Syllabus for PHI-384-OL

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Ethics and the Business Professional prepares students to meet the ethical demands facing employees in modern business and nonprofit organizations. Addresses ethical issues surrounding personal moral development, interpersonal communication and relationships on the job, influence, groups and teams, leaders, followers, organizational climate and culture, and the organization's role in a global society. The course places particular emphasis on equipping participants with the concepts, strategies, and skills needed to improve individual and collective ethical performance. Students will assess and develop their abilities as ethical decision makers and actors.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES

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COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to complete the work of the course. The textbook is available from the textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

• Craig E. Johnson, Ethics in the Workplace: Tools and Tactics for Organizational Transformation (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2007).
  ISBN-13: 978-1-4129-0539-8

COURSE STRUCTURE

Ethics and the Business Professional is a three-credit online course. It consists of five study modules.

Modules include text readings and written work. You are required to participate in graded online discussions and an ungraded "Introductions" forum, which occurs during the first week of the semester. There are five quizzes, three application projects, two contemporary case studies, and five self-assessments. You will also be required to complete an ethical culture analysis of an organization of your choice.

For the course's assignment modules (study assignments, online discussions, and written assignments), go to the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site. The quizzes are found in the Tests & Quizzes area of the site. See also the Course Calendar for an overview of the assignments and for all due dates.

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ONLINE PARTICIPATION

In addition to an ungraded "Introductions" forum, Ethics and the Business Professional requires you to participate in graded class discussions.

Communication with the mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a posted question (discussion thread) and subsequent comments on classmates' responses.

You will be evaluated both on the quality of your responses (i.e., your understanding of readings, and concepts as demonstrated by well-articulated, critical thinking) and quantity of your participation (i.e., the number of times you participate meaningfully in the assigned forums). Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.

Meaningful participation in online discussions is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, the reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement.

Deadlines for posting responses to the discussion questions are given in the course Calendar.

Specific directions for these activities, and the questions to be discussed, are given in the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site.

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WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

Ethics and the Business Professional has several types of written assignments. Each of these is described more fully in the Assignment Modules area of the course, as well as in the Descriptions and Rubrics area. However, they can be grouped into into the following categories:

• Application Projects These are short papers that help you to apply module concepts.
• Contemporary Cases In this type of exercise you will identify and analyze an ethical issue in the contemporary workplace.
• Self-Assessment Logs These exercises allow you to assess some aspect of yourself through an assessment tool in the text and to reflect on what you have discovered.

Your answers to the assignment questions should be well developed and convey your understanding of the readings and concepts. They should also adequately answer the questions posed. If you need help in writing, take a look at The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Also, formulate responses in your own words. Do not merely copy answers from your reading materials. When quoting or paraphrasing from the text or other sources, be sure to cite the source of information properly according to APA guidelines (see also Basic Documentation Rules). If you have further questions, your mentor will guide you in accordance with the correct style of documentation.

Prepare your written assignments using whatever word processing program you have on your computer. Include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled.

Before submitting your first assignment, check with your mentor to determine whether your word processing software is compatible with your mentor's software. If so, you can submit your work as you prepared it. If not, save your assignment as a rich-text (.rtf) file, using the Save As command of your software program. Rich text retains basic formatting and can be read by any other word processing program.

When satisfied that your assignment represents your best work, submit it to your mentor by means of the

>>View/Complete Assignment

link provided at the bottom of the respective assignment page. Use the Browse button within this link to locate and submit your assignment file.

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QUIZZES

Ethics and the Business Professional has five graded quizzes. Taken together they are worth 20 percent of your grade. These quizzes are closed-book and will be completed online. Go to the Tests & Quizzes area of course site and click on the link when you are ready to take the quiz.

You have 20 minutes to complete each quiz. You may enter each quiz only once, so be sure you are ready to take the quiz before clicking the link. After you take the quiz, you will be able to see your score.

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ETHICAL CULTURE ANALYSIS

There is no exam in this course. Instead, in addition to the modular assignments just described, you will write an in-depth analysis of the ethical culture and performance of an organization you have chosen. This ethical culture analysis will provide you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned to a real-world situation.

A full description of this project and guidelines for completing it are in the Descriptions and Rubrics area of this course site. (See the Course Calendar for the due date.) The rubric that will be used to grade this project is also available in this area. .

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GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

Letter grades for online participation, written assignments, quizzes, and the ethical culture analysis are based on the following numerical grades:

Note: To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of D or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, projects, papers, etc.). You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted.

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STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

1. Read carefully the entire Syllabus, making sure that all aspects of the course are clear to you and that you have all the materials required for the course.



2. Take the time to read the entire Online Student Handbook. The Handbook answers many questions about how to proceed through the course and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.



3. Familiarize yourself with the Blackboard environment—how to navigate it and what the various course areas contain. If you know what to expect as you navigate the course, you can better pace yourself and complete the work on time.



4. If you are not familiar with Web-based learning, or specifically with the Blackboard platform, be sure to review the processes for posting responses online and submitting assignments before class begins.