MS 492 -IV
Course Title: Business Ethics & Responsible Leadership
Instructor: Dr. Ramachandran Veetikazhi
Credits (L T P C): 3 0 0 2
Proposed Dates and Times for Lectures:
First half of II Semester Slots L1, L2
Venue: 7/110
About the Course:
This course is intended to teach students the underlying principles of business ethics and
responsible leadership. The students are taught about the qualities of a responsible leader, ethical
dilemmas, unintentional unethical behaviour, and approaches to ethical decision-making. Through
several easily understood case studies, students learn how the world’s admired organizations have
successfully earned public trust by behaving socially responsibly.
Methodology:
The course shall be delivered through lectures, case studies, videos, and group presentations.
Objectives:
The principal objective of the course is to familiarize the students with the characteristics of
responsible leadership required to drive an ethical organization.
Outcomes:
Understand ethical dilemmas and how to navigate them
..|Learn how to avoid ethical sinkholes as a leader.
Recognize how implicit biases make one unintentionally unethical.
Comprehend how to emerge as a responsible leader, respected by stakeholders.
Schedule
Class 1: Foundations of business ethics - Understanding basic terms, the need for ethics in
business, ethical decision-making process. The murder of Kitty Genovese.
Class 2: - Individual differences in ethical behaviour– Cognitive moral development, Heinz
dilemma, locus of control, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement.
Class 3: Individual and common ethical issues– Discrimination, sexual harassment, conflict of
interest, customer trust, use of corporate resources, whistleblowing. The case of Jeffrey Wigand.
Class 4: Approaches to ethical reasoning - The trolley problem, consequentialism, deontological
ethics, virtue ethics, care ethics. Ethics in Mahabharata.
Class 5: Unconscious biases and ethical blindness - Bounded rationality, bounded ethicality,
ethical fading, moral decoupling, biases. The Challenger disaster.
Class 6: Ethical culture in organizations – Organizational culture and climate, normalization of
corruption in organization, formal and informal cultural systems. The Enron scandal.
Class 7: Ethics and compliance – Corporate ethics committee, ethics and compliance officers,
ethical infrastructure. (Group Presentations 1 and 2)
.
Class 8: Ethics and communication – Mission and value statements, ethics codes, top
management commitment, reward and punishment. (Group Presentations 3 and 4)
Class 9: Managing ethical conduct – Multiple ethical selves, group norms, roles, Stanford prison
experiment, excessive obedience to authority, Milgram experiment, diffused responsibility,
stressed-out employees. (Group Presentations 5 and 6)
Class 10: Ethical problems of managers : Hiring and work assignments, performance
evaluation, discipline, terminations. The Wells Fargo scandal. (Group Presentations 7 and 8)
Class 11: Responsible leadership– The Hitler problem, the dark leadership triad, and the four
quadrants of responsible leadership.
Class 12: Business ethics and society – Corporate social responsibility, economic, legal, ethical
and philanthropic responsibilities, organizational reputation, the nine principles of BRSR,
greenwashing.
Class 13: Ethical problems for organizations – Ethics and stakeholder demands, product safety,
pricing issues, environmental issues.
Class 14: Review of learnings– Reflections and conclusion
Evaluation
The evaluation shall be based on two assignments and an examination. Participants are to attend a
minimum of 70 per cent of classes.
Assignment 1: “My reflections on business ethics and responsible leadership”. Prepare a diary based
on class teaching and personal observations/experiences—maximum 1200 words, Font Times New
Roman 12, double spaced. Maximum marks 25. Use APA 7th edition for headings and references (if
any).
Assignment 2: Group presentations. 10-minute presentation, 5-minute Q&A. Maximum 10 slides
(Brief of the case, ethical issues involved, lessons learnt by you on ethics and responsible leadership).
Maximum marks 25.
Term-end examination: 50 marks
Textbooks
1. Managing business ethics: Straight Talk about how to do it right, 8th ed. by Trevino, Linda K.
and Nelson, Katherine A.
2. Business ethics: ethical decision making and cases, 12th ed. by Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, John
and Ferrell, Linda
3. Ethics and the conduct of business. Boatright, J.R., Jeffery, D.S., and Patra, B.P. (2017). Eighth
Edition. Pearson.
