MGMT 117 – Business, Ethics, and Society
SPRING 2013
I. General Information:
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Telephone:
Email:
Dr. Richard Marens, Management Area
TAH-2049
Tuesday and Thursday, 2:45PM – 4:15PM or by appointment.
278-6621
marensr@csus.edu
Note: Email is good for making appointments or quickly sending a bit of information. It is not to be used for
discussing your grade or personal situation, and if you attempt to do so, I will ignore and delete the message.
You may however use email to make an appointment to discuss these issues.
Never tell me what grade you think you “need”, either in person or through email. You will end up with the
grade you earn, no more and no less, what you decide you need is irrelevant to my grading process. If, however,
you have to deal with a medical problem that you can document, or wish to better understand why you received
a particular grade on a paper or exam, I am happy to discuss these issues with you.
II. Catalog Description: An investigation of contemporary business issues and management dilemmas in
relation to broad social concerns. Focus is upon public and private decision making in the business environment
and how business practices, ethics, and social concerns interrelate. Topics such as the nature of property and
profits, efficiency and human values, the balancing of claims of owners, employees, customers, and others in
community, corporate responsibility, corporate governance, government regulation and international
dimensions of public policy will be covered.
III. Prerequisite: Passing score on the WPE.
IV. GE (General Education) Status: This course is listed as a D2 General Education class. What that means
in practices is that it counts as an “Individual and Society” course, and, more specifically, one that covers
“Major Social Issues of the Contemporary Era.”
VI. Deciding on whether to take this class. You will be evaluated primarily on how you handle the readings.
Therefore, if you have any concerns regarding the appropriateness of this course, looking over the required texts
in the bookstore should help you decide if this class is for you.
VII. Required texts:
Print out the first nine pages of the following website for discussion on the second day of class:
http:/ecourse.amberton.edu/grad/RGS6036E1/Fourd.htm
1. Shaw, William H. & Barry, Vincent (2006). Moral Issues in Business, special (skinny) edition found only
in our bookstore!
2. Partnoy, Frank (2003). Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets.
Henry Holt & Co..
3. Leroy, Greg (2005). The Great American Jobs Scam. Berrett-Koehler Publishing. Available at
http://www.greatamericanjobsscam.com/pages/preview-book.html
4. Hira, Ron and Anil Hira. Outsourcing America. AMACOM Books. I prefer if you can get the paperback
edition, but the hardcover version is acceptable. Amazon has many used copies.
MGMT 117
5. Course Reader. The Course Reader is a collection of articles that will be handed in sections out over the
course of the term.
VIII. Course Description: The issues examined in this class are broad and diverse, and consequently there are
many possible approaches for dealing with them. A macro or “political economy” approach to the material is
especially useful during a time-period such as ours, characterized by uncertainty and turbulence. Institutions
and relationships change over time, but principles of political economy hold their explanatory power. This
material will be covered in five modules:
Ethics, Justice and Ethical Failure. We shall begin the term studying basic concepts of ethics and justice and
deal with why people frequently abandon their own deeply felt ethical standards.
Ethics, Government, and Financial Scandal. The second model covers the financial scandals of recent years
as outlined in the Frank Partnoy book and a few other readings. We shall consider the implications of this
pattern of behavior for business and society.
Politics, Business, and Government. We shall examine, through a variety of readings, especially The Great
American Jobs Scam, the complex web of relationships that connect government to business. We shall pay
particular attention to the costs and benefits generated by these relationships, and any ethical obligations
generated by these relationships.
Globalization. The final module applies the Hira & Hira book, Outsourcing America, plus additional articles,
to the highly topical issue of globalization. We shall pay particular attention to its impact on American
employees and consider what might be done to ameliorate externalities generated by globalization.
IX. Student Responsibilities:
Student responsibilities fall into three categories: exams, papers, and case quizzes.
Exams: I shall give an exam every third Tuesday of the term beginning Feb. 19th, or, in the case of the fifth
exam, during the scheduled final exam time of your section. For specific dates, consult the exam schedule on
page 4. You must arrive on time to take any exam, and I will penalize anyone who shows up after it has been
handed-out. No one may start an exam five minutes after the class has started. You can not make up exams, but
I shall only count four of the five exams toward your final grade, allowing you to either drop your lowest score
or simply skip one. Exam questions will be multiple choice or true/false. Since the assigned articles are not all
equally important, I shall try to emphasize in class the specific material each exam will cover. I shall not,
however, respond to emails asking what is going to be on an exam. Bring an 882-E Scantron on exam day.
Papers: You will be expected to submit four papers, and you may, if you wish, also submit a rewrite of one of
the first two, which makes for a fifth paper. Each paper must be between 1000 and 1,200 words in length, and if
it is less than 1,000 I will give you a zero. You shall need to post the word total on your cover sheet, and should
I have any doubts, I will expect you to supply an attached file to check your count.
For each paper, you will choose one topic from a short list I shall hand out. I shall also provide you with more
detailed guidelines for completing these assignments. Papers must make use of the class readings but require no
further research or other materials. The final essay will require you to write on a broader topic than those for
the first three papers, and a strong final essay will require integrating material from multiple parts of the course.
I will provide you with a checklist which you must sign and use as a cover page for each assignment. No
extensions are possible. There is a schedule of due dates for papers on page 4 of this syllabus.
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Important note: If you are not confident of your writing skills, I encourage you to go the writing center as soon
as possible to sign up for assistance even before you receive the first assignment. Their website is at:
http://www.csus.edu/writingcenter/
A note regarding rewrites: Grading of papers will be stringent, but you will have the opportunity to raise the
grade of one, and only one, of your first two papers by rewriting and resubmitting it. I shall count only the
rewrite’s grade minus a third of a letter grade, so if you do not make a serious effort to improve your paper, you
shall end up with an even lower grade than you started. If, for example, you earn a D on your first paper and
rewrite it for a B+, I shall record your grade as B. If you rewrite a C, and do not improve it significantly, then I
shall record your grade as a C-.
Rewrites are more than simply correcting some mechanical errors, so I expect that when you rewrite one of
your first two papers, you will address the questions and criticisms that I raised on your first attempt. You will
need, therefore, to resubmit your original paper along with your rewritten paper to allow me to view the
progress you have made since your first effort.
.
Case Quizzes: We will have two case quizzes, which are not meant to stump anyone who has carefully read the
case due that day. At some point during these two classes, you will have to answer a simple question regarding
that day’s case in about a sentence or two. It will be graded credit/no credit, and your grades will serve as tiebreakers at the end of the term, should your finally end up between two grades.
Handouts: Throughout the term, I shall pass out assignments, graded work, and the occasional article. I shall
bring all of these to two consecutive classes only, one Tuesday and one Thursday. If you miss two classes in a
row, you will then have to come to my office during office hours to obtain any handouts that you may have
missed. I will not email them to you or bring them back to class again.
Attendance: Attendance is required the first two weeks, and I will drop any student who misses two of the first
four classes. Still, keep in mind, that when you attend class, I expect you to be on time and stay the whole time.
An Important Word on Tardiness: I expect students to make it to class on time. If something unexpected
happens to delay you, I am willing to listen to an excuse at the end of class. If you are late more than once
without an adequate explanation, I shall lower your final grade half a letter grade every time you walk in late
from that point on!
An Equally Important Word on Leaving Early: If you do come to class, I expect you to stay the entire
period. I shall lower anyone’s grade a full letter grade for leaving class without an explanation. If you plan on
leaving class early, you should explain this to me before the class begins, and if that is not possible, then
definitely before the start of the very next class. After one early departure, you will need to provide me with
some kind of written evidence that you absolutely need to leave, or I shall begin to lower your grade a full letter
each time.
And a Final Word about raising your grade. I will not raise your grade under any circumstances after I have
submitted the grades, nor will I alter grades based a student’s hopes or needs. If you send an email requesting a
particular grade or any other form of special grading consideration, I shall forward your message to the
Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Program, who will deal with your situation accordingly.
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X. Grading:
I grade on a 4.0 scale, and will give you a conversion when I return exams so that you can convert your raw
score into a 4.0 scale. I count four exams, each worth an eighth of your grade. Your four papers are also worth
an eighth of your grade each.
4 (of a possible five) Exams
4 papers
Total
50% (12.5% each)
50% (12.5% each)
100%
At the end of the term I generate a grade for every student based on a 4.0 scale.
numerical score to a letter grade, as demonstrated in the following chart:
3.9-4.1:
3.6-3.8:
3.2-3.5:
2.9-3.1:
2.6-2.8:
2.2-2.5:
1.9-2.2.
1.6-1.9
1.2-1.5
0.9-1.1
0.6-0.8
I then convert your final
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
D-
XI. Quick Reference Table for Exam Dates (The first four are Tuesdays)
February 19th
March 12th
April 9th
April 30th
May 21st or 23rd, depending on your scheduled final exam time; you may not take the test at the time scheduled
for the other section.
XII. Quick Reference Table for Paper Due Dates
March 14th Thurs.
April 16th Tues.
May 16th Thurs.
May 21th Tues.
May 23th Thurs.
First Paper due
Second Paper due
Third Paper Due
Rewrite due (at my office or at final)
Final Essay due (at my office)
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