MASTER SYLLABUS
Course Number & title: BUS
343 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Department(s): Management
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: none
Fees and charges:
(This section provides the rationale for any fee attached to
the class.)
Effective catalog date for this master syllabus: 2006/2007
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1. Catalog description:
(This section is the statement to be published in the
catalog.)
The social, economic, political/legal, technological, and natural environments of business form the context of all business actions and managers’ choices. Events, conditions, and trends ranging from demographics to social values, from exchange rates to terrorism, from ethical conflicts to ecological disasters, all affect the way a corporation can do business. This course provides students with the analytical and practical foundations to manage business/stakeholder relationships and contribute to their communities as responsible business professionals.
2. Course content:
(This section expands the catalog description and describes
the general course content.)
In this course, you will deal with a variety of “what if…” issues – issues where there is a great deal of uncertainty. In some cases, information is emerging so rapidly that effective managerial approaches are just being created. In other cases, such a fundamental disagreement exists about what are the facts, values, or the proper role of business that managers have to consider many different voices and many different opinions. Topics include:
q Personal values and ethics
q The socio-cultural context of economic activity
q Business ethics in a global economy
q Corporate Social Responsiveness
q Ethical work culture and climate
q Employer/employee relationships
q Consumer protection and crisis management
q Sustainability and social, civic, and political action
3. Student learning objectives:
(This section describes purposes and goals of the course in
terms of measurable student learning objectives.)
Student will demonstrate clear understanding of course concepts and use those concepts effectively in analyzing business scenarios with ethical and social ramifications.
4. Student assessment criteria:
(This section provides general information on how the
students will be evaluated on the extent to which they attain the student
learning objectives.)
Examinations
Case Studies
Group Presentations
5. Additional information (optional):
(This section provides additional information that
enhances understanding of the course. May include suggested texts,
readings, instructional approach, etc. Indicate if this information is
prescriptive [e.g. core requirements] or nonprescriptive.)
Text: Business and Society: Corporate
Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics by James E. Post, Anne T. Lawrence,
and James Weber (11th Edition, 2000), Irwin McGraw Hill.
Students are expected to keep abreast of current events, and be able to introduce current issues in class discussions. Thus, you are encouraged highly to read current articles from quality business and non-business media sources:
Fortune, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Business Week, and the New York Times. Most of these periodicals have websites, some of which provide free access to articles.