|
Instructors: Prof. Dr. Dirk Ulrich Gilbert; Stefanie Remmer
Event type:
Lecture + practical course
Displayed in timetable as:
Intro. CSR
Hours per week:
3
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
German
Min. | Max. participants:
- | -
Comments/contents:
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to core theoretical concepts of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). After discussing the relevance of business ethics for theory and practice this course proceeds by elaborating on key theoretical concepts of business ethics and corporate responsibility. This includes understanding the relation between business and ethics, defining relevant terms and constructs as well as distinguishing between multiple levels of analysis in an international context. Next, the course focuses on a critical discussion of several theoretical approaches to business ethics and corporate responsibility. Since business ethics ultimately aims at influencing business practice, the course then focuses on the practical implementation of CSR in multinational corporations.
In detail, the following topics will be discussed in the lecture:
1. Relevance of business ethics and corporate responsibility for theory and practice
2. Core theoretical concepts of business ethics and corporate social responsibility
2.1 Relation between business and ethics
2.2 History of business ethics and corporate social responsibility
2.3 Explanation of relevant terms
2.4 Distinction between multiple levels of analysis
2.5 The cross-cultural dilemma as a core issue of business ethics in an international context
3. Theoretical approaches to business ethics and corporate social responsibility
3.1 Philosophical approaches
3.2 The Shared Value approach according to Porter & Kramer
3.3 The Stakeholder approach
3.4 Political CSR
4. Selected approaches to implementing business ethics and corporate social responsibility in practice
4.1 Implementation in corporations
4.2 National and international initiatives
Learning objectives:
This course aims at providing students with a nuanced overview of the current state of research in business ethics and corporate social responsibility. In addition, students learn to critically reflect the ethical conduct of corporations, to deal with ethical dimensions of international business as well as to apply theoretical concepts to practical challenges.
Didactic concept:
The course is composed of a lecture and a tutorial. The lecture and tutorial will be in German and will explain the basic concepts and theories of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, including their application in practice.
Given the current restrictions of teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lectures and tutorials are offered digitally only. In general, there will be no classroom teaching activities on campus in the MIBAS program during the fall semester 2020/ 2021.
Administration of the course “Introduction to CSR” takes place through OpenOLAT:
https://www.openolat.uni-hamburg.de
Teaching is for the most part offered through asynchronous online sessions. This means that the teaching materials of lectures and tutorials are posted online, and students can work through them in their own time. However, three lectures per semester are synchronous: at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the semester so that the teaching staff may present themselves and ensure direct communication with students. The synchronous sessions will take place as Zoom meetings. There will also be two tutorials per semester where students will have digital live meetings with their teaching staff. For further details on organization and technical implementation please check the course description (please always check the latest version – there may be updates from time to time, as this is a new situation for teaching staff as well).
Synchronous lectures will take place at the following dates:
- Tuesday, 3. Nov. 2020, 10:15 to 11:45 o'clock
- Tuesday, 15. Dec. 2020, 10:15 to 11:45 o'clock
- Tuesday, 9. Feb. 2021, 10:15 to 11:45 o'clock
Further details on synchronous tutorials are included in the course description.
Important note:
- Please download the course description from STiNE and read it carefully.
- Make sure to attend the first synchronous lecture on Tuesday 3. Nov. 2020, 10:15 to 11:45 o'clock. In this session, the teaching staff will give all necessary explanations for students to be able to complete the class!
Methodically, PowerPoint sheets are used to work on the topics to be discussed. These sheets will be contained in the videos for lectures and tutorials and will be in German. The course participants can download them in STiNE or OpenOLAT. The sheets rather serve as a visual “stimulation” and are not equivalent to a comprehensive script. Therefore, students are urgently advised to complement by their own notes to all sheets offered in online lectures or tutorials.
The tutorials broaden and deepen the topics discussed in the lectures and prepare students for their final written exam. Furthermore, tutorials shall train students in essential scientific skills including sensitizing them to topics of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, enhancing their ability to give and receive criticism as well as to argue and critically reflect on topics, improving their general text comprehension skills and fostering their understanding of differences between theory and practice. In contrast to the lectures, students must work actively in two out of six tutorials, thus creating particular space for independently reflecting and working on topics discussed. The course participants, in small groups, will then work on the course content that is relevant for the exam in order to deepen their knowledge gained in the lecture. The course content will be applied to case studies. Teaching staff in digital live meetings will give students feedback on the contributions prepared by them before sharing these with all other course participants. Otherwise, asynchronous studies will also be possible in the tutorials. Communication among students is possible on OpenOLAT. For further details on tutorials please check the course description (please always check the latest version in this case, too).
Literature:
Relevant literature will be provided during the lecture and tutorials.
Additional examination information:
The exam takes place as a “take home exam“ (Open Book).
The scope of the take home exam corresponds with written exams usually held in presence. However, students will be granted a time limit of five days in which to write their exam.
The period for writing the exam will be as follows:
1. Exam: from 23 February 2021, 8:30 am to 27 February 2021, 11:59 pm (UTC+1, Hamburg).
2. Exam: from 22 March 2021, 8:30 am to 26 March 2021, 11:59 pm (UTC+1, Hamburg).
The take home exam is also administered through OpenOLAT. More detailed information on the technical implementation will be made available to students early in the semester. However, registering for exams, or deregistering from exams, is done via STiNE!
There will be a second exam date.
|
