Study Programmes 2015-2016
GEST3761-1  
Business Ethics
Duration :
18h Th
Number of credits :
Master in management, professional focus in law and management3
Master in management, professional focus in law3
Master in management (120 ECTS)3
Master in management (60 ECTS)3
Master in human resources management (120 ECTS)3
Master in human resources management (120 ECTS)3
Lecturer :
Virginie Xhauflair
Language(s) of instruction :
English language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
Course rationale:
Each day, news spotlight unethical behaviors in organizations. Beyond undemanding condemnations of the numerous unethical practices in any industry, we must admit that ethical decision making processes have become very complex in the 2.0 global business world. Every decision we will make in the course of our professional life may potentially affect the life of many other individuals, as the latter's decisions and behaviors may also impact strongly our lives, our communities, and our environment.
It is thus crucial for each decision-maker to understand this complexity, to grasp the role he/she is playing in this global world, and to improve his/her ability to make ethical decisions.
The purpose of this course is to allow students to enhance this ability by providing them with a pragmatic framework that they can use to identify, analyze, and resolve ethical issues in business decision making. Students will also learn how to deal with conflicts between their personal values and those of the organization. They will finally consider the specific ethical issues they may be confronted with when interacting with the various stakeholders of the corporation.  
 
Course content: 
Part 1: Understanding Business Ethics
Session 1: Introducing and Framing Business Ethics
  • Introduction to the concept: morals vs ethics
  • Why business ethics & why not? (differing philosophical and theoretical perspectives)
  • The corporation as part of a wider society
 
Session 2: Managing business ethics and making decisions
  • Introduction to key normative ethical theories
  • A pragmatic approach to addressing ethical problems in business
 
Part 2: Contextualising Business Ethics
4 sessions of 3 hours, introducing the ethical issues that students from the various professional focus may have to deal with:
  • Ethics and Law (notably self-regulation and softlaw, ethics and the various levels of regulation)
  • Ethical issues in Human Resources Management (notably working conditions, employee participation, diversity, moral harassment)
  • Ethics in Finance and Banking (notably professional ethics, responsible investment, ethics in accounting and reporting, ethics vs compliance)
  • Ethics in Marketing (notably product policy, marketing communication, pricing, sustainable consumption)
  • Ethical issues and Civil Society Organizations as stakeholders ( notably relations between Civil Society Organizations and businesses : charity, collaboration, social enterprises)
 
Learning outcomes of the course :
Objectives of the course:
  • Introduce core business ethics issues and ethical concepts relevant to resolving moral issues in business
  • Present analytical frameworks used to address ethical dilemmas
  • Apply these frameworks to case studies and identify ethical issues specific to business
  • Examine and assess the social and natural environments within which moral issues in business arise
  • Discuss the relevance and resolution of ethical concerns in the management of companies
Learning outcomes of the course:
 
The course will enable students to: 
  • Tackle some ethical dilemmas they might face in their professional life
  • Critically think about concrete cases
  • Understand different ethical framework and tools that will help them to address ethical issues
  • Based on case studies of ethical issues, assess, discuss and develop reasoning on these issues
 
This course contributes to the following Intended Learning Outcomes :
 
  • ILO-4 : To acquire the capacity to research autonomously and methodically the information needed to solve a complex, transversal management problem, 
  • ILO-5 : Integrate autonomously researched information, tools, knowledge and context to build and propose, either individually or as part of a team, original, creative and viable solutions to concrete complex management problems, whether real or simulated, taking into account, when necessary, the human, social and legal context.
  • ILO-9 : Developing a critical sense (arguing)
  • ILO-10 : Developing a transversal, global vision 
  • ILO-14: Faced with a management problem, suggesting solutions that are ethical and socially responsible and that respect the principles of good governance.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
no prerequisites
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Classes will include
  • Theoretical and conceptual presentations by the teacher, using powerpoint slides
  • Empirical illustrations, brought by both the teacher and the students, in the form of case studies, videos, testimonials, etc.
  • Open-discussions linking theoretical contributions and field-related data
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
This course is delivered face-to-face fully in English and requires very active participation of all the students.
Recommended or required readings :
The course is based on the textbook Business Ethics (3rd edition), by Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten, 2010, Oxford University Press
We strongly recommend students to buy this book, as most course assignments will be based on the book resources. However, a few books will be available at the university libraries.
 
For each of the 4 thematic focus sessions, students in charge of the preparation of the session will be assigned a set of dedicated theoretical resources and empirical materials. 
 
Students in Master in management with professional focus on Banking and Asset Management will be assigned the reading of the
 
The theoretical resources and empirical materials for students with other professional focuses will be added later in the course description.
All relevant resources will be provided by the teacher via Lol@
Assessment methods and criteria :
  • Students are expected to completely read all assigned readings prior to the class in which these readings will be discussed.  Each class period students will be expected to discuss the topics, participate in related assignments, analyze related issues, and evaluate the situations described.
 
  • The sessions 3-4-5-6 focusing on the specific ethical issues in each of the professionalization area of participating students will be prepared in collaboration with the teacher by groups of students (number to be defined) of the business area under review. Each of these 4 sessions will have thematic focus and will be informed by the study materials prepared by the students groups. The groups assignments will be communicated at the 1st session. These group assignments will account for 45% of the final rating.
 
  • The final exam will be a written exam, comprising questions related to the business ethics theoretical concepts and a case study analysis. 
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Virginie Xhauflair (B33 - Trifac) 
v.xhauflair@ulg.ac.be