Schedule

Date Topic/Readings Important Assignments

1/11 (Sun)

 Course Introduction (slides)  
1/13 (Tue) Prologue: Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
James Rachels & Stuart Rachels, “What is Morality?”
1/15 (Thu) Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
James Rachels & Stuart Rachels, “Subjectivism in Ethics”.
1/18 (Sun)

Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
Bruce Weinstein, “If It’s Legal, It’s Ethical—Right?”

  
1/20 (Tue) Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
Thomas Donaldson, “Values In Tension: Ethics Away From Home”.
Optional: Katherine Zoepf, “Letter from Riyadh: Shopgirls”.
1/22 (Thu) Debate #1
This House Believes the Sharing Economy Should Regulate Itself
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Who Should Regulate the Sharing Economy?”

Debate #1 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #1 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #1 (rubric).
1/25 (Sun) Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Vodafone’s Amazon Adventurers”.		  
1/27 (Tue)

 What’s the Point of Business? (Unit #1) (slides)
Reading Questions.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
1/29 (Thu) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits”.		 Debate #1 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).
2/1 (Sun) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Lynn Stuart Parramore, “How a Libertarian Used Ayn Rand’s Crazy Philosophy to Drive Sears Into the Ground”.
James Rachels & Stuart Rachels, “The Argument That Ethical Egoism is Unacceptably Arbitrary”.		  
2/3 (Tue) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”.
2/5 (Thu) Debate #2
This House Believes “Fast Fashion” is Plagiarism and Theft
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Intellectual Property and the Fashion Industry”.
Joanna Blakley, “Lessons From Fashion’s Free Culture”.

Debate #2 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #2 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #2 (rubric).
2/8 (Sun) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Robert Solomon, A Better Way to Think About Business.		  
2/10 (Tue) Qatar National Sport Day
2/12 (Thu)

What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Ronald Duska, “The Why’s of Business Revisited”.

 Debate #2 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).
2/15 (Sun) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
R. Edward Freeman, “Managing for Stakeholders”.		  
2/17 (Tue) What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Fire Safety in Qatar After the Villaggio Fire”.
2/19 (Thu)

Debate #3
This House Believes Noncompete Agreements for Non-Executives are Permissible
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “When Companies Close Doors to the Future”.

Debate #3 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #3 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #3 (rubric).
2/22 (Sun) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (Unit #2) (slides)
Reading Questions.
Richard A. Epstein, “In Defense of the Contract at Will”.		  
2/24 (Tue)

Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Tara J. Radin & Patricia H. Werhane, “Employment at Will, Employee Rights, and Future Directions for Employment”.

  
2/26 (Thu) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Ian Maitland, “The Great Non-Debate over International Sweatshops”.		 Debate #3 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).
3/1–3/5 Spring Break  

3/8 (Sun)

 Class Cancelled  
3/10 (Tue) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Chris Meyers, “Wrongful Beneficence: Exploitation and Third World Sweatshops”.
3/12 (Thu) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Amnesty International, “A System that Permits Abuse and Traps Workers”.
Case Study, “Reforming Qatar’s Kafala System”.

 
3/15 (Sun) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Aviva Geva, “Moral Problems of Employing Foreign Workers”.		  
3/17 (Tue) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Albert Carr, “Is Business Bluffing Ethical?”
3/19 (Thu)

Debate #4
This House Believes Refusing To Hire Smokers Is Wrong
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Smokescreen”.

Debate #4 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #4 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #4 (rubric).
3/22 (Sun) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Roger Crisp, “Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire”.		  
3/24 (Tue)

Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Matt Zwolinski, “The Ethics of Price Gouging”.

  
3/26 (Thu) Obligations to Partners, Employees, Clients & Consumers (slides)
Reading Questions.
Jeremy Snyder, “What’s the Matter with Price Gouging?”

Debate #4 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).
3/29 (Sun) Corporate Social Responsibility (Unit #3) (slides)
Reading Questions.
Mary Robinson, “Beyond Good Intentions: Corporate Citizenship for a New Century”.
David Henderson, “The Case Against ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’”.		  
3/31 (Tue) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Robert H. Frank, “Can Socially Responsible Firms Survive in a Competitive Environment?”		  
4/2 (Thu)

Class Cancelled!!

Debate #5
This House Believes Mozilla Wrongly Ousted CEO Brendan Eich for His Personal Beliefs
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Personal Business”.

Debate #5 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #5 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #5 (rubric).
4/5 (Sun) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Louis Pojman, “Why Affirmative Action is Immoral”.		  
4/7 (Tue) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
James Rachels, “In Defense of Quotas”.		  
4/9 (Thu) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “The Challenge of Qatarization for the Private Sector”.		 Debate #5 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).
4/12 (Sun) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
C. K. Prahalad, “The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid”.		  
4/14 (Tue) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Aneel Karnani, “Romanticizing the Poor”.		  
4/16 (Thu)

Debate #6
This House Believes Commercial Reproductive Surrogacy is Legitimate Business
Reading Questions.
Case Study, “Renting a Womb”.
Lindsay Murdoch, “Australian Couple Leaves Down Syndrome Baby with Thai Surrogate” (article & video).
Eryk Bagshaw, “Australian Couple Abandons Surrogate Baby in India” (article & video).

Debate #6 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).

Debate #6 peer evaluation due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (template).

In-Class Debate #6 (rubric).
4/19 (Sun) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Michael E. Porter & Mark R. Kramer, “Creating Shared Value”.		  
4/21 (Tue) Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Reading Questions.
Kasturi Rangan, Lisa Chase & Sohel Karim, “The Truth About CSR”.		  
4/23 (Thu)
 Epilogue: True Leadership (slides)
Reading Questions.
Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave”.		 Debate #6 position paper due by 12:00pm (noon) via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (template).