Ethics of the Firm

Code:

LGE402

Acronym:

E EMP

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Social Science

Instance: 2004/2005 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Grupo de Ciências Sociais
Course/CS Responsible:	Business Administration

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
GES	200	Official Curricular Structure since 2004	4	2		-

Objectives

1. It is more and more visible the proliferation of ethical discourses within the various transformations in the economic sphere. Therefore becomes urgent to ascertain the meaning and the reach of this fact, in the final stage of curriculary learning of the students and in order to build their professional identity.
2. The “Pedagogic Questionnaire” made in begining of course has given signs, along years, that the “demand” of discipline is not yet elaborated. The “didactic transposition” essays to frame the embrionnary indications through interdisciplinary collaboration of economics, sociology, history and moral philosophy.
3. It is impossible to study all ethical problems that managers must face, today, at their work. For that and for pedagogical reasons, the processual approach will be privileged rather than substantive approach: it will be prior to contribute to the elaboration of “ethical reasoning” (Donaldson & Verhane), within an processus of increasing autonomy in the “construction of ethical problems” and of (re)interpretation of cultural universe of values and normes articulated with the social processus and behaviour of persons, entrepreneurial organisations and sócio-economic world.
4. Finally, it will be important to get the equilibrium between social and global economic level and organisational level of entreprises, with the issues traditionaly imputed to each of them.

Program

1. The presence and relevance of ethics in contemporary societies. The ethical debate in a pluralistic society. The archipelago of normative discourses. Elements of language in ethics. The developping universe of “applied ethics”: questions.
2. The chart and dynamics of ethical thinking: the axes of classifications; ethics in the history of economy and history of economical science - growing capitalism, organized capitalism, deregulated and globalizing capitalism.
3. Corporate ethics and globalization : risks, taxation, corruption, etc.
4. Modern ethical perspectives : utilitarian, libertarian, liberal-egalitarian, marxist, discursive, republican plural regimes of action.
5. The formalization of entrepeneurial ethics. The distinction and tension between ethics within entreprises and entrepeneurial ethics. The universe of actors (beyond the “stockholders”/“shareholders”, the ”stakeholders”) of entreprise. The social responsability of entreprise: theoretical and practical question. Codes of Ethics: writing a code, resistance and uses; wisdom of long run, beyond hipocrisy and self-destruction.

Main Bibliography

ARNSPERGER, Christian ; VAN PARIJS, Philippe – Ética económica e social, Porto, Afrontamento, 2004.
MERCIER, Samuel – A Ética nas Empresas, Porto, Afrontamento, 2003.

Complementary Bibliography

4. Complementary Bibliography

4.1. Generic Bibliography
NAGEL, Thomas – A última palavra, Lisboa, Gradiva, 1999 (Cap..6: “Ética”).
RACHELS, James – Elementos de Filosofia Moral, Lisboa, Gradiva, 2004 SINGER, Peter – Ética Prática, Lisboa, Gradiva, 2004.

4.2. Especific bibliography
BLANCHARD, Kenneth; PEALE, Norman Vincent – O poder da gestão ética, Difusão Cultural, 1993.
BOLTANSKI, Luc; CHIAPELLO, Ève – Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme, Gallimard, 1999.
BOUVERESSE, Jacques – Essais II. L’Époque, la mode, la morale, la satire, Marselha, Agone, 2001.
CORTINA, Adela – Ética de la empresa, Madrid, Editorial Trotta,1996 (Cap.2 : DONALDSON, Thomas ; WERHANE, Patricia H. (eds.) – Ethical Issues in Business. A Philosophical Approach, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1996.
ESTEVES, António J. – “Ética e economia entre anti-utilitaristas: nota bibliográfica”, in Cadernos de Ciências Sociais, nº24, 2003.
MOREIRA, Joaquim Manhães – A Ética Empresarial no Brasil, São Paulo, Pioneira, 1999.
MOREIRA, José Manuel – A contas com a ética empresarial, Cascais, Principia, 1999.
NOVAK, Michael – A ética económica e o espírito do capitalismo, S.João do Estoril, Principia, 2001.
PEYREFITTE, Alain – La société de confiance. Essai sur les origines du développement, 1998.
SEN, Amartya – Éthique et économie. Et autres essais, Paris, PUF, 1993.
SINGER, Peter – Um só mundo. A ética da globalização, Lisboa, Gradiva, 2004 SOARES, Conceição – “Corporate Versus Individual Moral Responsability”, in Journal of Business Ethics, vol.46, nº2, 2003 (Agosto), pp.143-150.
STEWART, David - Business Ethics, Nova Iorque, McGraw-Hill, 1996.

The bibliographic materials will include several “Anexus” about concrete issues.
Notes to be supplied by the course unit professor.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching Procedures
The teaching procedures are subordinated to the above-mentioned goals, especially in point 3. The advantages of the "expositive classroom" are recognized and exploited, with the complement of students's participated debate. In agreement with that, the learning materials include more theoretical texts and texts containing "cases" and "case-studies" of current panorama of entrepreneurial management and economic life. On the other hand, chances of interpersonal exchange between every student and teacher are stimulated along the semester or mainly during the assessment of test evaluation.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Classification improvement

The final notation can be improved through a written paper about one of Anexus’s text.