Business Ethics & Negotiation Skills

Recent scandals such as those at Enron and Worldcom show us that even in business there's a lot more at stake than the bottom line. Some sense of ethical behaviour is needed as well. In this course, we will investigate some of the ethical issues facing businesses including acceptable risk, intellectual property, worker's rights, whistle-blowing, outsourcing, and ethical issues in business, marketing and sales. We will explore the question, "How can I be a good person and a good businessperson?" as well as the dark side of business ethics made famous by Gordon Gecko in Wall Street when he proclaimed that "Greed is good." The goal of the second part of the course is for you to become a better negotiator. You will develop the negotiation skills that produce more creative, satisfying agreements, and avoid the worst kind of compromises. Most of us negotiate every day, though we often do not realize it. We negotiate not only contracts, leases, and purchases, but we also negotiate over less obvious issues. We need analytical skills to discover superior solutions to problems and we need negotiation skills to get others to accept and implement these solutions. Unfortunately, too many of us negotiate poorly. We often compromise or give in when creative problem solving could lead to a deal that would be better for everyone involved. Note: Check with the institution regarding start/end dates, prices, and delivery method. These may vary according to program, section, and/or semester.