BERGAMO
Dati Generali
Periodo di attività
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
Business ethics studies moral dilemmas and problems that arise in business. The course aims to develop and deepen the student’s understanding of moral obligations and the good that business could bring to society. Therefore, it will be introduced the main concepts of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their relevance on ethical decision-making in business. As a result of reading course texts, and participating in lecture presentations and class discussions, students will identify and analyse ethical issues in business. They will be able to apply the main traditional ethical theories to analyse ethical positions and formulate moral defenses in business decisions. Furthermore, they will be able to identify the main theories and approach to corporate social responsibility.
At the end of this course, students will understand business ethics and CSR issues and criticalities, in their theoretical and practical implications, with reference to an international dimension and related to the different professional activities (accountant, auditor, consultant, manager, etc.). Therefore, it extends students’ preparation to management and professional activities.
Furthermore, in coherence with the strategic plan and the TRANSET excellence program of the Department of Management, this course introduces students to the concepts of employees’ and workers’ wellness and wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and, more broadly, fairness in organizations’ decision making.
While sustainability will not be the main focus of the course, students will study interconnections between business ethics, CSR and sustainability and the main features of sustainability theories.
Prerequisiti
Metodi didattici
The module draws upon traditional teaching and learning strategies in terms of lectures and seminars, coupled with self-directed study. Teaching activities will include lectures, seminars and case analysis. Lectures will give an overview of the main business ethics topics. Discussions in the classroom will offer an in-depth analysis of specific aspects and will develop a critical understanding. Case analysis and ethical dilemmas will be used to discuss practical implications of these topics. During the lectures it will be required to students to engage in dialogue and exchanges of views on different topics. The directed study component is designed to enhance the taught and post taught input. Students could be required to engage with directed study reading before the module begins to support the lectures and seminars contents. Students could be asked to prepare and discuss on specific case studies.
During the course, students may be given the opportunity to work in groups both with their classmates and with students from foreign universities.
Verifica Apprendimento
The course is assessed by means of a written exam, which will focus on the theoretical and practical aspects. In particular, the exam consists of open ended and/or essay-type questions. The exam aims to value the achievement of learning objectives referred to business ethics topics. In particular, questions are formulated to value the study, the capability of understanding and critical thinking of students on these topics. Clearness, synthesis, consistency and critical judgment will be given particular merit. Each answer will be graded with a score from 0 to 30 and the final grade will be the average of the grades. Each student needs to achieve a mark of 18/30 or above. Any mark below 18 will be considered as a ‘fail’ and students will be required to retake the exam. Results will be communicated to students through the formal platform ESSE3 or other formal University tool.
In the event that students will participate in structured group work, a part of the exam may be replaced by the evaluation obtained from this activity. In this case both the group report (assessed as a group) and the presentation (assessed individually) will be evaluated.
Contenuti
The course introduces to the concept of business ethics and its importance to both academic level and in terms of practical management of different kind of organizations. The main normative ethical theories will be introduced with the purpose to identify a pragmatic and pluralistic approach to theory application. Business ethics will be framed in the context of the corporation being part of a wider society. Concepts like corporate social responsibility and sustainability will be analysed in their main features and in connection with business ethics theories. Then, in order to present how ethical decisions are taken (or should be taken) in business, ethical decision-making processes will be introduced and analysed also through case studies. Finally, business ethics main issues will be contextualized in specific fields or with reference with specific company’s stakeholders (like consumers, employees, supplier, etc.). A specific seminar on corporate responsibility to respect Human Rights & Sustainability Due Diligence will be provided during the course.
In summary, the contents of the course will be the following:
1. Introduction to Business ethics
2. Framing Business Ethics: companies as moral actors, stakeholder theories and the purpose of corporations
3. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
4. Evaluating Business Ethics: normative ethical theories
5. Ethical decision making
6. Ethical issues with employees
7. Ethical issues with suppliers
8. Corporate responsibility to respect human rights and sustainability due diligence
Altre informazioni
Course handouts will be available on the elearning platform (Moodle space) see https://elearning15.unibg.it/course/index.php?categoryid=3. We strongly suggest you subscribe to receive all and updated information about the course.