision-making principles, and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. - Students will be able to conceptualize and analyze the ethical challenges of managing the firm’s relationship with its customers, its employees, the government, and the natural environment. - Students will be able to articulate and conceptualize the particular ethical challenges facing a multinational corporation operating on a global basis. - Students will be able to write an analysis of a case, problem, or business article applying course concepts and tools to provide a solution and recommended action for implementation of the solution.
Topical Outline
1. The Business and Society Relationship 2. Corporate Citizenship: Corporate Social Responsibility, Responsiveness, and Performance 3. Stakeholder Management 4. Corporate Governance 5. Strategic Management and Corporate Social Responsibility 6. Risk, Issue, and Crisis Management 7. Global Ethics: The Ethical Dilemma of the Multinational Business 8. Consumer Stakeholders: Issues and Challenges around Safety, Pricing, and Disclosure 9. Personal Ethics: Principles and Practicalities 10. Organizational Ethics: Fostering an Ethical Culture 11. Governmental Stakeholders: A Relationship of Mutual Influence 12. The Natural Environment as Stakeholder: Sustainability as a Business Imperative 13. The Employer-Employee Relationship: Managing the Key Internal Stakeholder
Syllabus