Ethical Decision-Making for Global Managers
Offered By: Georgetown University via edX
Course Description
Overview
Global managers face increasing pressures from governments and civil society groups to go beyond traditional business roles for the sake of the common good. Ethical issues of human rights, labor conditions, and environmental impacts can pose serious policy dilemmas that involve difficult value choices and management decisions.
Should foreign companies try to influence a country’s domestic political process on issues such as democratic elections, religious freedoms, the treatment of indigenous peoples, or the domestic allocation of tax revenue? Should large international retailers enforce ethical practices for their foreign suppliers, such as requiring a “living wage”? Do international marketing practices manipulate vulnerable consumers into making inappropriate purchases or enhance their free choice of products?
This program consists of three courses that analyze questions of business ethics using actual cases from around the world. Drawing on established theory and ethical principles, the courses use normative criteria to evaluate “best choice” options for real-world ethical decision-making. The courses also promote awareness of the complexities facing global decision makers caught between competing national laws or cultural practices.
Syllabus
Course 1: Foundations of Ethical Decision-Making: Government and Political Issues
Globalization has dramatically increased the influence of international corporations in political, economic, and sociocultural spheres. More than ever, global managers are faced with profound choices about their impact. In this course, you will analyze real-world ethical dilemmas using multiple frameworks and ultimately refining your own approach to ethical decision-making.
Course 2: Ethical Decision-Making: Labor and Production Dilemmas
Labor and production standards, meant to ensure the safety of workers and consumers, are neither universally accepted nor always enforced. Where local governments fail to act, global corporations may receive pressure to step in. In this course, you will consider ethical questions about the role of international businesses in preventing harm abroad.
Course 3: Ethical Decision-Making: Cultural and Environmental Impact
International corporations can trigger significant cultural shifts and environmental impacts. For example, when foreign corporations set up large mineral extraction operations in developing countries, both culture and environment are altered. Ethical concerns arise when manipulative marketing techniques are used to mislead foreign consumers, especially about potentially harmful products. In this course, you will consider the ethics of these types of global influence.
Courses
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Globalization has dramatically increased the influence of international corporations in political, economic, and sociocultural spheres. More than ever, global managers are faced with profound choices about their impact. In this course, you will analyze real-world ethical dilemmas using multiple frameworks and ultimately refining your own approach to ethical decision-making.
When considering complex ethical questions, how useful are your starting assumptions? How do your decisions change when you prioritize established rules versus projected outcomes? Through case studies on mineral extraction and racial discrimination, you will gain a practical foundation in applied ethics and the skills to makes sound ethical decisions throughout your career.
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Labor and production standards, meant to ensure the safety of workers and consumers, are neither universally accepted nor always enforced. Where local governments fail to act, global corporations may receive pressure to step in. In this course, you will consider ethical questions about the role of international businesses in preventing harm abroad.
Should international retailers require their foreign suppliers to pay workers a living wage? Should products that are banned domestically be exported for sale? Using conceptual tools for ethical analysis, you will consider case studies about sweatshops, pesticides, the sale of bodily organs, and clinical trials. The transferrable frameworks you will learn can be applied to ethical questions in a variety of contexts.
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International corporations can trigger significant cultural shifts and environmental impacts. For example, when foreign corporations set up large mineral extraction operations in developing countries, both culture and environment are altered. Ethical concerns arise when manipulative marketing techniques are used to mislead foreign consumers, especially about potentially harmful products. In this course, you will consider the ethics of these types of global influence.
When should international marketing practices be valued for increasing consumers’ choices, rather than criticized for making dubious claims? What role should foreign corporations play in the decisions developing countries make about environmental conservation and economic growth? In exploring these issues, you will consider competing values and apply multiple frameworks for ethical analysis.
Taught by
John Kline
Tags
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