ESF:MKH_ETPO Business and Envir. Ethics - Course Information

MKH_ETPO Business and Environmental Ethics

Extent and Intensity

0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

prof. PhDr. Ing. Josef Šmajs, CSc. (lecturer)
PhDr. Ivo Rolný, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. PhDr. Božena Šmajsová Buchtová, CSc.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Vlasta Radová
Supplier department: Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration

Timetable

Sat 25. 2. 12:50–16:15 P304, Sat 10. 3. 12:50–16:15 P304, Sat 17. 3. 12:50–16:15 P304

Prerequisites (in Czech)

! KHETPO Business Ethics

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Business Management (programme ESF, N-EKM)
• Business Management (programme ESF, N-EKM)

Course objectives

The contents of the course are divided into three thematic units. The first unit deals with ontological basis of environmental and business ethics and general characteristics of traditional and applied ethics. These follow the subject matter taught in the course of philosophy in the first year of study. The next two thematic units consist of philosophical analysis of labour and business ethics. Human work, which is closely linked to human nature and human offensive adaptive strategies as a species, is assessed in terms of its biological, technological, cultural and anthropological contents. Business ethics are firstly characterized in general terms, i.e. its subject matter, function and role in corporate strategies are defined. The last part looks closely at business ethics in business practice. Social enactment of the company is considered as well as its social, moral and ecological responsibility. Students concentrate on ethics of managerial work, on marketing and advertising ethics. All three parts put stress on a comprehensive demonstration of the difference between the traditional ethics and newly emerging applied ethics as well as limits of the effect of the applied ethics on humans, nature and society.

The main objectives of the course:
- to understand traditional issues of ethics and their importance for the emergence of applied ethics
- to master the theory of environmental ethics including the world view of understanding the relationship between a man, nature and culture
- to understand the history and structure of business ethics, including ethics in employment relations and the work of managers
- to enhance students understanding of the importance of thinking ethically

Syllabus

• Lecture plan:
• 1. The concept of conflict between culture and nature as the new paradigm of philosophy, axiology and ethics as well as natural and social sciences. The place and the role of culture in nature, relationship between nature and cultural evolution. The concept of earthly nature and ecologically threatened culture.
• 2. The issue of naturalization of culture as a system with internal information, the issuse of acceptation of biofil socio-cultural information by the cultural system. Naturalization of technique and material culture, naturalization of science and education.
• 3. Humans, individuality of human phylogenetics. Specifics of human ontogenesis, natural and cultural factors of formation of human personality. Main socio-cultural regulatives: technique, science, moral, law and policy.
• 4. Terms and definition of moral and ethics, subject matter and social function of ethics. Difference between moral and law. Traditional ethics and applied ethics. Advantages and disadvantages of moral regulation.
• 5. Environmental ethics and its subject and social role. Anthropocentric and biocentric concepts of eco-ethics. Ethics of the Earth by A. Leopold, deep ecology by A. Naesse. Evolutionary ontology as the background of new axiology, ethics and policy.
• 6. Human work as a mean of aggressive adaptive strategy. Changes in technological and social content of work. Work in the context of biotic line of technical development. Work in the context of abiotic line of technical development: instrumentalization, mechanization, automatization.
• 7. Work and human nature, biological, ethical and personal cultivation potential of work. Problems arising from involuntary loss of work, the concept of human self-fulfilement in technotronic consumer society.
• 8. Business ethics, subject, definition, origin, development, structure, possibilities and function. Integration of ethics into business area.
• 9. Social, moral and ecological responsibility of business, the question of effectiveness of ethics in business. Ethic dimension of production and consumption.
• 10. Business ethics in company practice, competence and limitation.
• 11. Ethics in relationship between employees, discrimination, job losses and communication at work place.
• 12. Ethics in managerial work. Manager as a leader of a corporate strategy. Managerial attitude to ethics, managerial styles of ethics: integrative, obliging, dominant, evasive, compromising. Ethical misconduct of managers.
• 13. Ethical programmes of organization, ethical codes.

Literature

required literature
• ŠMAJS, Josef. Podnikatelská a environmentální etika. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2008, 184 s. ISBN 9788021045644. info
• ROLNÝ, Ivo. Etika v podnikové strategii : metodologické postupy integrace etiky do podnikové strategie. Vyd. 1. Boskovice: Albert, 1998, 119 s. ISBN 8085834000. info

recommended literature
• ŠMAJS, Josef. Základy systematické filosofie (The Basics of Systematic Philosophy). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2005, 255 pp. Masarykova univerzita, 1. ISBN 80-210-3871-3. info
• ŠMAJS, Josef. Filosofie psaná kurzívou. Rozhlasové ekologické eseje (Philosophy written in italic. Broadcast ecological essays). první. Brno: Jan Šabata, Doplněk, 2003, 117 pp. ISBN 80-7239-152-6. URL info
• HAWKEN, Paul, Amory B. LOVINS and L. Hunter LOVINS. Přírodní kapitalismus : jak se rodí další průmyslová revoluce. Vyd. 1. Praha: Mladá fronta, 2003, 476 s. ISBN 8020410783. info
• REMIŠOVÁ, Anna. Úvod do podnikateĺskej etiky. Vyd. 1. Bratislava: Ekonóm, 1996, 205 s. ISBN 80-225-0745-8. info
• LUKNIČ, Arnold. Štvrtý rozmer podnikania - etika :pre manažérov, pre školy, pre každého. 1. vyd. Bratislava: Slovak Academic Press, 1994, 342 s. ISBN 80-85665-30-1. info

Teaching methods

The class consits of a self-preparation done by student at home and a consultation held at the faculty. For each consultation student is obliged to review given topics (theoretical preparation). In the class the information is delivered in the form of a lecture joined with discussions or solving a case study.

Assessment methods

Students work out one seminar work during the semester. The work has to be delivered to the tutor one week before sitting the exam. Elaboration of seminar work is a necessary condition allowing students to write the final test. Final exam / test consists writing free answers to three questions in the time limit of half an hour. The test is evaluated on scale from A to F and the condition of a pass is that no question is classified with F.
If a student commits a prohibited act, such as using various forbidden tools (e.g. cheat sheets), cribbing, taking out any part of the credit test or any other form of cheating, the teacher is allowed to interrupt the test and to grade the student with F, FF or even FFF, according to the seriousness of the offence. The described procedure applies to all the activities that are included in the final evaluation of the course (seminar work).

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
General note: nezapisují si studenti, kteří absolvovali předmět KHETPO.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2012, recent)
  
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