The Swiss engineering master's degree

In an environment that is changing increasingly quickly, students will be taught the ability to assume societal responsibility either as engineers or in management functions in companies. They will develop a profound awareness of the moral and ethical aspects of their actions and also for the ecological and social impacts of companies. In their subsequent professional careers, they will be better able to judge the consequences of their work for society, to deal with conflicts in these areas, and to contribute to the Corporate Responsibility philosophy of their organisations in a manner appropriate to their positions.

Obiettivi di apprendimento

• The students know the theoretical foundations of various ethical philosophies
• The students are familiar with various levels of ethics (individual ethics versus corporate ethics)
• The students can apply different ethical approaches in a specific situation
• The students are familiar with the concept of the broader societal Corporate Responsibility of organisations
• The students are familiar with the main elements of the implementation of Corporate Responsibility in companies
• The students are able to analyse and critically judge the Corporate Responsibility philosophy of a given company on the basis of publicly available information

Categoria modulo

The courses of development of moral values (virtues) and systematic ethical concepts (norms) in the history of philosophy:

Ethics

• Fundamental ethical concepts
• Ethics of duties and ethics of consequences; human rights; the common good
• Discourse ethics; justice; forming ethical judgements
• Ethics of the environment and the future; sustainability
• Ethics of technology; estimating the consequences of technology, technology assessment
• Ethics codices, guidelines, professional norms
• Specific case studies from various disciplines

Corporate Responsibility:

• The role of organisations/companies in society
• The expectations of stakeholder groups and dealing with these expectations (Stakeholder Management)
• “Corporate Responsibility”: The various concepts of responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility–CSR (various theoretical approaches), sustainability (Brundtland/Rio’92), “Triple Bottom Line” (Elkington, Savitz), Capital Stock Model (World Bank, IIRC), Corporate Citizenship CC
• Corporate Responsibility in the ecological, social, economic and technological areas (sample topics), business case for CSR/sustainability
• Elements of the implementation of corporate responsibility (issue identification, governance, guiding philosophy/policy, issue strategies, measurement and monitoring, non-financial reporting, auditing and certification

Metodologie di insegnamento e apprendimento

Lecture, case studies, individual and group projects.

The final exam consists of a written work assignment and the answering of written questions.

Bibliografia

References for literature will be provided during the lectures on a language-specific basis.