Business Values & Ethics

Course ID
MGT 525
Level
Graduate
Semester
Module
ECTS Credits
5
Method
Lecture

This course aims to prepare experienced leaders for the challenges of guiding organizations through ethical challenges in the diverse global economy. The dynamic and sometimes conflicting interests of various stakeholder groups require firms to adopt corporate governance mechanisms to ensure good citizenship and responsible behavior. Given the complex nature of business values and market justice, the course offers a holistic and multi-disciplinary view of ethics and sustainability by integrating knowledge from five discrete domains: economics, social responsibility, the law, international business, environmental ethics (land ethic), and management. While other similar seminars primarily focus on formal codification processes and methodologies, this course expands the standard ethics discourse by introducing the topics of sustainability and the Green Movement, intellectual property, and developing markets as means for effectively envisioning responsible future business states. Furthermore, the course explores the human, technological, environmental, industrial, regulatory, and societal variables that mediate firm behaviors and outcomes. Specifically, participants are exposed to theoretical and empirical knowledge as well as analytical tools, with an underlying intention to answer the following questions: ‘Why might ethical management behavior make businesses durable?’ ‘What are the key theories of ethical behavior?’; ‘Which corporate governance mechanism are most useful for ensuring good corporate citizenship?’ ‘How might business address the needs of developing markets? ‘What are the particular ethical challenges associated with various functions of the firm?

“The course begins by giving students some theoretical background and historical models for ethical behavior. Then students will be exposed to contemporary business research and cases so that they are empowered to explore a variety of complex topics that range from corporate governance, at the broadest level, to the particulars of human resource management. In addition to the seminar lecture and multimedia content, the hybrid course includes distance assignments, team presentations, open discussions, and partner activities all designed to heighten the student’s learning experience.