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Week Two: Virtue

In this lecture explore the idea making ethical decisions is about virtue. We will then look at Aristotle's idea that being good involves aim for the goal of happiness. We will look at what research tells us about happiness. We will then look at what Aristotle's idea that happiness can be gained through cultivating a virtuous character. We ask whether it can be applied only to individuals or whether we can also apply to decision making in corporations. We then explore how some corporations have tried to become build a virtuous character through 'ethical branding'.

Core Reading:

Sandel, Chapter 8

Further Readings:

McColskey, D. (1994) ‘The Bourgeios Virtues’ American Scholar, 63(2)

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Book I Chapter 5, 7, 12, 13; Book II Chapter 1, 5, 6, 8; Book III Chapter 1-9. Available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html

MacInyre, A. (1981) After Virtue. London: Duckworth.

Koehn, D. (1995) 'A Role for Virtue Ethics in the Analysis of Business Practice', Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(3): 533-539.

Solomon, R. C. (1992) 'Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: An Aristotelean Approach to Business Ethics', Business Ethics Quarterly, 2(3): 317-339

Whetstone, J. T. (2005) 'How Virtue Fits within business ethics', Journal of Business Ethics, 33(2): 101-114.

Week Three: Duty

In this lecture we look at that doing the right thing involves following the rules. In particular, we look at Immanuel Kant's ideas that doing the right thing involves doing your duty and following universal rules. We then look at how this idea can be applied to some situations where people must make ethical decisions. We will conclude by looking at some of the problems which occur when firms seek to develop codes of ethics through reference to the case of Ikea and its attempts to enforce universal child labour standards.

Core Reading:

Sandel, Chapter 5.

Further Readings:

Kant, I. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Section 2). Available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5682 .

Parker et al, Chapter 4

Bowie, N. (1998) 'A Kantian Theory of Capitalism', Business Ethics Quarterly, 8: 37-60;

Bowie, N. (1982) Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective. Prentice Hall.

Bartlett, C. A. (2006) IKEA's Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labour. Harvard Business School Case.

Week Four: Utility

In this lecture we look at the idea that doing the right thing involves maximising utility. To explore this idea we look at the work of the Utilitarian philosophers such as Mill and Bentham. We then look at how this how these ideas can be applied to some personal ethical dilemmas. We then look at how some firms through the idea of non-financial reporting.

Core Reading

Sandel, chapter 2

Further readings:

Parker et al, Chapter 3.

Extract from John Stuart Mill ‘Utilitarianism’, Chapter 2. Available at: http://www.utilitarianism.com/mill2.htm

Singer, P. (2011) Practical Ethics, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Perrini, F. (2006) “The Practitionerʼs Perspective on Non-Financial Reporting”. California Management Review 48(2), 73-103.

Week Six: Freedom

In this week's lecture we look at the idea that the freedom is a central thing to consider when deciding what the right thing to do is. In order to develop this idea, we turn to the ideas of libertarians such as Robert Nozik and their argument for a theory of justice focused on individual freedom. We then look at how this idea has been applied in debates around the corporate involvement in social services such as education.

Core Reading

Sandel, Chapter 3.

Additional Readings

Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974); Particularly pp. IX, 149-164, 167- 182, 213-231.

Freeman, R. E. and R. A. Phillips (2002) 'Stakeholder Theory: A Libertarian Defence', Business Ethics Quarterly, 12(3)

Week Five: Equality

This week we will look at the idea that the right thing to do is things which increase equality. To further explore this idea, we will look at ideas associated with social contract theory. In particular, we will look at John Rawl's argument for an equitable social contract as the basis for a just society. We will then explore how some firms have tried to implement ideas about equity through attempts to create a 'level playing field'. In particular, we will look at programs designed to promote equal opportunities among under-represented groups in firms.

Core Reading

Sandel, Chapter 6.

Additional Readings:

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, revised edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Chapter III (Sections 20-27).

Donaldson, T and T. W. Dunfee (1994) 'Towards a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contract Theory', Academy of Management Review, 19(2).

Donaldson, T. and T. W. Dunfee (1999) Ties that Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics

Week Seven: Democracy

This week we look at the idea that ethical dilemmas can be solved through democratic processes. In particularly, we look at thinkers who have championed the idea of deliberative democracy. We ask what a process of deliberation involves and whether corporations can act as platforms for deliberation among multiple stakeholders. The final part of the lecture asks how these ideas have been applied in multi-stakeholder forms such as Forest Sustainability Council.

Core Reading

Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson (2004). Why Deliberative Democracy?. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Available at:

Additional Reading

Palazzo, G. and A. G. Scherer (1996) 'Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework', Journal of Business Ethics, 66(1): 77-88

Scherer, A. G. and G. Palazzo (2011) 'The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy', Journal of Management Studies, 48(4): 899-931.

Week Eight: Moral Decision Making (1) – Individuals

This week we start to ask why is it that even very good people can make moral bad decisions. To do this, we turn to the field of moral psychology. In particular, we look at the individual cognitive processes which are involved in making moral decisions. We consider how our cognitive biases can throw us off track and lead to us making bad decisions.

Core Reading

Haidt, Part 1

Week Nine: Moral Decision Making (2) – Groups

This week we ask how groups can shape ethical decisions which individuals make. In particular, we will explore the extraordinary press which groups can place on inidviduals and how this can lead to poor decision making. We will consider some of the mechanisms which can be used to overcome these problems.

Core Reading

Haidt, Part 3

Week Ten: Moral Decision Making (3) – Culture

This week we will explore the role culture plays in determining what we think is right and wrong. In particular, we will explore the idea that there are certain ethical concerns which are more important among some cultures which are less important among others. These different ethical concerns then lead to very different evaluations and ways of dealing with moral dilemmas.

Core Reading

Haidt, Part 2.