C717: Business Ethics

C717 Business Ethics at Western Governors University asks a practical question: in a real business situation, which course of action is ethical and socially responsible, and how should a company turn that into policy?

WGU's B.S. Accounting program guide lists the course at three competency units in the second term of the standard path, with no prerequisites. The guide says students explore business scenarios to identify ethical options and learn to develop appropriate ethics guidelines for a business.

Students find C717 harder than it looks because there is rarely one obviously right answer. Marks come from reasoning clearly through the options, not from stating an opinion.

What C717 Covers

The program guide lists six competencies:

• Ethical courses of action in a business situation: identifying the options and judging which are ethical and socially responsible.
• Ethics and leadership: how leaders' values, incentives and example shape an organization's behavior.
• Ethics in employment: hiring, fairness, privacy, whistleblowing and treatment of employees.
• Environmental concerns: pollution, resource use and sustainability decisions.
• International business: bribery, labor standards and differing cultural norms.
• Evaluating ethics policies: judging whether a code of conduct or policy actually works in a scenario.

Key Concepts Explained

Ethical Frameworks

Most analyses draw on a handful of lenses. Utilitarianism weighs outcomes for everyone affected. Deontology asks which duties and rights apply regardless of outcome. Virtue ethics asks what a person of good character would do. Justice approaches focus on fair treatment and fair distribution.

Stakeholder Analysis

A stakeholder is anyone affected by a decision: employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, communities and the environment. Listing stakeholders and what each stands to gain or lose is usually the fastest route to seeing the real trade-offs.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Carroll's pyramid describes four layers of responsibility: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. It is useful for showing that obeying the law is the floor, not the ceiling, of responsible conduct.

Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them

WGU assesses competency through performance assessments or objective assessments; your course page shows the current format. Work in this subject typically looks like this:

Writing or Evaluating an Ethics Policy

Two competencies ask you to move from single decisions to organization-wide guidance: developing ethics guidelines and evaluating ethical policies in a scenario. A useful policy is specific enough to guide behavior, not just a list of values.

When you evaluate or draft one, check these elements:

• Clarity: does it say what employees should and should not do, with examples?
• Scope: does it cover the real risks in the scenario, such as gifts, conflicts of interest or data use?
• Reporting: is there a safe, confidential way to raise concerns without retaliation?
• Enforcement: are consequences stated and applied consistently, including to senior staff?
• Leadership support: do leaders model the policy, or does the culture reward breaking it?

A policy that exists on paper but is ignored in practice is a common weakness in scenarios, and pointing it out shows real analysis.

Where Students Get Stuck

• Opinion instead of analysis. "I think this is wrong" earns little. Name the framework and show the reasoning.
• Treating legal as ethical. Many scenarios involve actions that are legal but still irresponsible. Say so explicitly.
• Ignoring stakeholders. Leaving out employees, communities or the environment weakens the analysis.
• No recommendation. After weighing the options, choose one and explain why it is the most defensible.

Study Tips for C717

• Learn three or four frameworks well enough to apply each in two sentences.
• Practice with news stories: identify the stakeholders and the ethical issue in each.
• Use a simple sequence: facts, issue, stakeholders, options, analysis, recommendation.
• When evaluating a policy, ask whether it is clear, enforced and backed by leadership.

How We Help with C717

Send the task instructions, the rubric, the scenario and any evaluator comments. A tutor with a business background prepares a custom analysis that shows how to apply ethical frameworks to your scenario, explains the reasoning, or reviews your draft for gaps. For scenario-based writing more generally, see our case study writing guide.

GradeEssays is independent of Western Governors University. Our work is tutoring and reference material: use it to understand the method, then write and submit your own work under WGU's academic integrity rules. We never log in to student portals. Every order is written from scratch, with free revisions within the scope of your original request.