Welcome to Module 3

The principles of business ethics emphasize the importance of honesty, integrity, and accountability in all interactions. This means considering the effects of decisions and actions on stakeholders, customers, suppliers, employees, competitors, the environment, and the community.

Module Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

Explain the ethical framework of utilitarianism.
Describe how utilitarian thinking underlies much economic and business decision making.
Explain how the free market is thought to serve the utilitarian goal of maximizing the overall good.
Explain some challenges to utilitarian decision making.
Explain principle-based, or rights-based, frameworks of ethics.
Explain the concept of human rights and how they are relevant to business.
Distinguish moral rights from legal rights.
Explain several challenges to principle-based ethics.
Describe and explain virtue-based framework for thinking about ethical character.

(CLO = Course Learning Outcome)

To Do

Please read/watch all of the module learning materials (readings, presentations, videos, etc.) and complete all assignments/assessments listed below. If you have questions, please contact the course instructor or ask in the Questions About This Course forum.

Readings and Presentations:

Read: Chapter 3: Philosophical Ethics and Business

Videos:

Watch: YouTube: Philosophical Ethics and Business

Assignments/Assessments:

Prepare: Ethics Project 1

AT3: Ethics Project 1: Identifying Unethical Operations (10% total grade): The first ethics project is an individual presentation assignment in which students are tasked with identifying a real company found guilty of some sort of ethics violation(s) and explain the situation in detail about ⁽¹⁾ what actions the company took that were considered unethical, ⁽²⁾ how the company was discovered, and ⁽³⁾ what (if any) legal ramifications occurred. Most of this information can be learned from posted news filings and internet reports, but students are expected to explain the situations utilizing the information learned in the class up to this point in the semester. How each student presents (i.e., PowerPoints, speakers, visual aids, etc.) is entirely up to each student. Each student will be given a minimum of 5-minutes and a maximum of 20-minutes to present, with violations of the time-management reducing 1-point for each minute in violation. There will be no late presentations or make-up work allowed for this assignment.

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