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BE-V10
(PGCBM 2010-11 : Term-III)

BUSINESS ETHICS
(Faculty: Dr. B.P. Patra)

COURSE OUTLINE
OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE: The cases of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, Rite Aid, Health South, Arthur Andersen, Earnest and Young, J.P Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Xerox, Boeing corporation, the most recent case of Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy of the 158-years old company, and the Rs.7800 core fraud by Ramalinga Raju CEO, Satyam Computer System clearly illustrate the perilous consequences of corporate misconduct. Financial institutions globally have been suffering write-downs and credit losses as the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has engulfed other markets. The financial greed and lust for power in the last decade of 20th century not only ruined some organizations but also injured the society at large. They have done irreparable damages to creditors, employees, and the share holders (particularly the small investment community). The root cause of the problem lies in the ethical -break down of the organization.
This course will help the students to identify and resolve the ethical problems. It will also motivate them to act rationally/ ethically in business decision-making as well as other areas of life. Of course, the objective of the course is neither character building, nor providing any specific solution to wipe out unethical business behavior. Rather, the primary purpose of this course is to prepare the students to prevent unethical activities that affect business (both in macro and micro level). This course will also focus on the fact that acting ethically “pays.” Nonetheless, acting ethically and acting in the best interests of oneself and one’s company, far from being exclusive, are complementary. There is therefore, every reason to act ethically, and this course is devoted to explore the ethical truth in the professions through the use of critical and logical analysis. Conceptual clarity of some basic moral conduct concepts like; right, wrong, good, bad, just, unjust, obligation, responsibility, virtue, vice and lucid exposition of moral theories will provide them the support to take effective decision . Thus this course will work as a useful tool (i.e. by critical thinking and sound moral reasoning) and help the students to become efficient managers. As a result they will be enabled to: · Take-up responsibility by using sound moral judgment.
· Walk the Talk by creating value (for stake holders), which are morally rich.
· Put together “doing right things” and “doing right things for business”.
· Encounter the environment of scandal and bad behavior with moral courage and not hide behind the old excuse of “the business of business is business”.




COURSE CONTENTS:
Sessions:
Session 1
General Introduction:
Two Origins of Economics, Origin and Development of Management, Long Term Owners Value
Session 2
What is ethics?
i) Ethical thinking? (ii) Nature of ethics, (iii) Ethical Relativism
(iv) Fact and Value
Session 3
Ethics and Business:
(i) Why be Moral?
(ii)Why be moral in business?
(iii)The myth of amoral business.
(iv) Morality and Law

Sessions- 4&5
Moral Development
(i)Kohlber’s 6 stages of moral development

Ethical Theories:
(i)Utilitarianism (J.S.Mill)
(ii)Deontology (I.Kant)
(iii)Virtue Theory (Aristotle)
Session -6
Theories of Economic Justice:
(i)Distributive Justice (John Rawls)
(ii) Libertarian Justice (Robert Nozick)

Session -7
Ethical Issues in Functional Areas of Business:
(i) Characteristics of Free and Perfect Competitive market, (ii) Pricing: Monopoly and Oligopoly
(iii) Fairness and Efficiency in Financial Market (Insider Trading and Green mail)
(iv) Whistle blowing
PEDAGOGICAL METHODS:
The nature of the course is such that much of the learning comes from the students’ participation in the class discussion. Basically it is a critical thinking class. Better understanding of the course is possible through your thoughtful deliberations in the class.
Cases:
1. Parable of the Sadhu, by Bowen H. McCoy, Harvard Business Review , Sept - Oct 1983.
2. Why Good Managers make Bad Ethical Choices, Three cases are given here to illustrate the point.(i)MANVILLE CORPORTAION,(ii)CONTINENTAL ILLINOIS BANK and(iii)E.F HUTTON.
by Saul W. Gellerman in Andrews Kenneth R.(ed) Ethics in Practice: Managing the moral corporation, Harvard Business School Press, 1989. pp - 18 - 26. More details on these cases will be provided to students from other sources.
3. Marketing Infant Formula in Less Developed Countries.
Source: Hoffman and Moore, Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality, McGraw Hill 1984. pp - 427-37
4. The Bhopal Tragedy
5. Toy Wars.
Sources: Case 4&5: Velasquez Manuel G. Business Ethics: Concepts; and Cases, Prentice Hall 1992, pp. 3 - 6, &pp. 433 - 437
6 Insider Trading: The HLL case
7. Asian Paints: The Ethical Dimension
8. Product Re-call: The virtuous Behavior of Maruti Udyoga.
9. Tata Tea Funding ULFA:An Ethical Analysis
Source:These four Cases are developed by students of XIMB and moderated by Dr.B.P.Patra.The main sources of information were News Paper Articles and Business periodicals.
10. The Case of the Willful Whistle Blower
11. Burroughs Welcome and the pricing of AZT 12. Beech-Nut and No-Apple-Juice Apple Juice. 13. Prisoner's dilemma.
14. Parable of Leadership(source:HBR,July-August,1992)
15. Waste Management Corporation
16. Arthur Andersen
17. Tyco
18. World Com.
19. Enron
(Source: Monks and Minow, Corporate Governance, 3rd Edn., 2004, Blackwell Publishing
Text Book
Velasquez, Manuel G. Business Ethics; Concepts and Cases, (6th edition) Prentice Hall of India, 2006.
REFERENCE BOOKS:
Boatwright John R., Cases in Ethics and the conduct of Business , Prentice hall, Englewood Cliff, New Jersey 1995

Buchholz Rogene, A. Fundamental Concepts and problems in Business Ethics, Prentice Hall,
Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1989.

Donaldson, Thomson & Werhane Patrica, H., Ethical Issues in Business : A philosophical
Approach, (Fourth Edition) Prentice Hall Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1993

George Richard T.De. Business ethics, (Third Edition) MacMillan Publishing Company New
York, 1990.

Frankena William K., Ethics, (Second Edition) Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, 1973.

Sen., A. Ethics and Economics, Oxford University press, 1987.

Shaw William H. Business Ethics (4th edition), Thomson /Wordsworth,2002
Evaluation Criteria
Quizzes: 20%
Quizzes will be of objective type and will be based on lecture notes and class discussion.
End Term Examination: 30%
The End -Term examination will involve both objective and subjective type questions.

Attendance is compulsory.

Course Material:
Text Book
Velasquez, Manuel G. Business Ethics; Concepts and Cases, (6th edition) Prentice Hall of India, 2006.
*Additional reading materials and class notes will be provided to students through AIS.



IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
QUIZ- I:
Full Marks :20(weightage 10%)
Number of Questions:40 MCQs
Duration :30 minutes
Evaluation: There is Negative Marking( for four wrong answer (0.25 x 4) 1 mark will be deducted
Portion:
Ethics and Economics
Ethics and Management
Fact and Value
Moral and Non Moral Value Judgements
Descriptive ethics, Normative ethics and Meta-ethics
Ethics and Morality
Subjectivism and objectivism
Cultural Relativism,and Ethical Relativism
Moral Development
Surving vs. Thrivng (The EAgle's Secrate)
There will not be any make-up examination for those who miss the Quiz-1

Quiz-II
Date:
Full Marks: 20(weightage10%)
Questions: MCQs
Duration : 30 minutes
Evaluation: There is Negative Marking ( for a wrong answer 0.25 mark will be deducted)
There will not be any make-up examination for those who miss the quiz.
Portion:
Ethical Theories: Teleology, Deontology and Virtue Theory
Characteristics of Free and Perfect Competitive market,
Monopoly and Oligopoly, Insider trading, Green Mailing
Truth in Advertising
End Term: Case Based*
*Few cases will be given for analysis and application of moral theories
Created By: Bijoy Kar on 09/03/2010 at 03:33 PM
Category: PGCBM Doctype: Document

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