1/10 (Sun)

Business Ethics From a Philosophical Perspective (slides)
Reading Questions.
Roger Crisp, “Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire”.
Optional: Suzanne Vranica, “Sony Ericsson Campaign Uses Actors To Push Camera-Phone in Real Life” (pdf).

Debate #1 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #1 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #1 (rubric).

Debate #2 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #2 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #2 (rubric).

What’s the Point of Business? (slides)
Reading Questions.
Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”.

Debate #3
This House Believes Amazon Must Clean Its Toxic Work Environment (slides)
Reading Questions.
Jodi Kantor & David Streitfeld, “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” (pdf).
Jeff Bezos, “Amazon Chief’s Message to Employees” (pdf).
Jodi Kantor & David Streitfeld, “Jeff Bezos and Amazon Employees Join Debate Over Its Culture” (pdf).
Anat Lechner, “Amazon Is on to Something” (pdf).
Guy Kawasaki, “It’s Called Work for a Reason” (pdf).
James Pethokoukis, “Miserable? Who Says Workers Are Miserable?” (pdf)
Judith Rodin, “Misery at Work Is Never a Good Thing” (pdf).
Jayson DeMers, “The Cost of on-the-Job Misery” (pdf).
Miya Tokumitsu, “There’s More to Life Than Work” (pdf).

Debate #3 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #3 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #3 (rubric).

Class Cancelled

3/6 (Sun)

Debate #4
This House Believes Uber Drivers are Contractors, Not Employees (slides)
Reading Questions.
Adam Brinklow, “Year in Preview: What the Uber Lawsuit Means for Workers in the Sharing Economy” (pdf).
James Surowiecki, “Gigs with Benefits” (pdf).
Stephen Gandel, “Uber-nomics: Here’s What It Would Cost Uber to Pay Its Drivers as Employees” (pdf).
Harry Campbell, “Do Uber Drivers Even Want To Be Employees?” (pdf)
Daniel Fisher, “Uber Says Drivers Oppose Lawsuit That Would Make Them Employees” (pdf).
Rebecca Smith, “It Won’t Kill Uber to Treat Drivers Like Employees” (pdf).
Steven Davidoff Solomon, “Uber Case Highlights Outdated Worker Protection Laws” (pdf).
The Wall Street Journal, “California’s Uber Raid” (pdf).
The Wall Street Journal, “Shackling the Sharing Economy” (pdf).

Debate #4 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #4 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #4 (rubric).

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

Debate #5
This House Believes Apple Must Open Encryption Backdoors to National Security Agencies (slides)
Reading Questions.
Michael D. Shear, David E. Sanger & Katie Benner, “In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home” (pdf).
Anita Balakrishnan, “Calls Grow for Government Back Doors to Encryption” (pdf).
Tim Cook, “A Message to Our Customers” (pdf).
Michael D. Shear, “Obama, at South by Southwest, Calls for Law Enforcement Access in Encryption Fight” (pdf).
William J. Bratton & John J. Miller, “Seeking iPhone Data, Through the Front Door” (pdf).
Stewart Baker, “Data Access Shouldn’t Be Up to Companies Alone” (pdf).
Ronald T. Hosko, “Don’t Create Virtual Sanctuaries for Criminals” (pdf).
Jennifer Rubin, “Silicon Valley Enables Terrorists and Criminals” (pdf).
Andrew Ross Sorkin, “For Apple, a Search for a Moral High Ground in a Heated Debate” (pdf).
Ross Schulman, “The Government’s iPhone Demands Undermine Security for All of Us” (pdf).
Bruce Schneier, “A ‘Key’ for Encryption, Even for Good Reasons, Weakens Security” (pdf).
The Economist, “When Back Doors Backfire” (pdf).
David Auerbach, “There Is No Good Argument for Encryption Backdoors” (pdf).

Debate #5 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #5 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #5 (rubric).

Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Guest presentation by Dana Haidan, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Vodafone Qatar.
Reading Questions.
Dana Haidan, “Vodafone Qatar and the Crisis in Syria”.

Debate #6
This House Believes Qatar Should Require Quotas for Female Executive Board Members (slides)
Reading Questions.
Qatar National Development Strategy, “Increasing Women’s Empowerment”.
Table, “Comparative Percentages of Women Directors by Country”.
Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh Al-Thani, “Women in Qatar: Quotas, Qualifications, and Qatarization” (mp4).
Alison Smale & Claire Cain Miller, “Germany Sets Gender Quota in Boardrooms” (pdf).
Nicola Clark, “Getting Women Into Boardrooms, by Law” (pdf).
Claire Cain Miller, “Women on the Board: Quotas Have Limited Success” (pdf).
Carrie Lukas, “Boardroom Quotas Won’t Help Women” (pdf).
Jill Treanor, “Norway’s Female Boardroom Pioneer Rejects Quotas for Women” (pdf).
Kimberly D. Krawiec, “What Does Corporate Boardroom Diversity Accomplish?” (pdf)
Brande Stellings, “Female Board Members Are Good for Business” (pdf).
Julie Suk, “A Way to Legitimize Corporate Governance” (pdf).

Debate #6 preparation outline due by 8:00am via Blackboard (topic) (rubric) (guidelines) (templates: MS Word & Pages).

Debate #6 peer evaluations due by 8:00am via Google Forms.

In-class debate #6 (rubric).

Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Guest presentation by Ilaria Gualtieri, Corporate Social Responsibility Advisor, RasGas.
Reading Questions.
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “About RasGas” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “Our People” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “The RasGas Workforce” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “Community Engagement” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “Managing Our CSR Programme” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “Highlights from 2014” (pdf).
RasGas, Sustainability Report 2014, “The Energy to Educate” (pdf).

Corporate Social Responsibility (slides)
Guest presentation by Fuad Farooqi, Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance, Carnegie Mellon University.
Reading Questions.
Moorad Choudhry, “Why We All Need Banks”.
Sir Andrew Likierman, “Why We Need Banks”.
Philip Augar, “Go Back to Basic Banking”.
Bill Thomas, Keith Hennessey & Douglas Holtz-Eakin, “What Caused the Financial Crisis?”
Roland Benedikter, “European Answers to the Financial Crisis: Social Banking and Social Finance”.