Business, Ethics and Society

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  MGMT 117
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract:  This open textbook is being utilized in a Business course for undergraduate or graduate students by Pooria Assadi at California State University, Sacramento. The open textbook chapters and articles provide valuable insights on classical theories of ethics, accountability, corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility, integrity, social responsibility, among other topics. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to make education more affordable and accessible for the students. Most student access the open textbook in online format, via Canvas links to the relevant chapter or article.

Business, Ethics, and Society, MGMT 117
Brief Description of course highlights:  Investigation of contemporary business issues and management dilemmas in relation to broad social concerns. Focus is upon public and private decision making in the business environment and how business practices, ethics, and social concerns interrelate. Topics such as the nature of property and profits, efficiency and human values, the balancing of claims of owners, employees, customers, and others in community, corporate responsibility, corporate governance, government regulation and international dimensions of public policy will be covered.

https://oldcatalog.csus.edu/16-17/programs/MGMT/MGMT_117.html
Student population: This is a Writing Intensive General Education course that students from all across campus take. Prerequisite: GWAR certification before Fall 09; or WPJ score of 80+; or 3-unit placement in ENGL 109M/W; or 4-unit placement in ENGL 109M/W and co-enrollment in ENGL 109X; or WPJ score 70/71 and co-enrollment in ENGL 109X.

Learning or student outcomes:  List student learning outcomes for the course.

• Gain a deep understanding of the current business issues and management dilemmas in relation to societal concerns.
• Develop skills to make effective public and private decisions in the business environment.
• Understand how business practices, ethics, and social concerns interrelate and impact each other.
• Gain knowledge about the nature of property and profits, and how they influence business decisions.
• Understand the balance between efficiency and human values in a business context.
• Learn how to balance the claims of various stakeholders such as owners, employees, customers, and the community.
• Understand the concepts of corporate responsibility and governance, and their role in business.
• Gain knowledge about government regulation and its impact on business.
• Understand the international dimensions of public policy and how they influence business decisions.
• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills to address business issues and dilemmas.

Key challenges faced and how resolved: One potential challenge with Open Educational Resources (OER) is quality. Having open access to OER material, along with active engagement from the students and the faculty, addressed this issue for the benefit of the students where faculty could verify the quality of the material

Instructor Name:  Pooria Assadi
I am a Business professor at the California State University, Sacramento. I teach business courses such as Business, Ethics, and Society.

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://scholars.csus.edu/esploro/profile/pooria_assadi/overview

Please describe the courses you teach.  I teach business courses, such as Business, Ethics, and Society.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  My research focuses on the interaction of strategic management and business ethics.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. The primary motivation was to save students money, improve the learning materials, and improve access to the students.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I consulted with our librarian and browsed OER sites and read peer reviews.

Sharing Best Practices: OER materials significantly improve student access and reduce learning barriers in my experience.
Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. Missing ancillary materials was one of the challenges I experienced. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: One resource was Byars, S. M., & Stanberry, K. (2018). Business ethics. Other book chapters and articles were also used.

Brief Description: Business Ethics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester business ethics course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including case studies, application scenarios, and links to video interviews with executives, all of which help instill in students a sense of ethical awareness and responsibility.

Please provide a link to the resource:  https://openstax.org/details/books/business-ethics

Authors:  Byars, S. M., & Stanberry, K.

Student access:  Students had access to OER materials via Canvas links and OpenStax.

Supplemental resources: List resources including online homework systems, interactive study guides for students, and faculty-only resources such as solutions and slides that are available.

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  A common textbook, An Introduction to Business Ethics, 7th Edition ISBN10: 1266150692 | ISBN13: 9781266150692 by Joseph DesJardins is at $70 currently.

License:  Students can get access to OER materials via Canvas links and OpenStax. OpenStax is licensed under Creative Commons.