Ethics for Management, Organizations, and Society (EMOS)

Undergraduate specialization (SBWL) hosted by the Institute for Ethics in Management in collaboration with the Institute for Organization Studies and Institute for Business Education

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 and essential to economic and societal wellbeing. The aim of the specialization is not to provide rigid guidelines for ethical conduct but to encourage critical thinking and to provide different approaches to evaluating ethical challenges.

The students who choose this specialization will broaden their capacity to deal with fundamental ethical problems and develop a repertoire to address them, as future decision-makers in organizations. Students will be prepared for ethical challenges in further study and in practice, whether in graduate programs in fields such as sustainability, leadership, and general management or in careers in business and consulting, including roles in strategy, human resources, risk and compliance, and corporate responsibility.

To apply, register via the new registration tool @myWU – Access to Specializations! between August 28, 2026, 2pm and September 1, 2026, 11:59pm for Course 1398 – Access to Specialization: Ethics for Management, Organizations, and Society.

The entry exam determines admission to the four-course EMOS specialization. It takes approximately two hours and consists of three written questions. No prior coursework in ethics is required, but you are expected to engage seriously with the preparation materials listed below.

What to expect: The exam has three parts:

• Question 1: Motivation. Why do you want to take this specialization? What draws you to questions of ethics in management, society and organizations? There is no right answer here, but we are looking for genuine reflection rather than generic statements.

• Question 2: Your contribution. What perspective, experience, or background do you bring to the classroom? This could be academic, professional, personal, or cultural. We are building a group that learns from each other, so we want to understand what you would add to the conversation.

• Question 3: Case discussion. You will receive a short moral dilemma, a situation where people could disagree about the right course of action. Your task is to identify the key ethical tension, develop arguments on both sides, and then make a recommendation as if you were advising the organization. We are not looking for a particular position. We are looking for your ability to take competing concerns seriously, reason through them, and commit to a judgment you can defend.

How to prepare: Three materials will help you prepare for the case discussion. Each serves a different purpose:

1. What is a moral dilemma? (Chapter 1/ Lecture 1 from the book Justice by Michael Sandel; Text, also available as video). This introduces you to the structure of moral dilemmas: situations where values conflict and no option is costless. Pay attention to how Sandel presents arguments on multiple sides before working toward a position. This is the mode of reasoning we expect in Question 3.

   • Source: https://justiceharvard.org/themoralsideofmurder/#1477505675034-57204795-9b61

2. Ethics in and for practice (AI Ethics Strategy Lessons From H&M Group Case; Text, also available as audio). This shows what it looks like when a real organization tries to embed ethical reasoning into its operations. Read it for the practical tensions: what happens when ethical principles meet business realities? This is the kind of situation you may encounter in the case.

   • Source: https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/2/atp-safelinks.html

3. Making ethical decisions in organizations (Managing for Organizational Integrity; Text). Paine distinguishes between compliance-based and integrity-based approaches to ethics in organizations. This text gives you a framework for thinking about how organizations can act ethically. It will help you move beyond "this is right or wrong" toward "how could, and potentially should, the organization handle this?"

   • Source: Paine, L. S. (1994), "Managing for Organizational Integrity," Harvard Business Review, 72(2), 106–117. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi4veDR8LqTAxUU9bsIHSRvCTQQFnoECCYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hbs.edu%2Fris%2Fdownload.aspx%3Fname%3DPaine_%2520Managing%2520for%2520Org%2520Integrity%2520My%2520Take_Submitted%2520Draft%2520Jan%252030%25202023.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0_Z4lcogw9ePwF-YFi3TCo&opi=89978449

 

A final note

You do not need to memorize these texts. We want to see that you have read them, understood the core ideas, and can use them to think – not to recite. The strongest answers in Question 3 are those that acknowledge genuine difficulty, engage with both sides honestly, and then take a clear position with reasoning behind it.

oth sides honestly, and then take a clear position with reasoning behind it.

Note that our SBWL cannot be completed within one semester and is only offered in English.

Course IV may be eligible for credit transfer. Contact Anna Maria Rath (annamaria.rath@wu.ac.at) in advance to find out if credit transfer is possible.

Architecture of the specialization:

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