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MEDM 604: Ethical Decision Making Report a Broken Link

Managerial ethics and responsibilities both reflect and affect the larger society in which a business operates. This course will encourage students to consider the ethical implications of their decisions, and to analyze and evaluate the economic, social, and environmental responsibilities of their organizations.

Course Outline:
Lesson 1: Ethics and Responsibilities in the Business and Society Context
Lesson 2: Stakeholder Theory and Relationships with Business
Lesson 3: Theoretical and Applied Ethics of Business
Lesson 4: Corporate Social Responsibility
Lesson 5: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Lesson 6: Ethics and Climate Change
Lesson 7: The Socialization of Capitalism
Lesson 8: Work on Assignment 2

Required Readings

Week 1: Ethics and Responsibilities in the Business and Society Context

Business Insider. (2020, February 21). Greyston Bakery and Ben & Jerry's. https://youtu.be/hYnS9_Uvi5A
Good Business: Greyston Bakery, how good can one brownie be? [Video file]. Video posted to https://youtu.be/rfSc0qnn41Q
Mulligan, T. (1986). A critique of Milton Friedman's essay 'the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits'. Journal of Business Ethics, 5(4), 265–269.
Scherer, A. G., & Palazzo (2011). The new political role of business in a globalized world: A review of a new perspective on CSR and its implications for the firm, governance, and democracy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4), 899–931.
Wagner, A. (2016, October). What really motivates people to be honest in business. Ted Talk. https://youtu.be/Qhomjw2P-V0
Wicks, A. C., Freeman, R. E., Harris, J. D., Parmar, B. L., Mead, J. (2017). Moral theory, frameworks, and the language of ethics and business. Ivey ID: UVAE0405. Ivey Publishing.

Suggested Week 1 Readings

Bischof, J. (2020). What Hiring Looks Lile Without Resumes, Cover Letters, or Interviews. Quartz. https://qz.com/1880847/open-hiring-does-away-with-resumes-cover-letters-and-interviews
Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine, 13(1970), 32–33.
Hollensbe, E., Wookey, C., Hickey, L., & George, G. (2014). Organizations with purpose. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1227–1234.
Hsieh, N. (2017). The responsibilities and role of business in relation to society: Back to basics? Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(2), 293–314.
Warwick, S., Hasselaar, E., & Fernando, T. (2023, January 17). 5 Trends Shaping the World of Work—And How Ministers and CEOs are Addressing Them. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/5-trends-shaping-the-world-of-work-and-how-ministers-and-ceos-are-coming-together-to-address-them

Week 2: Stakeholder Theory and Relationships with Business

Freeman, R. E. (2009). Stakeholder theory. Business roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIRUaLcvPe8&t=2s
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886.
Olander, S. (2007). Stakeholder impact analysis in construction project management. Construction Management & Economics, 25(3), 277–287.

Suggested Week 2 Readings

Delmas, M. & Toffel, M.W. (2004). Stakeholders and environmental management practices: An institutional framework. Business Strategy and the Environment, 13, 209–222.
Hillman, A. J., & Keim, G. D. (2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: What’s the bottom line? Strategic Management Journal, 22(2), 125–139.
Schaltegger, S., Hörisch, J., & Freeman, R.E. (2019). Business cases for sustainability: A stakeholder theory perspective. Organization & Environment, 32(3), 191-212.
Ordonez-Ponce, E., Dordi, T., Talbot, D., & Weber, O. (2022). Canadian banks and their responses to COVID-19 - Stakeholder-oriented crisis management. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment. https://0-www-tandfonline-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/doi/full/10.1080/20430795.2022.2069663

Week 3: Theoretical and Applied Ethics of Business

McDonald, G. (2000). Business ethics: Practical proposals for organisations. Journal of Business Ethics, 25(2), 169–184
Schaltegger, S., & Burritt, R. (2018). Business cases and corporate engagement with sustainability: Differentiating ethical motivations. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(2), 241–259.
Trevino, L. K., & Brown, M. E. (2004). Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2), 69–81.

Suggested Week 3 Readings

Ehrenhard, M. L., & Fiorito, T. L. (2018). Corporate values of the 25 largest European banks: Exploring the ambiguous link with corporate scandals. Journal of Public Affairs, 18(1).
Hemingway, C. A., & Maclagan, P. W. (2004). Managers’ personal values as drivers of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 50, 33–44.
Jones, T. M. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16(2), 366–395.
Singh, J. B. (2006). Ethics programs in Canada’s largest corporations. Business and Society Review, 111(2), 119–136.

Week 4: Corporate Social Responsibility

Carroll, A. B. (2016). Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: Taking another look. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 1(3).
Carroll, A. B. (2021). Corporate social responsibility: Perspectives on the CSR construct’s development and future. Business & Society, 60(6) 1258–1278.
Dahlsrud, A. (2008). How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15, 1–13.
Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2008). “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 404–424.

Suggested Week 4 Readings

Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility: The centerpiece of competing and complementary frameworks. Organizational Dynamics, 44(2), 87–96.
da Silva Junior, A., de Olivera Martins-Silva, P., Coelho, V. D., & De Sousa, A. F. (2022). The corporate social responsibility pyramid: Its evolution and the proposal of the spinner, a theoretical refinement. Social Responsibility Journal.
DesJardins, J. R. (2011). Ethics and corporate social responsibility. Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCw5nLXYeQ
Kusyk, S. (2021). Carroll’s CSR pyramid: An empirical investigation of SME CSR orientation. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 18(4), 100–115.
Marques, J. C., & Mintzberg, H. (2015). Why corporate social responsibility isn’t a piece of cake. Sloan Management Review, 56(4), 8–11.
Wernicke, G., Sajko, M., & Boone, C. (2022). How much influence do CEOs have on company actions and outcomes? The example of corporate social responsibility [Video abstract]. Academy of Management Discoveries, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2019.0074

NOTE: Please watch the video abstract provided.

Week 5: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Baker-Brunnbauer, J. (2021). Management perspective of ethics in artificial intelligence. AI and Ethics, 1, 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-020-00022-3
Bossmann, J. (2016). Top 9 ethical issues in artificial intelligence. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/top-10-ethical-issues-in-artificial-intelligence/
Dignum, V. (2018). Ethics in artificial intelligence: Introduction to the special issue. Ethics and Information Technology, 20, 1–3.
Etzioni, A., & Etzioni, O. (2017). Incorporating ethics into artificial intelligence. The Journal of Ethics, 21(4), 403–418.
Munn, L. (2022). The Uselessness of AI Ethics. AI and Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-022-00209-w
Russell, S., Hauert, S., Altman, R., & Veloso, M. (2015). Ethics of artificial intelligence. Nature, 521, 415–418.

Suggested Week 5 Readings

CNN. (2023, February 17). Journalist had a creepy encounter with new tech that left him unable to sleep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f24JL0nnhcA
Could ChatGPT and other AI Chatbots replace human jobs. (2023, January 13). In DW Business Special. https://youtu.be/OucM_J12iT4
Eisikovits, N. (2023, March 15). AI isn’t close to becoming sentient – the real danger lies in how easily we’re prone to anthropomorphize it. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-close-to-becoming-sentient-the-real-danger-lies-in-how-easily-were-prone-to-anthropomorphize-it-200525
Goldman Sachs. (2023). Generative AI Could Raise Global GDP by 7%. https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/generative-ai-could-raise-global-gdp-by-7-percent.html
Hermann, E. (2021). Leveraging artificial intelligence in marketing for social good—An ethical perspective. Journal of Business Ethics.
High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. (2019). Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. European Commission. https://www.aepd.es/sites/default/files/2019-12/ai-ethics-guidelines.pdf
Lauterbach, A., & Bonime-Blanc, A. (2016). Artificial intelligence: A strategic business and governance imperative. NACD Directorship, 54–57.
McKinsey & Company. (2023). The Economic Potential of Generative AI. The Next Productivity Frontier. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier#/
Merino, D. (2023, March 2). Three AI experts on how access to ChatGPT-style tech is about to change our world – podcast. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/three-ai-experts-on-how-access-to-chatgpt-style-tech-is-about-to-change-our-world-podcast-200882
O’Gorman, M. (2023, March 19). The AI arms race highlights the urgent need for responsible innovation. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-ai-arms-race-highlights-the-urgent-need-for-responsible-innovation-200218
PwC. (2017). Sizing the Prize. What’s the Real Value of AI for Your Business and How Can You Capitalise? https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/analytics/assets/pwc-ai-analysis-sizing-the-prize-report.pdf
“Silicone Valley People Will Lose Their Jobs!”—Reaction To OpenAI Being A $29 Billion Company (No. 223). (n.d.). Retrieved 26 January 2023, from https://youtu.be/MUOVnIbTZeA
Wirtz, B. W., Weyerer, J. C., & Geyer, C. (2019). Artificial intelligence and the public sector—applications and challenges. International Journal of Public Administration, 42(7), 596–615.
Wright, S. A., & Schultz, A. E. (2018). The rising tide of artificial intelligence and business automation: Developing an ethical framework. Business Horizons, 61(6), 823–832.

Week 6: Ethics and Climate Change

de Abreu, M. C., Webb, K., Araujo, F. S., & Lopes Cavalcante. (2021). From “business as usual” to tackling climate change: Exploring factors affecting low-carbon decision-making in the Canadian oil and gas sector. Energy Policy, 148(A), 111932
Broome, J. (2008). The ethics of climate change: Pay now or pay more later? Scientific American, 298(6), 96. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ethics-of-climate-change/
Callaghan, C. (2017, September 14). The ethics of climate change. https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/context/interdisciplinary-seminar/the-ethics-of-climate-change
Dietz, S. Hepburn, C., & Stern, N. (2008). Economics, ethics, and climate change. SSRN.
Silveira Andrade, J. C., & Puppim de Oliveira, J. A. (2015). The role of the private sector in global climate and energy governance. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(2), 375–387.

Suggested Week 6 Readings

B Corp Climate Collective. (2021). Net Zero 2030. https://www.bcorpclimatecollective.org/
Climate Action Network International. (2021). Tackling the climate crisis. https://climatenetwork.org/
Government of Canada. (2019). Canada’s Changing Climate Report. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/energy/Climate-change/pdf/CCCR_FULLREPORT-EN-FINAL.pdf
Lyon, T., & Lenox, M. (2019, July 26). Pricing carbon: An exchange of ideas. https://corporate-sustainability.org/pricing-carbon-an-exchange-of-ideas/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2019, December 9). Report: Climate change is making specific weather events more extreme. https://www.noaa.gov/news/report-climate-change-is-making-specific-weather-events-more-extreme
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2022). Global monthly mean CO2. https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/global.html
Polman, P. (2019, December 2). Why companies cannot tackle climate change on their own. Financial Times.
Roy, I. (2018). Addressing on abrupt global warming, warming trend slowdown and related features in recent decades. Frontiers in Earth Science, 6(136).
Stockholm Resilience Centre. (2023, March 20). IPCC: It’s not too late if we take climate action now. https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2023-03-20-ipcc-its-not-too-late-if-we-take-climate-action-now.html
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2022). Annual Report 2022. United Nations Climate Change. https://unfccc.int/annualreport
WBCSD. (2019). Climate & energy. https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/Climate-and-Energy
Wright, C., & Nyberg, D. (2016). An inconvenient truth: how organizations translate climate change into business as usual. Academy of Management Journal, 60(5). https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0718

Week 7: The Socialization of Capitalism

Eccles, R. G., Johnstone-Louis, M., Mayer, C., & Stroehle, J. C. (2020). The board’s role in sustainability. Harvard Business Review, 98(5), 48.
George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880–1895.
Montiel, I., Gallo, P. J., & Antolin-Lopez, R. (2020). What on earth should managers learn about corporate sustainability? A threshold concept approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 857–880
Rosati, F., & Faria, L. G. D. (2019). Business contribution to the sustainable development agenda: Organizational factors related to early adoption of SDG reporting. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(3), 588–597.

Suggested Week 7 Readings

Dyllick, T., & Hockerts, K. (2002). Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability. Business Strategy and the Environment, 11, 130–141.
Hart, S. L. (1997). Beyond greening: Strategies for a sustainable world. Harvard Business Review, 75, 66–76.
Husted, B. W. (2003). Governance choices for corporate social responsibility: to contribute, collaborate or internalize? Long Range Planning, 36(5), 481–498.
Klettner, A., Clarke, T., & Boersma, M. (2014). The governance of corporate sustainability: Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsible business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 122, 145–165.
Leisinger, K. (2015). Business needs to embrace sustainability Targets. Nature, 528, 165.
Orsato, R. J. (2006). Competitive environmental strategies: When does it pay to be green? California Management Review, 48(2), 127–143.
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). Strategy & society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 84(12), 78–92.

Week 8

There are no readings in Week 8