Recent corporate scandals such as the VW emission scandal in 2015 or tragedies such as the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013 have evoked public attention and fuelled heated debate about business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Discussions circle around how to set standards for good corporate governance and ethical leadership, but also how to align those with business goals and profitability. Often there seem to be trade-offs between acting morally right and economically reasonable. But what does morally right mean? And to what extent does economically reasonable include moral considerations? In this course we will deal with foundations of ethics and how they relate to business. Being aware of the moral basics enables to consciously deal with ethical dilemmas applying holistic problem solving. The concept of corporate social responsibility as means to strategically and systematically introduce aspects of business ethics will be introduced and critically reflected.

This course aims to improve students’ skills in various ways. First of all, several concepts and theories will be introduced and applied, that is moral theories, concepts of business ethics, CSR, and Shared Value. Then these theories and concepts will be used to analyse current publicly debated phenomena, real life cases and decision dilemmas. The application and suitability of each concept will be discussed and critically reflected. During this course the students will:

• Become aware about ethical dilemmas in the context of business and leadership
• Develop an understanding of different moral approaches
• Improve skills to apply and make use of ethical considerations when facing complex decisions
• Know the concepts of CSR, their potentials and pitfalls
• Reflect on the business case for CSR
• Learn how to work with case studies
• Learn to critically reflect and properly take a stance
• Increase skills in working as members of a team.

PI-LV are highly interactive courses.

For a positive completion of the LV an 80% presence is required.

Should there be an important reason for absence in a course, then a maximum of 20% of the entire course duration can be missed. In case of cumulative absences of more than 20%, the course must be repeated. For the absenteeism a confirmation (for example a medical certificate) must be submitted.

Important reasons are, according to the examination regulations of the WU, all those that are beyond the disposition of the student (illness, accident, death of a close relative). Vocational obligations are not considered an important reason in the sense of the examination regulations, since these are in the disposition of the students.

NOTE: If you miss more than 2,5 hours, the highest possible grade you can get is a 2. Also, please note that there are three mandatory classes that participants must attend (no exceptions!): Session 1 (course introduction), Session 4 (mid-term exam), and Session 6 (presentations).

The course is structured around six 4-hour classroom sessions. Several teaching methods will be used in this course, including theory lectures, case teaching, group discussions, guest lectures, role plays and students’ presentations. Active participation is required in this course as the voicing, sharing and defending of opinions are considered a crucial part of learning. The combination of getting to know concepts and theories and applying them in class in various ways will support the individual and group learning outcome. Group discussions and individual reflection papers serve to improve the critical and reflective thinking skills. Pre-class preparation will be required, both in terms of key readings and preparing case studies. There will be a mid-term exam about the key readings and group presentations on the real life case in the end of the course.

Students will be assessed on:

• Knowledge of the contents of this course
• Their abilities to apply the theories and concepts learned
• Their abilities to critically reflect and argue their decisions
• Their active participation in sharing of experiences and thoughts, relating to class mates’ comments and making rigorous arguments, especially in case sessions and group discussions
• The quality of their group work and presentations in terms of rigor, clarity, comprehensibility and reflectiveness

The course grade will be computed as a weighted average of five elements:

1. Participation and active involvement in the class (20%)
2. Individual reflection paper (15%)
3. Written exam mid-term (30%)
4. Group work and presentation (35%)

The following evaluation scheme is applicable:

• 1 = very good (A) > 90%
• 2 = good (B) 89-80%
• 3= Satisfactory (C) 79-70%
• 4 = sufficient (D) 69-60%
• 5 = not sufficient (F) < 59%

Meeting upon request per e-mail