This module will help students identify and think critically about the ethical dimensions of markets and business organizations and provide tools for making informed and ethically responsible decisions relating to workplace issues. Specific topics may include justifications for free markets and government intervention, corporate governance and economic democracy, managerial compensation, price discrimination, hiring discrimination, employment at will, privacy and safety in the workplace, advertising, product liability, the environment, whistle-blowing, and international business.
Organization The corporate model of business organization is a source of productivity and wealth, contributing to the well-being of society. But corporations and business leaders act immorally and irresponsibly. Ideally, we’d have more of the former and less of the latter. This module supposes that the tools of ethical analysis can be of some help in this regard. It can, first, at a micro-level. What should we think about the involvement with these organizations of individuals – as customers of them, as employees of them, as executives of them, as investors in them? At a macro-level the issues more concern what this mode of organization would look like in a just society. In what ways would its operations be constrained or regulated with respect to the environment, its employees, local and global communities, or consumers?
Outcomes (1) Students understand how they can employ philosophical tools to answer questions about business and ethics. (2) Students understand the methods of ethical analysis. (3) Students improve their abilities to think critically, analyze complex problems, evaluate arguments, and argue cogently for their own views. (4) Students improve their reading, writing, and oral communication skills. (5) Students understand some of the leading contemporary positions in business ethics.
Assessment
3 short discussion papers (45%), tutorial participation and performance (10%), final exam (45%)
