Click Here to view current information
Unit Synopsis
This unit examines the interrelated topics of personal and business ethics and business sustainability. It critically reviews the socio-cultural environment in which business operates and how this can change dramatically between countries and cities. Ethical frameworks for managerial decision-making are critiqued with reference to various stakeholder groups and you will examine the debates surrounding sustainable development as they impact on organisations in their local and global contexts. The interactions between personal ethics and how ethics is managed within an organisation are also considered. Technological, societal and cultural sources of ethical challenges are reviewed and cases will be discussed outlining how various organisations might respond to these challenges.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Reflective Practice Assignment | 50% |
| 2. Presentation and Written Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Take Home Exam | 20% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20.69% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Teaching team; self-reflection.
News, real-life examples, and industry reports/articles.
Increase the use of news, real-life examples, and industry reports/articles posted on the Moodle site.
Industry reports, and real-life examples were posted on Moodle throughout the term. Assessment tasks were also aligned with current industry challenges, encouraging students to apply reports and market data in their submissions.
Source: Feedback in class.
Students appreciate the experience and knowledge sharing of the teaching team.
The recommendation is that the teaching team remain the same to ensure consistency of delivery across campuses.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Commets 2025/1.
Should involve more interactive sessions rather than just watch videos.
The recommendation is to include more interactive sessions with short, engaging quizzes and polls in classes. Having some live lectures could be included.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Develop an understanding of the interconnections between business ethics, morality, law, sustainability, globalisation and evaluate their impacts on business and society
- Explain the aspects of business social responsibility and sustainability, including the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs) and how these impact upon business strategy
- Analyse the major ethical theories and frameworks and be able to utilise these in a contemporary business setting to enhance business decision making
- Develop an understanding of the management of ethics within an organisation and explore the role of tools and concepts such as corporate social responsibility, codes of ethics and conduct, and anti bribery strategies as a means of improving business and civil society
- Demonstrate commonly accepted professional ethical standards in the work place and in your behaviour toward others.
The unit does not link to any specific external professional accreditation.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Take Home Exam | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Communication | • | ||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | ||||
| 4 - Research | • | ||||
| 5 - Self-management | • | • | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Leadership | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| 1 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Take Home Exam | • | • | • | • | |||||