Business Responsibility and Sustainability BHS0032 Dr Eshani Beddewela Week 01

Session Outline Introduction to the Module and Module Team Learning and Teaching Strategy Assessment Strategy

Module Overview Explores how social, economic and environmental responsibilities are incorporated into the business organisations. Consists of two distinct but related elements. –The first section will examine the concept of corporate responsibility, its applicability in the context of a business organisation and the challenges of managing it in a globalised world. –The second section will address sustainability and sustainable development and its implications for business operations.

Module learning outcomes Define corporate responsibility and sustainability using key principles and theories. Discuss the application of corporate responsibility and sustainability in business organisations in relation to stakeholders and organisational strategy. Evaluate how businesses can meet the future challenges of corporate responsibility and sustainability. Demonstrate the practical application of corporate responsibility and sustainability within business organisations by applying specific principles, concepts and theories.

Module Team Dr Eshani Beddewela –Room: BS2/13 – Dr John Lever –Room: BS2/11 – Dr Brendan Canavan –Room: BS2/03 – Ms Charlotte Warin –Room: BS2/37 –

Delivery Schedule Module Handbook pages 5-6

Assessment Strategy Task I (Group Presentation) – 30% –15 minute group presentation: Eligible for tutor reassessment. Task II (Individual Assignment) – 30% –Individual 2,000 word assignment: Tutor reassessment applies Task III (Individual Assignment) – 40% –Formal 2 hour examination The assessment briefs would be made available on Uni Learn during the following weeks :- –Individual Assignment – w/c 13/10/2014 –Group Presentation – w/c 19/01/2015

Assessment deadlines Element of assessment Submission Method Submission Date Date work and feedback returned Individual Assignment Turnitin17/12/201428/01/2015 Group Presentation Presentations23/03/201520/04/2015 Final ExamPaper- Based/Closed Book TBA

Assessments – Important Points It is School policy that all assessed work must be submitted electronically via Turnitin, by 23:59 on the published date of submission. If you are not able to submit by the deadline, you must inform your Course Leader. Depending on the circumstances, you may need to ask for an extension or submit an extenuating circumstances form Assessed work which is submitted late but within five working days of the agreed submission date will be accepted and the maximum mark available for that piece of assessment will be 40%. Work submitted later than this without an approved extension will receive a mark of 0%. Please note that loss of data or printing error are not deemed to be acceptable reasons for the late submission of work

Tutor Reassessment Element of assessment Submission Method Submission Date Date work and feedback returned Individual Assignment Turnitin18/02/201511/03/2015 Group Presentation Presentations11/05/201518/05/2015 Final ExamPaper- Based/Closed Book TBA

UniLearn (BLACKBOARD) – VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT This module makes significant use of Blackboard. You are strongly advised to access this facility. We will use it for several purposes, including: –Announcements (We won’t be using physical noticeboards!) –General information (e.g. about assessment) –Archiving of module documents and lecture material, and –Hyperlinks to relevant external websites – an important part of your private study for the module –Updated ‘Reading Lists’‘Reading Lists’

Core texts Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spencer, L. (Eds.). (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and cases in a global context (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Blowfield, M. (2013). Business and Sustainability. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blowfield, M., & Murray, A. (2011), Corporate Responsibility (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

You are expected to do much more reading at university than at school or college; it's not called ‘reading for a degree' for nothing.

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR or CR), emphasises the need for companies to behave ethically. Ethical behaviour – behaviour which is accepted to be ‘good’ and right’. CSR provides an ‘instrumental’ or ‘practical’ perspective of how organisations should act towards their stakeholders to be regarded as ‘an ethical’ or a socially responsible entity. But, to date there is no singular definition for CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility ‘The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organisations at a given point of time’ (Carroll, 1979: 500 ) –Integrates four responsibilities –Emphasises the ‘obligatory’ nature of CSR over its voluntary nature

Carroll’s typology of corporate responsibilities

Questions related to CSR and Business Organisations What IS CSR? To you, to a business organisation? What are the core characteristics of CSR? What is the case for and against CSR? How can business organisations adopt a ‘strategic’ approach to CSR? How can such an approach be globalised in multinational firms?

References Essential Reading (week 1) –Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spencer, L. (Eds.). (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and cases in a global context (2nd ed.). London: Routledge Chapter 01 –Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4),