ETHICAL DIMENSIONS OF LEADERSHIP MGT 5384 Virginia Tech MBA Andrew Watson

Agenda This course and this meeting Current events with an “ethical dimension” Ethics and its relatives Aristotle Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon The course and the syllabus Looking ahead

Aristotle Greek philosopher and scientist 384–322 BC Studied with Plato, tutored Alexander the Great Admission: I’m not an expert on Aristotle I recently read Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction Barnes, J edition from OUP “Most of the surviving writings… [seem to be] made up of Aristotle’s lecture notes” “believed that knowledge and teaching were inseparable” “Choose a field of research, and Aristotle labored in it”

Some Fields of Knowledge Practical: how we ought to act Ethics Politics Productive: how we make things Art Rhetoric Theoretical: the truth we seek Theology Mathematics Natural Science Biology Chemistry

Aristotle’s Fields, and Our Fence I refer to the fence around this course It will enclose parts of the following fields Ethics Politics Rhetoric Theology Natural science Which parts of ethics? Business ethics? Let’s discuss some specific decisions Business decisions? Ethical decisions?

Movie Scene From Election From Election For those who have seen the movie: Is Tracy good with words, such as the word ethics? Is Tracy’s behavior ethical? For all of us, but mostly for you: Could I grade you according to how ethically you behave? For all of us, but perhaps mostly for me: How precise/fussy should we be about words in this course? e.g., the difference between ethical and moral?

Ethics and Related Terms We won’t dwell on the question from Election Ethics and Moral Philosophy are synonyms in overviews of philosophy We won’t climb along every other branch of philosophy Ethics: “the principles, norms, and standards governing an individual or group” According to textbook (T&N) Rhetoric and other Aristotelian terms Law,… We will sometimes have to be precise about definitions And about emotional meaning

Course Title(s) This course could have been called a. Business Ethics b. Ethical Dimensions of Leadership c. Something else Why might Business Ethics be better? i.e. argue that a > b Why might the actual title be better? argue b > a Is there a title better than either? argue for c, with a particular title

The Course and the Syllabus The course is on Canvas Rather than Scholar or Blackboard or… Syllabus Link from front page of course Materials Text Coursepack Other Assignments: next slide Schedule: usual and unusual weeks

Assignments Booklet: 50% Accounts of chapters (20) Post to Canvas in each usual week Mini-case (10) Other aspects (20) Discussion leadership: 20%, in groups Interaction: 30% In class Online No exams or extra credit assignments

Looking Ahead Due from you before 9pm Checkpoint 0 assignment Due from you before we meet next week Account of ch. 1 due before 6am on meeting day Read: material on media ethics Will provide links from Canvas, and discussion questions Due from me before 6am on Saturday Discussion for next meeting Coursepack Link from Canvas to Harvard

Standard Closing Anything else I should say to the whole class? Rest of evening Safe home Enjoy Anything you’d like to discuss with me? As individual or group