Course

Business Ethics

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Philosophy
Course Code
PHIL 1122
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
What place does ethics have in business? What responsibilities, if any, do managers and professionals have to society? Are corporations moral agents with moral responsibilities distinct from the responsibilities their managers may have as individuals? What rights should workers have to health and safety in the workplace? What rights to equality and non-discrimination do applicants, workers, and managers have? How should any existing inequalities be addressed? Just how loyal should worker and manager have to be? Is there really anything wrong with deception and dishonesty in order to further important ends? What place does ethics have in advertising? In international business interactions? When questions of the environment arise? This course will consider many of these questions, and other related issues. Students will be briefly introduced to the fundamentals of ethical theory and decision making, and to their applications.
Course Content
  1. The nature of ethics - including the relation between ethics & morality, and morality & law.
    • A simple introduction to the basic types of ethical theories: such as, consequentialism (e.g., utilitarianism), deontological theories (e.g., Kantian or moral intuitionism); ethical egoism, social contractarian theories (e.g., Rawls or Nozick), and rights theories.
    • The application of such ethical theory to the resolution of moral issues in business.
  2. The place and nature of ethics in the business world - including the social responsibility of business (e.g., are there obligations to the community beyond those to the shareholders?), the moral status of corporations (e.g., are they moral persons?), and the ethical responsibility of professionals (e.g., for self-regulation, or to assist and encourage citizen advocacy).
  3. Ethical concerns about the relationships between employee and employer --including concerns about health and safety in the workplace (e.g., what rights do employees and employers have?); about employee loyalty an autonomy (e.g., to what extent is an employee required to be a loyal agent? What protections should be offered in cases of “whistleblowing”); and about discrimination in the work place and in hiring practices (encompassing preferential treatment and affirmative action).
  4. Ethical concerns about the relationship between business and special aspects of the outside world emphasizing the environment (e.g. are there moral responsibilities to the environment beyond the law?); international businesses (e.g., the morality of sanctions); and the consumer (e.g., exaggeration in advertising).
  5. Special moral topics central to ethical issues in business (e.g. deception) or an examination of morally questionable business practices (e.g., bribery).  (These may be covered separately or under items #2, 3 & 4 above.)

All five of these general areas will be covered, but some in #2 - 5 may be emphasized more heavily than the others.

Learning Activities

The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following:

A combination of lecture and discussion (possibly including student presentations).  Some class sessions may involve formal lectures for the entire time (allowing time for questions), in which case a later class session will allow discussion of the lecture and reading material.  Other class sessions may involve a combination of informal lecture and structured discussion.

After the course has been offered for at least two semesters, an alternative method of instruction may be employed involving guest lecturers and equal number of audit students (35) to the number of students taking the course for credit (35).  For eight or ten weeks of the semester, a guest lecture with special expertise may be brought in for one of the two class sessions of the week (e.g., for a 90 or 100 minute lunch-time period).  These sessions will also be open to audit students or to the general public, up to the specified limit of 35 additional students.  The remainder of the class sessions in the semester will be reserved for students taking the course for credit.

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy.

 

The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific criteria during the first week of classes.

 

Any possible combination of the following which equals 100%:

(No one evaluation component within each category may exceed 40%)

 

     Percent Range           Example
Tests, quizzes, short written assignments   20% - 50% Three 10% tests     30%
Written class presentations, essays, essay exams   30% - 60% Two 30% essays     60%
Instructor's general evaluation
(may include attendance, class participation,
group work, homework, etc.)
    0% - 20% Attendance/
Participation           10%
total                              100%
Learning Outcomes

Successful students will be able to:

  1. Explain the ethical theories and concepts covered in the course.
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of the moral controversies covered in the course.
  3. Reflect in a critical way about the moral issues which arise in business.
  4. Develop more effective methods for making up their minds about moral issues in business.
  5. Apply ethical theory to the resolution of moral issues in business.
  6. Explain the moral reasoning involved in viewpoints directly opposed to one another.
  7. Develop their own reasoning about moral controversies.
Textbook Materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

Texts will be updated periodically.   Typical examples are:

 

Poff, Deborah C. (2005) Business Ethics in Canada, (4th ed.). Pearson Education Canada.

 

Shaw, W. & Barry, V.  (2004). Moral Issues in Business, (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

Tittle, Peg (Ed.).  (2002). Ethical Issues in Business: Inquiries, Cases and Readings.  Peterborough, ON:         Broadview Press.

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for PHIL 1122
Athabasca University (AU) AU PHIL 337 (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU PHIL 207 (3)
Coquitlam College (COQU) COQU PHIL 200 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG PHIL 3200 (3)
North Island College (NIC) NIC PHI 260 (3)
Okanagan College (OC) OC PHIL 1XX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 303 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU MNGT 3710 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU PHIL 2XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO PHIL_O 1st (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV PHIL_V 1st (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC COMM 2XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV PHIL 1XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC PHIL 2XX (1.5)
Vancouver Community College (VCC) VCC MGMT 1010 (3)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU PHIL 1st (3)

Course Offerings

Winter 2024

CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
14606
Tue Thu
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Sandlin
Instructor First Name
Richard
Course Status
Full
Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
37
-2
Actual Wait Count
0
Days
Building
Room
Time
Tue Thu
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N4215
Start Time
10:30
-
End Time
12:20
CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
14991
Tue Thu
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Sandlin
Instructor First Name
Richard
Course Status
Full
Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
36
-1
Actual Wait Count
0
Days
Building
Room
Time
Tue Thu
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N4215
Start Time
12:30
-
End Time
14:20
CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
15355
Wed
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Fellows
Instructor First Name
Jill
Course Status
Full
Section Notes

This section is offered in hybrid format. The class will meet in person for 2 hours per week, and students will also complete weekly course activities online.

Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
37
-2
Actual Wait Count
0
Days
Building
Room
Time
Wed
Building
New Westminster - South Bldg.
Room
S1802
Start Time
10:30
-
End Time
12:20
CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
16731
Wed
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Christie
Instructor First Name
Tim
Course Status
Open
Section Notes

This section is offered in hybrid format. The class will meet in person for 2 hours per week, and students will complete additional course activities online.

Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
32
3
Actual Wait Count
0
Days
Building
Room
Time
Wed
Building
New Westminster - South Bldg.
Room
S1802
Start Time
12:30
-
End Time
14:20