Ethics, Governance and Sustainability

Course aim

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of business in the social context and the impacts this has on management decision making, business strategy, and general business conduct. The course critically explores the role of business in society, business ethics, sustainable business, and corporate governance. The course encourages active debate and reflection, and challenges students to examine their own values and beliefs by presenting alternate and culturally diverse narratives on the topics covered.

Course content

This course considers business in the social context and the impacts this has on management decision making, business strategy, and general business conduct. Four topic areas are covered:

Topic 1: Business, society, and environment - considers the role of business in society, including a critique of the shareholder approach, the stakeholder approach, and triple bottom line approach.

Topic 2: Business ethics - overviews principles of ethical decision making, their application in the business context and the implications for business conduct, ethics in the global business setting, and contemporary ethical dilemmas for managers.

Topic 3: Sustainable business - explores the concepts of sustainability and sustainable business, overviews the key social and ecological challenges society is facing, and considers how sustainability issues can be addressed in business strategy.

Topic 4: Corporate governance - considers what corporate governance is, what good governance practice is, and the implications for managers and management decision making.

Textbook(s)

Nil

Prerequisite(s)

Nil

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Component	Duration
INTERNAL, CITY WEST
Seminar (Compulsory Introductory Seminar)	4 hours x N/A
Seminar	3 hours x 11 weeks
EXTERNAL, CITY WEST, ONLINE
External (Asynchronous Online Discussion plus 1 hour per week of Compulsory Synchronous Discussion)	37 hours equiv. x N/A
EXTERNAL, OFFSHORE, HOPKINS TRAINING AND EDUCATION GROUP, ONLINE
External (Asynchronous Online Discussion plus 1 hour per week of Compulsory Synchronous Discussion)	37 hours equiv. x N/A
INTERNAL, OFFSHORE, JIANGXI UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOM, MANDARIN
Seminar	8 hours x 3 days
INTERNAL, OFFSHORE, SOUTHWEST JIATONG UNIVERSITY, MANDARIN
Seminar	8 hours x 3 days
INTERNAL, CITY WEST (INTENSIVE)
Seminar	37 hours x N/A
EXTERNAL, CITY WEST, DISTANCE EDUCATION
External	33 hours x N/A

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Assignment, Group project, Reflective journal

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 3)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
How to determine the relevant non award tuition fee. (Opens new window)

Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.