Social Responsibility and Ethics

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

PLEASE NOTE: this subject is not being run in April or July, please ignore any references to April or July teaching availabilities above.

This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, GD-MKTG, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator.

In some offerings, this subject will have a pre-teaching period:

• Check availability information (above) to see which offerings have pre-teaching periods.
• Students are required to complete readings and preparation tasks as specified by the lecturer in the pre-teaching period.

70 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

In this subject, students learn about the societal context in which business operates, together with the skills for reasoning about ethical problems which arise in this context. The course examines the various stakeholders of business and discusses the obligations of corporations to those stakeholders. It considers strategies for achieving corporate social responsibility goals, taking into account both the ethical case and the business case for such strategies. The course also examines a range of alternative approaches to moral reasoning as well as the applications of those approaches to the complex and dynamic ethical problems that confront leaders of modern organizations.

On completion of this subject, students should:

• Have an understanding of the different approaches to moral reasoning and the limitations of these different approaches
• Be able to apply various kinds of moral reasoning in the analysis and resolution of ethical problems
• Understand the different forms that corporate social responsibility can take
• Have a critical understanding of the business case for corporate social responsibility
• Have an appreciation of the ethical dilemmas that arise in persuasion and communication with stakeholders, including customers, workers, and shareholders
• Understand how consumers’ purchase decisions are influenced by their ethical frameworks

January, June and September (Full time and Part Time):

• Contribution to class learning (equivalent to 250 words), ongoing throughout subject (10%)
• Syndicate presentation (equivalent to 500 words per individual), due in the teaching period (20%)
• Individual research assignment (1500 words), due two weeks after teaching period (60%)
• Case preparation and discussion (equivalent to 250 words), ongoing throughout subject (10%)

Hurdle requirement: to pass this subject, students are required to pass the individual research assignment.

March (EMBA):

• Syndicate assignment (equivalent to 500 words per individual), due at the end of the subject (20%)
• Final examination (2 hours), held at the end of the subject (80%)

Hurdle requirement: to pass this subject, students are required to pass the final examination.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, GD-MKTG, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator