Business Ethics

Aims of the course

- To encourage students to think about ethical values of management and the role of these values in business activities of enterprises.
- To build awareness about the variety of social responsibility of the enterprise or managers of the enterprise and about social implications about this concept.
- To develop insight of students into many dimensions of contemporary business and consequences of business activities on people, who cooperate as employees, buyers, suppliers and in other roles.
- To develop analytical skills for assessment of business situations from the perspective of ethical responsibility and consequences of this behavior.

Course syllabus

1. The concept of business ethics. Ethical, economic and legal aspects of business decisions. Ethics and morale.
2. Theoretical concepts of business ethics: utilitarian and duty-based ethics
3. Ethical criteria for decision-making. Guidelines to improve ethical decisions.
4. Employees and their attitudes to business ethics: Slovenia, worldwide
5. Employees and the company:
5.1. dilemmas of whistleblowing
5.2. business secrets
5.3. conflict of interests
5.4. insider trading
6. Company and employees:
6.1. privacy at the workplace
6.2. ethics in hiring / firing employees
6.3. discrimination at job and sexual harassment
6.4. security and health at the workplace
7. Corruption and business activity
8. Ethics and customers: ethics in advertising, product safety dilemmas


9. Ethics and the environment: hazardous waste, pollution
10. Ethics in international business

Course director(s)