SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form
Electronically submit a copy of the course proposal form and attachments to
the Chair of the CCC. Please submit a separate copy of the proposal form for
each learning goal.
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Name of Proposer: Caroline Doran
Email address: caroline.doran6@stmarys-ca.edu
Department/Program of Proposer: Business Administration
Name of Department/Program housing the course: Business Administration
Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair (if not the proposer): Barry
Eckhouse (Management Chair). Caroline Doran-self (Acting Director Busad
Program)
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title: BUSAD 181 Business Ethics and Social
Responsibility
7. Semester(s) in which course will be offered: Fall and Spring
8. How often is this course taught? Every semester
9. Course Prerequisites (if any): All lower division business classes
10. Unit Value of Course: 1 unit
11. Proper Audience for the course : Juniors and Seniors
12. The Learning Goals for which the course is being submitted
Engaging the World: Community Engagement
Teaching
Students will apply academic methods and/or theories in a way that promotes
collaboration and mutual benefit in a community setting
Students will receive instruction on ethical theories, an ethical decision making
model, and common ethical dilemmas. Via a community based learning project
students will be taught how to incorporate these ethical constructs into an applied
form—applied ethics. Faculty will bridge the gap between theory and the real world
by engaging the students ethics based projects such as the creation of codes of
conduct and mission statements, undertaking supply chain analysis to check for
ethical issues, or conducting ethics training for community members (having met
with the community members to discuss the specifics of each project;) these
projects being mutually beneficial to the community member and the student.
Collaboration around ethical issues is complex. With this project students will face
the ultimate dilemma in ethics, which is that individual positions on what
constitutes “ethical” differ and that these differences often become the genesis of
inter-personal, intra-group, or inter-group conflict. Working on a community based
project students will experience first-hand what they have been taught in the
classroom that one’s ethical personality is a milieu of biology, learning, and
environmental forces and that each worldview has to be treated as valid. In terms of
pedagogy, this would be parsed in the language of group cohesion, norming, goal
identification, compromise etc.
Collaboration with the community member will inform the process—we will meet
with them to discuss the details—teaching the student how to operate according to
the needs of others in a top down relationship like they might expect to encounter in
business once they graduate; that is to say, learning to function within systems
controlled by others and not the self.
Students will demonstrate critical reflection throughout their experience
Because this class is centered on ethical theories, personal values, religious
influences, biology etc. students will quickly learn the benefits of making ethical
decisions having first reflected on important constructs such as values, duties,
rights, virtue, utility etc. Furthermore, the ethical decision making model taught in
this class incorporates the notion of reflection especially as it pertains to defining
stakeholder groups, defining effects on stakeholders, and monitoring outcomes.
Ethical decisions made in the context if BUSAD 181 are based on refection.
Ethics is both a complex and abstract construct that can be molded into tangible
instruments, processes, advice, directives etc. but only once the relevant issues have
been flushed through conversations, processes, timelines, theories, and both selfreflective and objective critique. Ultimately in BUSAD 181, ethical decision making
and projects are based on an iterative model predicated on reflection.
Students will express their understanding of the interconnections between
their experience and their responsibilities as members of social or
professional communities.
One of the primary areas of instruction in this course is the examination of the role
of business in society; teaching students how to identify where and how business
and society (not just consumers) intersect and how business adds value or perhaps
detracts from society. Students are taught about the different stances taken by the
firm vis a vis society and a community based learning opportunity allows students
to see in real terms how community members (businesses) approach ethical issues
and issues related to corporate social responsibility. This will be extremely
beneficial to them as future business leaders and protagonists of corporate social
responsibility.
Learning
Students will apply academic methods and/or theories in a way that promotes
collaboration and mutual benefit in a community setting
In terms of collaboration there are the obvious benefits of collaborative and socially
constructed learning: learning from working with others. In undertaking a
community based project students will quickly learn that there is a very compelling
necessity to work collaboratively to overcome and/or accommodate different belief
systems in order to create firm level belief systems, ethical processes, and/or ethical
outcomes. That is to say that collaboration among individuals is required to make
ethical decisions for a business or an organization.
Ultimately we would like to have a range of projects but the number and type of
projects is contingent on what CILSA or other stakeholder groups presents us with
in terms of variety of partners and projects. The types of projects we could
undertake are varied but most of them would have to do with working on an aspect
of the community partner's firm/organization that has an ethical aspect. For
example a firm/organization might need an ethics code written up, they might need
us to develop a code of conduct to guide their staff, they might need us to check their
supply chain to see if their suppliers behave ethically, or they might need us to
undertake a risk assessment to see where they might get in trouble because of
employee or management behavior.
The project will be mutually beneficial in that students will gain first hand tangible
experience and the community member will receive consultation. Therefore, before
anything is decided and firmed up faculty and student representatives will need to
meet with and engage with community members. As of now we are proposing the
following types of projects but are very much open to taking an organic approach to
the project whereby the project might be decided upon only after meeting a
community member. We propose working on the following types of projects with
community partners.
1. development of policies that have an ethical bent (such as religious
expression in the work place, the use of language other than English)
2. development of a code of conduct or ethics code
3. development of a mission statement that would drive ethical behavior
4. supply chain analysis to determine if there are any questionable practices
among suppliers
5. training on ethical decision making for business owners and employees
6. analysis and advice on the firm’s stance, or future stance, on CSR
In terms of measuring student learning or the quality of outcome for the community
member it must be noted that it is an imperative that all projects be in keeping
within class learning on ethical theories, the ethical decision making model,
stakeholder theory, substantiality, or governance for example--constructs covered
in detail in the course. Therefore the language and processes of each project will
be in direct correlation with specific language and processes learned in the course.
For example if the collaboration pertains to corporate social responsibility the
students would be expected to create a product that is framed in the language used
in CSR classes i.e. Philanthropy versus Social Web approaches or Social Web versus
Integrative approaches.
Or, if the collaboration pertains to issues related to ethical decision making it would
be expected that students create a product that incorporates in class learning on our
7-step approach to ethical decision making.
From the learning perspective, the more correlation faculty observes between
classroom learning and the project the more effective the project would be deemed
to be. But this is only part of the equation. As there is rarely one right answer or one
correct means of creating an outcome in ethics, the final product of the project will
not be the only determinant of the students’ success. Student learning will also be
evaluated based on the processes. A process based rubric would be used in this case
(the rubric being shared with the students in advance.) The concepts under
evaluation (and highlighted in the rubric) would be:
1. congruency between concepts learned in class and how they are utilized in
the project
2. adherence to deadlines
3. openness to changing parameters
4. adherence to the project brief
5. effectiveness of communication
6. degree of autonomy displayed
Students will demonstrate critical reflection throughout their experience
Once the parameters of the project have been developed with the students, the
community member, and the professor, the process will be quite generic in that
there will be a lot of emphasis on developing group dynamics such establishing
norms and goals etc.; issues not related to ethics per se, but rather focusing on the
rules and expectations of collaboration.
As these projects will require a lot of brain-storming and couching of the project in
ethical terms, there will have to be meetings that are dynamic in nature; meetings
that evolve rather than adhere to predetermined guidelines. Attendance and
contributions at such meetings is obligatory.
Throughout the semester there will be time allotted to have a group discussion and
reflection on the process (the highs, the lows, the learning etc.). Students will be
expected to submit a personal reflection before these classes.
A cumulative refection will take place at the end of the semester. Again, students
will be asked to submit a personal reflection before this class. More importantly
though, students will quantitatively reflect on their performance and the
performance of themselves and their peers. Self-evaluations and peer evaluations
will take place that will require students use a scoring rubric to reflect on their
contributions and the contributions of their peers in such areas as:
1. collaborative behavior,
2. fairness in terms of work-load,
3. attentiveness to the project
4. respect for each other’s belief systems
Students will express their understanding of the interconnections between
their experience and their responsibilities as members of social or
professional communities.
As part of the final reflection students will be asked to determine personal learning
outcomes associated with undertaking this community based project. Points for
consideration in the evaluation would be:
1. what they have learned from the community member
2. what they have learned the operational aspects of the project
3. how their view of business in general might have changed (for better or
worse) as a result of working within the business community as opposed to
being passive spectators
4. how they might use this information moving forward as students, business
managers, employees, and community members.
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility (Busad 181), Fall 2013
CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: cjd6@stmarys-ca.edu
Telephone: 925-631-4588
Office: Galileo Hall 304
Office Hours:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The study and application of ethical decision-making, leadership, and social responsibility in business,
grounded in personal and company core values. This course will take account of the spiritual, religious,
and cultural dimensions of the diverse environments in which businesses operate domestically and globally.
Topics include moral dimensions of the political and economic context of business; utilitarian, Kantian,
virtue, and communitarian ethics; moral courage; organizations and ethics; the history of the corporation
and theories of corporate social responsibility; managing ethical organizations in a global economy; and
social responsibility focused regulation (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley).
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon successfully completing this course students will have a better:
 Understanding of one’s own values to increase moral awareness and motivate moral action.

Understanding of U.S. and cross-national religious and moral frames underlying political and
economic cultures.

Ability to articulate theories of corporate social responsibility and their implications for both
organizational and individual conduct.

Ability to apply ethical theories and decision-making models to real world situations,

Ability to collaborate with other students and within the business community in areas of
complex ethical issues.

Students will apply academic methods and/or theories in a way that promotes
collaboration and mutual benefit in a community setting

Students will demonstrate critical reflection throughout their community based
learning experience

Students will express their understanding of the interconnections between their
experience and their responsibilities as members of social or professional
communities while undertaking their community based learning project.
STUDENT RESOURCES
Textbook. Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility, 2 nd Edition.
Hartman and DesJardins
Other readings:
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Are there universal aspects in the structure and content of human values? In
M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1-65). Orlando, FL: Academic.
Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values?
Journal of Social Issues 50(4), 19-45.
Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits.
The New York Times Magazine.
Moodle Companion. There is a Moodle classroom set up that will act as a repository for your assignments and other
resources.
Library Services. Reference/Information assistance is available at the Reference Desk, by phone (925) 631-4624,
text message or IM. Check the Library’s “Ask Us” link for details: http://library.stmarys-ca.edu/ask-us/ Extended
assistance by appointment is also available. Contact the subject librarian for your major or any of the Reference
librarians for an appointment. Or, if you'd prefer, you can provide the contact link information for your Subject
Librarian, which can be found at this link: http://library.stmarys-ca.edu/about/staff/selectors.html.
Feedback. You will receive feedback for any work submitted through Turnitin in Grademark, which is a functionality
within Turnitin.
I do not address scores, points, grades, etc. in class. NEVER. Unless we are in a private domain I will not comment on
your work. I find private individualized feedback to be more to your advantage. If I do not hear from you regarding an
appointment, I will assume you do not want to discuss your score.
Grades: Grades will be available in Moodle as soon as I have graded your work and updated Moodle. I usually will not
post grades until all sections have been graded.
Student Disability Services. Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take
into account the context of the course and its essential elements for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students
with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Office at (925) 631-4358 to set up a
confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding
the services available may be found at the following address on the Saint Mary’s website: http://www.stmarysca.edu/sds
REQUIRED PRACTICES AND CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE
Your behavior in the classroom must be commensurate to what it would be in the corporate world.
You should behave with good manners, speak respectfully, and work productively. To this end:
You should not take a telephone call, view/answer an email or text, or surf the web on your laptop or
phone during class. Any student seen with any type of mobile device will be considered disengaged
(physically present but otherwise absent from the learning process). Consequently, you may have
attendance points deducted from your final grade. Every time I see you touching a mobile device
(even if you claim you are not texting, checking Facebook or Twitter, or checking your email) you will
be asked to leave the class and you will lose 5 points. Using your phone to check the time, your
calendar, look for a definition etc. is not a valid excuse.
A minimum of three hours of out-of-class preparation and reflection is expected of all students for
each hour in class. This will allow for a more in-depth learning experience, but equally important is
that it will allow you to carry your weight in classroom discussions and not put undue pressure on
the more prepared students.
Tardiness. If you are going to be late to class, please sit in the first available space closest to the
door. Life happens, so it may be that you are late on the odd occasion, on the other hand, habitual
tardiness shows a lack of respect to your peers. On your third tardy you will begin to lose 5 points
every time you are late moving forward.
Absence.
The Department of Business Administration faculty values your presence and participation in class.
As a member of our learning community, you must attend class regularly. Absences will be counted
as follows: if you miss more classes than the number of times a course meets weekly, your final grade
will be lowered by one-third of a letter grade for each class missed. More than three absences are not
permitted. On your fourth absence and for all absences thereafter you will lose 20 points from
your final score.
If you are absent on the day your team presents you will receive no points for the presentation; this
is non -negotiable and no I will not give you points for the time you spent preparing with the team.
If you are absent for a class where there was an assignment due, you still have to post the assignment
to Moodle by the due time and date. If a random test is administered in your absence you cannot
make it up.
If you are absent for an inclass essay you will have to make it up at a time that is convenient for me.
You will need to be present on the days set for the mid-term and final. These exams will not be
administered any other time.
Use of APA. All written assignments must be prepared using APA writing conventions found in the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6 th Ed.
Acceptable References. Unless the work you cite comes from refereed academic journals, it does
not qualify as a reference.
Plagiarism. Saint Mary’s College expects every member of its community to abide by the Academic
Honor Code. According to the Code, “Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of College policy
because, among other things, it undermines the bonds of trust and honesty between members of the
community.” Violations of the Code include but are not limited to acts of plagiarism. For more
information, please consult the Student Handbook at http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/your-safetyresources/student-handbook [for traditional undergraduate students]
Amendments of Course Syllabus and Schedule. I reserve the right to modify any part of this
course syllabus and schedule if I feel that it is in your best interest (not mine). Any changes will be
relayed to you well before they become effective
ASSESSMENTS
Debate: You will randomly be split into teams and assigned a topic that you will debate at the end of
the semester. Your score will be based on peer evaluation and teacher evaluation.
Personal Values Statement: At the start of the semester, you will begin working on defining your
personal value system. You will take an inventory of your values and then use this as the basis for
developing a statement of what is and what is not important to you.
Position Paper: You will write a paper in class detailing your personal position and future goals
regarding ethics.
Random Assessment: You will have 5 short pop quizzes administered randomly throughout the
semester. Your top four scores will be used. If you are absent for a quiz there is no makeup.
Community based learning. You will work collaboratively with a team and a member of the local
business community to create and ethical instrument of the community member’s choice. We will
create goals, timelines, and outcomes that you will adhere to throughout the semester. At the end of
the semester you will present your documents/findings to the community member. The grade for
this project will be based on self, peer, and teacher evaluation. You will be scored on intellectual
contributions, contribution to team cohesion, adherence to deadlines etc.
Exams. There will be both a mid-term and final examination. These exams will be multiple choice
and essay questions. The questions asked in the multiple choice component of the class will be based
on the book. Therefore, you will absolutely need to read this textbook. There is no getting around
this.
Total Points Available
Debate
Points
Grade
Points
Grade
160
950+
A
740-76 9
C
Values Statement
120
900-949
A-
700-739
C-
Mid-term
200
870-899
B+
670-699
D+
Community based learning
120
840-86 9
B
640-669
D
Position paper
100
800-839
B-
600-639
D-
Final
200
770-799
C+
<600
F
Random Assessment
100
Total
1000
Unit
1
2
3
4
5
Topic to be covered
Introductions/syllabus review/community
engagement
Intro to Values
Readings required before class
Values continued
Schwartz 1992:1994
CE project/Intro to business ethics
Chapter 1
Ethical Decision Making Model
Chapter 2 and “managing for
stakeholders” p. 73
Ethical Theories
Chapter 3
Ethical Theories
Chapter 3
Ethical Theories/CE project
Chapter 3
Law and ethics
Law handout
Corporate Culture
Chapter 4
Chapter 5- The Social
Responsibility of Business is to
Increase its Profits
Overview by Doran/Schwartz
6
Corporate Social Responsibility
7
Issues in business ethics/CE project
Chapter 5- continued
Issues in business ethics
Chapter 6
Issues in business ethics
Chapter 7
Issues in business ethics/CE project
Chapter 8
Issues in business ethics
Chapter 9
Issues in business ethics
Chapter 10
8
9
10
Assignment due
CE project
Value Ranks
Values Statement
CE/Team charter (goals,
overview etc)
CE/Updates/reflections
CE/Updates/reflections
Debate overview
CE/Updates/reflections
Solving business ethical dilemmas
11
Solving business ethical dilemmas
Debates
12
Debates
Debates
13
Debates
CE Project presentation
Position Paper