Also refer to the MCom + MIB Student Guide

Description

This unit provides an introduction to the main ethical issues raised by the activities of corporations. Students initially consider the role of ethical principles and ethical reasoning in business, focusing on the differences between ethical reasoning and self-interest and between ethical obligations and legal requirements. Students then focus on broader issues concerning the role and function of corporations in society by considering the relationship between business and each of its key stakeholders (shareholders, government, customers, employees, the community and the environment). The final topics consider the obligations of employees to disclose corporate information to the public and on the question of discrimination.

The unit does not require prior studies in ethics, but presumes that students are willing to consider (and debate) ethical issues with an open mind. We take contemporary examples and media reports as the basis for our weekly discussions. The mid-semester assignment requires students to apply the concepts learned in class to a real world example.

Topics

• What is business ethics and why does it matter?
• Types of ethical reasoning in business (e.g. Kantian, utilitarian and virtue ethics)
• Business and shareholders (e.g. are shareholders the most important stakeholder?)
• Business and government (e.g. when is it ethical for businesses to influence governments?)
• Business and customers (e.g. the ethics of advertising)
• Business and employees (e.g. employee rights and responsibilities)
• Business and the community (e.g. the corporation and globalisation)
• Business and the environment (e.g. pollution)
• Whistle blowing (e.g. the ethics of public disclosure of corporate information)
• Discrimination (e.g. the ethics of both positive and negative discrimination)