MGMT230-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017

Business, Society and the Environment

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 July 2017
End Date: Sunday, 19 November 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 28 July 2017
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 13 October 2017

Description

This course is a general introduction to the changing responsibilities of business to society and the environment. This course is designed to 1) help you to understand current perspectives on the impact of business on climate change globalisation, and consumerism, and, 2) to help you analyse and develop ways in which business organisations respond ethically to the needs of society and the environment. Each of the topics is addressed at a global, national and organisational level.

This course taps into various disciplines with the aim of creating not only a holistic overview that more accurately reflects the kaleidoscopic nature of sustainability within the context of business, but also combines insights from different disciplines in order to suggest concrete practical and viable solutions to environmental and social problems we are facing. This course allows you to get a taste of these disciplines and to learn what you can do in your own career to address the challenges of reconciling business with environmental sustainability. The course is designed in a way that it provides a brief overview of the roles that business, globalization, consumerism and environmentalism play in today’s world, with particular focus on sustainability.

Relationship to Other Courses
This course is a required course for students majoring in Human Resource Management (HRM) or the Science Sustainability Endorsement. It builds a foundation for MGMT333, Managing Corporate Responsibility.

Workload
Work load for this course, in terms of class preparation, review, assignments, and readings is about 10 hours per week.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course you should be able to:
  • Identify and discuss forces that shape business activities and vice-versa. In particular, the environment, consumerism and globalisation.
  • Identify and discuss conflicting ideologies of the social and environmental responsibilities of business and how these affect business practices.
  • Identify useful and successful practices for responding to the needs of society and the environment.
    Evaluate such practices in relation to a sample of New Zealand companies.

    B.Com. Learning Goals
    1) Graduates can demonstrate advanced knowledge of their selected subject major, informed by the broader context of commerce.
  • Students will understand the broader context of commerce through a global, environmental and consumption lens.
    2) Graduates are able to use analytical thinking and problem-solving skills to address specific problems.
  • Students will be able to analyse a specific environmental issue, such as climate change, and convincingly present the facts on such an issue in a way that is relevant to business.
    3) Graduates can understand issues from a range of ethical, global and multicultural perspectives.
  • Students can identify the implications of key personal and business decisions for a range of stakeholders, including the environment.
    4) Graduates are able to communicate effectively both orally and in written form.
  • Written and oral communication is assessed in this course.

Prerequisites

(1) 60 points from ACCT, ECON, INFO, MGMT, MKTG, MSCI, PSYC, SOCI; or (2) 60 points from Science

Restrictions

Equivalent Courses

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Ann-Marie Kennedy

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Analysis and Letter 27 Aug 2017 30% Analysis and Letter
Volunteering Reflection 08 Oct 2017 30% Volunteering Reflection
Test 19 Oct 2017 40% Test


Assessment in this course is designed to measure the extent to which a student is able to recognise and apply marketing concepts. It is also intended to reward those who:
• Consistently do the readings and other assessment on schedule,
• Regularly attend lectures

Weightings and descriptions of the various pieces of assessment are as follows:

1) Analysis & Letter 30% 27 August
2) Volunteering Reflection 30% 8 October
3) Test 40% 20 October

Analysis and Letter – 30%- 5 pages
For this assessment you will write an analysis on an important aspect of business that negatively impacts society. You will analyse the issue and its impact as well as potential solutions to the issue. Along with this analysis you will also be assessed on a draft letter directed at a company/the Government/a local body that tries to convince them to adopt your solution. You will not be sending these letters unless the lecturer identifies particularly exemplary ones.

Volunteering Reflection – 30%
For this assessment you will sign up to and then participate in one event with the Student Volunteer Army (or similar) during the semester. You can find their schedule of events and information for signing up here: http://www.sva.org.nz/ (If you have another idea for a place you can volunteer, please have your lecturer give you permission). After your experience, you will write a reflective paper relating theory and concepts from the course to your experience.

Test – 40%
For your test questions, please refer to the revision questions at the end of each chapter of the prescribed reading book. The test will be a compilation of these questions, based on the readings and content from weeks 1-11.  

Grading
The marks for each piece of assessment may be standardized before a final grade is determined.

Holding of Student Work
For quality assurance purposes the School is required to hold on record a number of assessment pieces as examples of differing standards of work.  If you have any objections to the School holding your assessment for this purpose then email the Course Coordinator to ensure your assignment is not used for this purpose.

Late Assignments
Assignments submitted after the due date without an extension being granted by the Lecturer will have 10% of the mark deducted for every day or part day the assignment is late.  Assignments will not be accepted for marking if the assignment is submitted any later than 5 days after the due date.

The Learning Process
It is YOUR responsibility to learn the material for this course to the standard you set for yourself.  The resources outlined below will aid you in this process, but ultimately you will get out of this course what you put into it.  
The measures used to determine how successfully you have learnt the material will be outlined in an objective sheet given out at the start of each section of the course.

Textbooks / Resources

Required textbook for this course
This course is heavily based on the following textbook. You are strongly encouraged to purchase one and make the most of it during this course. This textbook will be prescribed again next year which gives you an opportunity to re-sell to one lucky student the following year.
Kopnina, H. and Blewitt, J. (2015) Sustainable Business, Key Issues in Environment and Sustainability, Routledge, London.

Lecture notes will be uploaded on Learn

Notes

Class Representative
A class representative may be asked to volunteer in the first few weeks of class. Any problems with the course can be raised with the class rep. Their email can be found at UCSA. The class representative will take up any issues raised by class members with the lecturer concerned as they occur.

Departmental Academic Policies
The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty.  All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Coversheets - Group and Individual

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $775.00

International fee $3,188.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Management, Marketing and Tourism .

All MGMT230 Occurrences