BA 242Social and Ethical Environment of Business

2 credits · Business Administration · Penn State

Explores the social and ethical environment of business and ethical decision making in a business context. B A 242 Social and Ethical Environment of Business (2) Modern businesses operate in an increasingly interdependent environment. The actions of businesses have major impacts on society. Conversely, society influences a wide range of corporate actions through laws and regulations as well as via public opinion and the media. With changes in information technology, corporate decisions that were once considered private are now subject to public scrutiny. Therefore, more than ever, these decisions must take into account the larger social environment. In this course, students will learn about a broad range of stakeholders and societal issues that affect corporate decision-making and they will consider the corporation's responsibility to society. They will also learn to apply ethical decision-making frameworks to a variety of ethical decisions faced by corporate managers. This course is taught in the sophomore year and therefore lays a broad foundation for other core business courses. For example, other courses tend to focus on a single stakeholder group such as customers (marketing), employees (management), or stockholders (finance). This course teaches students to think broadly about how a business fits into a more complex web of relationships within society.