Semester 1

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)

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.

·              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.

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

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.

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:

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

03/08/2010