INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, KOZHIKODE

Post Graduate Programme in Management

Course Outline on Business Ethics

Introduction:

Business ethics is understood in a comprehensive and differentiated sense, as it has

evolved in recent years under the influence of globalization. Accordingly, its
fundamental task is to enhance the ethical quality of decision making and taking
action at all levels of business, at the personal (micro-), organizational (meso-), and
systemic (macro-) levels, thus extending far beyond the narrow notion of business
ethics as a niche for managers with good intentions. This task involves three main
objectives:

Objectives

Ethical Awareness and Recognition:

Exploring the ethical dimension, which is implied, though often not revealed, in both
the practice and the study of business. If this dimension is not perceived, understood
and recognized, ethics cannot become a proactive factor for business.

Ethical Knowledge:

Identifying key ethical concepts and understanding different ethical approaches and
theories. In our “age of moral confusion” it is vital to clarify complex ethical problems
and understand different and often opposing viewpoints. Otherwise ethical dialogue
is impossible.

Ethical Judgment:

Improving the skills of moral reasoning and ethical decision making. Business ethics
should not content itself with “understanding the complexities of the world,” but
should orient itself toward decision making and action, which is the basic purpose of
ethics. Therefore, in addition to ethical awareness and ethical knowledge, ethical
reasoning and judgment are indispensable for “good” decision-making.

General Outline:

1: Introduction and Overview

2: Why Study business Ethics?
3: Moral Development and Business Experience
4: Ethical Challenges in Our Work Experiences
5: Ways of Thinking about business Ethics
6: Case Studies in business Ethics
7: Different approaches of Responsibility and Virtue Ethics
8: Universal Ethical Standards and Cultural Diversity
9: Issues in Human Rights
10: Current Approaches in Corporate Ethics
11: Corporate-Driven Globalization and business ethics
12: Corporate Accountability in the Global Context

The Focus

The course offers comparative and developmental perspectives on the role of

business in the global context and the Indian context, focusing in particular on cases
where such businesses are actively and purposefully engaged. The following are the
specially focused areas for discussion:

Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivism

The subject of moral contention, What part of morality is relative? The challenges of
moral relativism; A positive case for core morality; Moral pluralism and the regions of
moral agreement

The Business System (Business & Society)

What is a good society one that promotes happiness (Aristotle)? Or where human
beings realize their capabilities (Nessbaum/Sen)? Is it where human beings are free
and equal (Marx)? Or where distributive justice characteristics practices and
institutions (John Rawls)? Is it where the state is minimal (Nozick)? Or where it is
economically active (Marx) and socially active (Amartya Sen)?

Business as a profession
The necessity of codes of professional ethics in Business and the professional
responsibility of Business, Business as comparable to the traditional professions e.g.
law and medicine, Business trying to catch up the service to society ideal whereas
traditional professions are not living unto their expectations

Ethics of Consumer production and Marketing

As a professional discipline the extent of responsibility that business has to its

customers.
1. Business responsibility to its actual and potential customers.
2. Business responsibility to third party

Ethical Issues in managing the Human Resources

Conflict of interest: Organizational mission and the Individual in the organization.

• Employment at will and due process (Ineptitude and Dismissal)
• Authority Vs Privacy and Autonomy
• Discrimination and Harassment including sexual harassment (and positive duty of
affirmative action policy) Whistle blowing Vs loyalty to Organization

Ethical Issues in Finance & Accounting practices

• Financial Services
• Financial Markets
• Hostile Takeovers
• Insider Trading
• Special Purpose Entity
 Ethics in the age of technology and Information Technology

Information Technology
• Intelectual property rights
• Privacy
• Piracy
• Hacking
• Wardriving
• Plagiarim
• Cybercrime
• Viruses
• Ergonomics
Genetic Engineering

Nanotechnology

Neurotechnology

Business Ethics as Strategy

How can business ethics be used as a corporate strategy and as a competitive

advantage

Social Entrepreneurship

Corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness, corporate

social performance, corporate citizenship and Corporate Governance.

Learning and teaching strategies:

• Lectures will provide core information on specific topics

• Individual / group assignments will enable students to apply what they have
learnt to practical problems
• Presentation will be based on course texts and supplementary materials.

Assessment:

• Mid term: 30%

• Class Assignment (class participation/class presentation/ case study
analysis/surprise test): 30%
• Final Examination: 40%

Recommended Text:

1. Applied Ethics in Managemenr; Ed.S.K. Chakraborty and S.R. Chatterjee,

Springer, Germany, 1999.
2. Harvard Business Review on Corporate Ethics, Harvard Business School Press,
Boston, 2003.
3. Human Values in Management edited by Ananda Das Gupta, Ashgate
 Publishing Group, Aldershot, England, December 2004.
4. Ethics in Business; Ananda Das Gupta, Rawat Publications, Jaipur/New Delhi,
January, 2005.
5. Corporate Citizenship: Perspectives in the New Century; Ananda Das Gupta,
Cambridge Scholars Press, England, 2008.
6. Velasquez, Manuel G., Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, 6th Edition,
Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2007.

(b) Additional Readings:

1. Boatright, John R., Ethics and the Conduct of Business, Pearson

Education, Indian Reprint, 2003.
2. Buchholz, Rogene A, Fundamental Concepts and Problems in Business
Ethics (Prentice Hall, NJ 1989)
3. Rachels, James & Rachels, Stuart The Elements of Moral Philosophy,
McGraw- Hill, 2007.
4. Rowan, John and Zinaich, Samuel Ethics for the Professions (Belmont:
Wadsworth, 2003)
5. Strenberg, Elaine, Just Business: Business Ethics in Action (Grait Britain:
Little Brown and Company, 1994)
6. Pojman, Louis P. Philosophy: The Pursuit of Wisdom (Belmont:
Wadsworth, 1998)