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Business Ethics
BUS106 | 3 Credits
Business Ethics covers some of the ethical issues that may come up in businesses. You’ll learn about theoretical perspectives and concepts, including ethical relativism, utilitarianism, and deontology so you can make better decisions in your business career.
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About Business Ethics
What You’ll Learn
Our Business Ethics online course covers a variety of ethical issues found in contemporary businesses. Learn about theoretical perspectives and concepts, including ethical relativism, utilitarianism, and deontology.
- Relate the market system to the need for ethics in business and distinguish it from the law and concepts of virtue and morality.
- Explore ethics in the context of relativism, psychological egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics.
- Examine the ideas of character ethic, female ethic, human rights, and ethical action.
- Illustrate the factors influencing employee issues, including the right to work, employment at will, due process and employee participation, health and safety standards, family responsibilities, the right to privacy, and substance abuse testing.
- Examine the professional ethics and responsibilities of intermediaries, managerial responsibility and loyalty, and employee responsibilities to the community.
- Illustrate how the traits of ethical leaders and the influence of the group affect moral responsibility.
- Compare differentiation and discrimination, and examine issues involving diversity and discrimination, including the work environment of women, preferential policies, and diversity policies.
- Relate risk analysis in health and safety, responsibilities of the producer, product liability, accountability, and fair pricing to ethics in marketing.
- Explore the ethical considerations that govern sales, advertising, and product placement in the context of the regulation of sales and advertising, and target marketing.
- Analyze international economic integration, labor in the global economy, and the regulation of global economic activities by international institutions.
- Analyze methods of ensuring morality in business, including Kohlberg's method of assessing moral decision-making processes and James Weber's modification, ethical corporate structures, federal sentencing guidelines, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
- Analyze the classical model and its limitations, and evaluate modern theories of corporate social responsibility, including the moral minimum framework and the stakeholder theory.
- Define environmental pragmatism and relate it to environmental regulation and sustainable economics.
- Relate Eastern business philosophies, and Islamic and Jewish traditions to the intricacies of conducting ethical overseas business ventures.
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WANT US TO CHECK?Course Details
Business Ethics provides an introduction to business ethics. Part philosophy and part business, the course covers a wide array of ethical issues arising in contemporary business life. Major theoretical perspectives and concepts are presented, including ethical relativism, utilitarianism, and deontology. The lessons explore employee issues and responsibilities, leadership and decision making, morality, diversity, discrimination, and ethics in marketing and advertising. Corporate social responsibility is also examined, as are the topics of environmental responsibilities, global ethics, and regulation concerns in an era of increasing globalization.
ACE-Recommended
ACE Code:
OOSL-0041
Flexible Schedule
30-day Average Course Completion
Transferred 2,600 Times
$2,900,000 Saved on Tuition
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites to take Business Ethics.
Course Text
The required eTextbook for this course is included with your course purchase at no additional cost.
- Hartman, Laura P., Joseph R. DesJardins, and Chris MacDonald. Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2024. ISBN: 9781265322724
Course Checkpoints
Ethics and Business
- Defining Business Ethics
- Law and Ethics
- Interpreting Ethics
Ethical Decision Making: Personal and Professional Contexts
- Agent-Principal and the Gatekeeper Function
- Managerial Responsibility and Loyalty
- Responsibilities to the Community
- Moral Rights and Legal Doctrine
- Health and Safety
- Privacy and Substance Abuse
Philosophical Ethics and Business
- Reasoning in Ethics
- Utilitarian Ethics
- Deontological Ethics
- Virtue Ethics
- Character Ethic
- Female Ethic
- Ethics and Human Rights
- Ethical Action
The Corporate Culture—Impact and Implications
- Kohlberg and Moral Reasoning
- Ethical Corporate Structures
- Federal Guidelines and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Corporate Social Responsibility
- The Classical Model
- The Moral Minimum
- The Stakeholder Theory
- Discrimination Versus Differentiation
- Woman in the Workforce
- Preferential Policies
- Promoting Diversity
Ethical Decision Making: Employer Responsibilities and Employee Rights
- Ethical Leadership
- Ethical Decision Making
- Impact of Groupthink
Ethical Decision Making: Technology and Privacy in the Workplace
- Cross-Cultural Ethical Values: Eastern Business Philosophy
- Cross-Cultural Ethical Values: Jewish and Islamic Business Ethics
- Cross-Cultural Ethical Values: Overseas Business Ventures
Ethics and Marketing
- Risk Analysis in Health and Safety
- Responsibilities of the Producer
- Products Liability
- Fair Pricing
- Sales, Advertising, and Product Placement
- Regulating Sales and Advertising
- Target Marketing
Business and Environmental Sustainability
- Environmental Pragmatism
- Environmental Regulation
- Sustainable Economics
Trust in Corporate Governance, Accounting, and Finance
- International Economic Integration
- Labor
Assignments & Grading
Your score provides a percentage score and letter grade for each course. A passing percentage is 70% or higher.
Assignments for this course include:
- 10 Reflective Responses
- 2 Writing Assignments
- 4 Graded Exams
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- Web browser
- Basic computer skills
- Any required course materials
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How Ethics Sets You Up for Success in Your Business Career
The success of a business depends on more than just strategy and numbers. A course in Business Ethics helps you understand the principles behind responsible decision-making, corporate integrity, and staying accountable to the many stakeholders. With a working knowledge of ethical frameworks, you’ll show employers that you can navigate complex situations with integrity and help build trust in any organization.
Why it matters:
- Nearly 1 in 4 employed professionals with a university degree studied business.
- For students looking for a flexible and practical degree, business is a versatile choice.
How this course sets you up for success:
Financial Analyst, Management Consultant, Marketing Manager, Human Resources Specialist, Account Manager, Business Intelligence Analyst, Operations Manager, Investment Analyst, Risk Manager, Supply Chain Coordinator
How this course sets you up for success:
Learn to recognize ethical challenges in business and make principled decisions—skills that are essential in leadership and across every industry.
Course included in Semester & Annual Plans
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