MG/IB 329 - Business Ethics

Business ethics do not deal with what is legal, but with the application of moral standards to business decisions. The majority of moral standards relate to personal behavior, which is not necessarily legislated and varies according to culture differences. This course enables students to understand the role of business ethics from an organizational and decision-making perspective. It is designed to demonstrate how to integrate ethics and responsibility into business decisions; to trace the historical foundations and evolution of business ethics; to examine the relationship between stakeholder orientation and corporate social responsibility; and to explore ethical business issues such as conflicts of interest, bribery, fraud, insider trading and intellectual property rights.

The course is designed to:

• Provide a comprehensive framework for ethical decision-making in business
• Introduce leadership styles that promote an ethical culture
• Explain how moral philosophies and values influence individual and group decisions
• Examine the influence of corporate culture on business ethics
• Determine how leadership, power, and motivation relate to ethical decision-making in organizations
• Assess organizational structure and its relationship to business ethics
• Prepare students to implement and audit ethics programs

A case-study approach to business ethics gives students the opportunity to apply theory to practical business situations against the backdrop of one of the world’s financial capitals. As the financial and economic crisis has led to world-wide political reactions based on macro-economic development on a global scale, students are invited in this course to examine one of the most challenging times of global business development and ethics. The course reflects new ideas and policies under development in the European Union and the US and explores the revival of humanistic management principles based on corporate eco-social business ethics and missions.

We will use annual and sustainability reports and other actual company information to examine and evaluate global companies dealing with complex business ethics issues that are a priority in twenty-first-century companies.