Singapore University of Social Sciences

Procurement Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

Procurement Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (LOG311)

Synopsis

Business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are often mistaken as synonyms to each other. Although ethical decision making is a contributing factor towards fulfilling organisations’ duty of being a responsible member of society, students must be able to appreciate the subtle differences between business ethics and CSR to be more effective decision makers in the modern society. In this course, the following tools and topics will be discussed to enhance the understanding on ethical decision making in business; Ethics vs Law, Ethical and Moral Theories, Critical Thinking and Case Analyses. The case analysis portion will exclusively discuss potential areas of risks in procurement and how to manage unethical procurement behaviours. Over the past several decades, the concept of CSR has evolved from a philanthropic activity by an organisation to the appraisal of the whole processes of making profit. The definition of what constitutes CSR varies greatly among academics and practitioners. To avoid losing focus, CSR will be viewed as pursuing triple bottom lines (financial, societal and environmental bottom lines) in this course.

Level: 3
Credit Units: 5
Presentation Pattern: Every July

Topics

  • Ethical concepts and principles
  • Ethical and moral decision making
  • Potential areas of risks in procurements
  • Managing unethical purchasing behaviours
  • Politics in procurement – Lobbying and corporate campaign contributions
  • Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
  • Tools for CSR analysis
  • Corporate social performance (CSP)
  • Critiques of CSR
  • Creating a well-run compliance organisation
  • Shareholder and consumer activism
  • Best practices and case studies

Learning Outcome

  • Appraise the types of ethical business dilemma regularly occurring in decision making, particularly in the field of procurement.
  • Criticise the various tools and techniques to manage business ethics and assess their suitability for managing unethical purchasing behaviours.
  • Analyse the role of one’s own value system in moral and ethical decision making.
  • Illustrate the relevance of ethical business activity to corporate social responsibility.
  • Demonstrate understanding of corporate social performance and discuss how to align the strategy for CSR with overall organisation’s strategy.
  • Assemble best practices of CSR in commercial and public sectors and evaluate the effectiveness of their stakeholder relations and partnership management.
  • Formulate his/her own stance on business ethics issues.
  • Assess the role of corporate governance in ethical decision making and CSR.
  • Debate whether pursuing ‘sustainability’ is equivalent to fulfilling CSR.
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