Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week for 7 weeks, 1.5 hours / session

Course Description

This course is designed as an introduction to ethics in business, with a focus on business management. Over 13 sessions, students will have the opportunity to explore theoretical concepts in business ethics, as well as cases that represent the challenges they will likely face as managers; they will also have the opportunity to work with guest faculty and business and other professional practitioners. Individual sessions will take the form of moderated discussion, with occasional short lectures from the instructor.

"Ethical Practice" walks students through three ever-wider circles of ethical complexity:

1. individual, professional commitments
2. the rights and responsibilities of corporations
3. the social, ethical underpinnings of business as an activity

We seek to define terms central to each of these circles, culminating in a brief historical assessment of business and capital in the early 21^st century.

Course Overview

Ses #1: Course Introduction

Ses #2-5: Personal and Professional Practice

Ses #6-9: Corporate Social Responsibility

Ses #10-12: The Purpose of a Corporation

Ses #13: Conclusions

Grading