Indian School of Business

Responsible Leadership – RLDP

Academic Year : 2019-20 Term : 3

Instructor: Professor Sreedhari Desai Office Hours: By appointment

Affiliation: Kenan-Flagler Business School
Email: sreedhari_desai@isb.edu

Course Overview and Objectives

This course centers on the ethical and moral aspects of leadership. The goal of the course is to
stimulate you to understand ethical concepts and frameworks and how they apply to leadership
situations you will encounter in business. The course does not presume to dictate what is right and
wrong. Rather, the course offers different perspectives relevant to responsible decision- making, moral
reasoning, and incorporating values into how you conduct yourself as a business leader, a member of
society, and the kind of person you aspire to be.

Throughout the course, we will use cases, scenarios, and experiential activities that will engage you in
recognizing the ethical aspects of business situations, diagnosing the ethical dilemmas and tensions
embedded in these situations, and developing action plans that best fulfill the ethical principles at hand.
In this sense, we want you to go beyond the role of a passive observer and evaluator to project
yourself into the situations we consider, analyze the ethics of these situations drawing from frameworks
we develop and your own system of values, propose solutions you are willing to implement and defend,
and receive feedback from your fellow students. We will ask you to work actively with others in class
to sort out ethical issues, debate different courses of action, and present your views. Your active
engagement will bring to life the ethical principles covered by the course and allow you to work through
ethical situations like those you will experience in your career.

In summary, the overall objectives of the course are:

1. To explore the various ethical issues that underlie leadership in business settings;
2. To learn and apply frameworks that can be used to guide ethical decision-making;
3. To understand barriers to making effective ethical decisions.
4. To assess and articulate your personal value system and recognize the challenges of being true to
your own standards of integrity;
5. To think critically about numerous psychological, organizational, and cultural processes that
complicate ethical decision-making;
6. To sharpen your ability to develop and implement action plans that integrate ethical,
organizational, and business considerations and take into account the affected stakeholders.

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 Learning Goals

1. Awareness of Global Issues Affecting Business

2. Critical and Integrative Thinking
3. Effective Oral Communication
4. Ethical Responsibility
5. Interpersonal Awareness and Working in Teams

• Attendance & Class Contribution (25%)

✓ Attendance: 5%

✓ Class Contribution: 20%

Attendance comprises 5% of your grade and class contribution comprises 20%. You are responsible for
reading the assigned material and actively participating in class discussions. Reading the material is
essential to your learning. However, contribution also means that you share your thoughts on the readings,
develop and express your answers to the assignment questions, listen and add to the flow of the discussion,
and react to what others say in a respectful and constructive manner. Although you will be asked to draw
from your own perspective during our discussions, ethical analysis goes beyond personal opinion to include
the application of frameworks that address the means and ends of ethical decisions and the effects of these
decisions on the affected stakeholders. As such, you should prepare to explain not only how you see the
ethical situations we discuss, but also why you see them as you do.

✓ Twitter: 5%

As an extension of our in-class learning experience, I will be tweeting throughout the course using the
hashtag #ISBRL and you are required to participate as well. Twitter is a particularly good space for sharing
real world examples of the concepts we discuss in class. Because Twitter content will be posted
asynchronously, you will not be held responsible for reading what is posted there, and you should not feel
pressured to do so, but you are likely to learn more by following along. Twitter is predominantly an
opportunity for you to be a meaningful participant in the domain of responsible leadership, even beyond
the classroom.

Your tweets will be evaluated based on the extent to which your tweet is grounded in analysis or reflection.
In other words, simply retweeting an article is perfectly fine and very much appreciated, but it will not
boost your class participation as much as other forms of tweeting. For example, tell us how an article you
are sharing parallels something we discussed in class or how it contradicts something we have learned or
what tension it illustrates. Help us connect dots with your tweets, and remember that brevity is the key, for
Twitter allows only 140 characters per tweet.

On Twitter, you are welcome to follow me (@Sreedhari_Desai) and to use the #ISBRL hashtag when
tweeting about topics related to this course. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, the easiest way to follow a
hashtag is to use the Twitter search: https://twitter.com/search. You can type in a @person or #hashtag
to see what is being tweeted. The only exception is if a user has marked his or her tweets (or profile)
private, which might not show up in a public search. Also, you can always just Google a hashtag.

The last date to tweet, which will be considered for grading, is 1st August, 2019 at 8:00 A.M.

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 ✓ Surveys – 10%

Survey assignments will be due in the first week of the term. Surveys should be an individual exercise
unless otherwise indicated. Surveys will be administered online.

• Turning Gears Simulation (40%): (Honor Code 3N-b)

The Turning Gears simulation is an engaging interactive exercise that puts you in the role of the Head
Product Manager for Hermy’s Adventure, one of the key products for Turning Gears, Inc., a manufacturer
of children’s toys. You will have to make difficult decisions about advertising to children, product safety,
stakeholder tradeoffs, and supplier relationships. These simulated decisions will require an analysis of
moral implications and stakeholder perspectives. After each scenario, you will receive positive and negative
feedback from stakeholders, including your boss. Please note that each student will first complete the
simulation individually and then collaborate with team members on the team-assignment.

You will receive an email from a company called BizLX regarding instructions for accessing the simulation
online.

Please note that you must finish running the simulation by midnight on Sunday, 11th August’19 – 11:55pm.

✓ For the deliverable, your team is asked to select any three out of the following 5 question-sets
and respond in 9 pages or less (double-spaced, 12-point font, not including appendices).

Question-set 1: Is advertising to children a problem? If so, how big a problem? What norms and standards
do you feel apply when advertising to children? Can Turning Gears either afford to stop advertising to kids
or alter its approach to limit concerns about negative impacts on kids? Should it try to stop advertising to
children? Would you feel differently about these issues if you were a parent instead of a toy
manufacturer? If so, how would that impact your decision?

Question-set 2: How do we handle uncertainty in decision-making? When does uncertainty become a

problem and morph into a significant ethical issue? If you had to decide collectively, what decision would
your team make about Plaxx? Build the most compelling arguments for the other options. Why is your
team’s option the best? How should we feel about spending millions of company dollars taking action
when we aren’t certain our product is doing harm? How much is enough?

Question-set 3: When should a company respond to pressure from stakeholder groups, particularly when
they are raising moral questions? When should it not do so? How much power should companies give to
groups like this to shape and inform their decisions? What is a healthy way of engaging with groups like
this? When does it become a problem? Is this an issue of power? Does the issue and its relevance to the
company and its values, matter? If so, how do we balance among concerns for power and trying to live our
values as an organization?

Question-set 4: What are the main arguments for and against using a supplier that may employ child
labor? How big an issue is child labor, especially if it involves a supplier and not your own manufacturing
facility? What is your objection to child labor? Is child labor ever justified? How different is the child labor
described in the case from kids performing home chores , working on the family farm, having a paper-
route, or other work-like activities? Does it matter what alternatives the kids have? If their lives are clearly
better off with these jobs, should that matter for our evaluation of this case (and to the company’s
decision about whether to stay with this supplier)?
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 Question-set 5: What did you make of your score? What, if anything, did it say about your ethics and
those of Turning Gears? Did you behave in keeping with the Ethical Leadership Code you wrote for the
first assignment? How good a job did the company do at putting business and ethics together? What,
specifically, influenced your judgment on this (e.g. culture; management priorities; mission; boss’s
directives; incentives)? What makes it hard to put business and ethics together? What are some
recommendations for Turning Gears to improve? What are some real-world examples of companies that
do a good job of putting business and ethics together?

You should be able to identify your team (study groups) via LMS.

This assignment will be graded according to the following criteria:

1. Relevance (10 points) – Full credit on this criterion will be given to teams whose examination of
the issue well beyond the course materials in addressing the question and moves the area of
inquiry to a new level.
2. Logic and Organization (8 points) – The case will be graded on the quality of the writing, the
logical flow of sentences, and the ease of understanding the written content. Full points will be
awarded to those responses whose content is well organized; introduction and conclusion are
interesting and compelling.
3. Support and Accuracy (8 points) – A high score will be earned if excellent supporting detail is
provided; citations are well chosen and presented in a consistent format; response is complete
and factually accurate.
4. Comprehension (8 points) – Top score will be given if a sophisticated grasp of topics is
demonstrated; concepts are empathetically and elegantly stated; comprehension of the ethical
frameworks is superbly demonstrated.
5. Timeliness (6 points)- Each team will receive 6 points if ALL members of the group have completed
the simulation by the deadline, i.e., midnight on Thursday, October 1st . If even a single member
defaults, the entire team will receive 0 points.

✓ Please upload on LMS your answers to the debrief questions as a Word document via LMS by
11:55 P.M on Wednesday, 14th August.

• “Ideas at work- Blog” (20%): (Honor Code 4N)

✓ Using any one or all of (you decide which sessions!) of the five sessions, you must post an “Ideas
at Work” blog entry. You must also respond to at least two blog entries posted by other students.
You may choose about which classes you blog and to which posts you respond.

✓ Your blog could be self-reflections of your past work-behavior and experiences in which value,
ethical, and/or fairness considerations were brought to bear. Or, they could be about your unique
take about some business issue in the limelight currently. Here is a helpful link on how to write
effective business blogs: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/06/01/how-to-write-
the-perfect-business-blog-post/

✓ Blog entries should not be more than 250 words (please be economical with words). Thoughtful
observations that demonstrate your understanding of a concept from class and how it helps you
interpret the event. You should go beyond mere description to provide specific explanations,
interpretations, and illustrations.
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 ✓ Other students will be able to see your entries and may respond to them. You may respond to any
student’s blog entry you wish, or you may respond to another student’s response to a blog entry.
Responses to blog postings should be about 100 – 150 words (not more) in length. Responses
should not just be congratulatory; rather, engage the author and/or other respondents refine
their application of concepts, and move the conversation forward. Throughout, make use of your
critical and integrative thinking skills.

✓ You may not consult other students about this assignment when posting your blog entry or when
responding to others’ posts or responses, but you may use outside material or material distributed
for the course (Honor Code 2N-c). Remember to cite your sources.

When writing your blog, ask yourself whether you’ve spelled out the unique angle of your post and how
your blog entry will help your readers. Be concise. Go beyond mere descriptions and provide
explanations and rationales for what you note in the blog entry. A “good” entry is one that tries to step
back, identifies key events and processes, analyses organizational behavior and is well written. Avoid
writing anything wishy-washy and remember to be specific!

Your blog will be evaluated according to how clearly and convincingly you have conveyed your thoughts
regarding what you have learned about responsible leadership. It will be graded according to the following
dimensions:

1. Clear cut viewpoint (4 points): Conveying a clear cut view point is important. A unique perspective will
help set your blog apart from mundane online articles. After reading your blog, it should be clear to your
reader how your thoughts are different from those of others. The blog need not be controversial in
nature. Just take care to identify a main view point and support it to the best of your ability.

2. Depth (4 points): Evidence of depth of analysis and the development of insight about responsible
leadership, which goes beyond a simple summary of what happened;

3. Appropriate reference to concepts (4 points): Your ability to integrate information from the course readings,
slides, and class discussions into your arguments;

4. Clarity of writing (4 points): Your ability to communicate your ideas in a succinct, articulate, and logical
manner. Please note that the quality of your grammar/writing/spelling can influence your score on this
dimension (i.e., if these errors interfere with overall readability). I suggest having a friend, colleague, or
family member proofread your blog prior to submitting it, if you think this may be a problem.

5. Responding to two other blog entries (4 points): Note that upon responding to two other blog posts in
thoughtful ways, you will receive 4 points. Please observe netiquette when commenting on other people’s
blogs and adhere to the same standards of behavior you follow in real life.

✓ The window for posting the blog will open on 15th July, 2019 and close on 11:55 P.M
LMS LMS
on 5th -
August, 2019.

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APPENDIX

Attendance & Punctuality

The ISB expects students to attend all class sessions in every module. Absence is only appropriate in cases of
extreme personal illness, injury, or close family bereavement. Voluntary activities such as job interviews,
business school competitions, travel plans, joyous family occasions, etc. are not valid reasons for being excused
from class. Late arrival and early departure are disruptive to the learning environment; you should be in class
before the scheduled start time and stay till the conclusion of class. If you must miss a part or whole of a class
meeting, it is very important for you to contact me and the academic associates with as much advance notice as
possible. However, if due to an extenuating situation a student is forced to miss a class session, the same
should be notified to the respective Academic Associate with a copy to the Faculty and the Academic Services
along with substantiating documentary proof seeking permission.

Learning is an interactive process. ISB students are admitted partly based on the experiences they bring to
the learning community and what they can add to class discussions. Therefore, attendance is an important
aspect of studying here.

The ISB expects students to attend all class sessions in every module. However, if due to completely
unavoidable reasons a student is forced to miss a class session. The school policy is below:
If a student misses 20% of sessions in a course; there will be no grade penalty.
If a student misses 30% of sessions in a course, s/he will obtain a letter grade lower than that awarded by the
faculty for that course.
If a student misses 40% of sessions in a course, the student will receive a letter grade that is two levels lower.
If a student misses 50% of sessions or more in a course, the student will receive an ‘F’ grade for that course.
Note: For half credit courses, 30% may not be applicable given it will equate to one and a half sessions.

Coding scheme for ALL course work

What kinds of collaborative activities are

What material can be referred to?[1]
allowed?
References/Coding Can I discuss general Can I discuss specific Can I refer to Can I refer to the
Scheme concepts and ideas issues associated external case-study
relevant to the with the assignment material?[2] solutions or
assignment with with others? problem set
others? solutions?
4N N N N N
3N-b N N Y N

[1]
Any referencing needs to be accompanied with appropriate citations
[2]
A non-exhaustive list includes journal articles, news items, databases, industry reports, open courseware

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 Class Schedule and Topics

Foundations

1 Focus on Outcomes: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethical Decision-Making. We will discuss principles
for making ethical decisions that focus on the outcomes of our actions.

2 Focus on Actions: The Formalist Approach to Ethical Decision-Making.We will discuss principles for
making ethical decisions that focus on the actions themselves.

Applications

3 Making Critical Choices in Ethical Situations: Video case.

4 Influence & Persuasion in Ethical Decision-Making. Case: Heart Case.

11/08 Turning Gears Simulation (Each team member should have completed the simulation)
14/08 Turning Gears Simulation Write Up (Assignment due)

5 Putting Corporate Values to Work .Case: Johnson & Johnson: The Live for Life Program (A)

5/08 Ideas at Work Blog

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 Session 1
Focus on Outcomes:

The Utilitarian Approach to Ethical Decision-Making

Required Reading

Cotter, A. (2018). A utilitarian approach to business ethics. DBi-E-078, Decision Blocks International
Publishing.

For this session, we will focus on the material concerning purposes and consequences.

Questions

Cotter outlines the utilitarian approach to ethical decision-making. In preparation for this session,
consider the following questions:

a. How can we identify the relevant stakeholders in an ethical situation?

b. How can we understand the utilities of stakeholders, meaning the outcomes they consider
valuable?

c. How can we determine the extent to which our actions and decisions impact the outcomes
valued by stakeholders?

d. How should we weight the stakeholders and prioritize their utilities?

e. How can we integrate all of this information?

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 Session 2
Focus on Actions:

The Formalist Approach to Ethical Decision-Making

Required Reading

Cotter, A. (2018). A formalist approach to business ethics. DBi-E-083, Decision Blocks International
Publishing.

For this session, we will focus on the material concerning actions and standards of conduct.

Questions

In this session, we will apply the Cotter reading by addressing actions in terms of the formalist
approach to ethical decision-making. For this session, consider the following questions:

a. How can we identify universal moral principles that are relevant to the actions we are
considering?

b. How should these principles be prioritized? Should some principles be deemed more
important than others?

c. How should we respond when two or more principles are in conflict with one another?

d. How can we determine the extent to which the relevant moral principles are fulfilled or
violated by our actions?

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 Session 3
Application I:
Making Critical Choices in Ethical Situations

Required Reading

Coenen, T. (2015). The fraud triangle and what you can do about it. DBi-A-133, Decision Blocks
International Publishing.

Questions

Coenen explains that the fraud triangle indicates that fraud is likely when a person experiences pressure,
opportunity, and rationalization. To prepare for class, reflect on the following questions:

a. In your experience, which of the three components of the triangle is most likely to bring about
fraud?

b. Do the three components of the triangle fully explain the reasons for fraud? Is anything
missing?

During class, we will present a case in which an em pl o ye e i n t h e f i n a n c e se c to r m a ke s c e r ta i n

r e g r e t t a b le c ho i c e s . You will be asked to analyze the situation in light of the fraud triangle.

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 Session 4
Application II:

Influence & Persuasion in Ethical Decision-Making

Required Readings

Smith-Burkes, K. (2016). The ethics of persuasion and nudging. DBi-E-026, Decision Blocks
International Publishing.

Please r emember to bring your laptops to class.

Preparation

Please bring your laptop to class. Materials related to the Heart Case will be distributed in class.

Questions

Smith-Burkes highlights the ethics of persuasion. Recall the last time you tried to persuade someone,
or someone tried to persuade you.

1. For what purpose was persuasion being employed?

2. Toward what choices and with what consequences for individual lives was persuasion being used?
3. Did the persuasion in this case contribute to or interfere with the decision-making process for its
target audience?

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 Putting Corporate Values to Work Application III:

Required Readings

Mackey, J. (2005). Putting customers ahead of investors. Excerpt from Rethinking the social responsibility of
business: A Reason debate featuring Milton Friedman, Whole Foods' John Mackey, and Cypress
Semiconductor's T. J. Rodgers. Reason, 37, 5, 28-37.

CASE: Johnson & Johnson: The Live for Life Program (A). UVA-OB-0412, Darden Business School Publishing.

Questions based on the readings:

1. To what extent do you agree with the proposition that the sole responsibility of business is to increase its
profits? Do you see any exceptions to this argument based on your own judgment and principles?

2. What do you think about the position developed by Mackey? Does he successfully challenge the proposition
that the sole responsibility of business is to increase its profits? Is Mackey’s position too idealistic, or can it be
generally applied to business practice?

3. Overall, to what extent do you think the goals of profitability and doing good are at odds with one another?
In what ways do these goals conflict, and in what ways are they compatible? Carefully consider both sides
of this question, and come to class prepared to speak for either position.

Questions based on the case:

1. Consider the business case for the Live for Life program. How strong is the evidence that the program will
yield its intended benefits in terms of reducing health care costs for Johnson & Johnson?

2. What are the ethical and moral issues surrounding the Live for Life program? Are any issues raised by the
implementation of the pilot test? What issues are involved in the decision regarding the program described
at the end of the case?

3. If you were a member of the Live for Life management team, what decision would you make, and how
would you justify and implement your decision? To what extent should your decision be informed by the
Credo that embodies the core principles of J&J?

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