Last modified: 05 Nov 2025 16:46
What is Business Ethics and why should we care? There is an impression amongst many that Business and Ethics are opposed ideas. This course seeks to address these issues. Exploring Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, tracing its historical origins through to current practice within organizations and the impact on the wider world. The course covers the fundamental question of what ethics is, granting a context for wider discussion. It looks at why ethics is relevant in the business world today and does so through traditional lectures and interactive learning such as the debates that have proven popular with students.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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This course covers the fundamental question of what ethics is granting a context for the discussion of business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. It will explore a range of ethical theory and areas of ethical business relationships (employer & employee relationships, business & consumer, business & community, business & environment). In an increasingly global business environment the issues of business ethics and corporate social responsibility are coming to the fore. The business world increasingly realises that how it acts and how it is perceived to act are vital to its continued existence. Corporations around the globe produce elaborate CSR policies designed not only to be read by their employees but also by the wider society. This course will engage with why these issues have become important and why businesses are looking to have an ethically informed workforce.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse the moral questions that business activity specifically creates |
| Factual | Understand | Understand the key tenets of moral theories that are relevant to business such as Utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics |
| Procedural | Apply | Apply theoretical frameworks to the study and practice of business ethics in contemporary business issues using case studies |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Be able to evaluate common beliefs about ethics and especially common beliefs about the role of ethics in business |
| Reflection | Analyse | Be capable of identifying and analysing information and proposing potential solutions for the ethical practice of business |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 70 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Word Count: 2000 |
Word Count | 2000 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse the moral questions that business activity specifically creates |
| Procedural | Apply | Apply theoretical frameworks to the study and practice of business ethics in contemporary business issues using case studies |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Be capable of evaluating the ethics of particular business decisions and general practices in business |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Be able to evaluate common beliefs about ethics and especially common beliefs about the role of ethics in business |
| Reflection | Analyse | Be capable of identifying and analysing information and proposing potential solutions for the ethical practice of business |
There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Word Count: 2000 |
Word Count | 2000 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | Understand | Understand the key tenets of moral theories that are relevant to business such as Utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Analyse the moral questions that business activity specifically creates |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Be able to evaluate common beliefs about ethics and especially common beliefs about the role of ethics in business |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Be capable of evaluating the ethics of particular business decisions and general practices in business |
| Procedural | Apply | Apply theoretical frameworks to the study and practice of business ethics in contemporary business issues using case studies |
| Reflection | Analyse | Be capable of identifying and analysing information and proposing potential solutions for the ethical practice of business |
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