Business Communication - Culture and Ethics

Introduction

The course is a pilot at BI Bergen in the autumn of 2024 with compressed delivery over 3 - 4 weeks, with learning activities every day. There will be more and longer lecture sessions per week than usual, and the course will be completed in a shorter time. The number of hours of lectures, syllabus and exam format is identical to EXC 3401, i.e. 100% overlap between the courses.

This course is relevant for people who plan to do business in an international and/or multi-cultural context and who would like more insight into the ethics of business.

Course content

1. Intercultural Communication

The syllabus materials present students with a portfolio of theoretical ideas within the field of intercultural awareness which are presented in detail in the required reading list (see below). The supplementary reading list (see below) provides students with an opportunity to acquire an awareness of the limitations of interpretive science.  

2. Ethical awareness

The syllabus materials (details below) will present students with a selection of ethical decision-making tools. Students are expected to learn these ideas and to then practise using them in business situations in which simple economic models of utility maximization are not sufficient.