BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ETHICS MGMT 300-1 Fall 2009 Dr. Marina Apaydın, MSEE, MBA, MA, PhD Office: BEC 2066 Office hours: by appointment E-mail: mapaydin@aucegypt.edu COURSE OBJECTIVE The purpose of this course is to enhance your capacity to think, act and lead ethically. Having an ethical perspective means that you have the capacity to maintain ethical attitude and behavior in your personal and professional. COURSE DESCRIPTION The materials encompass a wide range of industries, businesses and issues and are designed to address the following key questions: 1. How do I assess the ethical issues facing business? 2. How can people and firms solve ambiguities and resolve the trade-offs embedded in ethical dilemmas? 3. How should I lead and make decisions that would not potentially harm others? The course will combine theoretical perspective with real-world cases presented in the textbook and the current cases found in the local media. Students are expected to read widely and bring interesting issues to the class discussion. 1
COURSE MATERIALS Textbook: John R. Boatright, Ethics and the Conduct of Business, 6 th Edition, 2009 (bookstore). R. Paul and L. Elder, Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning, 2006 (Blackboard). Optional manual: Louise A. Mauffette-Leenders, James A. Erskine, Michiel R. Leenders, "Learning with Cases", 3 rd Edition, 2005 (Library reserve). The textbook and the cases have been purposely designed as a unified teaching tool for this course with an objective to provide a real-world content backed by solid management theories. Each topic in the syllabus corresponds to a chapter in the textbook and will be covered in two classes. As a general rule, in the first class we will discuss the issues raised in the chapter and in the second class we will discuss the case. Cases play the central role in this course. In our discussion of the cases, strive to develop your own personal frameworks for business decision-making. Our brief discussions will provide you with some ideas, but ultimately it is your responsibility to develop frameworks with which you feel comfortable. The main content of the course lies in the real-world cases we will study which are designed to provide you with a vicarious experience of conducting business internationally. In order to get the maximum benefit from our discussion of cases, it is essential that you thoroughly prepare for each class. Case preparation requires much more than simply reading the case, or answering the questions posed on the assignment sheet. You may use a one-page Case Preparation Chart (CPC) described in the Manual to organize your thoughts about the case. After having prepared the case, be willing to participate actively in the class discussion. This will help develop your skills in articulating and collaboratively developing a position. You will find the course much more interesting and stimulating when you actively participate. Although you might have taken case-based courses previously, reading Learning with Cases manual will help you to master this course and other case-based courses. It will enable you to better understand the rules of the game, my expectations from you in the class and, most importantly, will provide you with important learning techniques which will optimize your preparation time, while maximizing the learning. The manual explains in detail how to prepare a good CPC. A Power Point presentation will be also available for your reference. 2
EVALUATION The grade for this course will be computed from the following factors (each item is described below in further detail): Evaluation factor Weight 1. Midterm 20% 2. Final Exam 20% 3. Debates 20% 4. Class contribution 20% 5. Course project 20% 1-2 MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAM The midterms and final exam will consist of a combination of multiple choice tests and essay questions which will help assess your understanding of the theoretical concepts covered in the course. They will be administered individually during the class time on a closed book basis. 3. ASSIGNEMENTS AND DEBATES Assignments will be prepared individually during the first few classes which cover the basics of ethical thinking. Once the fundamentals are covered, and we will move to business examples, and debates will replace the assignments. Debates will be prepared in groups and will involve research, discussions, presentation and an in-class debate. Each group will have the responsibility for developing and advocating a position supporting or opposing a debate proposition. The day of the debate, each team will present me with a copy of their presentation, detailing the team s position on the proposition in addition to any documentation, handouts and/or support. The presentations are graded based on research, innovation, clarity, accuracy, comprehensiveness, persuasiveness, responsiveness on the other side s arguments, and professionalism. Debating groups are encouraged to consult with one another and collaborate to determine the common ethical dilemma. The group offering the supporting perspective will give a 15 minute statement of the team s proposition in class, followed by a 15 minute presentation of the opposing perspective by the other team, followed by a 5 minute rebuttal by the supporting team. The remaining time will be dedicated to questions from the class and the board s verdict. 3
4. CLASS CONTRIBUTION Since the richness of the classroom experience for all of us is heavily dependent on thorough preparation and high quality class contributions, a significant proportion of your grade will be based on the value of these contributions. Class contribution is more than the traditional class participation. Class participation requires you to be present and prepared for every session and share your views in the classroom discussion. I will feel free to call on any individual at any time. If you must miss a session it is your responsibility to (1) advise me of your absence by email and (2) arrange with your classmates for briefings, to pick-up hand-outs, etc. You should understand that frequent absence will seriously damage your class contribution grade. Missing more than 20% of the sessions may prevent you from writing the Final Exam. In general I evaluate contributions in an ascending order from good chip shots, to quite substantial comments, to case cracking contributions. I believe that challenge and debate are important to discovery and understanding, and I appreciate the willingness of individuals to engage in such activities with their classmates and with me. Students are expected to read widely and bring interesting issues to the class discussion. The relevant media material must have appeared within the last year and have to relate to class topic. It should discuss moral, not legal, issues and it must be related to Egypt. An ability to bring in current issues into classroom and meaningfully incorporate them into the discussion will contribute significantly to contribution grade. The class contribution grade is to recognize your contribution to the learning of your classmates. People will be called upon to participate, but it is safe to assume that waiting to be cold-called will not earn you a satisfactory participation grade. You will need to contribute voluntarily. At the same time, it is impossible for all students to participate in each class. In grading class contribution, I will be assessing the extent to which you have established a meaningful presence in the classroom, over the course of the semester, by making solid contributions on a regular basis. Please refer to the Learning with Cases manual to learn how to contribute effectively. 5. COURSE PROJECT Information about the course project will be distributed separately. It will generally involve investigating a real-world case of a business which is facing an ethical dilemma. Course project will be done in groups and will have several deliverables throughout the course. DEADLINES AND LENGTH LIMITS I appreciate the degree to which students want to be treated fairly and equitably when dealing with deadlines and length limits on assignments. If you are going to be late in submitting an assignment, you are expected to contact me by e-mail. Unless there is a compelling reason for missing the deadline, such as serious illness, lateness will result in a penalty in the grade for the project. A similar policy is in place for projects that exceed length limits. I expect that the document will be readable and tightly edited. Smaller font sizes than those specified and verbose analysis will not be viewed favorably. 4
EXPECTATIONS AND GROUND RULES You are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means devoting time and energy to preparation before class, including learning team meetings, listening to others and engaging in class discussions. Collective reasoning and discovery are critical to the successful application of the case method. Here are straightforward ground rules that I would like us to follow. APPEAL OF GRADES Any appeal should be made within three days of receiving the grade, return the paper to me with a note summarizing your concerns. I will deliver a written reply after reviewing your comments. If you are not satisfied at this stage, we can then make an appointment to discuss your paper and its grade. If a grade is appealed, the grade may be changed upward or downward. You can also request feedback on your ongoing class contribution grade. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Learning is enhanced through cooperation and as such you are encouraged to work in groups, ask for and give help freely in all appropriate settings. At the same time, as a matter of personal integrity, you should only represent your own work as yours. Any work that is submitted to be evaluated in this class should be an original piece of writing, presenting your ideas in your own words. Everything you borrow from books, articles, or web sites (including those in the syllabus) should be properly cited. Although you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with others (including your friends in the class), it is important that you do not share your writing (slides, MS Excel files, reports, etc.) with anyone. Using ideas, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work is plagiarism. Copying from others or providing answers or information, written or oral, to others is cheating. Unauthorized help from another person or having someone else write one s paper or assignment is collusion. Cheating, plagiarism and collusion are serious offenses that could result in an F grade and disciplinary action. Please pay utmost attention to avoid such accusations. All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software Turnitin.com. CLASS BEHAVIOR Lateness to the class will impair your participation grade for that class. Absence will result in a zero participation grade; No cell phones or laptops are allowed in the classroom. Sending or receiving a call or text message, or having an opened laptop will result in a negative contribution grade; Detailed note-taking during class can be distracting for others and counterproductive to your own learning. I advise you to be selective in taking notes during class. Instead, it is a good idea to consolidate what you have learned after the class. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the class! 5