MBA 742 Master Syllabus

MBA 742: Governance and Ethics Master Syllabus

Course Instructor:
Office Number:
Office Hours:
Email:
Course Meeting Times:
Course Materials:
Course Website: Canvas

Course Description

This course focuses on developing an understanding of corporate governance issues and decision-making. The course topics include an examination of internal, external, and international governance issues in the current business environment. Examples of topics covered include studying the role of boards of directors, managers, stockholders, CEO succession, COSO framework, executive compensation, financial reporting issues, and corporate control within a governance framework.

Course Objectives

Upon completing this course, students should:

develop an understanding of the corporate governance and internal control frameworks
be able to identify the role of internal and external corporate governance on business decisions
be knowledgeable about best practices in corporate governance

Course Materials

Lecture slides and other materials are available on Canvas. You will need access to a computer that has basic business software like Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Acrobat Reader. You will also need speakers or headphones to listen to course content as well as a headset microphone for live audio sessions. Please note that a fast reliable internet connection will be necessary to download course content and upload deliverables.

Book: Corporate Governance Matters: A Closer Look at Organizational Choices and Their Consequences, 3rd Edition by David Larcker and Brian Tayan. Published by Pearson FT Press

Case Studies: Harvard/Darden/Rottman/Stanford

Class Notes/Readings: Lecture slides and other materials available on Canvas Course website and/or University Library

Course Policies

The course would be conducted over 8 weeks. Course instruction will be delivered of lectures, online resources and assigned readings. Please refer to the most recent course schedule posted on Canvas for detailed information.

Assessment: The table below shows all required activities with corresponding deliverable weeks and grade weights. Exact due date for each deliverable would be available on Canvas. Day 1 of a week is Monday.

Description	Work Type	Grade Weight
Reflection Paper	Individual	10%
Participation	Individual	10%
Exam	Individual	20%
Case Analyses	Individual	30%
Research Project	Group	30%

Note: Late submissions of deliverables carry a penalty of 10% for each day of delay. Submissions that are 5 days after due date would receive a grade of 0. I reserve the right to grant or deny exceptions and/or extensions and may require acceptable documentation. Any changes to assignments or schedule will be announced on the course web page in Canvas and via e-mail. You are expected to check the course webpage and email at least once every 24 hours. Inability to access the course webpage or failure to read e-mails cannot be an excuse for late submissions or non-completion of assignments. No make-up assignments or exams are available in this course.

The overall grade for the course will be assigned according to the percentage components outlined above. Your score for any graded assignment during the semester will be the number of points out of the total possible. A letter grade is calculated at the end of the semester, and is based on your cumulative score on all graded assignments.

Your final letter grade may be determined by your proximity and relative position to the class mean. If you are very motivated to get a high grade in the class, you need to make sure that you are doing better on the grade components than your peers. The indicative grade cut-offs are:

A+/A/A-	89-100%
B+/B/B-	70-88%
C/F	< 70%

Deliverables: All submissions should be saved as “Last name_first name_assignment name” for individual assignments and as “Group name_assignment name” for group assignments before submission through SafeAssign on Canvas.

Individual Work: The course requires you to complete a set of individual and group work that includes readings, assignments and activities. Individual work includes items such as readings, discussions, research project, and an exam. You are required to complete the assigned tasks on or before the due date and time mentioned in the course schedule. Please inform me immediately if you are unable to complete any of the tasks within the mentioned due dates. Individual work will consist of the following assignments:

Reflection paper: The primary goal of the reflection paper is to express your experiences and thoughts about ethics. More details on the paper requirements are provided separately on Canvas.
Participation: A key component of the course is to actively participate in class discussions. Your preparedness and engagement should be reflected in the form of positive comments in class that add/enhance to the ongoing conversation. Unrelated or disruptive comments would earn negative points. Participation points can be earned in each class and you would be assigned zero points if you are not present and/or did not engage in a meaningful manner.
Case Analyses and discussions: You would submit a written report on each case that focuses on key course topics. Additional instructions on how to prepare a case report/presentation are provided separately on Canvas.
Exam: The exam would involve working on questions based on course readings, lecture notes, case analyses and class work.

Group Work: You will be assigned to a team and you could use the Classroom tools to work together and collaborate. Ongoing and substantive participation in the group activities is important to your learning and to the success of your group. It is recommended that for document sharing and asynchronous group communications, you use the Collaborative Group Space on Canvas to assess individual contributions.

Research Project: You will evaluate the governance environment of companies. More details on the project requirements are provided separately on Canvas.
Peer Evaluation: To assess the nature and extent of work contributed by each member of a group, group members will have an opportunity to grade each other and this grade could influence your overall course grade. If there is a significant disparity among ratings assigned to a particular group member, I will compute an average of the ratings assigned by the fellow group members. This average rating will be multiplied by the points earned by the group to determine the group work points for that particular group member in question.

Group Work vs. Individual Work: The following policies are applicable to individual and/or group assignments:

Students may discuss assignments with fellow classmates. Feel free to bounce ideas off each other and brainstorm possible solutions.
Students must submit their own original work.
Plagiarism is considered cheating, and such actions will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is defined as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Plagiarizing the work of classmates, former accounting students, internet authors, websites, etc. constitutes cheating.
Brainstorming and collaboration becomes cheating when students execute individual assignments together. Another example of cheating can occur towards the end of an assignment. A student who changes an assignment to largely conform to the answers/style/format of another person is cheating.
Using answer keys, case solutions from the web, students' work from prior semesters, etc. constitutes cheating.

Quizzes and Exams: The following policies should be noted for all assignments including quizzes and exams etc.

Using any unauthorized information on quizzes and tests is obviously cheating (i.e., looking at another student's answers, using notes, storing information in a calculator or cell phone, communicating with other test takers, etc.).
Obtaining possible test questions through a test bank or obtaining case or problem solutions from web sources constitute cheating.

General: You may also want to take note of the following:

Helping another student cheat constitutes cheating for all students involved.
Students who are aware of cheating but fail to report it are in violation of the Honor Code and will be referred to the George Mason Administration. These students can expect to receive the same sanctions as the students who cheat.
It is impossible to document all possible methods of cheating. The policies above are guidelines to help clarify expectations, but they do not include an exhaustive list of cheating activities. The onus is on each student to complete all course requirements in an honest manner, and any questions about acceptable academic behavior must be addressed to your professor. Thus, ignorance is never an excuse for engaging in academic dishonesty.

A Note on Writing Deliverables: Double-space, use a standard 12-point font, and place 1-inch margins in all assignments. You should include a title page on all individual and group submissions. When you make references to assigned course materials, use the following format: (Last name of author(s), date). If you use other outside readings, give full bibliographic information at the end of the paper. Because good writing skills are so important in the business world, each of your deliverables should be clearly written and completely free of spelling and grammatical errors.

To cite and reference professional or academic sources, please use APA style. Specific instructions for in-text citations and referencing are found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th Edition or at The Purdue Owl.

A Note on Course Presentations: A great presentation is a reflection of the effort and time spent on planning the content and practicing the delivery. Some success tips include time management, avoiding too much text on slides, maintaining audience interest, having a summary/takeaway slide and being mindful of grammar/spelling and overall slide design/structure.

A Note on Team Grades and Free Ridership: All team members will get the same grade on each of the team assignments unless at least two people in the team decide to change to a peer performance appraisal system. Under such a system, members will rate one another's contribution for each of the team assignments that your team chooses to invoke the peer appraisals on, and individual grades will be adjusted (both upward and downward) based on these ratings. If you decide to go with the peer performance appraisal system, prepare a document to that effect signed by at least two members of your team to be submitted with each team assignment(s) for which you wish to do this, and I will contact you for your evaluation of your fellow team members’ contributions. You cannot decide to do peer performance appraisal after you receive your grade. You must tell me and hand in the document with signatures of the majority of the team when the assignment is due.

Course Website

The course website is your online classroom. It is located in the university’s course management system, Canvas. Here you will perform many learning activities: see readings and assignments, view video lectures, interact with the faculty and your peers, work in groups, and much more.

To access your online classroom, follow these steps:

Go to Canvas
Type your Username
Type your Password
Click Login.
New users see a Welcome page that invites them to create a profile. You can choose to create a profile later.
Existing users see the My Institution tab.
Click into the Courses tab to see your online courses for the term.

When you are ready to leave the classroom, click the logout button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

If Canvas is not functioning as expected, or you are unable to connect to Canvas or content within Canvas, email courses@gmu.edu for assistance.

Technology Requirements

Firefox 24 and later
Chrome 30 and later
Safari 6 and later
Internet Explorer 9 and later

Student Responsibilities

You are expected to have read the assigned readings before responding to any posted discussion questions and attempting the related assignments. The amount of effort you put into studying the assigned materials before attempting classwork would determine the quality of your responses to questions, as well as how much you learn about the course topics. We encourage you to not only read the assigned materials but to analyze them carefully. Think about each reading from both a conceptual and a practical perspective.

Costello College of Business Standards of Behavior: The mission of the Costello College of Business at George Mason University is to create and deliver high quality educational programs and research. Students, faculty, staff , and alumni who participate in these educational programs contribute to the well-being of society. High quality educational programs require an environment of trust and mutual respect, free expression and inquiry, and a commitment to truth, excellence, and lifelong learning. Students, program participants, faculty, staff , and alumni accept these principles when they join the community. In doing so, they agree to abide by the following standards of behavior:

Respect for the rights, differences, and dignity of others
Honesty and integrity in dealing with all members of the community
Accountability for personal behavior

Integrity is an essential ingredient of a successful learning community. Ethical standards of behavior help promote a safe and productive community environment, and ensure every member the opportunity to pursue excellence. The Costello College of Business can and should be a living model of these behavioral standards. To this end, community members have a personal responsibility to integrate these standards into every aspect of their experience at the Costello College of Business. Through our personal commitment to these Community Standards of Behavior, we can create an environment in which all can achieve their full potential.

Communication: Students must use their George Mason email accounts to receive important University information, including messages related to this class and correspondence with the faculty. See Mason Email to obtain your personal George Mason e-mail account. George Mason policy requires faculty to communicate exclusively through the Mason email system. This means I can respond to email from your Mason account only and cannot respond to emails you send from your personal or work email. If you wish, please share your name and gender pronouns with me and how best to address you in class and via email. I use “he/him/his” for myself and you may address me as “Dr. Aier” or “Professor Aier” in your verbal and electronic communications. Email and questions posted to the discussion forums will be answered within 24 hours during the work-week (Monday through Friday) and 48 hours over the weekend and holidays. Students who anticipate missing a deliverable due date for religious reasons should inform me in advance as soon as possible. You can find the University semester schedule and religious holidays at academic calendar and religious holiday calendar.

Honor System and Code: George Mason is an Honor Code university. Please see the Academic Standards website for a full description of the Academic Standards Code and the honor committee process. The principle of academic integrity is taken very seriously and violations are treated gravely. Three fundamental and rather simple principles to follow at all times are that: (1) all work submitted be your own; (2) when using the work or ideas of others, including fellow students, give full credit through accurate citations; and (3) if you are uncertain about the ground rules on a particular assignment, ask for clarification.

Given below is the uniform set of Recommendations for Honor Code Violations for graduate programs in the School of Business adopted by the faculty in Spring 2019.

School of Business Recommendations for Honor Code Violations Graduate Programs¹
Honor Code Violation	Recommended Sanction
For example: Lying, plagiarizing, cheating, or stealing in academic matters	An “F” in the class
For example: Lying, plagiarizing, cheating, or stealing in academic matters²	An “F” in the class, and consideration for dismissal from the School of Business

¹Approved by School of Business Faculty Spring 2019.

²Preliminary determination of nature of violation qualifying as “egregious” is made by faculty and referred to the Program Director and Associate Dean of Graduate programs for further consideration if found in violation by Office of Academic Integrity (OAI).

Student Accommodations and Diversity

Disability Services: Students with disabilities who require special accommodation should contact the Office of Disability Services or (703) 993-2474 and should inform me of their needs so it can be taken into consideration. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS. Please take care of this during the first week of the module.

Counseling and Psychological Services: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at George Mason provide assistance if you find yourself overwhelmed by life and/or want training in academic or life skills.

Diversity: George Mason University promotes a living and learning environment for outstanding growth and productivity among its students, faculty and staff. Through its curriculum, programs, policies, procedures, services and resources, Mason strives to maintain a quality environment for work, study and personal growth. These goals apply to online learning at George Mason University equally as it does to classroom learning.

An emphasis upon diversity and inclusion throughout the campus community is essential to achieve these goals. Diversity is broadly defined to include such characteristics as, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation. Diversity also entails different viewpoints, philosophies, and perspectives. Attention to these aspects of diversity will help promote a culture of inclusion and belonging, and an environment where diverse opinions, backgrounds and practices have the opportunity to be voiced, heard and respected.

Title IX: Notice of mandatory reporting of sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and stalking: As a faculty member, I am designated as a “Responsible Employee,” and must report all disclosures of sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and stalking to George Mason’s Title IX Coordinator per University Policy 1412. You may seek assistance from George Mason’s Title IX Coordinator by calling (703) 993-8730 or email cde@gmu.edu. If you wish to speak with someone confidentially, please contact one of George Mason’s confidential resources, such as Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC) at (703) 993-3686 or Counseling and Psychology Services (CAPS) at (703) 993-2380. The 24-hour Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Crisis Line for George Mason is (703) 380-1434.

Anti-Racism Statement: As a member of the George Mason University community, the School of Business plays an integral role in building an educational environment that is committed to anti-racism and inclusive excellence. An anti-racist approach to higher education acknowledges the ways that individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural manifestations of racism against Black individuals and other people of color contribute to inequality and injustice in our classrooms, on our campuses, and in our communities, and it strives to provide our community members with resources to interrupt cycles of racism so as to cultivate a more equitable, inclusive, and just environment for all of our students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends, regardless of racial background.

Resources and Support

Course support: Preparedness is a major facilitator for a heightened learning experience in an online course. For help on Canvas tools like Collaborate, Kaltura, Respondus Lockdown Browser and other resources, please refer to courses support for additional information. If you encounter any difficulties accessing Canvas or your course you can reach the Technical Help Desk at the following email: courses@gmu.edu.

For tips on how to be a successful online learner, please read the “Strategies for Online Learning Success” (online success strategies).

Library resources: The Libraries at George Mason University strive to provide the best possible collections of research resources and scholarly materials in all formats for our users throughout the university community, supporting the University’s goals of learning, teaching, and research. The Costello College of Business has a dedicated librarian liaison and more information is available at library resources. The University Libraries also provides resources specifically for distance students, including the ability to e-reserve materials. See more information on these services and to e-reserve texts.

Writing center: The George Mason University Writing Center is committed to supporting writers in the Mason community and offers free writing support to Mason students. You can now sign up for an Online Writing Lab (OWL) session just as you would sign up for a face-to-face session in the Writing Center, which means you set the date and time of the appointment.

University policies: The University Catalog is the central resource for university policies affecting student, faculty and staff conduct in university affairs. Information regarding weather related changes in the University’s schedule (e.g., closing or late opening) will be provided on the George Mason website and via MasonAlert. Changes to schedule or deliverable due dates, if any, will be communicated via email and on Canvas.

George Mason Student privacy is governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and is an essential aspect of this course.

Copyright: Any audio or visual recording of lectures, reuse or remix of course materials, or further dissemination of course content is not permitted without prior written consent from me and George Mason University unless the recording is part of an approved accommodation plan.

Disclaimer: Any changes to assignments or course schedule will be announced on Blackboard and/or via e-mail. Inability to access the course webpage or failure to read e-mails cannot be an excuse for late submissions or non-completion of assignments.

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