MGT 440 Business, Government & Society
Dr. Mary C. Meisenhelter
Syllabus Spring 2006
Office: BA 201
Office Phone: 815-1277
Email: mmeisenh@ycp.edu
Office Hours
Monday 11 -12 and 6:00 – 6:30
Tuesday 11 -12
Wednesday 11 -12 and 6:00 – 6:30
Thursday 11 -12
Course Description: This course examines the business organization in relationship to government,
employee groups and the community. A major theme in the course is the social responsibility of
business. Topics of study include ethics, environmental issues, employee rights, government
regulation, global management and the U.S. political system as it affects business decision-making.
Course Objectives: BGS is the capstone course in the management curriculum. As such, it is
intended to facilitate your understanding of issues and to help you finesse your managerial skills.
Unlike other courses that are focused on functions (e.g., human resources or operations) or a certain
body of knowledge (e.g., business law or accounting), BGS is aimed at more abstract and complex
relationships. More specifically, my objectives are to:
1. In crease your awareness and understanding of the relationships between business and the
political and community sectors of society.
2. Help you develop thinking skills that will enable you to analyze, evaluate and make decisions
concerning complex issues that concern all of us (as both business professionals and citizens).
3. Encourage you to think critically about issues from multiple stakeholder perspectives.
4. Help you develop an understanding of Social Responsibility and make your own judgments as to
the proper balance of attention to multiple bottom lines.
5. Help you develop the skills needed to work through ethical dilemmas.
6. Help you improve your communication skills, bother verbal and written, so that you can be
effective in expressing your views on issues.
TEXT:
Instructor designed text containing material from:
Lawrence, A.T., Weber, J. and Post, J.E., (2005). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics &
Public Policy (11th ed.). NY: McGraw Hill.
Newton, L. and Ford, M. (2004) Taking Sides: Issues in Business, Ethics and Society (8th. Ed.) NY:
McGraw Hill.
This integrated textbook is available in the College Bookstore.
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Course Requirements & Evaluation: As noted above, this course is focused on issues and
relationships. In courses such as this, I believe that experiential learning, individual research
and casework are the key to successful learning. Given the multiple objectives for the course,
a variety of assignments will be used to facilitate learning and measure your progress. Here is
an outline of the assignments and how much the assignments are weighted toward calculation
of your final course grade. A more detailed explanation of the assignments can be found on
page 3 of this syllabus.
Assignment
Weekly Quizzes (7 @ 10 points each)
Taking Sides Issue Research (with partner)
Taking Sides Presentation
Exams (3 @ 75 pts)
Class contribution & participation
Current Event Report
Total points
Contribution toward
final grade
70 points
100 points
50 points
225 points
100 points
25 points
560 points
Relative weight of
Each assignment
14.3%
17.9%
8.93%
40.17%
14.3%
4.4%
100%
Based on the point values listed above, final grades will be calculated as follows:
Final Grade
A (4)
B+ (3.5)
B (3)
C+ (2.5)
C (2)
D (1)
F (0)
% Range
94 - 100
88 – 93.9
82 – 87.9
76 – 81.9
70 – 75.9
60 – 69.9
 60
Total Points
+526
493 - 525.9
460 - 492.9
425 - 459.9
392 - 424.9
336 - 391.9
 336
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Description of Course Assignments
Weekly Quizzes
On Tuesday each week, we will have a 5 question quiz on the assigned reading
for the week. The quizzes will cover main concepts, usually those found in the
“Key Terms” section of each chapter. The purpose of these quizzes is to
motivate your reading of the material prior to class. This will insure that our class
time is spent more in discussion format than lecture.
Taking Sides
Issue Research
You and a partner will select one of the “Taking Sides” debates and conduct
additional research on the topic. You are required to find five additional sources
for each side of the debate. Once you have summarized each side, you are to
“take a side” and discuss why you think this viewpoint is most valid. In doing this,
you will need to provide support for your side and provide support for your claim
that the other side is less convincing. This paper should be about 8 pages in
length. Of the 8 pages, half should summarize the two sides of the issue and the
other half should present your position and supporting arguments.
Research
Presentation
Exams
Class
Contribution
Current Event
Report
A list of the Taking Sides issues is included in this syllabus. You and your
partner will need to list your preferences and return this sheet by January 25th.
You and your partner are responsible for presenting the issue and getting the
class involved in the debate. How you do this is a matter of your own creativity.
You can use film clips from movies or news reports, give the class a quiz, act-out
the scenarios, etc. The most important parts of your grade for this assignment
are: how well you help the class understand each side of the issue, how much
you are able to get the class involved in the discussion and how convincing you
were regarding your own position. Once you start thinking about your
presentation, I’m happy to consult with you regarding style, ides, etc,
Exams will be in essay format. They will cover key ideas and concepts from all of
the readings (including the debates). However, the essays will be written such
that you are required to make connections between ideas and topics, think
critically and reflect how well you have understood the material. These are not
“memorize and dump” exams. Your ability to express yourself (yes, this includes
spelling and grammar) and your writing will be a part of my evaluation of your
work.
This item includes attendance, willingness to take part in discussions, in-class
activities and the quality of your contribution to the classroom environment. With
a small class, there are ample opportunities for everyone to participate every
week. Higher level participation (such as coming to class with an intriguing
question or ideas about how concepts fit together or contradict each other) will
receive more consideration than providing information right from the text or
speaking just for the sake of speaking.
Examples of the BGS relationship are evident everyday. Newspapers, weekly
magazines (e.g., Newsweek, Businessweek), and TV newsmagazines (e.g. “60
Minutes, “Primetime”, “Dateline NBC”, “Frontline”) present stories that cover all of
the relationships we will examine in this course. Your job is to keep up with
current events and when you think you’ve found a really great example, you’ll
share it with the class. You should be prepared to summarize the issue for the
class, and explain how the issue relates to one of the concepts or topics in our
course. You should hand in a one-page report covering the same content. Be
sure to include a reference citation for the source of your current event.
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Course Policies
Writing Standards: You are strongly encouraged to use the Learning Resource Center, which is
located in the Wolf Academic Center. Students may schedule increments of 30-minute sessions with
professional tutors who will provide writing assistance. The Learning Resource Center employs
writing tutors who are helpful for all levels of writing assignments.
Style and Citations: Papers must be written in APA (American Psychological Association) style.
APA is the format used for the majority of research in the social sciences, which includes
management and HRM. All other papers should follow the format required in the instructions to the
assignment, but all citations should be in APA format. The APA format and citation style is described
in detail in the American Psychological Association Manual for Publication (5th ed.), which is available
for purchase in the bookstore and for reference in the Learning Resource Center.
Honesty: You are encouraged to seek out the advice and assistance of a variety of people and
sources in order to enhance your learning. In other words, the only unauthorized assistance is that
taken from another person without their permission or without giving them credit for their contribution
to your work. In short, using ideas, words or papers from others (this means other students and
Internet sources as well as traditionally published authors) exactly or in paraphrased form requires
that you reference the source. Failure to use citations where appropriate will cause a penalty of
at least a one-half letter grade. If you are unsure about what kind of information needs to have a
citation, you should check the APA Manual or schedule a consult with the Learning Resource Center.
Special Note regarding Internet Sources: Most of us go to the internet as our first source of
information. I do not have a problem with that strategy. However, I do have a problem with the “cut
and paste” method of integrating outside material. You must treat an internet source just as you
would any other outside source, and either paraphrase or direct quote with the appropriate citation
style for both. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism. For each major assignment I will choose a
few papers at random to check for direct use from sources. If I determine that you indeed cut &
pasted, you will receive a zero for that assignment.
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