MGMT 321 International Business Ethics

Fall 2015

MGMT 321 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS

Fall 2015

Instructor: Ray Shaw

Office hours: The instructor will be available from 9am to 10.15am before class or at a mutually convenient time by appointment.

Email: ray.e.shaw@gmail.com

Telephone: +393932763612

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

The course will investigate general moral theory and then apply it to topics in Business in an International context. In particular the course will focus on justifications and critiques of market Capitalism, economic rationality as opposed to moral reasonableness, justice, property rights, the notion of externalities, conception of responsibility, and various specific ethically sensitive issues both inside the firm (e.g. whistleblowing) and outside it (e.g. climate change).

COURSE FORMAT:

1) In-Class lecture and discussions

2) Case Studies

3) Student presentations

4) Business Films and Documentaries – these will be screened in the class however DVD recordings of these will be available in the IC.

5) TED.com videos which the student will be expected to download and review outside of class time.

Classes will be held twice per week and last 75 minutes each. Participants are required to read the materials and prepare cases prior to coming to class. The course will be given in modules. These modules will consist of two or three lessons. In the case of modules consisting of three lessons, the first class in each module will consist of a lecture/discussion and/or study of a TED video. The second lesson will consist of the students working in groups on a case study issued by the instructor. The third lesson will consist of the groups presenting the results of their group work to the assembled class. In the case of the modules consisting of two lessons the first module will consist of the students working in groups on a case study issued by the instructor. The second lesson will consist of the groups presenting the results of their group work to the assembled class.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• to properly identify cultural models and philosophical variables explaining the business decision
• quantify the impact of “ethical approaches”.
• To evaluate objectively and subjectively, the impact of the selected alternative strategy.
• To set realistic strategies under a well defined context
• To categorize variables leading to a defined business ethics situation.

Recommended Readings

These readings are designed to help students in a more in-depth comprehension on some of the subjects and topics that will be dealt throughout the class sessions:

The electronic file of the book is stored in the “Shortcut to Courses” folder accessible from the student’s computer lab. “Business Ethics – A textbook with cases” William H. Shaw.

Halbert/Ingulli. “Law and ethics in the Business environment”

FURTHER MATERIALS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE INSTRUCTOR

Online Reference & Research Tools:

Business Ethics

http://www.depaul.edu/ethics

Institute for Business & Professional Ethics at DePaul University, Chicago

http://www.pitt.edu/~ethics/

International Business Forum

http://www.us.kpmg.com/ethics/

KPMG Business Ethics

http://www.emory.edu/ETHICS/

Center for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions, Emory University.

http://www.indiana.edu/~poynter/index.html

The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, Indiana University.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eethics/about.html The Institute for the Study of Applied and Professional Ethics.

http://www.globalethics.org/ Institute for Global Ethics

http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/ Josephson Institute for Ethics

http://www.iit.edu/~csep/ Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions

http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~ethics/ Wharton Ethics Program

www.ghber.org  The Greater Houston Business Ethics Roundtable (GHBER)

http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/ W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethic

Additional Sites

http://www.scu.edu/Ethics Ethics in Organizations

http://www.med.upenn.edu/~bioethic Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

GRADES AND DISTRIBUTION:

Various elements will be taken into account when determining your final grade. The instructor will explain in detail the content, criteria and specific requirements for all assessment categories but the basic breakdown is as follows below.

Class Participation 20%

Group Presentations 30%

Weekly Review Essays 20%

Final Exam 30%

Grade distribution:

A 93-100 A- 90–92

B+ 88-89 B 83-87 B- 80-82

C+ 78-79 C 73-77 C- 70-72

D 60-69

F below 60

Class Participation (20%): When determining your class participation grades, traditional criteria such as coming to class well prepared, having read the recommended materials for the class, being willing and capable of interacting with class mates under a team approach, as well as an active, and a meaningful participation are all evaluable criteria shaping the final participation score. Course participants need to be prepared to discuss the assigned cases. Comments or questions about current events in Business Ethics situations, current new articles, books or readings, are also appreciated.

 In order of complexity, the criteria used to measure effective class participation include the following:

1. Relevance: Is the comment relevant to the discussion?

2. Evidence: Does the student support comments well, using data gathered in this class?

3. Clarity: Is the comment clear, complete and concise?

4. Intellectual cleverness: does the comment shed additional light into the key variables determining the business ethics issue?

5. Adequacy: Is the comment pertinent and adequate to the subject matter?

6. Implications: does the analysis of the issue being raced broaden its scope to detect further implications conducive to a better definition of any of the existing models?

Attendance and punctuality are expected and do not count positively towards the participation grade. However, laxity in these areas will have a negative effect on your grade.

Group Presentation (30%): Predetermined groups of 3 or 4 students will develop  PowerPoint presentations written in formal English outlining their analysis and recommendations of their group work. Satisfactory presentations require some outside research effort and include appropriate citations. Critical perspectives on cases discussed are encouraged. Practical guidelines for each case will be outlined by the instructor.

Weekly Review Essays (20%): Each week the students will be required to prepare an essay explaining the most important things that the students has learnt from the Film and Videos they will be instructed to watch as well as the required readings for that week.

Final Exam (30%): The final exam is designed to establish and communicate the progress the student has made towards meeting the course learning objectives listed in the syllabus above. The exam is  designed to test the student’s ability in three important areas of competency: the amount of information mastered; the accuracy in interpreting and discriminating information; the ability to categorize business ethics problems into existing conceptual philosophical models; and the managerial ability to present pertinent and relevant information in an attractive manner and format.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

If you are forced to miss class, please document the legitimacy of the absence, as soon as possible.

Legitimate absences (serious illness or other crisis) should be documented in writing by the appropriate authority. Obviously, appointments should be scheduled for times other than when a class for which you are registered meets.

Each unexcused absence beyond a total of two absences, excused or unexcused is defined as excessive. Whilst, repeated chronic lateness (more than 10 minutes) shall be counted as partial absences. Absences will be totalled over the whole semester. Each additional absence will incur a 5% reduction from the overall course grade.

Exams can only be rescheduled for truly dire and documented reason

ACADEMIC HONESTY

The basic principles and definitions are available in the subsection on "Academic Integrity" in the General Academic Standards and Regulations and the College of Arts and Sciences' Academic Integrity Statement.

Any practice of academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, obstructing the work of other students, etc.) perpetrated in this course will result in failure of the course.

Loyola University requires that all instances of academic dishonesty must be reported to the chairperson of the department involved and to the academic Dean of the student's College.

 CLASS SCHEDULE: