Jindal Global Business School

Course Outline

Course Title Business Ethics and Value Clarity

Core or Elective Core
Program and Batch BBA-2020
Semester & Academic Year Fall 2022
Credits 3
Discipline/Area Strategy-General Management
Provide details, if this course is a Prerequisite for NA
any course/specialization
Name of the Faculty Member/Course Instructor Prof. Paribhasha Sharma, Prof. Ishita Batra,
Prof. Naman Sreen
Contact Details of the Faculty Member paribhasha@jgu.edu.in
Contact Details of Support Staff jgbs-eo@jgu.edu.in,
Faculty Member’s Open Office Day/s & Time TBD

Introduction to the Course

The course focuses on the importance of business ethics in relation with the business environment. The
changing business environment of current times has increased the need for business managers to deal,
negotiate and function along with other stakeholders in society. While the shareholders’ interests are
crucial for a business, this course aims to provide the students with an understanding of stakeholders and
examine different ways in which businesses interact with them and the moral dilemmas involved therein.
The course will discuss the values based on which capitalist corporations’ function and how it might
affect the performance of ethical and moral values within business practices. In light of the discussion on
capitalist values and the moral and ethical dilemmas it creates, the course will also explore alternative
ways of organizing and building innovative enterprises centred on values that ensure the interests of
business stakeholders in a better manner.
The course would engage with modernist ethical theories, like utilitarianism, ethics of duty, and rights
and justice will be discussed to equip students with the conceptual tools required for ethical leadership
and decision-making using examples from real business situations. Today’s managers face business
situations where individual ethics may conflict with those of organizations. The course not only gives an
understanding of business ethics but also focuses on how to identify and analyze ethical dilemmas.

Course Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to
1. CLO01- Identify stakeholder’s interests in problems of the organizations
2. CLO02- Should be able to understand and apply ethical principles to particular cases or practices in
business
3. CLO03- Awareness towards local and global business issues
Programme Competency Goals
BBA Programme Learning Objectives (PLOs)
BBA Programme Competency Goals
(PCGs)
Students will be able to
1. Understand local business issues
Responsible Global Citizenship: Ability
to understand the interplay between local 2. Understand global business issues
1
and global issues and to act with sensitivity 3. Demonstrate sensitivity towards ethical issues
towards ethical and social issues
4. Demonstrate sensitivity towards social issues
5. Present their ideas with clarity
Effective communication: Ability to
2 6. Write in a coherent manner
effectively exchange ideas and information
7. Use technology for communication
8. Identify main issues of business
Critical Thinking: Ability to identify, problems
3 analyse business problems and propose 9. Examine information from different sources
effective solutions
10. Draw inferences from analysis
11. Understand the factors to work effectively in
Teamwork: Ability to work and contribute groups
4
effectively in group-settings
12. Contribute effectively in groups

CLO-PLO-PCG Assessments Mapping Matrix

Course Learning Program Learning Program Competency Course Assessment

Outcomes (CLOs) Objectives (PLOs) Goals (PCGs) Item
On successful This course helps you to This course helps you to This learning
completion of the develop the following develop the following outcome will be
course, students should Program Learning Program Competency assessed in the
be able to: Outcomes: Goals: following items
CLO01- Identify PLO-08 PCG-03 A1, A2, A3, A4
stakeholder’s interests in
problems of the
organizations.
CLO02- Should be able PLO-03, PLO-04, PLO- PCG-01, PCG-02, PCG- A1, A2, A3, A4
to understand and apply 05, PLO-06, PLO-07, 03
ethical principles to PLO-08, PLO-09, PLO-
particular cases or 10
practices in business
CLO03- Awareness PLO—01, PLO-02 PCG-01 A1, A2, A3, A4
towards local and global
business issues.
Evaluation Schema

The assessments will remain the same in offline and online mode of delivery. The course grade will be
determined based on:

Assessment Assessment Weightage Nature Week of PLOs to be Assessed

Item Task Assessment
A1 Class 10% Individual Throughout PLO-5, PLO-07, PLO-08,
Participation the course PLO-09, PLO-10
A2 Midterm 20% Individual 8th Week PLO—01, PLO-02, PLO3,
PLO4,
A3 Project 20% Group Week 13-15 PLO-03, PLO-04, PLO-05,
Assignment PLO-06, PLO-07, PLO-08,
PLO-09, PLO-10
A4 End Term 50% Individual In PLO-01, PLO-02,
Exam Examination PLO3, PLO4, PLO5,
Week PLO6, PLO7, PLO8, PLO-
09, PLO10

Description of Assessments:
A1 – Class Participation
Class Participation maybe captured variously in multiple sessions and formats, including guest lectures.
For e.g., writing in chat box, verbal in class, audio or video clips. Students will be marked for their quality
of arguments on various topics of discussion and raising relevant questions in class throughout the course.
Average of their top 3 marks among the various instances on which a student contributes to class
discussion will be considered to get the final marks. The participation marks in each class will be marked
on a scale of 0-10. 

A2 – Midterm

Closed book midterm exam will be conducted in the 8th week.

A3 – Group Project

Each team will turn in a maximum 10 pages report (1 spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman; exhibits
extra) and submit over UMS on or before the due date. This project report submissions are only in
MSWORD format. Students are not permitted to copy from websites and they will be penalized if found
copying/lifting from the website (There will be a plagiarism check). However they can quote the source
and accession at the end of the text. All word documents should be in standard report formats with
required headings to make for easy reading. They should be as per the above guidelines and on a A4
paper with 1-inch default margin. In general appendices and tables do not count towards the page limit.
Please use the tables and appendices judiciously and only where appropriate. Topics for the project will
be announced later.

A4 – End term Examination

It will be a closed book, sit-down pen and paper exam, covering the lecture materials, relevant chapters
from the textbook (see course schedule), and in-class and online discussion.
Rubrics for Assessment
A1: Class Participation
The participation marks in each class will be marked on a scale of 0-10. 

CP Marks Total
Does not contribute at all 0
Provides information that is mostly accurate supported by evidence 5
Contributes to the class discussion with insightful reflections relevant to the current 10
discussion supported with evidence and shows respects and interest in viewpoints of
others

A3: Group Project

Students will be graded on following parameters:

Parameter Marks Meets Expectation Does not meet expectation

Analysis (Relevantly connecting
ethical concepts/theories as
discussed in the class to topic)  to topic
Logical Flow (Whether the
organization of ideas is clear or
not)
Overall quality (Group cohesion/
synergy, Clarity of speech / eye
contact / pacing & enthusiasm,
Visual tools (e.g., PowerPoint
slides), Dress standard, Citations
and referencing
10 Minimal application Consistent and highly insightful
of research theories application of ethical
theories/concepts to topic. Plentiful
detail/ clearly explained
5 Organization of Organization of ideas extremely
ideas not clear. clear.
Presentation does Presentation solidly uses varied and
not develop innovative engagement techniques
audience interest (examples / headings / visuals etc.)
due to poor to sustain audience interest
engagement throughout.
techniques.
5 Not attempted or Stimulating and sustained class
did not develop discussion resulted from thoughtful
class discussion questions (incl. questions regarding
beyond mere theory in light of findings / analysis),
summary of and strong answers and comments to
analysis. audience contributions.

Teaching Method
The course will have a judicious mix of lectures and case discussions covering all the relevant subjects.
Here the onus of learning will be with the student and the instructor will be a facilitator. Instead of
learning ‘what to do’, the readings and cases will also be used as examples of real-world phenomenon
where a particular issue or set of issues arises and good and bad practices are seen. The key to learning
this way is to see many examples and many situations and learning inductively from the different
experiences of student managers. The core readings will constitute the minimum required reading.
Additional articles, videos and news items will be shared as the class progresses.

Text Book / Course Package / Other Readings

The required text books for the course include the following:

# Title Author Code Weeks

1 Business Ethics- Managing Corporate TB 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8,
Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age Andrew Crane, Dirk 9, 10
of Globalization 5th Edition (2019) Matten, Sarah Glozer,
Oxford University Press and Laura Spence
2 Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases, William.H. Shaw TB 2 3, 4, 5
9th Edition (2017)
Wadsworth/Cengage Publishers
3 Business Ethics, Ethical Decision O.C. Ferrell, John. TB 3 11
Making & Cases, 12th Edition (2019) Fraedrich and Linda
Boston, MA: Prentice Hall Ferrell

In addition to the textbook, there are other supporting articles for each session. These materials are
available publicly and/or in the library. The required readings in the class schedule is provided below . I
will assume that you have done those readings when you come to the class. The discussions will take the
book material as a starting point and probe deeper into the issues. If something in the material is not clear
to you, please do not hesitate to ask.

Guest Lectures

Guest Speakers Week #

S. No. Faculty member(s)
[Name, designation, and company] (Tentative)

1. Mr. Koushal Sinha, Dy Head, CSR, Tata

1 Prof. Paribhasha
Metalliks
2. Ms. Aloka Mazumdar, Head of Corporate
Sustainability, HSBC India Week 7
3. Mr. Ravi Agarwal, Head CSR for AYE-FAME,
Gurgaon Week 11 
4. Mr. Sudip Sen Business Head – WASH
Division, Shrachi, Founder & CEO- Swachata
Green Solutions

2 Prof. Ishita Batra

3 Prof. Naman Sreen

Session Plan (Each session is of 90 minutes’ duration)

 Session Details PLOs Covered
Session 1 Introduction: Relevance of Ethics in Business
Objective of At the end of the first session, you will have a basic
the Session understanding of the concept of business ethics and its
importance at both an academic level and in terms of practical PLO-1-4
management in different types of organizations. You will also
learn how globalization represents a critical context for business
ethics.
Subtopics to Definition of business ethics, importance of ethics for managers,
be covered business ethics in various organizational contexts, globalization
and ethics, sustainability
Readings Chapter 1 of the textbook (TB 1)
Carr, Z. A. (1968). Is Business Bluffing Ethical? Harvard
Business Review, January – February.
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Session 2 Framing Business Ethics: Corporate Responsibility,

Stakeholders, and Citizenship PLO-1–5,
Objective of At the end of the session, you will know different ways of PLO-7-10
the Session framing business ethics in the context of the corporation being
part of a wider society. You will have an overview of concepts
such as corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory,
that leads on to an analysis of key contemporary concepts such as
corporate accountability and corporate citizenship which offer
important conceptual space for understanding business ethics
beyond its traditional boundaries
Subtopics to Why corporations have social responsibilities? corporate social
be covered responsibility in terms of its levels, strategies, and outcomes,
stakeholder theory of the firm, concepts of corporate citizenship,
accountability, and transparency to the political role of
corporation, the implications of applying these theories and
concepts to different international contexts.
Readings Chapter 2 of the textbook (TB 1)
Case title and American Apparel: a new fashion for CSR? (P.80 of TB 1) –
Number ELS 1
Pedagogy Lecture and case discussion

Sessions 3 Evaluating Business Ethics: Normative Ethical Theories and PLO- 1-4
and 4 Justice and Economic Distribution
Objective of By the end of this session, you will have an understanding of the
the Session role of normative ethical theory for ethical decision-making in
business, the international differences in perspectives on
normative ethical theory, applicability of Western modernist
ethical theories, i.e. utilitarianism, ethics of duty, and rights and
justice. You will also be able to appreciate the Indian concept of
Dharma on ethics. You should be able to understand and apply
alternative ethical theories, i.e. virtue ethics, feminist ethics,
discourse ethics, and postmodernism and conduct a pluralist
business ethics evaluation
Subtopics to Teleological, deontological and alternative ethical theories
be covered
Readings Chapter 3 of the textbook (TB 1)
Chapter 2 & 3 of textbook (TB 2)
Caselets from the textbooks
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and case discussion

Session 5 The Nature of Capitalism and Corporations PLO-1-4

Objective of By the end of the session, you would have gained an
the Session understanding on the nature of capitalism, key features of
capitalism, moral justification and criticisms of capitalism. You
will also learn about limited-liability company, corporate moral
agency, differing views of corporate responsibility and
institutionalizing ethics within corporations
Subtopics to Historical background of Capitalism, key features of Capitalism,
be covered concept of limited liability, corporate moral agency, debate
around CSR, institutionalizing ethics within Corporations
Readings Chapter 4 & 5 of textbook (TB 2)
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Session 6 Making decisions in Organizations: Descriptive Ethical PLO-1-4

Theories
Objective of By the end of this session, you should be able to explain why
the Session ethical and unethical decisions get made in the workplace, specify
the characteristics of a decision with ethical content, understand a
basic ethical decision-making model, critically evaluate the role
of individual differences in shaping ethical decision-making and
critically evaluate the role of situational influences on ethical
decision-making, including both issue-based and context-based
factors
Subtopics to Ethical decision, ethical decision-making models, importance of
be covered differences between individuals in shaping ethical decision-
making, importance of situational influences on ethical decision-
making (issues and context based)
Readings Chapter 4 of the textbook (TB 1)
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and case discussion

Session 7 Managing Business Ethics PLO-1–5,

Objective of By the end of this session, you should be able to critically PLO-7-10
the Session examine the role of codes of ethics in managing the ethical
behaviour of employees, current theory and practice regarding the
management of stakeholder relationships and partnerships and
understand different ways of organizing for the management of
business ethics
Subtopics to Codes of ethics, social accounting, auditing and reporting in
be covered assessing ethical performance
Readings Chapter 5 of the textbook (TB 1)
Case title and Siemens: engineering change in anti-corruption (P. 221 of the
Number textbook TB 1) – ELS 2
Pedagogy Lecture and case discussion

Sessions 8-10 The Corporate Citizen and Its Stakeholders PLO-1–5,

Objective of By the end of this session, you should be able to understand the PLO-7-10
the Session concept of the stakeholders and the various stakeholders who are
directly or indirectly affected by a firm’s functioning
Subtopics to Stakeholder management with respect shareholders, employees,
be covered civil society, Government and regulations
Readings Chapter 6-11 of the textbook (TB 1)
Case title and Himachal Fertilizer Corporation: An Ethical Conundrum,
Number The Case Research Journal, NACRA (2015) (NAC3612A,
NAC3612B, NAC3612C) – ELS 3
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Session 11 Ethical Leadership PLO-1–5,

Objective of By the end of this session, you should be able to define ethical PLO-7-10
the Session leadership, its requirements, its benefits, its impact on
organizational culture, as well as learn leadership styles and
ethical decisions
Subtopics to Define ethical leadership and its requirements, benefits and
be covered impact of ethical leadership, different styles of conflict
management and leadership
Readings Chapter 11 of the textbook (TB 3)
Treviño, L.K., Hartman, L.P., and Brown, M. (2000). Moral
person and moral manager: how executives develop a reputation
for ethical leadership. California Management Review, 42 (4):
128–42
Case title and Building a backdoor to the iPhone: An Ethical Dilemma
Number (9B16M077 – Harvard Case) – ELS 4
Pedagogy Lecture and class discussion

Session 12 Sustainability: Ethical and Social Responsibility Dimensions PLO-1-4

Objective of By the end of this session, you should be able to define
the Session sustainability, relate sustainability to ethical decision making and
social responsibility, examine global environmental issues and
provide strategic directions for implementation of sustainability
Subtopics to Sustainability from ethical perspective, sustainable consumption,
be covered global environmental issues
Readings Relevant readings will be shared before class
Short cases on ethical dilemmas
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Sessions 13- Group Presentations PLO-1-12

14
 Objective of Each group will present the project assigned in the form of a
the Session PPT/video
Subtopics to Project presentations
be covered
Readings NA
Case title and NA
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion

Session 15 Revision PLO-01 - 10

Disability Support  

JGU endeavours to make all its courses accessible to students.  The Disability Support Committee (DSC)
has identified conditions that could hinder a student's overall wellbeing. These include physical and
mobility-related difficulties, visual impairment, hearing impairment, mental health conditions, and
intellectual/learning difficulties, e.g., dyslexia and dyscalculia. Students with any
known disability needing academic and other support are required to register with the Disability Support
Committee (DSC) by following the procedure specified at https://jgu.edu.in/disability-support-
committee/
 
Students who need support may register any time during the semester up until a month before the end
semester exam begins. Those students who wish to continue receiving support from the previous
semester, must re-register within the first month of a semester. Last-minute registrations and support
might not be possible as sufficient time is required to make the arrangements for support. 
 
The DSC maintains strict confidentiality about the identity of the student and the nature of
their disability and the same is requested from faculty members and staff as well. The DSC takes a strong
stance against in-class and out-of-class references made about a student's disability without their consent
and disrespectful comments referring to a student's disability. 
 
All general queries are to be addressed to disabilitysupportcommittee@jgu.edu.in