Indian Institute of Management Rohtak

Course Outline

Course Title : Business ethics

Credits : .75
Type : Compulsory
Session Duration : 75 minutes
Term :I
Year : 2022-23
Faculty : Dr. Abhishek Singh / Dr. Pooja Patnaik/ Dr. Madhurima
Mishra
________________________________________________________________________
Introduction

The main aim of the course is to provide the students an understanding of ethics in
business organizations. This course provides the students the inputs on philosophical,
behavioral and societal aspects of business ethics, and applying them to the practical
aspects of business activities. The course is designed to help students view the acts of
agents through the ethical lens. It is expected that by the end of the course, students will
lean the ethical decision making skills and would be able to think critically about
business decision making as amoral agent as well learn the rules for an organization.
They will reflect critically and acts ethically to build a stable and sustainable
organization.

Course Objectives

 Sensitization: Enhance sensitivity towards ethical issues concerning business

organizations.
 Determination: Learn critical thinking skills to resolve ethical dilemmas in
business activities and other day to day practices.
 Application: Develop expertise in application of ethical and moral principles for
building organizations of excellence in terms of their concern for Ethics,
Environment and Society.

Learning outcome
After successful completion of the course students will be able to:
 Analyze the business dilemmas from various ethical perspective
 Explain and classify various types of unethical behaviour.
 Examine the role of leader, technology, culture in promoting ethical or unethical
behaviour.

1
 Pedagogy

The pedagogy would be a mix of lecture, case analysis and discussion.

Evaluation Scheme
Assessment/Quizzes 10 %
Class Participation 10 %
Project work & Presentation 20 %
Mid Term Exam 30 %
Final Exam 30 %

Brief Outline
Mention the names of the main modules of the course here.

References
Text Book

Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Makingand
Cases. South Western Cengage Learning, 12th edition.

Special Instructions
Please read and prepare well in advance for case presentation & discussion in the class.
Case for each session is indicated in the Session Plan. The sessions will be of 75 minutes
minutes duration. R indicates additional readings. C indicates cases.

Sess Topic and Sub-topics
ion
No.
1 Basics concepts of
ethics
2 Ethics in the World of
Business
3 Moral development in
business
4 Ethical diemma, Source
and Their Resolution
5 Ethical decision making
Session Plan
Reference (Book chapter / Case / Exercise / Instructor
Page numbers from the Assignment
book/Additional readings)
Note on Human Behavior: C : A new hire’s AS/PP/MM
Situation versus Character dilemma: reporting
(HBR) corruption (Emerald)
Ch-1
R: What’s the matter with AS/PP/MM
Business ethics (HBR) C: The values-driven
R: What’s a business for startup
Ch-2
R: How (Un)ethical Are C: never thought that AS/PP/MM
You? (HBR) you would do this to
Ch-6 me ...: a breach of trust
at Fortune Weddings
Inc. (Emerald)
R: A Framework for Ethical C: Smartschool.com’s AS/PP/MM
Reasoning performance review- an
opportunity for growth
or to quit?
Chapter – 5 C: Lance AS/PP/MM

2
 Armstrong: Athlete,
Philanthropist, and
Cheat (emerald case)
6 Ethics and employees Ethical Breakdowns (HBR) C: I’ll do whatever I AS/PP/MM
want . . . who are you
to prohibit me? A tattle
tale of workplace
deviance (Emerald)
7 Whistle-Blowing C: Force Automotive – AS/PP/MM
breach of code of
conduct
Mid -Term
8 Ethics and organization Ethics: A Basic Framework C: Your star AS/PP/MM
salesperson lied. should
he get a second chance?
(HBR)
9 Creating an Ethical R: A company’s ethical C: Jessica’s dilemma: AS/PP/MM
Organization climate (HBR) competing loyalties
Ch-9 (Emerald)
10 Ethics and leadership R: Ethics in practice C:Boss was not yet AS/PP/MM
R: Moral Reasoning a pleased; Did the
practical guide for leadders performance matter?
Ch-11 Emerald
11 Ethics in marketing Ch - 10 C :How Low Will You AS/PP/MM
Go? (HBR)

12 Ethics and Technology C: Facebook-Can AS/PP/MM

Ethics Scale in the
Digital Age?(HBR)

13 Ethics and International Ch - 10 C: Mongolian mining AS/PP/MM

business mayhem

14
Student Presentations

Table of Contents
Sl. No. Reading/ Reading / Case Title Session Page
Case No. No. No.
R1 Note on Human Behavior: Situation versus
Character (HBR)
R2 What’s the matter with Business ethics (HBR)
R3 What’s a business for (HBR)
R4 How (Un)ethical Are You? (HBR)
R5 A Framework for Ethical Reasoning (HBR)
R6 Ethical Breakdowns (HBR)
R7 Ethics: A Basic Framework (HBR)
3
 R8 A company’s ethical climate (HBR)
R9 Ethics in practice (HBR)
R10 Ethics at the frontier (HBR)

C1 A new hire’s dilemma: reporting corruption

(Emerald)
C2 C: The values-driven startup

C3 never thought that you would do this to me ...:

a breach of trust at Fortune Weddings Inc.
(Emerald)
C4 C: Smartschool.com’s performance review- an
opportunity for growth or to quit?

C5 C: Lance Armstrong: Athlete, Philanthropist, and

Cheat (emerald case)
C6 I’ll do whatever I want . . . who are you to
prohibit me? A tattle tale of workplace
deviance (Emerald)
C7 Force Automotive – breach of code of conduct
C8 Your star salesperson lied. should he get a second
chance? (HBR)
C9 Jessica’s dilemma: competing loyalties
(Emerald)
C10 Boss was not yet pleased; Did the performance
matter? Emerald
C11 C :How Low Will You Go? (HBR)
C12 Facebook-Can Ethics Scale in the Digital Age?
(HBR)

C13 C: Mongolian mining mayhem

Note: ‘R’ and ‘C’ in the second column stand for ‘Reading’ and ‘Case’ respectively.