1. Show that you understand the importance of individual and organisational ethical and social responsibility and that you can think about ethics apply ethical decision making and responsible management

 

Assessment Brief (RE-SIT)

Academic year and term:	2017/18 Semester 1
Module title:	Ethics Organisations and Society
Module code:
Module Convener:
Learning outcomes assessed within this piece of work as agreed at the programme level meeting	Show that you understand the importance of individual and organisational ethical and social responsibility and that you can think about ethics apply ethical decision making and responsible management Professionally challenge thinking about ethics and corporate social responsibility, have analysed and applied that thinking on specific business cases.
Type of assessment:	Formative assessment: Feedback during revision sessions. Summative assessment: Written assignment- 3,000 word report plus a 500 word reflective piece, to be submitted on Turnitin
RESIT deadline:

Re-Sit Details

For students who are offered a resit you are required to improve and resubmit your original work as well as adding a further reflective commentary discussing what you have learned from the process.

Next stages to follow are:

1. Review your previously submitted work and read carefully the feedback given by the marker.

2. Use this feedback to help you revisit and rewrite your work, improving it in the areas identified as weak in the original marking process.

3. The original Assignment instructions and Case Study follow, and should be used as the basis of your resit submission.

4. Include with your resubmission an additional reflective piece, 500 words MAXIMUM, on what you understand was weak, how you set about addressing this and what you have learned from this that may help you with further assignments.

You should address the following specifically:

(i) Identify tutor feedback points on your original work and identify where/how the resit work has changed (give page number) in response to feedback.

(ii) Identify the lessons you have learned from doing the resit

(iii) Reflect on how your feedback and this process will help you improve future assignments.

If you did not submit work at the first opportunity you cannot reflect on your feedback. However, you are still required to submit a reflective piece in which you identify your reasons for non-submission i.e. poor time management, the implications of non-submission for your future success and how you propose to address this in the future.

If you have issues with confidentiality of your reasons for non-submission then you could reflect on how you have met the learning outcomes for the module, how you can use what you have done on the module to support your future career and what skills/employability attributes you feel the module has helped you to develop.

If you were deferred at the first assessment opportunity, you do not need to include the reflective piece as this is a firstsubmission, at a later date, not a resit. The original marking criteria will still apply.

Instructions for assessment

Details:

Your assessment will take the form of a 3,000 word (maximum word count) report in which you will demonstrate your achievement of module learning outcomes and application of ethical thinking to business decision making.

You will be expected to show that you understand the importance of individual and organisational ethical and social responsibility and that you can think about ethics apply ethical decision making and responsible management thinking in the case you examine. You will show that you can professionally challenge thinking about ethics and corporate social responsibility, have analysed and applied that thinking to your case and that the recommendations you make in the report show your current orthodoxy and present realistic alternatives ethical awareness in finding solutions

The Task

Acting as an Ethics/CSR consultant working for Greenleaf consultants, you will be acting on behalf of a major housebuilding company whereby you will research and assess contemporary ethical and corporate social responsibility issues (examples outlined below) for your client. Having chosen a subject to explore you will research what your chosen company’s current position and policy is, you will examine for the company the pros and cons of corporate social responsibility, research how the company can be informed of their practice through reports and research on the issue, comparison to other companies approaches to the issue and what academic research says can tell us about the issue.

You will be expected to inform the company about how ethical principles and theory and values can guide how the company’s approach to moral decision making.

From this you will make recommendations to the company on how a responsible management approach to the issue you are investigating.

You should choose as your ‘client’ one of the following companies which regularly appear in the Top 10 UK Housebuilders

Barratt Development Plc 

Persimmon Plc 

Taylor Wimpey Plc

Bellway Plc 

Redrow Plc

Bovis Home Group Plc

The Berkeley Group Holdings Plc

Galliford Try 

Crest Nicholson Plc 

Bloor Homes Limited

(Note – you MUST use one of these companies as your case)

For your chosen company you should focus on one of the following three important areas for a company to consider when thinking about how to act responsibly:

• Environmental sustainability
• Responsible Human Resources
• Ethical Supply Chains

Writing the Report

Having chosen a company and issue that interests you, you will act as a consultant to write a report advising the company you have chosen. You will be analysing the current position and policy of the company on the issue, you will outline for the company the advantages of taking a corporate social responsibility approach to the issue, and any downsides of taking that approach that you may identify. You will produce a stakeholder map identifying stakeholders interests in the issue you have chosen, you will research for your company how the issue is reported in the media, how other companies approach the issue (these need not be in the construction sector) and what academic research can tell the company about the issue. You will outline for the company how ethical theory can direct their ethos towards responsible management.

Your report layout and contents will look something like the outline below (This is a guide only, it is NOT mandatory to write your submission like this. Sometimes the subject matter dictates structure. It is important that you use your seminar time with your tutor to shape the report and that you participate in the formative assessment in week X. You will not receive marks for this but you will get feedback (see formative assessment outline at the end of this brief) which will enable you to check basic structure and content before your start to write your final submission).

As this is a report you can use subheadings.

You should also use academic references and cite them in the Harvard style. While this may not be the case if this were an actual report for a client – for the purposes of this assessment report you must use Harvard Referencing.

1. Title page

2. Introduction

The introduction should set out what your report is about. It is here that you identify that you are from the ethical and CSR consultancy Greenleaf  - and have been commissioned by [your chosen company] to explore your company’s actions and responses in relation to [the issue you are looking at].

You should make reference here to the approach of your chosen company to the issue referencing their CSR/Sustainability plan

3. Responsible Management and CSR

This section outlines a reminder for the company of why business should manage responsibility and the benefits of CSR. You should refer to academic studies on defining CSR and its benefits. You should also critique these by pointing out the downsides/costs of CSR if any.

4. Values Underpinned by Ethics

You should have a section where you outline for your client how they may draw on ethical theory in order to inform their responsible management. How can ethical theory help them think through how they can make responsible management decisions and how they can explain their values as an organisation. You should choose to outline and critique TWO ethical theories covered in class. You will briefly outline what the theory is and how it helps guide ethical thinking; you should then cover how the theory suggests managers should behave and what implication that has for your client.

5. Exploring your issue

You will need a section where you outline in more depth what the issue is you are covering for your client. Why is it important? Where is the evidence it is important? You should research where other companies have approached the issue you are looking at, the challenges this issue had for them and how they responded. Bear in mind your examples need not come from the construction industry but you will need to justify how they are relevant to the industry.

Which stakeholders are affected by this issue and how? You should produce a stakeholder map that outlines for the company this information.

6. Advising your company

Having researched and analysed the issue you now have to advise your company on what they should do in order to be an ethical and responsible company.

Given the issues outlined, the advice on why CSR is important, the ethical under-pinning you have identified (i.e. how to view choices of action from an ethical standpoint, who is affected and how – what in your assessment is the best course of action for your company and why?)  You should look to make some key recommendations for the management team you are reporting to.

7. A bibliography which includes all the references that you used to carry out your brand analysis. (Not included in the word count)