Human: Ethics and Corporate Governance Essay

Business ethics at Chancellor College has as its main objective offering appropriate theoretical and practical formation in ethics as applied to the context of corporate governance. This objective is motivated by our interest at preparing our students for the various challenges they will encounter in their various businesses which they will undertake. We believe as a university that their success in business is partly dependant on their knowledge and practical readiness in confronting moral issues which will be part and parcel of their everyday experience at work place. Expectations It is expected that at the end of our course, students will be capable of demonstrating their understanding of the following: the basic ideas in the context of ethics; corporate Governance in general; and the application of ethical insights in corporate governance. The university expects further that the students will develop the personal ability to know how they can apply the various insights learned in their own activities after their graduation. Prescribed Texts1 1. Shaw, WH (2005): Business Ethics Thomson Wadsworth, Bangalore. India 2. Crane A and Matten D (2004): Business Ethics. Oxford University Press. New York. USA 3. Velasquez MG (2004): Business Ethics (Concepts and Cases). 5th Edition. Prentice Hall. New Delhi. India. Other texts will be given together with the rest of the module. 1 NB: This is conditioned by what we have in the library. 3 Business Ethics: Revision 0. General Introduction Welcome back to my lectures on Business Ethics after a long holiday of the so called Academic Freedom. I am aware of the fact that most of you have gone backwards intellectually, but we will try to catch up. I will commerce by making you aware of the relevance of our lectures or this field of study. Increasing current research in the context of business studies has shown a great interest in understanding and developing further the issue of corporate governance, for instance, O’Donavan’s ‘A Board of Corporative Governance’, Aras G & Crowther D. work on Culture and Corporate Governance [2008]; Coley J. ‘What is Corporate Governance’ [2005]; Monks R. A. G & Monow Nell’s work ‘Corporate Governance’ [2008]; and many others. This big interest in corporate governance suggests the centrality of understanding corporations and the incumbent mechanisms in doing any business. Indeed for our business to prosper necessitates a thorough knowledge of the various mechanisms in this context. Aware of the centrality of corporate governance, this course therefore suggests studying an aspect of this theme that is, the understanding of ethics inside this context. This study falls under the general study of ethics in the context of business studies, normally known as business ethics. The course has five parts as indicated in the course outline above. The first part deals with a theoretical presentation of ethics. This is directed at introducing the student to the ethical theories and principles which are then reflected in the context of corporate governance. The second part develops a theoretical understanding of what business is, through the study of the general aspects of ‘corporate governance’. This is intended at acting as a background where insights from ethics are discussed. The third part discusses ethics inside the corporations. It focuses more on how corporations utilize ethics in their systems as a fundamental component.