MGT 6545 - Leading Responsibly

In part, "leading responsibly" is about encouraging, guiding, and organizing others to avoid morally questionable acts and to seek out ways of doing good. It is about formulating and implementing policies, practices, and procedures to promote these ends and about motivating others to adhere to them. In today's highly competitive, global business organizations, these are remarkably difficult tasks. The course is intended to aid students to appreciate the demands of leading responsibly and to expose them to ways, as managers, they may meet those challenges. Thus, the course will examine, for example, possible conflicts between economic self-interests and obligations to the business's stakeholders, between the desire to do the right thing and organizational pressures to do wrong, and between wanting to manage for the good of society and not having the knowledge to do so. Students will read, discuss, and write about the topics covered, hopefully always evidencing a concern for how they personally will lead. Readings will be drawn from a variety of literatures including psychology, law, philosophy, theology, finance, management, and sociology. The course differs from and complements Management of Ethics (MGT 6540) both in terms of focus and pedagogy. It focuses on creating or organic climate for ethics rather than the analytic alternatives individuals use in attempting to resolve ethical dilemmas. To accomplish its goal, the course occasionally employs traditional cases; but, it emphasizes readings and discussions.