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Prof Alexander Pepper NAB 4.30

This course is compulsory on the Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MiM) and Global MSc in Management (MBA Exchange). This course is not available as an outside option.

This is a core course for Global Master's in Management students and is not available as an outside elective.

This is a second year course for Global Masters in Management students who must have successfully completed the first year of the programme.

The purpose of the course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of key ideas in business ethics, corporate governance and leadership, in order to prepare them for future leadership roles. Business leaders have a special role to play because of their ability to determine an organisation’s mission, vision and values, how companies should be governed and led, and the ethical standards which business should aspire to.

In the first part of the module, we consider two historical approaches to the ethical responsibilities of managers. According to the shareholder approach, the interests of shareholders take priority over the interests of other stakeholders. According to the stakeholder approach, managers are morally obliged to balance competing stakeholder interests in their decision-making. We discuss how both these approaches are importantly incomplete, and how a combination of two more recent approaches, the so-called “team-production theory of company law” and “market failures approach”, may provide a viable alternative.

In the second part of the module we look at corporate governance, focusing in particular on the different roles of directors, managers and the main board.

In the final part of the module we look at organisational leadership in the context of business ethics and corporate governance. We examine various models of organisational leadership, including Michael Maccoby’s thesis that many business leaders today are “productive narcissists”.

Our teaching encourages students to address questions such as:

• What obligations do business leaders owe to shareholders, employees, customers and other stakeholders?
• What is the difference between corporate governance and organisational management?
• What is the difference between organisational management and business leadership?
• What are the incredible pros and inevitable cons of narcissistic leadership?
• Are normative questions of “character” relevant in an organisational context?
• What constituted good ethical decision-making?

15 hours of lectures, 10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the MT.

Lectures break down into 15 hours of pre-recorded lectures and 10 hours of Q&A sessions.

The formative assignment will involve the preparation of an assignment plan for a business case analysis involving issues relating to leadership, corporate governance and business ethics.