COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 292T.3

This course is dual-listed with the Full-time MBA Program.

COURSE TITLE: Managing Human Rights in Business

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

INSTRUCTOR: Roger McElrath and Faris Natour

EMAILS: rogmac57@berkeley.edu, farisnatour@berkeley.edu  

COURSE MEETING DATES: Mondays 4-6PM, Runs 15 weeks

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Imagine where you will be two years after you graduate from Berkeley:  You may run a start-up clothing label, sourcing garments from factories in Bangladesh.  How do you ensure that the clothes bearing your brand are made under ethical working conditions?   Or you may work for a social media platform and the Thai government asks you to take down a user’s post critical of the Thai king.  Do you comply, restricting that user’s freedom of speech?  You may be marketing a life-saving cancer drug developed for a biotech company.  But at prices that help your company recoup R&D costs, the drug is out of reach for many who urgently need it. What should you do? What can you do?

Today, business leaders face these and other human rights dilemmas on a daily basis. Through interactive exercises, debates, scenarios and role play, we will put you in the shoes of a fast growing community of business managers whose job it is to make sure that their companies do not abuse human rights.  Applying over 20 years of experience advising leading companies on human rights, we will provide you with the knowledge, skills and tools to identify and address a company’s human rights risks and to leverage the power of business to advance human rights around the world. Through guest lectures, students will have the opportunity to engage first hand with business leaders and human rights advocates dealing with these issues on a daily basis.  

This course, one of the first of its kind offered at a business school, will prepare students for this growing field of practice at the intersection of business and human rights.  It is designed to meet the following learning objectives:

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Faris Natour leads the Human Rights and Business Initiative at the Center for Responsible Business at Berkeley Haas. As co-founder of Article One (www.articleoneadvisors.com) Faris advises multinational companies on human rights strategy and management. Previously, Faris held various leadership positions at BSR (www.bsr.org), a global business network and sustainability consultancy. He led BSR’s global human rights practice from 2011-2015.  Faris received law degrees from George Washington University Law School and Universitaet Regensburg, Germany.  

Roger McElrath has extensive professional experience delivering impactful consulting and research services to companies and other organizations on critical social, community, and environmental issues. His work at BSR in the area of human rights has included a leadership role in developing and implementing methodologies for calculating living wages in multiple countries, assisting in the development of a human rights assessment tools for the extractives and agricultural industries, conducting field-based human rights risk assessments, and providing detailed advice to companies on the content and implementation of supply chain codes of conduct. Roger holds a Master’s degree from the George Washington University in International Affairs.