Background of the course:

As a social scientist, I have been thinking about values for a long time. One student worked for her Ph.D. thesis on the issue of social values and quality of life under my supervision at IIT Kanpur. As an adjunct faculty, I also taught a course in Industrial and Management Engineering Department of IIT Kanpur in which I had to deal with the problem of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), i.e., the responsibility of the corporate organizations to follow ethical practices. I have been connected with several NGOs, and had opportunity to talk to their functionaries and observe their working. I have seen how everyone in every organization – government or non-government – is concerned about values, and yet, commonly deviates from values. Interestingly, anyone who deviates from values has an explanation which is socially acceptable. This creates confusion in any observer’s mind. This also raises some issues: what are ethical practices? What is the distinction between ethical behavior and behavior done in self-interest? On what basis can one judge whether somebody indulges in ethical behavior or self-seeking behavior? Can and should modern day business organizations follow ethical policies? How? Does ethical behaviour make one happy?