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BADM 261-01, Business Ethics, Fall 2004
Ryan, Allan
Ryan, Allan
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Syllabus, Text, Curriculum, Business Administration, 2004 Fall
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Abstract
This is neither a comprehensive course in ethical philosophy nor is it a course in which I will
pretend to be able to confer on students a previously undiscovered ability to tell right from
wrong. Instead, this course is designed to give you the opportunity to think about applying
your own moral code to a wide variety of business situations. This process will be enriched
by allowing you to compare your opinions and arguments to those of other students and to
those that have currency in society or in academic discussions drawn from philosophy,
economics and other disciplines. While much of the emphasis in the classroom will be on
learning through consideration of real or simulated examples (cases, role playing,
presentations, and videos), I will also direct your attention to ethical philosophy. Among the
more abstract questions we will examine are such issues as whether corporations (as
opposed to individuals) can have moral responsibilities and whether there are moral
limitations on the exercise of free enterprise.
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During the semester I will make every effort to bring up some the most provocative issues
that businesses and managers face in real life. These include, but are not limited to, issues
related to: discrimination, product safety, worker safety, environmental impacts of business
activity, strike behavior (including discussion of picket-lines and use of replacement
workers), worker privacy, industrial espionage, bribery, animal rights, final use or abuse of
products (e.g. armaments, drugs, pornography), insider trading, expense account padding,
malingering, plant closures, and bankruptcy. I will show videos and movies extensively in
order to help stimulate and direct class discussion.
Given the nature of the issues addressed, it is unlikely that an ethical consensus is
achievable on all, or perhaps even any, of the issues to be discussed. In some cases,
students may not even agree that a given issue is one of ethics. In all cases, however, I will
argue that being sensitive to the kinds of issues that have the potential to cause moral
outrage will not only help you decide how to act morally in business situations, but will also
help you to recognize the strategic threats and opportunities that ethical issues can
represent for individuals and for companies.
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This syllabus was submitted to the Rhodes College Office of Academic Affairs by the course instructor.