Course Syllabus
Course Description:
Explores the principles and standards of conduct used by organizational leaders to build trust and integrity in business through systemic ethical practices. Students grow their leadership capacity by developing the behaviors and virtues of the workforce that contribute to sustainable ethical business conduct.
Student Learning Outcomes:
- Define the role of leadership in establishing an ethical organizational culture
- Explain why the focus of organizational ethics is on conduct and not policies
- Compare and contrast value systems in organizational culture
- Identify the connection between ethical behavior and psychological safety
- Discuss scenarios related to ethical organizational leadership
- Analyze case studies to grow ethical leadership capacity
Course Content:
Learning Activities and Assessments
Activities:
- Readings — Students will study selected readings from open-access textbooks, peer-reviewed journals, and current articles in order to understand the foundational concepts related to defining ethics, factors that impact ethics, and applied ethical decision-making and leadership within organizations.
- Videos — The assigned videos will provide insight into how ethics is defined, common ethical pitfalls, and developing ethical decision-making and leadership skills.
- Ethical Case Studies — Students will review ethical case studies to examine how ethical decision-making occurs within individuals and organizations.
Assessments:
- Quizzes - students will complete quizzes in assigned weeks to assess their understanding of ethical concepts.
- Ethical Case Study Discussions - students will post their analysis of ethical cases, applying concepts from the course readings and videos, and will share additional questions and perspectives with their classmates. Late peer replies will not be accepted. See the rubric for more details on grading.
- Course-Spanning Task — Teams will work together to create a solution proposal presentation utilizing analytical and creative thinking and innovative problem-solving. The task is broken into stages to make it more manageable and provide opportunities for feedback throughout the course. See Course Spanning Task (CST) Introduction for more information.
Learning Outcomes
| Learning Outcomes | Learning Activities | Discussions | Quizzes | Individual Course-Spanning Task |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Define the role of leadership in establishing an ethical organizational culture |
Readings; Videos; Discussions, Quizzes | X | X | |
|
Explain why the focus of organizational ethics is on conduct and not policies |
Readings; Videos; Discussions, Quizzes | X | X | |
|
Compare and contrast value systems in organizational culture |
Readings; Videos; Discussions, Quizzes | X | X | |
|
Identify the connection between ethical behavior and psychological safety |
Readings; Videos; Discussions, Quizzes | X | X | |
|
Discuss scenarios related to ethical organizational leadership |
Readings; Videos; Discussions | X | X | |
|
Analyze case studies to grow ethical leadership capacity |
Readings; Videos; Discussions | X | X |
Textbook:
Great news: your textbook for this class is available for free online!
Rice University's Business Ethics (2018) from OpenStax, ISBN-10: 1-947172-57-3
Grades
| Items | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Total | 100 |
| Weekly Ethical Case Discussions | 40 |
| Quizzes | 35 |
| Course Spanning Task (Ethical Leadership Action Plan) | 25 |
| Grade | Percentage |
|---|---|
| A | 90 - 100 |
| B | 80 - 89 |
| C | 70 - 79 |
| D | 60 - 69 |
| F | 0 - 59 |
Course Policies
Late Policy
Generally - late work is not accepted without penalty. There will be a 10% deduction in your grade for every day you are late submitting quizzes and assignments.
For discussion postings, only partial credit (minus 10% each day) will be given for your initial posting, but no credit will be given for follow-up postings as your classmates will not be reviewing these postings after the end of the week/unit.
- If you know you will be traveling - that is not an excuse to miss assignments or discussion postings - but I can definitely open up parts of the course so that you can work ahead.
- Excused Absences - if there is an illness, accident, storm outage, death in the immediate family, etc., that happens during the course, reach out to me as soon as you can. The 10% deduction will not apply if you communicate with me prior to missing an assignment or if you can document an extenuating reason for the absence.
- You can access every week's worth of work on the weekend prior as well to allow you to pace your studies.
It is your responsibility to maintain personal communication with your instructors regarding late work. If you are going to be delayed in submitting assignments due to work, religious observances, or scheduled medical procedures, you should make all efforts to contact your faculty members in advance to let them know about your situation and make arrangements to work ahead whenever possible. Keep in mind that in most cases it is at the discretion of the instructor whether to grant an extension or apply late penalties to an assignment received after the posted deadline. Late work will be graded as soon as possible, but preference will be given to grading on-time submissions in the current week of the course.
Faculty members are not obligated to initiate contact with you before giving assignments or final grades. If you have several outstanding/late assignments, your grade may be seriously impacted. Students are expected to abide by the guidelines in the OU Student Handbook. Failure to abide by these guidelines can lead to sanctions as outlined in the OU Student Rights and Responsibilities Code.
Instructor Academic Integrity Policy
In this course:
- Getting help on the quiz from your peers is not permitted.
- Utilizing AI to generate your answers in assignments, projects, or discussion postings is not permitted.
- Collaborating, or completing the quiz with others in the class is not permitted.
- Copying or reusing previous work is not permitted.
- Open-book research for the quiz is permitted and encouraged.
Instructor Teaching Philosophy
True education is inherently relational. We learn from videos, books, and websites to be sure, but few people can learn all they need to be successful in a profession by reading a textbook. The real value of higher education is the insight and perspectives that we gain from the process of learning about ourselves (meta-learning or learning what we already know) and about others and the world around us. The process of critical thinking is foundational to gaining an education, as it involves reflecting on our own processes and ways of thinking to diagnose problems and strengthen thinking through new perspectives and data. As such, I invite scholarly dialog that is open, reflective, and respectful so that we might all learn and grow together.
Additional Support for Learning
The College of Professional and Continuing Studies provides links to writing resources. If you have questions about assignment requirements or would like to request feedback on a rough draft, you are encouraged to communicate with your course instructors while giving them enough lead time to respond before assignments are due.
The OU Writing Center is a wonderful resource available to all students and is funded in part by your student course fees. The Writing Center is equipped to help students both online and in person.
OU Libraries resources are available to all PACS students, including the ability to live chat, e-mail, and/or call a reference librarian with questions you may have about finding and evaluating sources for research papers. Students also have access to PACS Library Guides.
Technical Support
Offered through Canvas Student Support and OU IT.
College of Professional and Continuing Studies Teaching Philosophy
We in the College of Professional and Continuing Studies (PACS) believe that higher education is a crucial ingredient in becoming a successful, personally fulfilled human being and an actively engaged citizen of the state, nation, and world. Further, we operate with the foundational assumption that a University of Oklahoma education should be available to all qualified students regardless of their age, geographic location, or life circumstances.
Acting on these assumptions, PACS strives to create significant and meaningful learning experiences through online and accelerated course delivery methods. All PACS courses incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives and provide students with a well-rounded, life-enriching liberal education combined with specialized study in selected program areas, thus preparing them for ever higher levels of learning. PACS faculty members provide instruction, encouragement, timely response, and constructive feedback to broaden and deepen the student's understanding of course materials.
We understand that adult learners prefer and have the best achievement within a collaborative and interactive learning environment while functioning on their own personal schedules. We also believe that all students are capable of learning, and we aspire to enable students' self-agency in attaining their personal learning goals.
College of Professional and Continuing Studies Expectations and Policies
You can expect instructors to:
- Challenge you to think about and understand the material in this course.
- Encourage you to learn the material in the course and become a lifelong learner.
- Be available to return e-mails in a timely fashion, within 48 hours.
- Engage you in discussions.
- Provide feedback.
As the student, you are expected to:
- Accept responsibility for your learning.
- Have all textbooks and course materials before the class starts.
- Be engaged in the course by logging in to the course early each week, checking online discussions for replies and questions related to your postings, reading course announcements, knowing when assignments are due, and turning in all assignments on time.
Many PACS courses are offered in compressed formats, so the time devoted to each class per week should be adjusted accordingly. Set aside enough time to read and understand assigned course materials early in the week, actively participate in class discussions, and successfully complete assessments such as quizzes, projects, written assignments, and research papers.
Read and apply feedback from your instructor. Reach out to ask your instructor any questions you have about the feedback.
Use only your OU email address for all OU correspondence and assignments.
Ask your advisor if you have questions about your degree program or other questions not related to a specific course.
Have a reliable computer and a reliable Internet connection. Do some pre-planning and have a backup plan ready in the event you should have computer or Internet problems.
Submit all assignments and communications related to your coursework in the Canvas online class; do not email assignments to the professor.
Practice your writing skills. Use tools to edit and proofread your papers prior to submission for grading.
Assignment Completion Policies
The College of Professional and Continuing Studies expects students to complete all assignments to earn a final grade in a given course.
Syllabus Updates
This syllabus is subject to change. The instructor will post any substantive changes to the syllabus in an announcement in Canvas.
University Academic Policies and Student Support
Access the University Academic Policies Document.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|