Excelsior BUS323 All Modules Learning Community Latest 2021 April

BUS323 Business Ethics

Module 1 Learning Community

Your instructor will leave a weekly video, notes, additional resources here. This is a space where you can interact, ask questions about the material, assignments, etc.

Post your initial response on the discussion board by Wednesday at 11:59PM/Eastern for maximum timeliness credit. Be sure to review your writing for grammar and spelling before posting. Read any postings already provided by your instructor or fellow students. See the Discussion Rubric for how you will be evaluated for this activity. You are also expected to read the responses to your original posts, and if a classmate raises a question or an issue that warrants a response, you are expected to respond. All responses must be completed by Sunday at 11:59PM/Eastern.

Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click on "Reply." Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click "Post Reply."

To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.

Evaluation

This Learning Community (discussion) will be graded using the discussion board rubric. All Learning Communities (Discussions) combined are worth 30% of your final course grade.

BUS323 Business Ethics

Module 3 Learning Community

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana

One reason business students look at history and case studies is the chance to reflect on the facts of the case, determine the causes of a (regrettable) action, and through analysis make a recommendation regarding the policies and procedures that would have prevented such a disaster. To start the course, we will look at the 2007-2009 financial disaster. The actions leading up to the crises were not illegal at the time. Yet, in retrospect, they were unethical because the actions were unfair, lacked accountability and transparency, and held few responsible for any negative outcomes.

Financial institutions in the U.S. had governmental pressure to provide loans to potential homeowners. That pressure was intense enough such that lenders were lax on determining whether the borrowers could pay back those loans. At the same time, the availability of mortgages led to an increase in the cost of real estate, leading many investors to choose real estate investment funds. Typically, there are agencies that value all types of investment funds to determine the safety of the funds. Those rating agencies and government regulators did not assess the risk in these shady loans.

Here is a brief video to explain what happened next:

For our first discussion, pick one of the following roles from the 2007-9 financial crises described in the articles below. Also, be sure to review the lecture posted below by your instructor.

Mortgage Lender (Links to an external site.)

The 49-year-old mother of two became a face of housing-crisis misdeeds when the Justice Department pursued civil-fraud charges against her for her work at Countrywide Financial Corp.

Manager-Real Estate Securities Investment Firm (Links to an external site.)

Why only one top banker went to jail for the financial crisis.

Director-Security Risk Rating Firm  (Links to an external site.)

Your chosen role in the title of your post.

The ethical dilemma, or values conflict, your role faced in the 2008 crisis.

The values lacking in your role’s organization that would have led to a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with the bad practices.

Identify the stakeholders from your point of view, and the way those stakeholders will influence your decisions on how to resolve any dilemma.

Talk about the role of conformity bias in your chosen organization and other external influences on your role in decision making in your organization.

Be sure to provide a citation at the end of your initial post.

Post your primary response on the discussion board. Be sure to review your writing for grammar and spelling before posting. Read any postings already provided by your instructor or fellow students. See the Discussion Rubric for how you will be evaluated for this activity. You are also expected to read the responses to your original posts, and if a classmate raises a question or an issue that warrants a response, you are expected to respond.

Reply to one of each of the roles above (Lender, manager, director). In your reply, consider any items missed by the original post from the list above. Also, discuss which of your personal values would have prevented the crises, and which what blind spots you may have had.

Your responses to the discussion questions should relate the assigned readings and viewings to the discussion topic and should not consist only of personal opinion. Your opinion is important to the discussion, but you should add connections to the material to support your views. Without a foundation in the literature, your opinion has little professional value. For example, "Based on Trevino and Nelson's stance that cultural relativism creates an environment where unethical behavior is justified through the cultural discourse (year, P#), the discussion should center around....". This type of statement allows you to connect your views to the literature. This is possible even when you are providing personal examples.

BUS323 Business Ethics

Module 5 Learning Community

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana

The subject of the second case study analysis is the Wells Fargo debacle.

Watch the video, Scandals Illustrated. Read the article, Wells Fargo Fraud (Links to an external site.). And, be sure to view the instructor's lecture posted in the discussion thread.

For this discussion answer the following questions in your initial post:

Explain how this case study demonstrates conflict of interest, and identify one other company that you know of (current or former employer, an organization in the news) that has had to address conflicts of interest.

Identify the ways that management structure can hinder ethical behavior on the job, in this case and in the organization you cited above.

In the Wells Fargo scandal and the organization that you identified above, how would you improve communication to alleviate conflicts of interest?

Consider how the culture of the organization chosen by your classmate affects the way that communication and management strategy is implemented in order to promote an ethical workplace.

BUS323 Business Ethics

Module 7 Learning Community

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana

Global Technology Concerns. The subject of the third case study analysis is Google’s actions in China. Please read the following article, Why Google Quit China – And Why It’s Heading Back. (Links to an external site.) And, listen to the instructor video posted in the discussion thread below.

For this discussion answer the following questions in your initial post:

Transcultural global ethics always maintains the value of human rights. Have Google’s operations been consistent with the value of human rights? What example can you give to support your position?

Google is in the internet business, but many global operations include sourcing supplies that are sold elsewhere. What suggestions would you have for an organization that is seeking to enter the global market for sourcing products and services in order to support human rights and provide some standard for ethical transactions?

What role do bribes play in conducting business overseas? Are technology companies, which are eager to gain market share in growing economies, at risk of violating the provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

In your replies, discuss the elements necessary to support an organization’s transcultural ethics policy.

BUS323 Business Ethics

Module 8 Learning Community

Your instructor will leave a weekly video, notes, additional resources here. This is a space where you can interact, ask questions about the material, assignments, etc.

Post your initial response on the discussion board by Wednesday at 11:59PM/Eastern for maximum timeliness credit. Be sure to review your writing for grammar and spelling before posting. Read any postings already provided by your instructor or fellow students. See the Discussion Rubric for how you will be evaluated for this activity. You are also expected to read the responses to your original posts, and if a classmate raises a question or an issue that warrants a response, you are expected to respond. All responses must be completed by Sunday at 11:59PM/Eastern.

Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click on "Reply." Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click "Post Reply."

To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.

Evaluation

This Learning Community (discussion) will be graded using the discussion board rubric. All Learning Communities (Discussions) combined are worth 30% of your final course grade.