SYLLABUS

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University of Alberta

BUS 505 - Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility with Communications Fall 2013

Instructor: Dr. Ellen T. Crumley Classroom: BUS 3-5

Office: 2-33 School of Business Office hours: By appointment Mobile: 780-893-6360 E-mail: [email protected] Class Times: Wednesdays from 9:00am –

11:50am

Class schedule (may be modified):

9:00-9:05am – Write Taking Sides and chapter question on the board and vote

9:05-9:30am – Small group chapter presentations 9:30-10:30 – Chapter discussion

10:30-10:50 – Break

10:50-11:50 – Taking Sides Issue discussion

COURSE INFORMATION

This course focuses on the application of moral principles and models for ethical decision making to individuals and businesses in the 21st century. Contemporary ethical and social issues will be examined through the use of case studies, class discussions and presentations. Topics include concepts of individual ethics, workplace issues, corporate compliance and social and environmental responsibility. While examining ethical issues, emphasis will be placed on improving students’ proficiency levels in verbal and written business communication.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

1. Taking Sides, 12^th edition, by Lisa Newton, Elaine Englehardt, and Michael Pritchard, McGraw Hill, 2013.

2. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk about How to Do It Right, 5^th edition. By Linda Trevino. John Wiley & Sons.

3. Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel. Ethical Breakdowns. Harvard Business Review.

April 2011.

4. Michael Porter and Mark Kramer. Strategy & Society. Harvard Business Review. Dec 2006.

DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING, BUSINESS

ECONOMICS AND LAW

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This MBA course will be run as a seminar. The course components are designed to encourage you to come to class, to share your thoughts with others, and to learn from a variety of sources and methods. To achieve the maximum benefits from this course the student needs an open mind, the willingness to prepare seriously for class, to attend class and participate with the objective of learning as much as possible, and to work with the professor and other students in the class as colleagues.

My course activity goals are for you to: read all materials assigned before class; come to class and actively participate and discuss the topic under consideration; and, to think and write about what we’ve covered. Mastering the material and developing your writing ability are key to being successful in the course. In this class, building relationships, supporting each other, sharing and being collegial form the cornerstone of your ability to learn and make progress. We will be making challenging decisions, often in small groups whose members have different experiences and backgrounds.

LEARNING GOALS

1. Communication Skills – Oral: the student will have the opportunity to speak to the rest of the class and participate with others.

2. Communication Skills – Written: the student will have the opportunity to write and receive constructive feedback on the writing.

3. Critical Thinking: Students will be exposed to issues and ideas from the business press and this will help to develop their ability to analyze problems, situations and issues in a clear-minded, rigorous intellectual manner.

4. Ethical Awareness: Students will develop a high degree of awareness of ethical concepts and issues in the world of business and will begin to learn to develop strategies to both recognize and deal with ethical problems.

5. Global Awareness: Students will develop an awareness of the global community in which business operates and how management and business operations are likely to vary between countries and cultures.

6. Information Literacy: Students will read articles from the business press and learn to extract the key lessons from those articles.

7. Practical Experience: Students will develop the ability to apply academic knowledge to their own real-world work situations.

8. Teamwork: Students will have the opportunity to work in a team and apply group concepts and techniques of leadership and conflict resolution toward the effective functioning of the team.

9. Collegiality: Students will learn how to give verbal and written feedback in a collegial environment.

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COURSE MARK DISTRIBUTION

Item Mark Notes

In-Class Presentations (2) 20% (2 @ 10% each)

Dates to be chosen by individual students.

Self-report your presentation grades to the instructor.

Corporate Social

Responsibility Presentation

10% All presentations to occur in-class on October 30, 2013.

Self-report your presentation grades to the instructor.

Taking Sides Issue Short Papers (2)

20% (2 @ 10% each)

Write about any two Taking Sides Issues.

Must be submitted to ULearn before 9:00am on the day it is discussed in class.

Taking Sides Issues not discussed in class can be submitted any time from Sept 12-Nov 20.

In-Class Participation 20% Self-reported each class.

Final Corporate Social Responsibility Paper

30% Due December 4, 2013 by 12:00pm

TOTAL 100%

** PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ASSIGNMENTS ON ULEARN. **

Grammer and spellin’ are important and pls don’t use contractions or colloquial language.

Classroom Expectations

 Let me know if you are going to be away for a class so that I can adjust classroom group membership.

 Use your laptop to access course-related information as opposed to doing your professional work, emailing, Twittering, Facebooking, and so on.

 Bring one discussion question about the chapter and one question about the Taking Sides issues. These questions may not be from one of the textbooks. Write these on the board when you arrive each class and on the .

 Please turn off your mobile/smart/cell phones for class. If your phone disrupts the class you can bring treats for all the students the next class.

Assignment Remarking

You may request any assignment to be remarked. To do so, submit a written memo detailing why your entire assignment should be remarked within 48 hours of receiving the mark.

The entire assignment will be remarked and your mark may be raised, lowered or not changed.

Special Needs

Students with special needs must let me know at the beginning of the class so that appropriate arrangements for modifications of content can be made in advance.

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In-Class Presentations or Activities (2 worth 10% each for a total of 20%)

You are to prepare two 10-minute in-class presentations/activities on a specific section of two different chapters (not the entire chapter) assigned for the class. Given that there are two presentations worth 10% each, you may select the days/times and topics you wish to present.

You may not select an activity or exercise from the textbook. You may bring your laptop to show associated PowerPoint or Prezi slides while you give your talk, yet associated visuals are not required. You will present to a group of fellow classmates. These group members will then evaluate your presentation using the Oral Communication Rubric. Each group member will give verbal feedback about the presentation (e.g., what worked well, how it could be improved). The presenter will submit the average mark for this presentation and the names of the group members to the instructor.

You may do 3 presentations and take the top 2 marks. It is highly recommended that you give at least one presentation before the CSR presentation on October 30.

Corporate social responsibility presentation (10%)

You are to prepare a 10-minute in-class presentation on an interesting corporate social responsibility issue that has an ethical component. This presentation will include your

developing thoughts about the final CSR paper. This is an opportunity for you to receive feedback from your colleagues and the instructor. All presentations will occur in-class on

October 30. Your presentation will receive constructive feedback from your colleagues who will evaluate your presentation using the Oral Communication Rubric. The presenter will submit the average mark for this presentation and the names of the group members to the instructor. Also send a copy of your presentation to the instructor who will also provide you with constructive feedback. This presentation is a vehicle for you to experiment with applying ethical frameworks or defend an ethical stance. It is expected that the presentation will not be polished but rather will be a work in progress which you are seeking feedback on to write your final paper.

To get you thinking about possible topics, you may wish to consult the work of critical theorists like Noam Chomsky, Salmon Rushdie, Naomi Klein or traditionalists such as Milton Friedman, John Keynes and Michael Porter or anyone else pertinent to your topic. Some topics you may want to consider are: child labor, multinational’s responsibility to society/countries, the ethics of capitalism, stakeholder/CSR tensions, CSR and transparency, marketing non-profit CSR initiatives, CSR and employee engagement/customer engagement, CSR and social movements/trends (e.g., Idle No More, twittering) or questions such as “is CSR economically profitable and should it be” (or should it be socially “profitable”). You may be interested in using an ethical framework to analyze the CSR initiatives of companies such as Starbucks, Fiji Water or oil companies in Alberta.

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In-Class Participation (20%)

We all spend a large portion of our working day interacting with colleagues;

consequently, the development of verbal skills is given a high priority in this course. It is your responsibility to be thoroughly prepared to discuss class materials. A critical component of the course is spirited, informed discussion. You should familiarize yourself with the assigned material, taking care to prepare thoroughly, and to develop informed individual responses to any questions. Your ideas should be brought forward as a basis for rich classroom discussion. The class can then explore these ideas further in active analysis of chapters and Taking Sides issues.

Each class, you will work individually, in small groups or in the larger group. Individual exercises will usually involve reflective writing. Group exercises and activities will usually involve discussion, collective analysis, decision-making, and writing in small groups. Written exercises that are done thoughtlessly and carelessly will receive a lower score. Grammer and spellin’ are important and your work should be legible.

Participation is “earned”. Each class, I will use a basic 0-2 metric for marking

participation. If you do not attend class, you receive 0 points. If you attend class but do not say anything, you earn 0.5 of a point. If you contribute to the flow of the ongoing discussion in a minor way, you earn 1 point. If your participation is high quality, you can earn a maximum of 2 points per class. Participation will be self-reported to the instructor at the end of each class.

Quality of participation will be valued over quantity. That is, multiple minor comments earn 1 point on a given day. High quality participation typically takes time and in-depth thought.

High quality participation includes:

 Providing a detailed answer to a question raised by me or a fellow student.

 Developing the ideas of others.

 Giving a unique example to help explain course material.

 Critiquing the ideas of others.

 Redirecting discussion that is becoming unproductive to a more interesting topic.

 Posing an insightful question.

 Providing a valuable connection to prior course material or work experience.

Taking Sides Issue Short Papers (2 worth 10% each for a total of 20%)

Choose a Taking Sides issue and write a paper of 400 to 600 words (maximum), single- spaced, 12-point font for each of the 2 assignments. You may write about any 2 Taking Sides issues, including those not discussed in class. Submit Taking Sides issues via uLearn before 9:00am on the day it is discussed in class. Any assignments submitted on ULearn after 9:00am on the day it is discussed in class will not be marked. You may not submit a paper about a Taking Sides issue after it has been discussed in class. Taking Sides issues not discussed in class may be submitted any time from September 12 to November 20.

Assignments will be assessed by the Ethical Content Teaching Assistant, the Ethical Awareness Rubric will provide 80% of the grade weight and the Written Communication Rubric 20% of the grade weight for each assignment. The English Writing Teaching Assistant will give you ungraded feedback about your writing. Grades and comments about your writing will be submitted back to you and it is expected that you will improve subsequent assignments.

In class discussions, your group will make a decision about what you would do in the case. In the paper, you will present a cogent and organized position. For some Taking Sides issues, your group will write a short paper in-class. You may submit a maximum of 3 Taking Sides Issues and take the top 2 marks.

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Final Corporate Social Responsibility Paper (30%)

The final corporate social responsibility paper is a vehicle for you to apply ethical frameworks and information learned in class. This paper will be based on your October 30^th presentation and feedback you received from the instructor and your group members. The paper must be submitted on ULearn by Wednesday December 4, 2013 by 12:00pm. If you want to interview or survey others you need to apply for formal ethics approval from the University of Alberta at: http://www.reo.ualberta.ca/en/HumanResearchEthics/HumanResearchEthicsReview- HERO.aspx.

The final paper should be between 2500-3000 words, single-spaced, 12-point font. These papers will be graded with the Ethical Awareness Rubric (80% of the grade) and the Written Communications Rubric (20% of the grade). Please note that these final papers may also used by the MBA program for the measurement of Alberta School of Business AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) assurance of learning goals.

ULearn https://ulearn.ualberta.ca

Sign into ULearn with your campus computing id and password (CCID). You can check your grades on ULearn. All assignments must be submitted electronically on ULearn (in pdf or word). ULearn records the date and time of electronic submissions. Hardcopy assignments will not be accepted, unless previously arranged with the instructor.

RUBRICS

Throughout the course, 3 rubrics will be used for marking. These are: Ethical Awareness Rubric, Oral Communication Rubric and Written Communication Rubric. The 3 rubrics are available on ULearn and should be consulted when you are completing your assignments. The rubric(s) used for each assignment are noted in the syllabus. These rubrics were developed for the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) assurance of learning goals.

OVERALL COURSE GRADING

Your overall final letter grade will be based partly on your absolute performance in the class and partly based on your performance relative to the other students in the class. Differences in absolute marks between the top of the class and the bottom can be small because MBA

students are talented and perform well. Grades below C+ are failures at the Master's level and are given when there are significant problems with that student's performance in the class.

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Notes from General Faculties Council:

1. “Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.”

Specifically, "At the beginning of each course, instructors are required by GFC to provide a course outline which must include the following: (1) a statement of the course objectives and general content; (2) a list of the required textbooks and other major course materials; (3) an indication of how and when students have access to the instructor; (4) the distribution of weight between term work and final examination; (5) identification of all course activities worth 10% or more of the overall course mark; (6) whether marks are given for class participation and other in- class activities as well as the weight of such participation; (7) dates of any examination and course assignments with a weight of 10% or more of the overall course mark; (8) the manner in which the official University grading system is to be implemented in that particular course or section, i.e., whether a particular distribution is to be used to determine grades, or whether there are absolute measures or marks which will determine them, or whether a combination of the two will be used. Instructors should refer to the University of Alberta Marking and Grading

Guidelines.

2. From the University of Alberta Libraries website “Imagine that you were about to get surgery and just as you were going under, you discovered that your surgeon had cheated throughout his/her university career. Would you feel betrayed? What if it was your lawyer? Your accountant? Your child's teacher? All the above scenarios are reflective of a concept called academic integrity. As the above examples illustrate, academic integrity not only affects the climate at the university but it can also affect every other area of your life."

The Centre for Academic Integrity at Duke University defines academic integrity "as a

commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behaviour that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.”

From General Faculties Council: “The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect.

Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.”

3. The University of Alberta Code of Student Behaviour (online at

http://www.ualberta.ca/~unisecr/policy/sec30.html) specifies in Section 30.3.4 Inappropriate Behaviour towards Members of the University Community, subsection 30.3.4(1) Disruption, paragraph 30.3.4(1)a that "No Student shall disrupt a Class in such a way that interferes with the normal process of the session or the learning of other Students." Under Section 30.4.3 Levels of Sanction, subsection 30.4.3(1) Minor Sanctions, paragraph 30.4.3(1)a "Instructors have the authority to dismiss a Student from Class for no more than 3 hours of Class time for Disruption of a Class. In cases where a single class meeting is longer than 3 hours the student may be excluded from that entire class."

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4. Students may wish to view past blank copies of SCHEDULED FINAL EXAMS for this course by visiting the SU Exam Registry in person, at 0-26 Students Union Building (SUB), or online at http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services/infolink/exam/

University Policy on Recording:

Audio or video recording of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an

approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the instructor.

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COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to modification)

Date (2013) Text Chapter(s) and other readings Taking Sides Issue Notes

September 4 Introduction and syllabus

September 11 Thesis statements:

www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis _statement.shtml#assigned

Word choice:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/w ord-choice/

Organizing information:

http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/318.ht m (read the details of all 6 points)

Taking Sides Issue 7: Should the government be responsible to bailout financial institutions to avert an economic disaster?

In-class writing assignment

September 18 Chapter 1: Introducing straight talk about managing business ethics: where we’re going and why

Exercise: Your cynicism quotient

Taking Sides Issue 1: Can capitalism lead to human happiness?

You may prepare a lecture or activity of 10 minutes on a section from today’s chapter to present to your in-class colleagues.

Bring one discussion question about the chapter and one question about the Taking Sides issue.

September 25 Chapter 2: Deciding what’s right: a prescriptive approach

Chapter 3: Deciding what’s right: a psychological approach

Exercise: Clarifying your values

Taking Sides Issue 4: Can

individual virtue survive corporate pressure?

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Date (2013) Text Chapter(s) and other readings Taking Sides Issue Notes October 2 Chapter 4: Addressing individuals’

common ethical problems

Case: Pinto fires (from Chapter 3) Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel.

Ethical Breakdowns. Harvard Business Review. April 2011.

Taking Sides Issue 10: Does blowing the whistle violate company loyalty?

October 9 Chapter 5: Ethics as organizational culture

Case: An unethical culture in need of change: Tap Pharmaceuticals

Taking Sides Issue 5: Can ethics codes build “true” corporate ethics?

October 16 Chapter 6: Managing ethics and legal compliance

Taking Sides Issue 9: Should price gouging be regulated?

October 23 Chapter 7: Managing for ethical conduct

Taking Sides Issue 11: Is

employer monitoring of employee social media justified?

Bring one discussion question about the chapter and one question

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Date (2013) Text Chapter(s) and other readings Taking Sides Issue Notes October 30 Chapter 8: Ethical problems of

managers

In-class 10 minute presentations about CSR paper (all students).

Bring one discussion question about the chapter.

November 6 Chapter 9: Corporate social responsibility

Case: Merck and river blindness

Taking Sides Issue 3: Is

increasing profits the only social responsibility of business?

November 13 Chapter 10: Ethical problems of organizations

Michael Porter and Mark Kramer.

Strategy & Society. Harvard Business Review. Dec 2006.

Taking Sides Issue 16: Should we require labeling for genetically modified food?

November 20 Chapter 11: Managing for ethics and social responsibility in a global business environment

Case: Google goes to China

Taking Sides Issue 18: Are sweatshops an inhumane business practice?

November 27 Final Paper preparation and meetings

December 4 Final Corporate Social Responsibility Paper due on ULearn by 12:00pm MST