PHIL 340: Professional Ethics

Class Program
Credits 5 Lecture Hours 55 Lab Hours 0
This course explores ethical principles and the ethical problems that managers face in a business environment. Students will examine the role of ethics and social responsibility in the management of business. Students will be able to apply the codes of practice, standards of conduct, professional responsibilities and regulatory aspects associated with common professional business. A study of trends with respect to ethical, legal, economic, and regulatory conditions in the global marketplace is included.

Prerequisites

Bachelor of Applied Science -Applied Management program admission.
Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge or skills:

  • Identify and articulate ethical issues that may arise in a variety of practice settings and organizational contexts;
  • Apply a variety of theories and frameworks to ethical problem solving;
  • Identify personal and professional values relevant to ethical decision making;
  • Locate, analyze, and apply professional codes of ethics;
  • Apply critical thinking skills to ethical analysis and decision making in ethical case studies and professional settings.
Course Content Outline
The course must include at least three ethical theories such as Utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, or Virtue ethics. In addition, the course must include at least nine more distinct topics chosen at the instructor’s discretion from the following list: (This list mirrors the chapters in Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader.)
  1. The value and importance of honesty and trust in business
  2. The ethics of accounting, finance, and investment
  3. Fairness, economic justice, and exploitation of workers
  4. Social responsibility and stakeholder theory
  5. Ethics and technology
  6. The ethics of advertising, marketing, and sales
  7. Product liability and responsibility to consumers
  8. Whistle-blowing, company loyalty, and employee responsibility
  9. International business ethics
  10. Environmental ethics
  11. Leadership values
  12. The ethics of corporate governance
  13. Should there be limits to the market or is everything for sale?
  14. Business ethics and the good life (eudaimonia: the life most worth living)
Department Guidelines

The syllabus must contain evaluation/grading guidelines, class environment/expectations/rules, course learning outcomes, and a disability services statement. A schedule must be provided to students that contains content covered (text chapters, topics, etc.), tentative test dates (to include final date/time). Grades will be established through consideration of essays, quizzes and/or exams, participation in discussion boards, and may include, at the instructor’s discretion, a research project into a topic such as charitable organizations or ethical issues in current events.

BAS-AM Writing Standard:

Students will design documents and present information according to industry standards and/or the APA style guide, honor academic honesty as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, and model integrity as expressed in the College’s Guiding Principles.

Assessment is needed for:

PO4: Apply and analyze multicultural strategies to facilitate respectful and equitable inclusion of diverse individuals and perspectives to achieve organizational goals.

PO7: Demonstrate integrity through ethical behavior and socially responsible decision making