Week 3: Ethics and Integrity in Business

Overview

This week focuses on ethical frameworks in business decision-making, corporate social responsibility vocabulary, communicating ethical standards and policies, and cross-cultural perspectives on business ethics.

Topics Covered

Subtopics

  • Ethical frameworks in business decision-making
  • Corporate social responsibility vocabulary
  • Communicating ethical standards and policies
  • Cross-cultural perspectives on business ethics

Class Activities

Preparation

Tuesday Class Activities

  • Assignment introduction: Ethics Case Study
  • Introduction to business ethics terminology and concepts
  • Discussion on corporate ethics and social responsibility
  • Debate on ethical business practices across cultures

Thursday Class Activities

  • Case study analysis of ethical dilemmas in international business
  • Role-play: Communicating ethical concerns in professional contexts

Independent Activities

Assignment: Ethics Case Study

  • Summarize the ethical dilemma
  • Analyse the situation using ethical frameworks
  • Write a role-play script in which you:
    • alert a key stakeholder of the issue
    • present your analysis and
    • recommend a course of action with justification
  • Due date: Sunday of Week 3

Learning Resources

  • McCombs School of Business “Ethics Defined” Glossary featuring 2-minute videos that define over 50 terms related to ethics
  • HBR Article: Is Business Bluffing Ethical? (linked above)

Assessment

  • Ethics Case Study (3 points)
  • Class attendance and participation (2 points)

📥 Download Week 3 Content

Find this file on our repo and download it!

🤖 AI Study Prompts

Copy the downloaded week content and try these prompts:

  • “Help me analyze an ethical business dilemma using different frameworks”
  • “What are key differences in business ethics across cultures?”
  • “Create scenarios for practicing ethical communication in business”
  • “Explain corporate social responsibility with examples from Mexico and the US”

Ready to dive deeper? Explore the specific activities and resources for this week below.


Table of contents


Copyright © 2025 Alaina Brandt. Course materials for educational use.