Business Ethics

Aim

On completion of the course, the students should be able to:

• demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of concepts and theories within the field of business ethics
• demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of central issues within business ethics
• describe and analyse ethical problems within business ethics
• critically evaluate positions and arguments
• handle issues related to business and corporate social responsibility in policy making or professional work.

Content

Business ethics is a field of study that includes both the general question of the interface between economic practice and ethical theory, and more specific questions such as the social responsibility of corporations, professionalism, economic and corporate decision-making structure, employee rights, and environmental and global issues. The course contains four areas of study: (i) Business ethics and normative theories, (ii) Business ethics and the business disciplines, (iii) Issues in business ethics, and (iv) Case studies in business ethics. By developing analytical tools, the students will be able to analyse and evaluate problems and theories within the area of business ethics. The ability to critically assess issues of business from an ethical point of view is exercised by text analysis and case studies. The students present a proposal for introducing a business ethics issue for a business organization or a work place. One option could be to write a proposal for a code of conduct. Another option could be to write a proposal of how to implement a corporate social responsibility approach.