MANT331
Business Ethics
Course Outline
2010 Semester 1
elcome to MANT331: Business Ethics
This course is designed to enable you to make sense of ethical issues in the workplace. It adopts both a micro and macro perspective to ethics and business to create an understanding of the key ethical debates in business today. This course will investigate the broad spectrum of business & society and business ethics issues that managers face today and will face in the future. As the business world struggles to finds its social and ethical identity in a business environment that grows increasingly complex, managers are confronted with exceedingly difficult challenges in balancing their economic, legal and ethical responsibilities to the variety of stakeholder groups with which they interact. This course addresses these challenges from individual, organisational, managerial, and societal perspectives This course information booklet, the textbook and information posted to Blackboard will provide you with just about everything you need to help you pass the course. Please read and use all sources! For any additional information see Liz during office hours or class time or contact via email. Course facilitator
Academic coordinator & lecturer
Liz Gordon CO 8.19 PH: 479 8181 Office Hours: Monday 10.00 – 12.00, outside of this time by appointment liz.gordon@otago.ac.nz
Course objectives 1. To develop a broader and more complete understanding of the business and society relationship to include the stakeholder and ethics environments in which business functions. 2. To help the student perceive and understand the importance of sound business ethics practices in the effective functioning of organisations. This includes coming to understand that virtually every decision a manager faces has an ethical facet or dimension to it. 3. To comprehend the major stakeholder groups which interact with business organisations and the kinds of expectations they may hold with respect to their role in the business enterprise and society. 4. To understand the major corporate social responsibilities of business: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic and to appreciate their tensions with one another. 5. To understand what business ethics means, what influences come to bear on business ethics decision making and the various ethical principles, guidelines and concepts which constitute the academic field of business ethics and shape the ethical climate of organisations. 6. To develop written presentation skills in which the student may effectively articulate the relationship between business & society and ethical concepts discussed in the course and apply them to case studies, decisions which managers face and dilemmas which they may experience in their professional lives. Teaching Methods
Lectures
The formal weekly lecture part of this course takes place on Wednesday from 10am‐
11.50am, although not compulsory attendance is strongly advised. The lectures will include class discussion, cases, videos and sometimes undertaking informal exercises – namely completing questions and solving problems. Participation in this activity will assist you in your internal assessment and final exam. If you miss out on information given out during a lecture it is your responsibility to find that out. Blackboard
This electronic information medium will be used in this course; it will contain lecture material, extra course readings and assessment details. You can access the site through http://blackboard.otago.ac.nz. Your user name and password is the one you also use for the library and PIMS. The ITS Helpdesk will help solve any difficulties. You should be able to access the MANT331 site once you are registered and logged on for the course, if there are any problems please contact Liz. Readings and Reference Material
Text
The text for the course is: Shaw, W. H., Barry, V., & Sansbury, G. (2009). Moral Issues in Business (1st Asia Pacific Ed.). Melbourne: Cengage. It is expected that you have access to the text during the semester. Readings
All additional course readings will be placed in Blackboard during the semester. The readings are aimed to help explain and extend the lecture material. Referencing
Referencing is required on ALL pieces of assessment – several very useful sources for APA referencing are: Manalo, E., Wong‐Toi, G., & Trafford, J. (2003). The Business of Writing: Written Communication Skills for Business Students. Auckland: Longman. Or The University of Otago Study Guide Or http://www.apastyle.com/ Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information
contained in this document is accurate, the information is subject
to change.
Changes will be notified in class and/or workshops, and via Blackboard.
Students are encouraged to check Blackboard for any changes. It
is your responsibility to be informed.
Assessment
The following table outlines the assessment involved in this course and the due dates. Assessment Marks Due date Hand in to Individual ethical stance project 40% in total ‐ 10% for issue statement ‐ 30% for final report 8th floor management enquiries office Final Exam 60% Friday 19th March at 4pm Final report due: Friday 21st May at 4pm To be advised Ethical stance assignment – 40% (10% + 30%)
Issue statement due: Friday 19th March at 4pm Final report due: Friday 21st May at 4pm This project involves choosing an ethical stance that you will adopt for the semester. Examples could include – drinking only fair trade coffee, not eating KFC, reducing waste, recycling, or walking to university instead of driving. The possibilities for your stance are wide ranging and will depend on what you feel is important and what you are able to achieve. The written component of this assignment is in two parts. 1. An issue statement that is due early in the semester. This is intended to be a one page document that outlines your ethical stance. It should provide a description of the stance, what you will actually do or not do, and why you have chosen this issue. 2. A final report on your ethical stance. This is the large part of the assignment. It should include: an analysis of your stance in relation to ethical philosophy; a piece of empirical research concerning your issue; a description of what you did during the semester and a reflection on your behaviour (could be in the form of a mini‐diary). In addition it could allude to future behaviour in relation to your stance. The issue statement should be at least 1000 words and outline your issue, briefly why you see it as an ethical issue and what you intend to do during the semester. The final report consists of three key parts 1. A thorough explanation of your stance and how it is ethical (using ethical theory). 2. A section of what business organisations are doing regarding your issue. Do some searching around websites, company reports and general literature to find some businesses that are also taking the same sort of stance and report on what they are doing, why they are doing it, how it works and what are the impacts or consequences of taking such a stance. 3. A reflection of your semester taking an ethical stance – how did you maintain your stance, was it difficult, did you manage the whole semester? The final report should be between around 3‐4000 words and include a word count. Informed reading and referencing are expected at this level. Final exam – 60%
The final exam will consist of two parts. The first part will be a case analysis. The second part of the exam will be an essay based question. More information will be provided in class Presentation of work
All assignments must be typed, one and a half‐spaced, page numbered and stapled. Your mark will reflect the presentation of your work. If English is your second language then please note ESL on the front cover of your work and we will take this into account. On the front page of your assignments, please put your name or student ID, and the Paper Code (i.e. MANT331). Note: Remember to proofread assignments and do a spell check. Spelling and grammatical errors make work look sloppy. Good business communication is essential for everyone in business. Also ensure that all references are included and that referencing is done in the APA style. Please refer to Emerson or Manalo, Wong‐Tai & Trafford (stage one recommended reading) if you are unsure. Plagiarism
Students should make sure that all submitted work is their own. Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is defined as copying or paraphrasing another's work, whether intentionally or otherwise and presenting it as one's own (approved University Council, December 2004). In practice this means plagiarism includes any attempt in any piece of submitted work (e.g. an assignment or test) to present as one's own work the work of another (whether of another student or a published authority). Any student found responsible for plagiarism in any piece of work submitted for assessment shall be subject to the University's dishonest practice regulations which may result in various penalties, including forfeiture of marks for the piece of work submitted, a zero grade for the paper, or in extreme cases exclusion from the University. Handing work in late...
Any work, which is submitted late without a medical certificate, proof of family illness, crisis or bereavement or other circumstances for which prior approval has been given, will be penalised. There will be a 10% penalty off the total mark per day or per half day for ALL late assignments. Please see Liz before handing work in late. Re-marking
All work will be internally moderated. If, upon receiving your work after marking you are concerned about the grade then you are able to have it re‐marked within one week of getting your assignment back. To do so you must submit the following to the paper coordinator (Liz): your marked assignment with markers comments a clean copy of your assignment without any comments a written explanation explaining: ‐ Why you believe that your assignment deserves more marks than assigned; ‐ Any material you feel was misunderstood by the marker. ‐ Please note this is not an opportunity to resubmit your assignment but a chance for you to clearly state why this assignment needs to be re‐marked. Re‐marking will be carried out by another tutor on the paper. However the original marker will be consulted so that they know the process is happening. Please note that your remark grade could be lower than your original and the remark is the final grade. Students with disabilities
The Department of Management encourages students to seek support if they find they are having difficulties with their studies due to a disability, temporary or permanent, injury or chronic illness. Contact either the department's disability officer‐
Leanne Skryba on 479 8125 or email leanne.skryba@otago.ac.nz or contact the disability office ‐ 479 8235, email disabilities@otago.ac.nz WEEK BEGINNING LECTURE Monday 1ST March Introduction Course, Ethics & Assessment th
Monday 8 March What is ethics? Introduction to morality Monday 15th What is ethics? March Classical theories nd
Monday 22 The foundations of business March th
Monday 29 What is business ethics? March CSR and being a good corporate citizen MID SEMESTER BREAK th
Monday 12 April The workplace & ethics: Discrimination Monday 19th April The workplace & ethics: Moral choices & whistle‐blowing th
Monday 26 April The workplace & ethics: Moral choices, whistle‐blowing, obeying & distancing rd
Monday 3 May Business & Society: Marketing & consumption th
Monday 10 May Business & Society: Natural environment Monday 17th May Business & Society: Globalisation Monday 24th May Monday 31st May The possibility of business ethics? Course wrap up and review ASSESSMENT Ethical stance issue statement due: Friday 19th March at 4pm Ethical stance report due: Friday 21st May at 4pm