Course Descriptions

Fundamentals of Business Ethics

This ten-module course offers a comprehensive, practical approach to business ethics and is a prerequisite for the other courses in the certificate program that address specific areas of business practice. Among the topics it explores are the following:

• Different ethical theories, their implications, and their shortcomings
• How to think about the purpose of business
• Why a compliance-based approach to business ethics is not sufficient
• Strategies for identifying and dealing with typical ethical issues, both personal and organizational
• An approach to ethical decision-making whose effectiveness you can verify in your own experience

Principle-Based Ethics

This course further expands on the topics covered in Fundamentals of Business Ethics and will provide students with the following:

• the opportunity to reach a deeper understanding of your own purpose and meaning in life
• an understanding of the reasons why we need to go beyond compliance-based ethics in our organizations
• a familiarity with principle-based ethics and how it differs from utilitarianism
• knowledge about common ethical problems in businesses and other organizations, and about practical steps that can be taken to address those problems using the resources of principle-based ethics

Ethics in HR

This course is designed to provide students with knowledge of the laws and principles that guide human resource practice and to provide students with decision-making skills to effectively manage the concerns of organizational stakeholders. The course will discuss the life cycle of the employee through:

• Job analysis
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Performance appraisal
• Career management
• Compensation/Benefits
• Discipline
• End of employment relationship (Firings/Layoffs/Retirement)

Ethics in Accounting

Because of their key role in reporting and auditing transparent financial information, accountants have long been held to higher standards of behavior than other business professionals. As a result of recent scandals and the governmental response to them, the public has increased expectations of how accountants should think and act. This course will serve as a review for accountants of the challenges in their roles and the precepts they must follow in making decisions. For non-accountants the course will be important in understanding the issues faced by CPAs and other professionals. Anyone involved as a manager or investor will be better able to utilize accounting services wisely, knowing the choices that should be made. After completing this course students will:

• Recognize organizational challenges to ethical behavior.
• Recognize the inherent conflict of interest in many accounting tasks.
• Be familiar with major laws affecting accountants and the Codes of Ethics developed by accounting organizations.
• Be familiar with established methodologies of solving ethical problems.
• Be able to identify and impact ethical decision-making in their own environments.

Ethics in Marketing

This course discusses ethical principles and professional codes of conduct within the marketing environment. Students will learn strategies which increase their awareness of and sensitivity to ethical issues or dilemmas in marketing. Students will also learn a process to employ that will allow them to analyze the context of any marketing decision and reach an ethical conclusion.