Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Sustainability (BØK109)

Companies are increasingly confronted with demands for social responsibility, not only through expectations from employees and customers, but also in the form of government regulations and international frameworks, such as the UN's sustainability goals. In order to satisfy these requirements, and thus avoid having to face potentially serious legal, reputational, and financial consequences, companies today need to possess considerable ethical competence. The course will contribute to the development of such competence, by strengthening students' ability to identify, analyze and handle challenges related to ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability at the individual as well as the organizational level.


Course description for study year 2024-2025. Please note that changes may occur.

Facts

Course code

BØK109

Version

1

Credits (ECTS)

10

Semester tution start

Autumn

Number of semesters

1

Exam semester

Autumn

Language of instruction

Norwegian

Offered by
Time table

View course schedule

Content

Students will be presented with different views on the nature and scope of the social responsibility of business, with particular emphasis on shareholder theory and stakeholder theory. Not favouring any particular of these, the presentation will encourage and allow the students to make an independent assessment of their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Students will also be introduced to various frameworks for responsible operations that companies today are expected to operate within. These include government regulations as well as various non-legally binding international conventions and agreements, of which UN's Global Compact is among the most important. An important question in this connection will be how considerations of profit may be balanced with the considerations of responsibility, as defined by the relevant frameworks.

The course will further introduce students to characteristic ethical and responsibility challenges pertaining to companies’ relationships with important stakeholder groups, such as owners, employees, customers, suppliers, and competitors. Relatedly, the course will familiarize them with various tools that can be used to identify, analyze, and handle such challenges. In addition to theories within normative ethics and political philosophy, these will include theories about ethical decision-making and theories about organizational implementation of accountability-promoting measures.

In light of the overall objective of the course - to contribute to strengthening companies' business ethical competence - the course will facilitate the development of the ability to convey and apply knowledge about ethics, social responsibility and sustainability in future working life contexts in a clear and assured way.

Learning outcome

Having completed the course, students are expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

  • Knowledge of business issues related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability, and theories related to these.
  • Knowledge of existing frameworks for ethical, socially responsible, and sustainable business conduct.
  • Knowledge of challenges related to ethics, social responsibility, sustainability within different areas of companies' activities, and of tools that may be used to meet these, including normative ethics and political philosophy.

Skills

  • The ability to discuss business issues related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability.
  • The ability to recognize, analyze, and handle business challenges related to ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability at the individual as well as the organizational level.
  • The ability to convey knowledge about business matters related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability in a clear and assured way.

Required prerequisite knowledge

None

Exam

Form of assessment Weight Duration Marks Aid
Written exam 1/1 5 Hours Letter grades None permitted

Written exam, 1/1, 5 hours, graded A-F, no aids allowed.

Coursework requirements

En gruppeinnlevering
One group assignment, graded Pass/Fail

Course teacher(s)

Casual teacher:

Ida Regine Sørås

Course coordinator:

Tarjei Mandt Larsen

Study Program Director:

Tarjei Mandt Larsen

Method of work

1. Lectures (12 x 2 timer)
2. Seminars (12 x 2 timer)
3. Independent study
Students are expected to spend 250-300 working hours on the course.

Open for

Business Administration - Bachelor's Degree Programme

Course assessment

There must be an early dialogue between the course supervisor, the student union representative and the students. The purpose is feedback from the students for changes and adjustments in the course for the current semester.In addition, a digital subject evaluation must be carried out at least every three years. Its purpose is to gather the students experiences with the course.

Literature

The syllabus can be found in Leganto