BUS106
Business Ethics
Instructor:
Email:
Phone:
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to business ethics. Part philosophy and part business, the course covers a
wide array of ethical issues arising in contemporary business life. Major theoretical perspectives and concepts are
presented, including ethical relativism, utilitarianism, and deontology. The lessons explore employee issues and
responsibilities, leadership and decision making, morality, diversity, discrimination, and ethics in marketing and
advertising. Corporate social responsibility is also examined, as are the topics of environmental responsibilities,
global ethics, and regulation concerns in an era of increasing globalization.
Degree Program Outcomes
At the conclusion of this degree program, the student will able to:
1. Demonstrate the ability to understand and apply traditional theories and concepts of business
management and the ability to do this an in depth in one area of specialty: nonprofit management,
accounting, technology or general management.
2. Understand their vocation in business and their unique identity and role within their field in a way that
maximizes their calling and enables 24/7 Christian ministry.
3. To be able to develop and grow businesses and nonprofit organizations in a way that is socially responsible
and that reflects God’s love and purposes for the world.
4. Communicate effectively and professionally in business situations through physical or virtual presence,
writing, speaking, listening, and electronic media.
5. Interpret and analyze accounting information for internal control, planning, performance evaluation, and
coordination to continuously improve business processes.
6. Integrate and apply Biblical, ethical, legal, economic and business principles into effective managerial
decision-making.
7. Demonstrate the ability to understand and apply traditional theories and concepts of a Christian liberal
arts education, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to facilitate intellectual, spiritual, and
personal growth, pursue their advanced studies, and improve the world in which they live.
BUS106 helps students learn the principles of business ethics focusing on business social responsibility in order to
meet program outcome 3 and 6 above.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Relate the market system to the need for ethics in business and distinguish it from the law and concepts of
virtue and morality.
Explore ethics in the context of relativism, psychological egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue
ethics.
Examine the ideas of character ethic, female ethic, human rights, and ethical action.
Illustrate the factors influencing employee issues including the right to work, employment at will, due
process and employee participation, health and safety standards, family responsibilities, the right to
privacy, and substance abuse testing.
Examine the professional ethics and responsibilities of intermediaries, managerial responsibility and
loyalty, and employee responsibilities to the community.
Illustrate how the traits of ethical leaders and the influence of the group affect moral responsibility.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Compare differentiation and discrimination, and examine issues involving diversity and discrimination
including the work environment of women, preferential policies, and diversity policies.
Relate risk analysis in health and safety, responsibilities of the producer, products liability and
accountability, and fair pricing to ethics in marketing.
Explore the ethical considerations that govern sales, advertising, and product placement in the context of
regulation of sales and advertising, and target marketing.
Analyze international economic integration, labor in the global economy, and the regulation of global
economic activities by international institutions.
Analyze methods of ensuring morality in business including Kohlberg's method of assessing moral
decision-making processes and James Weber's modification, ethical corporate structures, and federal
sentencing guidelines and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Analyze the classical model and its limitations, and evaluate modern theories of corporate social
responsibility including the moral minimum framework and the stakeholder theory.
Define environmental pragmatism and relate it to environmental regulation and sustainable economics.
Relate eastern business philosophies, and Islamic and Jewish traditions to the intricacies of conducting
ethical overseas business ventures.
Required Texts
Recommended Texts
Course Outline
Week
Assessments
1
Read:
18
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Listen/View:
3
--
Assignments:
3
4%
Read:
16
-
Listen/View:
3
Assignment:
3
4%
Read:
6
--
Listen/View:
3
4%
Read:
5
--
Listen/View:
5
--
6
--
2
3
Due
Date
Est hrs
Weight
Assignment:
4
Assignment:
5
Read:
Listen/View:
Objective #’s
Assignment:
6
Read:
5
--
6
--
5
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Listen/View:
Assignment:
7
Read:
Listen/View:
Assignment:
8
Read:
Listen/View:
Assignment:
Overall
Total estimated hours based upon 17 hours per week for
8 weeks
135
100%
Forum Expectations
We expect that students will spend an estimated one-two hours to post one initial message, one hour to read posts
from 5+ students (presumes that a student doesn't read every post), and an estimated 1 hour to post two reply
messages. Forum grading will be based on the following items:
 Forum posts should be 200-400 words although these are not strict limits.
 Students must demonstrate comprehension of the material and achievement of the related learning
objectives related to that forum. Be sure to read the learning objectives.
 Students should demonstrate critical thinking and use outside material researched beyond the assigned
readings.
 The goal of course forums is to have scholarly dialog among peers combining both the strengths of inperson class discussion and providing concise, professional quality writing (similar to a well thought-out
academic or scholarly blog) and responding in a way that adds value to others writings
 Students are not required to use APA format for references in forum posts, but instead students are
encouraged to hyperlink relevant information when possible.
 Grading rubric: forums use the same high level grading rubric as for the final project including
o Content Knowledge (25%)
o Critical Thinking (25%). Note that critical thinking is very different from criticism.
o Communication (25%)
o Application (25%)
Written Work
Except for Class Forum posts, all written assignments should be double-spaced using 11-point font and 1-inch
margins, and include a relevant heading (name, date, assignment title), and subheadings where appropriate, which
can be viewed in a Navigation Pane. Multi-page assignments should also include page numbers. Please correct
spelling and grammatical errors before submitting all assignments. Spelling, grammar, and writing style will be
taken into consideration in evaluating written work. Assignments should be submitted to the Course Dropbox
within Moodle. Every assignment should carry a filename that MUST include your name (Student Name) and the
assignment number, e.g. Jan_Smith_Minor1.doc
Written work must be reflective, balanced, scholarly analysis and be well-supported by references. Deep familiarity
with the biblical text will be appreciated as will the ability to showcase extensive theological reading and reflection
and to critically examine an issue from many points of view.
Very informal or highly opinionated writing styles will be severely penalized. Do not preach.
Late Policy
Coursework is scheduled over a seven-day week to provide structure for students residing on six continents. The
weekly schedule begins on Monday at 12:01AM US ET (USA Eastern Time), and ends on Sunday at 11:59PM US ET.
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Assignments submitted more than 1 week late (after the following Sunday) will lose 1 letter grade (i.e. "A"
becomes a "B")
Assignments submitted more than 2 weeks late will lose 2 letter grades (i.e. "A" becomes a "C")
All assignments and quizzes must be submitted by the week after the term ends or they will receive a
failing grade
Extensions: professors may grant an extension if the student has a prolonged sickness or major family
crisis. The length of the extension is up to the professor’s discretion.
Applications for an extension should be sent to the professor at least 2 or more days before the due actual
date. Extensions must be after a course ends submitted via the online extension request form. If an
extension is granted, no other courses may be taken until that course is completed.
Week Eight is the last class session with assignments posted. All course work must be completed by the student
and submitted to the instructor by Friday of the tenth week of the course. No credit will be given for work
submitted after this date.
This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. For more academic policies,
please visit: http://www.cityvision.edu/cms/cv/academic-policies