Business 303 Business, Ethics & Society

Bus. 303 / 2011-1TITLE:Administrative PolicyINSTRUCTOR: Jerry Sheppard • PHONE 778-782-4918 • E-MAIL Sheppard@sfu.ca • NOTES http://www.sfu.ca/~sheppard/index.html • OFFICE WMC 4387 • HOURS Wed. 12:40 – 1:20, Fri. 12:40 – 1:20 & by Appointment Contact me in person, by phone or E-mail & we’ll set-up an appointment. BS MS MBA PhD

Course Objectives In the wake of recent econ. & enviro. catastrophes, issues regarding social, ethical and environmental concerns of businesses have become prominent. • In Business, Ethics & Society, we will attempt to familiarize ourselves with the following areas: • Ethical principles,theories,models&their impact on business; • Workplace ethics & issues around corp. social responsibility; • Rights & responsibilities of the corp. those who work in them; • Enviro. responsible & sustainable business practices; • Relevance of ethical standards in CDN&international contexts • We will review different theories and investigate their application to common and current business practices.

Course Objectives (too) We will also review the different challenges that managers and business employees face in the current fast paced world. Ethical Considerations You are expected to do your own work on the individual assignments. Failure to do so, or plagiarism, or insufficient citation could result in a zero for the assignment.

Participation Be an active participant Engage in the material Quality not Quantity Be aware of current events Lead and/or contribute to class discussions Participation may have a bearing on your final grade Presentation Groups • Cases assigned by instructor by Jan. 15th • 15 minute presentation followed by 5 minutes of class questions and discussion. • Slides/presentation to be emailed to instructor prior to presentation.

Session Breakdown A typical lecture consists of several separate parts: The first part would be dedicated to concepts and theories (chapters, readings, and an exercise), The 2nd part is a debate of one aspect of the topic, A third part will deal with the review of a relevant book (too much reading / too little time), Finally a practical case analysis and discussion. Access to readings & discussion material will be provided online in advance. It’s your responsibility to come prepared to be able to discuss ethical issues surrounding that days’ class.

Text & Other Readings Richard T. DeGeorge Business Ethics, 7th Ed. Often an article, an exercise, a debate topic, and a case. A book a week?

Group Project & Presentation You’ll form into groups of 5 to 6 students. You will be doing: A debate plus A presentation on a case or book. These occur throughout the term. Only 3 members need present, & the other 3 aid in the research. You’ll be evaluating the performance of others in the group. The average group grade is to be 3.1. If you don’t fill out a grade form, all get a 3.14.

Grading Individual Grade (70%) 34% Individual Papers (2 X 17% each) 3% Presentation Evaluation 3% Debate Evaluation 5% Group Peer Evaluation 25% Final 34% Individual Papers (2 X 17% each) 3% Presentation Evaluation Group Grade (30%) 15% Group Debate 15% Presentation ( Case or Book)

Paper & Presentations Basically, a case analysis would have the following: • What’s the situation, underlying problems, current challenge? • Immediate Problem: • Description & possible alternatives to solve the the immediate problem. • Criteria for a good solution (justly addressing various stakeholders). • An evaluation (matrix) of alternatives based on the stated criteria. • Recommendations for addressing the immediate problem. • Underlying Problem: • Description & possible alternatives to solve the the underlying problem. • Criteria for a good solution (justly addressing various stakeholders). • An evaluation (matrix) of alternatives based on the stated criteria. • Recommendations for addressing the underlying problem. • Concluding remarks. • Original work, properly referenced and formatted.

Paper & Presentation Grading (1/6)

Grading Individual Grade (70%) 34% Individual Papers (2 X 17% each) 3% Presentation Evaluation 3% Debate Evaluation 5% Group Peer Evaluation 25% Final Group Grade (30%) 15% Group Debate 15% Presentation ( Case or Book)

Debate Case A review of how a debate is evaluated can be found at:http://www.cosmicotter.com/Files/EthicsBowl/Croskery/EthicsBowlJudgeTraining.html A The case under question is as follows: After graduating Sacramento State, “Natalie Dylan,” was told she must soon need to start repaying an unknown $100,000 student loan. Ms Dylan’s stepfather had used her personal info. to obtain fraudulent loans & absconded with the money. While it is unclear whether Ms. Dylan will be held responsible for repaying the loans obtained in her name, government subsidized financing she was counting on to fund her graduate degree was no longer available to her. This first part may, or may not be true, as far as the rest of it, it seems to be.

Debate Case To pay for grad. school, Ms. Dylan made the decision to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder through eBay. eBay soon removed the offering. Dylan then turned to Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel near Carson City, Nevada (where Ms. Dylan’s sister was employed). Dylan, who holds a degree in women’s studies & plans to begin work on a MA in marriage & family therapy, doesn’t believe what she is doing is degrading. She described her auction as empowering in that she is using what she has to better herself. Dylan stated she would undergo a physical & a polygraph to verify the authenticity of her offering. Dylan explained the highest bidder might not win, as she wanted someone with whom she had some chemistry. Bidding topped $3 million & Natalie was talking by phone to some of the bidders.

Debate Case Afterward It now appears Ms. Dylan will have to relist her virginity. The winning bidder, an Australian businessman, backed out & requested a refund his $250,000 deposit because his wife did not want him to go through with the purchase [Ya think?]. Ms. Dylan returned the money and suggested to the man that he return to marriage counseling… The case is debated at: http://www.cosmicotter.com/Files/EthicsBowl/Croskery/EthicsBowlJudgeTraining.html Alina Percea, 18, auctioned her virginity on a German website for $14K so she could pay for her computing degree. The winner was a 45-year-old Italian businessman. Is it legal / moral? Is it just good business? Should the German government tax her?

Debate Grading http://www.cosmicotter.com/Files/EthicsBowl/Croskery/EthicsBowlJudgeTraining.html

Debate Grading 22

Debate Grading

Group Member Grades Ann 3.9 Great Ben 3.3 OK Chris 3.0 So-So Dave 3.7 OK Erica 1.4 $%@ zzzThis OPTIONAL form would be due April 6, 2011 If it doesn’t add-up, I’ll lower the grade of everyone in the group

Schedule What are Ethics & Morals

Schedule Ethics, Society & the Corporation

Schedule Ethics & Business Issues

Ethics Exercise Divide into groups of 4 or 5 to do the following exercise. Imagine you are about to start your own company, hoping to grow it within five years to employ 200 people. What are the core ethical values that you would want to inspire and guide your employees from day one? (You might phrase them in relation to specific stakeholders, e.g., "honesty toward stockholders," or "maintain a level playing field for potential suppliers.")

Ethics Exercise What are core ethical values that you would want to inspire & guide your employees from day one (e.g. regarding stakeholders)? • What examples could you give your employees to clarify how to apply those core ethical values in specific situations? • What management practices should you adopt in order to ensure that your employees know: a) You'll never ask them to violate their conscience to meet corp. goals? b) That you'll back them up for doing the right thing? c) To seek clarification if they're ever unsure about applying the company's core values in particular situations? d) To disclose potential conflicts of interest? e) That they can voice ethical concerns up the chain of command without fear of retaliation? This is really about the fundamentals of running your business!

Business 303 Business, Ethics & Society