MANT331 Business Ethics

Transcription

1 MANT331 Business Ethics Course Outline Semester

2 W elcome to MANT331: Business Ethics Welcome to business ethics! This course is designed to enable you to make sense of ethical issues in the workplace. It adopts both a micro and macro perspective to ethics and business to create an understanding of the key ethical debates in business today. This course information booklet and information posted to Blackboard will provide you with just about everything you need to help you pass the course. Please read and use all sources! For any additional information you can contact Sara via or during office hours. Academic coordinator & lecturer Dr Sara Walton CO 8.20 PH: Office Hours: Friday 10-11am & other times by appt swalton@business.otago.ac.nz Teaching Methods Lectures The formal weekly lecture part of this course takes place on Monday from pm, although not compulsory attendance is strongly advised. The lectures will include class discussion, cases, videos and sometimes undertaking informal exercises namely completing questions and solving problems. Participation in this activity will assist you in your internal assessment and final exam. If you miss out on information given out during a lecture it is your responsibility to find that out. Blackboard This electronic information medium will be used in this course; it will contain lecture material, course readings and assessment details. You can access the site through Your user name and password is the one you also use for the library and PIMS. The ITS Helpdesk will help solve any difficulties.

3 You should be able to access the MANT331 site once you are registered and logged on for the course, if there are any problems please contact Sara. Readings and Reference Material Readings All course readings will be placed in Blackboard during the semester. The readings are aimed to help explain and extend the lecture material. As such many of the readings will be discussed in class. Referencing Referencing is required on ALL pieces of assessment Several very useful sources for APA referencing are: Manalo, E., Wong-Toi, G., & Trafford, J. (2003). The business of writing: written communication skills for business students. Auckland: Longman. Or The University of Otago Study Guide Or Assessment The following table outlines the assessment involved in this course and the due dates. Assessment Marks Due date Hand in to Individual ethical stance project 40% 10% for issue statement 30% for final report Friday 25 th July at 4pm Final report due: Friday 26 th at 4pm 8 th floor management enquiries office Final Exam 60% To be advised

4 Ethical stance assignment 40% (10% + 30%) Issue statement due: Friday 25 th July at 4pm Final report due: Friday 26 th at 4pm This project involves choosing an ethical stance that you will adopt for the semester. Examples could include drinking only fair trade coffee, not eating KFC, reducing waste, recycling, or walking to university instead of driving. The possibilities for your stance are wide ranging and will depend on what you feel is important and what you are able to achieve. The written component of this assignment is in two parts. 1. An issue statement that is due early in the semester. This is intended to be a short document of approximately 1000 words that outlines your ethical stance. It should provide a description of the stance, what you will actually do or not do, and why you have chosen this issue. 2. A final report on your ethical stance. This is the large part of the assignment. It should include: an analysis of your stance in relation to ethical philosophy; research into businesses concerning your issue; a description of what you did during and semester and a reflection on your behaviour (could be in the form of a mini-diary). In addition it could allude to future behaviour in relation to your stance. The issue statement should be at least 1000 words and outline your issue, briefly why you see it as an ethical issue and what you intend to do during the semester. The final report consists of three key parts 1. A thorough explanation of your stance and how it is ethical (using ethical theory). 2. A section on what business organisations are doing with regards to your issue. Do some searching around websites, company reports and general literature to find some businesses that are also taking the same sort of stance and report on what they are doing, why they are doing it, how it works and what are the impacts or consequences of taking such a stance. 3. A reflection of your semester taking an ethical stance how did you maintain your stance, was it difficult, did you manage the whole semester? The final report should be between around words and include a word count. Informed reading and referencing are expected at this level.

5 Final exam 60% The final exam will consist of case analysis and essays. More information will be provided in class NB: you must pass the exam to pass the paper (that is attain at least 30%) Presentation of work All assignments must be typed, one and a half-spaced, page numbered and stapled. Your mark will reflect the presentation of your work. If English is your second language then please note ESL on the front cover of your work and we will take this into account. On the front page of your assignments, please put your name or student ID, and the Paper Code (i.e. MANT331). Note: Remember to proofread assignments and do a spell check. Spelling and grammatical errors make work look sloppy. Good business communication is essential for everyone in business. Also ensure that all references are included and that referencing is done in the APA style. Please refer to Emerson or Manalo, Wong-Tai & Trafford (stage one recommended reading) if you are unsure. Plagiarism Students should make sure that all submitted work is their own. Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is defined as copying or paraphrasing another's work, whether intentionally or otherwise and presenting it as one's own (approved University Council, December 2004). In practice this means plagiarism includes any attempt in any piece of submitted work (e.g. an assignment or test) to present as one's own work the work of another (whether of another student or a published authority). Any student found responsible for plagiarism in any piece of work submitted for assessment shall be subject to the University's dishonest practice regulations which may result in various penalties, including forfeiture of marks for the piece of work submitted, a zero grade for the paper, or in extreme cases exclusion from the University.

6 Handing work in late... Any work, which is submitted late without a medical certificate, proof of family illness, crisis or bereavement or other circumstances for which prior approval has been given, will be penalised. There will be a 10% penalty off the total mark per day or per half day for ALL late assignments. Please see Sara before handing work in late. Re-marking All work will be internally moderated. If, upon receiving your work after marking you are concerned about the grade then you are able to have it re-marked within one week of getting your assignment back. To do so you must submit the following to the paper coordinator (Sara): 1. your marked assignment with markers comments 2. a clean copy of your assignment without any comments 3. a written explanation explaining: - Why you believe that your assignment deserves more marks than assigned; - Any material you feel was misunderstood by the marker. - Please note this is not an opportunity to resubmit your assignment but a chance for you to clearly state why this assignment needs to be re-marked. Re-marking will be carried out by another lecturer in the department. Please note that your remark grade could be lower than your original and the remark is the final grade. Students with disabilities The Department of Management encourages students to seek support if they find they are having difficulties with their studies due to a disability, temporary or permanent, injury or chronic illness. Contact either the department's disability officer-leanne Skryba on or lskryba@business.otago.ac.nz or contact the disability office , disabilities@otago.ac.nz

7 DATE LECTURE ASSESSMENT Week beginning Monday 7 th July Introduction Monday 14 th July What is business? Monday 21 st July What is ethics 1? Ethical stance issue statement due: Friday 25 th July at 4pm Monday 28 th July Monday 4 th August Monday 11 th August What is ethics 2? What is business ethics? Topics in business ethics 1: CSR & Stakeholders Monday 18 th August Topics in business ethics 2: Care for the natural environment Monday 1 st Topics in business ethics 3: (2) Racism and race relations Monday 8 th Topics in business ethics 4: (3) Animal rights and the food we eat Monday 15 th Monday 23 rd Topics in business ethics 5: Gender and EEO The possibility of business ethics 1: bureaucracy Ethical stance report due: Friday 26 th Sept at 4pm Monday 29 th Monday 6 th October The possibility of business ethics: 2 Globalisation Course wrap up and review