JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
SPRING, 2010
COURSE SYLLABUS:
Business Ethics, EN 660.310.02
TIME & PLACE:
Tuesday, 6:15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Whitehead 315 (subject to change)
INSTRUCTOR:
Douglas S. Sandhaus, Esquire
PO Box 3600
Baltimore, MD 21214
410-370-1525 (fax) 443-836-0341
Nightjar02@aol.com
Office Hours: 30 minutes before class and 30 minutes after class
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed as a workshop to introduce students to the ethical concepts that are relevant to
resolve moral issues in contemporary business and social settings; global and local, as well as general and
personal in nature. Students will learn the reasoning and analytical skills needed to apply ethical concepts to
their own decision-making, to identify moral issues involved in the management of specific problem areas in
business and society and to understand the social and natural environments within which moral issues arise.
The course focus is on performance articulated by clear reasoning and effective verbal and written
communication concerning ethical issues in business and society.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1.
To examine those moral doctrines and ethical theories that have most influenced the values and morals
of Western Culture.
2.
To examine our own sources of values and morality.
3.
To develop an objective and responsible decision-making process in our moral thinking.
4.
To work with others to try to find solutions to moral problems by expressing your own moral point of
view and by listening to the moral points of view of others openly and fairly.
PRIMARY TEXT: Business Ethics, 6th Edition, William H. Shaw; Wadsworth (2008)
ISBN10: 049509501X, ISBN13: 9780495095019
SECONDARY TEXT: Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, Metropolitan Books (2001)
ISBN 0-8050-6388-9 (hardcover), ISBN 0-8050-6389-7 (paperback)
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NOTE WELL:
LAPTOP COMPUTERS ARE PROHIBITED FROM BEING OPERATED IN THIS CLASSROOM.
Detailed information about team projects and case studies will be provided in class. Any changes or
additions to the Course Outline will be announced well in advance. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain
this information if class is missed.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1.
Complete all required textbook and case readings prior to class.
2.
Successfully complete midterm examinations.
3.
Successfully complete team project.
4.
Successfully complete written case analysis for each problem or case assigned from text.
5.
Actively participate in class discussions of assigned subject materials and case analysis. This is an
ESSENTIAL part of the successful completion of the course. Each student must be prepared to take an active
role in class.
ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY. PLEASE BE PUNCTUAL FOR CLASS.
Many concepts, basic to this course, will be introduced in class or emerge from our discussions.
Frequent absences and/or tardiness will make it difficult for any student to do well. A pattern of absenteeism
and/or tardiness will be reflected in a student’s class participation grade and final course grade.
WORK SUBMITTED LATE WILL BE DOWNGRADED
The structure of this course is such that late submission of papers causes serious problems for the
instructor and the student. For this reason, all work must submitted at or PRIOR TO the start of class where it is
due, and all late work will be penalized; the later the submission, the greater the penalty. Only in the event of a
genuine emergency, documented fully by the student, will the instructor, in his complete discretion, make an
exception.
Grading:
Midterm Examination
Case Analysis
Participation
Attendance
Team Project-A) verbal
B) written
Grading Standards:
93-100
Superior
90-92
Excellent
87-89
Commendable
84-86
Good
80-83
Conscientious
77-79
Satisfactory
A
AB+
B
BC+
10 + 10%
32% (4% for each of 8 graded case studies)
10%
13%
10% (individual grade)
15% (group grade)
= 100%
73-76
70-72
67-69
63-66
60-62
00-59
Average
Mediocre
Poor
Very Poor
Most Poor
Unacceptable
C
CD+
D
DF
HONOR CODE:
Students are on their own honor to neither give nor receive unauthorized aid in the completion of
assignments. This means that each student MUST acknowledge reliance on outside sources, with appropriate
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documentation. This also means that each student is expected to do his or her own work. Plagiarism consists of
using another person’s ideas or expressions in one’s own writing without acknowledging the source.
Instances of suspected academic dishonesty will be reported to the program director and will result in
the student receiving a failing grade for the course.
COURSE OUTLINE
January
26
Introduction
Syllabus Review
**
Case Study: Sarah Goodwin
February
2
Chapter 1: The Nature of Morality
Chapter 2: Normative Theories of Ethics
**
Case 2.2 Ford’s Pinto (scored, but not graded)
9
Chapter 3: Justice and Economic Distribution
**
Choose One: Case 3.1 OR Parable of Sadhu (scored, but not
graded)
16
Chapter 4: The Nature of Capitalism
OUTLINE DUE
FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION DISTRIBUTED
**
Choose One: Case 4.1 or 4.4
23
Chapter 5: Corporations
FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION DUE
[ NO CASE STUDY DUE]
2
Chapter 6: The Workplace: Basic Issues
**
Choose One: Case 5.2 or 5.4
9
Chapter 6, and Chapter 7: The Workplace: Today’s Challenges
**
Choose One: Case 6.1, 6.2 or 6.3
16
*** SPRING BREAK ***
23
Chapter 7
SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION
DISTRIBUTED: NICKEL AND DIMED
**
Choose One: Case 7.1-7.4
30
Chapter 8: Moral Choices Facing Employees
SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION DUE
--First group presentation
6
Chapter 8: and Chapter 9: Job Discrimination
**
Choose One: Case 8.2 or 8.3
--Second group presentation
13
Chapter 9
**
Choose One: Case 9.1 - 9.4
March
April
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Third group presentation
20
Chapter 10: Consumers
**
Choose One: Case 10.1 - 10.4
--Fourth group presentation
27
Chapter 11: The Environment
**
Choose One: Case 11.1 or 11.3
-Fifth group presentation
***********************************************************************************
CASE STUDY WRITE-UPS
Your Name
Case Study Number/Name
PART I: OPENING STATEMENT. Summarize the issue in one or two sentences. Do not perform any
analysis or statement of opinion in this section.
PART II: IDENTIFY all economic dilemmas, then legal dilemmas, then social dilemmas
PART III: STATE YOUR OPINION in the form “I believe/ think/ feel because…” Make sure in your
opinion section that you demonstrate that you have critically analyzed the case study. “As Shaw states on
page…” And make sure to use the terms and concepts set forth in the chapter.
FORMAT: The write-ups should be EXACTLY ONE PAGE, double spaced, 12 point Times New
Roman font. Make sure you do NOT summarize the case studies. I have read them and do not need to be
reminded what each case study was about. In your Opinion Section be sure to demonstrate that you have
critically thought about the case study in some way. Be sure to demonstrate that you have read the chapter and
are able to apply it to the case study.
Proofread you paper – grammar and spelling counts! (1-2 errors is tolerable, but more than 2 will cost
you points.)
The sentence: “This term is applicable to the case study” is not acceptable. You need to say how and
why it is applicable. Do not start you paragraphs with: “There were economic/legal/social dilemmas in this
case”. I already know that. You have too little space to be writing useless sentences.
In each paragraph for economic, legal, social, respectively, you must include AT LEAST 2 or 3 different
dilemmas. You should try to think beyond the obvious. These papers are not difficult, but they do require you
to follow the directions. Be concise. Ask for help if you need it.
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NOTES ON TEAM PROJECT PAPERS AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS
PAPERS
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Keep papers professional.
Papers MUST be adequately, impressively and extensively researched and sourced.
Wikipedia is NOT a source. Shaw, given that it is your text, is barely a source.
Sources should be footnoted or (preferably) end noted. End noted pages do NOT count toward total
page count.
Cite all sources properly at least once within the body of the paper.
EX: first time quoted should not just say “Shaw says . . . “, but actually cite his whole name,
including the precise name of the relevant document of his that you are citing along with
reference to the appropriate page number. Thereafter, it is alright to just refer to him as Shaw.
Each paper is 5 pages per team member. HOWEVER, it is not 5-6 individual papers. IT IS ONE
PAPER!!! Be sure that the final project is merged as one paper. There should not be “author
indications” in the body of the paper.
Each person should read and review everyone’s contribution. This will help avoid needlessly redundant
sections.
Don’t be conversational and don’t use contractions in the paper, or “a lot”. Be careful of overuse of a
word or phrase in a section.
EX: Do not have multiple sentences begin with “Many . . . “ or “Also. . . “
Page numbers are mandatory.
PRESENTATIONS
Time and effort, while important, does not diminish the value of presentation.
Oral presentations are NOT a recitation of the paper.
Be informative but also BE ENTERTAINING.
Practice the oral presentation before getting in front of the class.
Fidgeting, saying “um”, and reading everything from cards in front of your face will cost you points.
Reading or reciting the power point slides will cost you big points.
BE ENTERTAINING.
The presentation should be interactive among the team members.
Use of video (homemade or otherwise) is acceptable as long as it supplements and does not overpower
or become the oral presentation.
BE ENTERTAINING.
The paper will receive one grade for the entire group. Each person gets the same grade for the paper. Oral
presentation points are split. Some are awarded as group points and some for individual presentation skills.
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SARAH GOODWIN
Sarah Goodwin is a 1980 graduate of an M.B.A. program. She majored in marketing, was interested in retailing, and had been
delighted to receive a job offer from a large and prestigious department store chain in northern California. The first year of
employment at this chain was considered to be a training program, but formal instruction was very limited. Instead, after a
tour of the facilities and a welcoming speech by the president, each of the new trainees was assigned to work as an assistant to
a buyer in one of the departments. The intent was that the trainees would work with five or six buyers during the year, rotating
assignments every two months, and would make themselves “useful” enough during those assignments so that at least one
buyer would ask to have that person join his or her department on a permanent basis.
Buyers are critical in the management of a department store. They select the goods to be offered, negotiate purchase terms, set
retail prices, arrange displays, organize promotions, and are generally responsible for the operations of the departments within
the store. Each buyer acts as a profit center, and sales figures and profit margins are reported monthly to the senior executives.
In this particular chain, the sales and profits were calculated on a square-foot basis (that is per square foot of floor space
occupied by the department), and the buyers contended, generally on a friendly basis, to outperform each other so that their
square footage would be expanded. The buyers received substantial commissions, based upon monthly profits.
Sarah’s first assignment was to work for the buyer of the gourmet food department. This was a small unit at the main store
that sold packaged food items such as jams and jellies, crackers and cookies, cheese, spreads, and candies, most of which were
imported from Europe. The department also offered preserved foods such as smoked fish and meats, some expensive
delicacies such as caviar, truffles, and estate-bottled wines. Many of the items were packaged as gifts, in boxes or baskets,
with decorative wrappings and ties. Sarah was originally disappointed to have been sent to such a small and specialized
department rather than to a larger one that dealt with more general fashion goods, but she soon found that this assignment was
considered a “plum.” The buyer, Maria Castellani, was a well-known personality throughout the store; witty, competent, and
sarcastic, she served as a sounding board, consultant, and friend to the other buyers. She would evaluate fashions, forecast
trends, chastise managers (“managers” in a department store are the people associated with the finance, personnel, accounting,
or planning, not merchandising), and discus retailing events and changes in an amusing, informative way. Everybody in the
store seemed to find a reason to stop by the gourmet food department at least once during each day to chat with Maria. Sarah
was naturally included in these conversations, and consequently she found that she was getting to know all the other buyers
and could ask any of them to request her as an assistant at the next round of rotations.
For the first five weeks of her employment, Sarah was exceptionally happy; pleased with her career and her life. She was
living in a house on one of the cable car lines with three other professionally employed women, and she felt that she was
performing well on her first job and arranging for her next assignment. Then an event occurred that threatened to destroy all
her contentment.
(Statement of Sarah Goodwin)
We had received a shipment of thin little wafers from England that had a crème filling flavored with fruit: strawberries and
raspberries. They were very good. They were packaged in foil covered boxes, but somehow they had become infested with
insects.
We did not think that all of the boxes were infested, because not all of the customers brought them back. But, some of the
people did, and obviously we could not continue sell them. We couldn’t inspect them because there were too many—over
$9,000 worth—because we would have had to tear the foil to open each box. Maria said that the manufacturer would not give
us a refund because the infestation doubtless occurred during shipment, or storage at our own warehouse.
Maria told me to get rid of them. I thought she meant for me to arrange to have them taken to a dump, but she said,
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“Absolutely not. Call [name of an executive] at [name of a convenience store chain in southern California]. They operate
down in the ghetto, and can sell anything. We’ve got to get our money back.
Exercise. What action would you take if you were Sarah Goodwin?
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