ØAETI4000 Ethics and CSR Course description

How are ethical considerations addressed internally within enterprises and other organisations? Among other things, the course deals with the ethical conditions set out in the regulatory framework for corporate social responsibility and ethical issues that arise within or outside these limitations.

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Knowledge

The student has

• advanced knowledge of ethical theories and the range of issues that fall under the scope of the concept of ¿corporate social responsibility¿
• in-depth knowledge of the different forms of corporate social responsibility that can apply in connection with enterprises¿ financial and other economic transactions and in enterprises¿ organisation, management and relationship with employees
• awareness of the general importance of own integrity in different situations

Skills

The student is capable of

• making systematic descriptions and analyses of situations in which values and/or actions come into conflict with each other. This applies both to situations that arise in relation to enterprises and everyday conflicts.
• taking responsibility for decisions and giving grounds for his/her own assessments of values at stake in concrete cases
• understanding and communicating the moral values at stake for themselves and others 

The course will provide a thorough introduction to:

• Different ethical theories and their terminology. The course will take as its point of departure the differences in principles between duty-based and consequentialist ethics and the methodological distinction between descriptive and normative ethics.
• Original texts placed in a historical context
• Review of the relationship between theories of ethics and economics, both social and business economics
• The legal framework for corporate social responsibility and the ethical conditions set out in the regulatory framework. This covers the relationship with official requirements such as accounting and tax rules, other rules intended to prevent financial crime, rules on the working environment and whistle-blowing, on pollution, on the relationship between enterprises, including competition rules, rules on contract formation and performance etc. 
• Ethical issues that arise within or independently of the legal framework, including issues relating to incentive or bonus systems that entail moral hazard 
• How to handle interpersonal relationships within an enterprise
• Analysis of relevant ethical issues, e.g. issues relating to financial crises (moral hazard) and the labour market (e.g. sick pay)

The teaching methods will include both lectures and group work with practical examples and reviews of cases. The students will give oral presentations of reasoned conclusions. The course activities will also include discussions or adversarial consideration of disputed issues.

The course includes a mandatory written assignment with a scope of 8-10 pages that must be approved before a student can take the exam. If the submitted assignment is not approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version. The lecturer will inform students about the deadlines for submission.

Written exam (five hours) is held at the end of the semester. 

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A grade scale with grades from A to E for pass and F for fail is used.

 The exam papers are graded by one internal and one external examiner.