Business Ethics

Module Title	Business Ethics
Module Code	25-6003-00L
Semester of Delivery	See Module Information Table
Mandatory/Elective/Option	See Module Information Table
Level	6
Credit Points	20
Assessment Mode Weighting	CWEX100
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
Class Contact Hours
Average Weekly	1.5
Directed Learning
Average Weekly	5
Module Leader	Jim Chandler
	Sheffield Business School
Module Banding	A
Approval Status	Validated

Rationale

Students engaged in management in either the private, public, or third sector should conform to established codes of moral conduct and expect that their superiors and those whom they manage also follow acceptable standards of morality. In order to appreciate this inescapable component of work experience it is important that students have an appreciation of the status of moral and ethical statements and of their rationale. Such an understanding must rest on sound theoretical foundations which can be used by the student to justify their moral standpoint and also it is essential these values can be applied by the student in the workplace and social life.

More broadly a society composed of individuals who lack any sound independent capacity to justify moral beliefs or to tolerate where appropriate the beliefs of others is likely to harbour serious injustices that may, in turn, lead to instability and disruption of social life and serious damage to the well-being of civil society and the individual.

Summary of Aims

To provide students with an appreciation of basic ethical principles and a capacity to be able to apply this capacity to management and decision making practice.

Anticipated Learning Outcomes

On completion of the module students should be able to:

1. An ability to apply analytical skills to the definition and meaning of ethical concepts
2. The capacity to appreciate the ideas of major Western thinkers on ethics and be aware of their differences
3. Developed of a critical capacity to resolve ethical differences through rational debate and analysis and to appreciate when tolerance or a principled stand should be taken in relation to behaviour considered to be unethical.
4. The ability to appreciate the importance and impact of ethical thought on the development and processes of business activities within the private and public sectors.
5. Develop skills in relating ethical values to the principal themes and practice in business and management studies and in particular: strategic management, corporate governance, human resource management, marketing, customer care and international business relations.
6. A capacity to communicate knowledge and a theoretical understanding of ethical issues to practical problems encountered within business commmoduleies.

Assessment and Feedback Strategy

Students will be assessed through formative and summative assessment which will receive equal weighting.

Formative assessment will be used both to assess students' capacity to master the learning outcomes and also to provide feedback to enable them to improve their abilities in this subject area.

Students will be expected to show an understanding of theory through essays and case study assignments and to be able to critically appreciate differences in theoretical approaches.

Students will be required to demonstrate that they can apply their theoretical understanding through reasoned solutions to problems based on case studies both within their formative and summative assessment.

Students will be required to demonstrate that they can present rational argument concerning the application of ethical values through class based presentations as well as through the provision of written material.

Module Assessment Criteria

Learning Outcome	Assessment Criterion	Level descriptors
		fail	PASS	2.2	2.1	First
Outcome 1	Coursework assignments and examination	No capacity to analyse ethical concepts	Weak or sketchy capacity to analyse ethical concepts	Moderate capacity to analyse ethical concepts	Good capacity to analyse ethical concepts	Excellent capacity to analyse ethical concepts
Outcome 2	Coursework assignments and examination	Little or no appreciation of ideas of ethical thinkers	Very basic or erratic appreciation of ideas of ethical thinkers	Some appreciation of ideas of ethical thinkers	Thorough appreciation of ideas of ethical thinkers	Detailed and imaginative appreciation of ideas of ethical thinkers
Outcome 3	Coursework assignments and examination	Little or no critical capacity or evidence of toleration	Limited critical capacity and evidence of toleration	Moderate critical capacity and evidence of toleration	Sound critical capacity and evidence of toleration	Excellent critical capacity and mature ability toleration
Outcome 4	Coursework assignments and examination	Little or no ability to appreciate the impact of ethical thought	Limited ability to appreciate the impact of ethical thought	Moderate to appreciate the impact of ethical thought	Sound to appreciate the impact of ethical thought	Excellent to appreciate the impact of ethical thought
Outcome 5	Coursework assignments and examination	None or very poor capacity to relate ethical values to work practice	Poor capacity to relate ethical values to work practice	Adequate capacity to relate ethical values to work practice	Good capacity to relate ethical values to work practice	Highly developed capacity to relate ethical values to work practice
Outcome 6	Coursework assignments and examination	Poor capacity to convey information and understanding either orally, visually or in writing	Low capacity to convey information and understanding either orally, visually or in writing	Acceptable capacity to convey information and understanding either orally, visually or in writing	Well developed capacity to convey information and understanding either orally, visually or in writing	Excellent capacity to convey information and understanding either orally, visually or in writing

Teaching and Learning Strategy and Methods

Teaching will be conveyed through

1. Lectures designed to provide an overview of the material and issues to covered by the course. These will also be designed to raise controversial issues in order to stimulate debate and argument both in and outside the class and to demonstrate the practical relevance of the subject.
2. Seminars which will be based on theoretical analysis illustrated by case studies drawn from practical situations. These will provide a framework for debating issues raised by the course in relation to practical experience that may be faced by a working administrator or politicians within the public sector.
3. Each seminar discussion will be initiated by a student presentation and debate on a general question to be followed by a presentation and discussion on a related case study.

Indicative Content

• Parameters of Business and Public Ethics: Levels of Analysis
  • The status of ethical thought
  • Essential ethical theory: Contrasting Utilitarian and Kantian values
  • Religious values

• The 'Rules of the game'
  • The rights of the individual and responsibility to others.
  • Ought we to carry out orders that we think are unethical?
  • Private and public responsibility
  • Does a public sector organisation have greater moral obligations that a private organisation?

• Corporate Governance
  • The justification of differing forms of governance for differing types of organisation.
  • Justifying differing roles of stakeholders such as shareholders, senior management, customers and citizens within the governance of organisations.
  • Democracy and participation in private, public and third sector organisations
  • Does a public sector employee have different moral obligations than a private sector employee?
  • Whistle blowing

• Ethics of marketing
  • Truth, lying and deception.
  • Responsibility to the workplace employer and to the wider community.
  • Is caveat emptor a moral standpoint?

• Ethics of Human Resource Management
  • The nature of a contract of employment.
  • Reciprocal duties of the employer to the employee
  • The ethics of discrimination in the work place

• Ethics of Financial reporting.
  • How should we evaluate what constitutes financial malpractice and corruption
  • The public and stakeholders right to information
  • Ethics of deception.

• Reward management
  • Equality of reward: Rawls
  • What is a fair wage
  • Ethics of promotion, demotion, hiring and firing.

• Punishment and rehabilitation.
  • Retributive, utilitarian and rehabilitation theories of punishment.

• Duties to the environment
  • Should sustainable development be a moral imperative
  • The 'tragedy of the commons'
  • Reconciling individual and collective responsibility

Indicative Reading

Donaldson, J., 1989, Key Issues in Business Ethics, London, Academic Press.

Downie, R.S. 1964, Government, Action and Morality, London, Macmillan.

Enderle, G. (ed.), 1999, International Business Ethics, Notre Dame, Ind, University of Notre Dame Press.

Lawton, A., 1998, Ethical Management for the Public Services, Buckingham, Open University Press

Leach, R., 1991 British Political Ideologies, London, Philip Allan.

Mill, J.S., 1975, 'Essay Concerning Representative Government' in Wollheim, R. John Stuart Mill Three Essays Oxford, Oxford University Press. (Liberty; Representative Government; The Subjugation of Women)

Russell, B., 1946, A History of Western Philosophy, London, Secker and Warburg

Singer, P. (ed) 1991, A Companion to Ethics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell

Smith, K. and Johnson, P., 1996, (eds.) Business Ethics, London. International Thompson