Stern School Undergraduate Division
C40.0012: Professional Responsibility and Leadership
Section 3
Wednesday 11-12:15
KMEC 3-130
Edwin Hartman
[Note: This syllabus is subject to change.]
Description of the Course
We shall consider
- the role of business in society, locally to globally;
- some economic and ethical aspects of acting as a business professional;
- several models of leadership and their application to business;
- the relationships among these topics and what they have to do with a meaningful life.
Every week we’ll analyze a case on some business practice that raises questions on some
topic of importance. I’ll usually provide the case(s) in class for immediate reading and discussion. These readings will form the texts of the course.
Every week you will also read all or part of a classic work, usually from outside business,
that explores that same important topic from the standpoint of philosophy, psychology, religion,
law, or the arts. These readings we call the subtexts of the course.
This is an interdisciplinary capstone course. The purpose is to build on all your prior core
coursework, both at the Stern School and elsewhere. We want you to come away with a sense of
what a business professional really is, what it means to be one. You should understand how good
professionals and leaders conduct themselves in complex, uncertain situations. You should
begin to see how your interests relate to those of your organization and your community, and to
contemplate what is most important to you.
Work and Grading
The primary basis for your grade will be a journal. Every week after class (except for the
first week) you are to write a page or so (or more if you are truly inspired or angry) in your journal. You will react to what you have read and what you have heard in class. You may agree,
disagree, elaborate, discuss a related topic, bring in some facts and insights from your own experience, etc.
By Monday of the fourth week of class (February 7) you are to have sent me your
first two journal entries. By Monday of the eighth week you will have sent the next four;
by Monday of the twelfth week the next four; by Monday of the fourteenth week the last
two. I’ll grade them and give you some feedback. You don’t have to do one for the first
week. But I urge you to stay up to date by sending me an entry every week after the first
week.
You may somewhat improve or undermine your grade by your contributions or
lack of them to class discussions.
Housekeeping
I expect to be in my office most Tuesday afternoons, Wednesdays from half past
twelve to about two o’clock (unless I go out to lunch), and Thursdays from eleven to
about three o’clock. It’s probably best to make an appointment if you can. My office
phone is 212/998-0054. My e-mail is ehartman@stern.nyu.edu. My home phone number, for urgent matters, is 732/873-2902.
Assignments: Topics, Texts, and Subtexts
Module 1. Commerce and Wealth in the World
January 17: Human and Economic Considerations
We discuss what ethics is about. Using the case “Monday 9:01AM” we think about how
business considerations create fiduciary obligations – that is, a manager’s moral duties of
a certain sort – in handling a morally complex situation at the office.
Text:
“Monday 9:01AM”
Subtexts:
Wealth of Nations (excerpt) – Adam Smith
“Unto this Last” – John Ruskin
January 24: Do Markets Always Work?
Using the text “The Price of Lobster Thermidor” we explore the problem of market imperfections or failures. This case is used to illustrate the problems of monopoly and monopsony, externalities, public goods, and information asymmetry. We shall discuss how
market imperfections create moral problems. As background we look to the ideas of
Smith and Ruskin as well as those of Mohandas Gandhi.
Text:
“The Price of Lobster Thermidor”
Market Failure
Subtexts:
Economics & Ethics Selections – Mohandas Gandhi
January 31: Where Does Ethics Come From?
We may think of ethics as coming down from on high, through culture or religion or even
revelation. But the roots of ethical thinking can be found in many places. We look for
the sources of ethics in philosophy, religion, the brain, and elsewhere. We look once
again at market imperfections.
Text:
The Commons Problem
Subtexts:
The Gospel of Luke (excerpts)
Phineas Gage Websites
Brain Morality
“Origins of Virtue” (excerpt)
February 7: Do Human Rights Exist?
We explore the issue of human rights, especially for laborers around the world. We bring
Gandhi and Jesus back into the discussion. We also consider the origins and justification
of our human rights claims.
Texts:
“Slaves of Chocolate”
“Lives Held Cheap in Bangladesh Sweatshop”
Subtexts
John Wesley, Sermon on Money (excerpts)
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory article (website)
Dalai Lama Nobel Prize Speech 1999
U.N Report on Human Development
February 14: Wealth and Property, Life and Death
This session sums up the first module. The point of the discussion is to explore the possibility of meaning and fulfillment within the economic paradigm. Some people claim the
need to transcend material wealth in order to find meaning in life. Must the good life be
an ethical life?
Text:
Nichomachean Ethics (excerpts) - Aristotle
Subtexts:
“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” – Walt Whitman
Book of Ecclesiastes (excerpts) – Bible
“Gooseberries” - Chekhov
Module 2. Profession and Personal Identity
February 21: Loyalty and Side Deals
When, if ever, is it ethically acceptable to take cash from your vendors? And if you can’t
take cash, what can you take? Anything? What circumstances might change the answers
to these questions?
Text:
“Buynow Stores”
Subtext:
Analects (excerpts) – Confucius
February 28: Loyalty and Whistle Blowing
Local hierarchies create local loyalties. These can be good, or they can work against the
interests of the individuals or the entire firm, or they can highlight the opposition of one
set of interests to another. . When should one be a good soldier? How should those at the
top act to reduce information asymmetry within the firm?
Texts:
“Travel & Entertainment”
“Ace Greenberg”
Subtext:
Memoirs (excerpts) - Ulysses S. Grant
Callicles (from Plato’s Gorgias)
March 7: Loyalty, Industrial Espionage and Trade Secrets
Companies often claim to “own” certain information about themselves or their business.
How can an employee who has this information decide what belongs to the firm and what
to him or her? What may you justifiably learn about your competitor and how may you
learn it?
Texts:
“Stockbroker’s Story”
“Pizza Plot”
Subtext:
Nicomachaean Ethics (excerpts) – Aristotle
Spring Break.
March 21: Standards of Truth and Disclosure
Should our standards of truth and disclosure change in a professional context? Is honesty
dependent upon context?
Text:
“Today’s Analyst Wears Two Hats”
“It Takes a Village”
“Fiduciary Duties”
Subtext:
De Officiis (excerpts) - Cicero
Module 3. Power, Leadership, and Humanity
March 28: Leadership and the Law: Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Corporations and professionals face new risks in the implementation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Here we explain the basic working of these guidelines, and examine
their implications for leadership in corporate life.
Text:
“Pollution Case Highlights Trend to Let Employees Take the Rap”
“When the Company Becomes a Cop”
Subtext:
“The Path of the Law” (excerpts) - Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Prince, Chapter 7 (excerpt) – Machiavelli
April 4: Leadership and Character
We want you to encounter some real voices from the business world. We expect to have
at least one appropriate guest speaker, probably for this session.
Text:
Nicomachean Ethics (excerpts) - Aristotle
April 11. Leadership and Ethics: Words and Deeds
Benjamin Disraeli once said “With words we govern men.” If so, then we have to choose
our words carefully, and the goals of our governance more carefully still.
Text:
Gettysburg Address – Lincoln (on PowerPoint)
Subtext:
The Prince, Chapter 15 and other excerpts - Machiavelli
Rhetoric (excerpts) - Aristotle
April 18. Business Leadership and Its Limits
In this session we examine the relationship between leadership and the fiduciary duty that
binds business leaders to the interest of the shareholders.
Text:
“When Good Ethics Is Not Good Business”
Subtext:
The Tao te Ching
“Our Schizophrenic Conception of the Business Corporation” (excerpts),
- William Allen
April 24. Review
We have a final, integrative discussion on the course and its lessons, limitations, and implications for professional life beyond Stern.