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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: MAN3047 Module Title: ETHICS, RESPONSIBILITY & CITIZENSHIP
Module Provider: School of Management Short Name: MAN3047
Level: HE3 Module Co-ordinator: FOSTER DJ Dr (SoM)
Number of credits: 20 Number of ECTS credits: 10
 
Module Availability

Semester 1 

Assessment Pattern

Unit(s) of Assessment 

Weighting Towards Module Mark (%) 

My Ethics 

10% 

Choice of: 3000 word essay 

80%

 

 

 

 

 

             or     1500 word essay and 1 hour exam (40% each) 

              or     2 hour exam 

The Professional and Person I would like to become 

10% 

Qualifying Condition(s) 

Module Overview

The module will start by drawing out students own understandings of ethics, and then offer ethical theory, related research, case examples, potential scenarios, and a wide scope of debateable points, with which to explore contrast and continuity with those understandings.  While there will be much focus on arguable ethical issues associated with business, managing and organising, there will also be some engagement with how these relate to more ‘personal’ and ‘private’ matters precisely because compartmentalisation and fragmentation has been claimed as a problem for the very basis of morality in modernity.  The focus on ‘ethics’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘citizenship’ have been chosen, in part, because they particularly feature in relation to business and corporations, but also to give an opportunity, at a mature level, to relate to concepts familiar to them from early schooling.  At the end, the students will be able to relate the module to their own personal and professional development. 

Prerequisites/Co-requisites
None
Module Aims

·              To enable students to consider their own ‘pre-module’ ethics 
·              To provide introduction to ethical theory and related models for developing moral frameworks. 
·              To provide links to contemporary business issues and global developments and yet relate back to ongoing and ‘classic’ moral problems. 
·              To enable students to think about the use of the module for their future personal and professional development. 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the module, students will be able to: 
·              Demonstrate an understanding of the range of issues in business and corporations relating to ethics, responsibility, community and citizenship. 
·              Apply and critique ethical theories in relation to business, through discussions and the evaluation of case-study materials, potential scenarios, etc 
·              Attain knowledge and skills in critically assessing business situations where ethical conflicts and/or issues can arise 
·              Develop an appreciation of Business Ethics in the globalising economy 
·              Gain insight into broader ethical issues and approaches beyond narrow conceptions of business ethics, e.g. via discussion of ethics in the wider context in which business is located 
·              Reflect more critically on his/her own perspective, attitudes and approach to ethical decision-making in business and management 

Module Content

The module will attempt to build on and bring to conclusion the ‘ethical elements’ that have featured in various parts of the student’s undergraduate programme and their broader experience.  While ensuring that the students can relate existentially and experientially to its content, a key distinction of the module will be its focus on meta-ethics and normative ethics.  In other parts of the programme students will have come across the ‘business case’ for corporate social responsibility, CSR as part of strategy, greater ‘people sensitivity’, ‘management problems and positivity related to diversity’, ‘sustainability’, etc, with ethics being included as a descriptive part of these, but the potential for ethics as an object of analysis itself being only superficially developed.  The content of the module will be substantively of this area.  Updated elements to the module content will range from issues of professional and corporate citizenship, through the climate change debate, to the ethics of nanotechnology. 

Methods of Teaching/Learning

The module will use a combination of delivery methods to promote learning.  These will include conventional and more inter-active lectures, web-enabled support and guest speakers.  There will be supportive elements of enquiry-based learning and activity designed to introduce students to the practice of self-directed learning, and reflection on personal and professional development. 
Assessment Strategy:   

Selected Texts/Journals

Essential Reading 
Chryssides, G.D. and Kaler, J.H. (1993) An Introduction to Business Ethics.  London : International Thompson Business Press. 
and/or: 
McEwan, T. (2001) Managing Values and Beliefs in Organisations.  Harlow : Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 
Recommended Reading 
Baggini, J. and Fosl, P.S. (2007) The Ethics Toolkit.  Malden MA, Oxford, Victoria , Blackwell Publishing. 
Bakan, J. (2004) The Corporation.  London : Constable. 
Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2007) Business Ethics.  Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
Fisher, C. and Lovell, A. (2006) Business Ethics and Values.   Harlow : FT/Prentice Hall.
Frederick, R.E. (ed.) (2002) A Companion to Business Ethics.  Malden, MA, Oxford , Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. 
Hartman, L.P. (2005) Perspectives in Business Ethics.   Boston : McGraw-Hill Irwin. 
Layard, R. (2005) Happiness: Lessons From A New Science.   London :

Allen Lane
Nicholls, A. (2006) Social Entrepreneurship: New Paradigms in Sustainable Social Change.  Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
Singer, P. (ed.) (1993) A Companion to Ethics.  Oxford and Cambridge : Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. 
Background Reading 
Bales, K. (2000) Disposable People.  New Slavery in the Global Economy.  Berkley: University of California Press. 
Bowie, N. (ed.) (2002) The Blackwell Guide to Business Ethics.  Oxford and Cambridge : Blackwell. 
Leipziger, D. (2003) The Corporate Responsibility Code Book.   Sheffield :  Greenleaf Publishing. 
Lovins, L. and Hawken, P. (1999) Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution.   London :  Earthscan. 
MacIntyre, A. (1985) After Virtue.  A Study in Moral Theory.  London , Duckworth. 
MacIntyre, A. (1999) Dependent Rational Animals.   London : Duckworth. 
McIntosh, M. et al. (1998) Corporate Citizenship: Successful Strategies for Responsible Companies.  London : FT/Pitman Publishing. 
McIntosh, M. et al (2003) Living Corporate Citizenship.  Strategic Routes to Socially Responsible Business.  London : FT/Prentice Hall. 
Naess, A. (1973) "The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement: A Summary", Inquiry 16(1) pp.95-100. 
Packard, V. (1984) The Hidden Persuaders.  Harmondsworth: Penguin. 
Plumwood, V. (2002) Environmental Culture.  The Ecological Crisis of Reason. London and New York : Routledge. 
Singer, P. (1986) Applied Ethics.  New York: Oxford University Press (e.g. contains Hare, R. "What is Wrong with Slavery" pp. 165-183, listed below). 
Sullivan, R. (ed.) (2003) Business and Human Rights.   Sheffield : Greenleaf Publishing. 
Winkler, E.R. and Coombs, J.R. (1993) Applied Ethics. A Reader.  Oxford and Cambridge : Blackwell. 
Journals 
Accountability Quarterly 
Business and Society Review 
Business Ethics: A European Review 
Business Ethics Quarterly
Journal of Applied Philosophy 
Journal of Business Ethics 
Journal of Corporate Citizenship 
Magazines 
Ethical Consumer 
Ethical Corporation 
New Internationalist 
Websites 
Amnesty International – www.amnesty.org 
Anti-Slavery – www.antislavery.org 
Business for Social Responsibility – www.bsr.org 
Business in the Community – www.bitc.org.uk 
Corporate Watch – www.corpwatch.org 
CSR Europe – www.csreurope.org 
Ethical Consumer – www.ethicalconsumer.org 
Ethical Corporation – www.ethicalcorp.com 
Ethical Investment Research Services – www.eirs.org
Ethical Trading Initiative – www.ethicaltrade.org 
Freedom to Care – www.ftc.org 
Global Compact – www.unglobalcompact.org 
Global Reporting Initiative – www.globalreporting.org 
Human Rights Watch – www.hrw.org 
Institute of Business Ethics – www.ibe.org.uk
Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility –
www.iccr.org
New Internationalist – www.newint.org 
No Logo – www.nologo.org 
SustainAbility – www.sustainability.com
Traidcraft – www.tradicraft.co.uk 

 

 

 

Last Updated

03/08/2010