Business Ethics

Maintaining a high level of ethical standards

This course is broken into two parts.

In Part One, you will be invited to learn about ethics, morality, and business ethics in ways that you haven’t before, as well as to think about your own ethical character and moral attributes so that you can apply what you learn in the course to your business and your life.

In Part Two, you will experience VR simulated and embodied experiences of moral dilemmas and have the chance to choose what you think would be the right decision if you were to face such dilemmas in real life.

Part One

In the first and second sections of Part One, we will establish some clarity about the meanings of ethics and of morality, and establish the reasons why business ethics is crucial. Towards this end, we will look at a few case studies that provide evidence for the claim that the establishment of ethical principles and practices in business will help you and your team create and maintain long-term business success.

In section three of Part One, we explore in great depth the similarities between five ethical approaches we will be adopting, as well as the differences between them:

We are calling these five approaches:

1. Ethics as Excellence
2. Ethics as Responsibility
3. Ethics as the Greatest Happiness or Pleasure
4. Ethics as the Production of Good Consequences
5. Ethics as Empathic Care

Then in section four of Part One, we will consider the practical significance of ethics and morality by considering their relation to both the legal system as well as corporate by-laws. We will also examine how our individual ethical behavior relates to, fits with, and is governed by an organization’s code of ethics. as well as the establishment of protocol.

Finally, we will want to accentuate the importance of this formal structure and emphasize the importance of and need for teamwork and collaboration whenever we are faced with complex moral dilemmas in the workplace.

Part Two

In Part Two, you will have the chance to put to work what you learned in Part One by applying all of your newly found practical wisdom to a few, very complex, simulated moral dilemmas in virtual reality.

Specifically, we will invite you to experience five different scenarios of common moral problems that often contribute to unhealthy workplace environments.

• Harassment: Bullying in the Workplace
• Sexual Harassment
• Embezzlement
• Misappropriation of Funds
• Taking Credit for Another’s Work

For each of these scenarios, you will have the chance to make a number of difficult decisions, and each decision you make will take you down a certain path and lead to a unique ending.

Once all of these scenarios have been completed you will be given a report of the choices you made, the reasons you gave for making them, and how your choices and reasons are similar to and representative of one or more of the five ethical traditions we have explored.

Note: The VR scenarios can be viewed in your web browser, so a VR headset is not required to take this course.