Specialization (SBWL) in collaboration with Institute for Ethics in Management, Institute for Organization Studies and Institute for Business Education

Host: Institute for Ethics in Management
 

What? The core idea

The purpose of this specializationis to offer an interdisciplinary educational experience that focuses on questions of ethics in management, business and society. These include: What is the responsibility of business facing crises and systemic risks? What is good governance and transparent decision-making? What is the role of leadership? Are AI-powered platforms new economic opportunities or do they discriminate and put users under surveillance? These themes are at the core of this specialization; answering them will be crucial for future economic and societal well-being. The aim of the specialization is not to provide guidelines for “ethical” conduct, but to encourage critical thinking and to provide different approaches to evaluating ethical challenges.

Why? Competencies and opportunities after the specialization

As future decision-makers, the students that choose this specialization will broaden their intellectual capacity to deal with fundamental problems and develop a repertoire to solve them. Students will be prepared to either continue on with master studies in governance, leadership, sustainability, or more general management; alternatively they are well-equipped to work in C-level support functions, consulting firms, or departments such as HR, ESG, sustainability, CSR, risk and compliance.   

How? The process and structure

Selection Process

To participate in the selection process, please register via LPIS between January 31, 2025 2pm and February 4, 2025 11:59pm for course 5764 – Access to Specialization: Ethics for Management, Organizations, and Society.

On the CANVAS page of the course, you can then upload a one page motivational letter in PDF format until February 9, 2025 23:59pm, that should answer the following three questions:

• Why do I want to take this specialization?

• Which experiences and expertise do I bring to the specialization?

• Please identify and describe a contemporary case where an organization is faced with an interesting ethical challenge.

Decisions about admission are made as follows:

• 10 % of spots for best grade point averages considering study progress

• 10 % of spots for outstanding motivational letters

• 80% of spots for a combination of grade averages and motivational letters

All admitted students will be contacted via e-mail, and in this case we would ask you to confirm immediately via e-mail whether you will accept the offered place. This confirmation will then be decisive for the final acceptance.

Architecture of the specialization

Information on the crediting of courses

Course IV is intended for credit transfer. Please contact Anna Maria Rath (annamaria.rath@wu.ac.at) in advance to find out whether credit transfer is possible.