Required Texts
Adams, D.M., & Maine, E.W. (1998). Business Ethics for the 21st Century. Mayfield Publishing Company: Mountain View, CA.

Jennings, M.M. (1999). Business Ethics: Case Studies and Selected Readings, (3rd Edition). West Educational Publishing Company: New York, NY.

Purpose
This course is intended to provide the student with an introduction to the social and ethical issues facing managers in a variety of organizational settings. Theories of ethics and social responsibility will be discussed and then applied to real-life settings involving employees, consumers, government and society. We will explore important topics including whistleblowing, discrimination, advertising, and product safety. My aim is to get you to think more deeply about the difficult ethical decisions facing managers today.

Course Grading
There will be two exams and two short papers, which will make up your grade for this course. Specific values for the various aspects of your grade are as follows:

Midterm Exam (35%)
Final Exam (35%)
Write-up I (15%)
Write-up II (15%)

The midterm exam is scheduled for October 13 and the final exam will be held on December 8. These exams will be made up of short answer and essay questions, based on your readings and our discussions. Due dates for the papers are September 8 and October 20. Details of these assignments can be found on the final page of the syllabus.

Course Schedule

August 25
Introduction to Ethical Theory

A&M:
Introduction (1-10)
Utilitarianism and the Greater Good (12)
Deontology, Kant, and Rights (18)
Virtue and the Ethics of Character (24)
The Canonical View of Business Social Responsibility (28)
"The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Profits" (41)

September 1
Personal Ethics in the Business Context

Jennings Text
"The Ethics of Responsibility" (8)
"Is Business Bluffing Ethical?" (14)
Language & Categories of Ethical Dilemmas (25)
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas (27)
"Ethics Without the Sermon" (34)
"What's the Matter with Business Ethics?" (45)

Handout: Right vs. Right Dilemmas

September 8
Employee Rights and Conflicts of Interest

A&M:
Introduction (166-178)
"The Letter of the Law" (178)
"Drug Testing in Employment" (184)
"Human Rights, Workers' Rights, and the 'Right' to Occupational Safety" (195)
"Does OSHA Protect Too Much?" (199)

Handout: Trade Secrets and Conflicts of Interest

Jennings Text
Case: The Loan Officers and the Debtors (61)
Case: The Purchasing Agents' Wonder World Trip (65)
Case: The Windshield Wiper (205)

September 15
Employee Honesty and Loyalty/Whistleblowing

A&M:
Employee Obligations (174-176)
"Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty" (205)
"Whistleblowing and Trust: Some Lessons from the ADM Scandal" (210)

Jennings
Case: Beech Nut and the No-Apple-Juice Apple Juice (116)
Case: The Changing Time Cards (129)

Handout: Organizational Commitment

September 22
Ethics in Downsizing: Employee Job Security

A&M:
Introduction (109-116)
"Southern Discomfort" (116)
"The Right to Due Process" (119)
"Rights in the Workplace: A Nozickian Argument" (124)
"Issues Surrounding the Theories of Negligent Hiring
and Failure to Fire" (127)
"Temporary Employment and the Social Contract" (133)
"On Alternatives to Industrial Flight: The Moral Issues" (155)
Case: Part-Time Workers vs. Profitability (586)

Jennings
Case: The Dilemmas in Job Hopping (114)

September 29
Discrimination and Affirmative Action Issues

A&M:
Introduction (224-231)
"Chico Dairy v. West Virginia" (255)
"Individual Candidate Remedies" (262)
"Affirmative Action Does Not Promote Equality" (265)
"Why Do We Need Affirmative Action?" (270)
Case: Religious Practices (278)

Jennings
Case: Texaco (102)
Case: Texaco (110)

October 6
Analysis of Current Ethics Cases Involving Employee Issues

October 13
Midterm Exam

October 20
Ethics in Advertising and Marketing

A&M:
Introduction (354-360)
"The Elements of Deceptiveness Law" (365)
"Children as Consumers" (388)
"The Ethics of Psychoactive Ads" (397)
Case: Sunoco (406)

Jennings:
Case: Aggressive Marketing of Prescription Drugs (201)
Case: Pharmaceuticals: Ethical Pricing (209)

October 27
Product Safety and Liability Concerns

A&M:
Introduction (411-418)
"Daniell v. Ford Motor Co." (419)
"Strict Liability and Compensatory Justice" (439)

Jennings
Case: ATVs: Danger on Wheels (253)

Handout: Product Safety

November 3
Ethical Questions Involving the Environment

A&M:
Introduction (456-461)
"Zuckerman's Dilemma" (472)
"Morality, Money and Motor Cars" (487)
"Business and Environmental Ethics" (493)
"Decision Making" (505)
Case: Environmental Racism (523)

November 10
Ethical Relativism and International Ethics Issues

A&M:
Bribery (49-54)
Case: Worlds Apart (56)
Case: H.B. Fuller (58)
"Moral Minimums" (71)
"Ethics and the FCPA" (90)
"Bribery and Ethics" (94)
Case: Labor Conditions, the Third World and Profitability (107)
International Competition and CSR (581-586)

Jennings:
Case: The Taboo of Women in Management (160)

November 17
Ethical Issues in Information Technology

A&M:
Hackers, Break-ins, and the Freedom of Information (526)
Software and Intellectual Property (529)
Privacy and Technology (530)
Technology and the Quality of Work Life (532)
"E-Mail Policy at Johnson & Dresser" (534)
"Will There Be a Job for Me in the New Information Age?" (541)
"Privacy in the Information Age" (561)
Case: Surveillance and E-Mail Messages (579)
Case: Lotus/Equifax "Marketplace" (580)

Jennings:
Case: Radar Detectors and the Law (74)

November 24
Thanksgiving Break - No Class

December 1
Analysis of Current Ethics Cases Involving Consumer/Societal Issues

December 8
Final Exam

Instructions for Written Assignments

On two occasions during the semester, you will be asked to submit a write-up of six pages or less, in which you will reflect on an issue we will be discussing in an upcoming class meeting. The first of these papers will be due at the start of class on September 8. The topic of this first submission will be chosen from among the following list, which corresponds to those issues that we will cover between September 8 and the midterm.

These topics include:
employee rights and conflicts of interest
whistleblowing and employee loyalty
downsizing and layoffs
discrimination and affirmative action

The second paper, due at the start of class on October 20, will touch on a topic covered after the midterm.

These topics include:
advertising and marketing
product safety and liability
environmental issues
ethical relativism/international issues
information technology

For each paper, you will be asked to include the following in your analysis of the ethical issue:

(1) at least one recent ('98 or '99) example from the business press that is relevant to your topic
(2) at least one example from your own business experience that is relevant to your topic
(3) your reflections on the assigned readings for the topic
(4) your reflections on at least two academic journal articles relevant to the topic

You may combine the items listed above in any way you choose. In the end, my hope is that your reading and thinking about the issue will make you something of an expert on the topic. Obviously, you will need to do a bit of summarizing to familiarize me with the examples you are using. Beyond that, I am most interested in how your experiences compare to what you've read about in the popular and academic press.

I have listed several questions below, which might serve as a guide in starting your analysis. Please do not limit your discussion to those questions I have listed.

How might you explain differences between what you have experienced and what others are reporting?

How might the discussion among ethical theorists on this topic be different in five or ten years?

Do opinions on this issue vary widely in other industries? …other cultures?
If so, why?

How might the ethical theories we discussed at the beginning of the semester aid your analysis of this issue? Is one theory more appropriate than others in analyzing this topic?