Stern School Undergraduate Division
C40.0012.007: Professional Responsibility and Leadership
Wednesday 11:00-12:15
KMEC 5-80
Edwin Hartman
[Note: This syllabus is subject to change.]
Description of the Course
We shall consider
- the role of business in society, locally and 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.
In most weekly sessions we’ll analyze a case on some business practice that raises questions on some topic of importance. I’ll provide the case(s) ahead of time, or in class for immediate reading and discussion. These readings will form the texts of the course. Some of them will
be on the Blackboard site.
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. Most of them will be on the
Blackboard site.
This is an interdisciplinary capstone course. The purpose is to build on all your prior
coursework, both at the Stern School and elsewhere. We want you to come away with a sense of
what a business professional 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 one page (double spaced, 12-point type) in your journal. It’s all right
if you go slightly over, but write economically. You are to 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. Do not summarize any of the readings or
class discussions. I’ll grade your entries and give you some feedback.
By Monday of the second week of class (September 8), you will post your first
journal entry on the class Blackboard site; it will be a short autobiography. Thereafter
you will submit two every two weeks. These will be due on
Monday of the fourth week (September 22),
Monday of the sixth week (October 6),
Monday of the eighth week (October 20),
Monday of the tenth week (November 3),
Monday of the twelfth week (November 17), and
Monday of the fourteenth week (December 8).
I advise you to write an entry every week after class, on the readings and class for
that week, rather than write two every other week.
There will be no final exam, or any other kind of exam. You may somewhat improve your grade by your contributions to class discussions, or undermine it by poor attendance.
Improving Your Grade
Students often ask what they can do to improve their written work. It is not always possible to do this overnight, but here are some suggestions:
Don’t just repeat or summarize what you’ve read.
Try to be original, even controversial, but not careless.
Make sure you’re fair to authors you criticize. Avoid oversimplifications and stereotypes.
Make your case: your conclusions should be based on considerations that actually
support them.
Make connections between what you’ve read and something else – a real situation
you know about, something you’ve read elsewhere, etc.
Show that you know why what you’ve read is worth reading.
Communicating
You can see me in my office (KMC 10-91) on some Tuesday afternoons, most of
Wednesday afternoon, and most Thursdays late morning and early afternoon. It’s best to
make an appointment if you can. My office phone is 212/998-0472. My home phone
number, for urgent matters, is 732/873-2902. My e-mail address is ehartman@stern.nyu.edu.
Assignments: Topics, Texts, and Subtexts
Module 1. Markets, Wealth, Rights, and Meaning
September 3: Human and Economic Considerations
We consider what ethics is about, and look at some ethical theories. 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 difficult
situation at the office.
I’ll say a few introductory words about Adam Smith.
Text:
“Monday 9:01 AM”
September 10: Do Markets Always Work?
We explore the moral problems created by market imperfections or failures. “The Price
of Lobster Thermidor” illustrates the problems of monopoly and monopsony, externalities, public goods, and information asymmetry. As background we consider the ideas of
Smith and Ruskin as well as those of Gandhi.
Text:
“Lobster Divers”
Subtexts:
Economics & Ethics Selections – Mohandas Gandhi
Wealth of Nations (excerpt) – Adam Smith
“Unto this Last” – John Ruskin
September 17: Where Does Ethics Come From?
We may think of ethics as coming down from on high, from culture or religion, even
from 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. Keep in mind
the difference between origin and justification.
Text:
The Commons Problem
Subtexts:
The Gospel of Luke (excerpts)
Phineas Gage Websites
Brain Morality
Monkey Fairness
September 24: Human Rights
We explore the issue of human rights, especially for seemingly oppressed laborers around
the world. 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
Transparency International Survey
October 1: Wealth and Property, Life and Death
We explore the possibility of meaning and fulfillment in the economic world. How does
wealth relate to meaning in life? How does the meaningful life relate to the ethical life?
Text:
Nicomachean Ethics (excerpts) - Aristotle
(Under Personal and Professional Life)
Subtexts:
Book of Ecclesiastes (excerpts) – Bible
“Gooseberries” – Chekhov
Do Good, Feel Good
Aristotle on Character and Integrity (optional)
Module 2. Personal and Professional Life
October 8: Relationships and Perks
What is the appropriate relationship between customers and vendors? When, if ever, is it
ethically acceptable to take gifts from vendors? What circumstances might change the
answer to this question?
Text:
“Buynow Stores”
Subtext:
Analects (excerpts) – Confucius
October 15: Loyalty and Whistle Blowing
Hierarchies create loyalties. These are necessary to some degree, but they can work
against the interests of the individuals or the entire firm, and they can highlight the opposition of one set of interests to another. . When should one be a good soldier? When is it
time to turn against the company? How should those at the top eliminate reasons to blow
the whistle?
Texts:
“Travel & Entertainment”
“Ace Greenberg”
Subtext:
Memoirs (excerpts) - Ulysses S. Grant
Callicles (from Plato’s Gorgias)
October 22: 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 (1 and 2)”
Subtext:
Nicomachean Ethics (excerpts) – Aristotle
October 29: 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”
Responsibility of the Analyst
“It Takes a Village”
“Fiduciary Duties”
Subtext:
De Officiis (excerpts) - Cicero
Module 3. Power, Leadership, and Humanity
November 5: 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
November 12: Character and Social Pressure
We want you to encounter some real voices from the business world. We expect to have
a guest speaker for this session.
Text:
“Perils of Obedience” – Stanley Milgram
“Opinions and Social Pressure” – Solomon Asch
Subtext:
The Prince, Chapter 7 (excerpt) – Machiavelli
November 19: Leadership and Ethics: Words and Deeds
Benjamin Disraeli once said “With words we govern men.” If so, then we must choose
our words carefully, and the goals of our governance more carefully still. But are words
enough to make a leader?
Text:
Gettysburg Address – Lincoln
Obama Speech
Subtext:
The Prince, Chapter 15 and other excerpts - Machiavelli
Rhetoric (excerpts) – Aristotle
THANKSGIVING BREAK
December 3: Business Leadership and its Limits
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:
Taoist Leadership
“Our Schizophrenic Conception of the Business Corporation” (excerpts)
- William Allen
December 10: Leadership and Gender
Does women’s leadership differ from men’s? Does it matter?
Subtext:
“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” – Walt Whitman
(Under Markets, Wealth, Rights, and Meaning)
Foreign Assignment
Feminism Not So New
Feminism New