Harmony and Business: Investigating Responsible Business Principles

Task Description

For this assessment you will need to conduct an investigation and write up your findings in a report.  

As part of this module we will be considering the relationship between harmony and business and have been invited to contribute to a workbook of case studies on harmony and business.  This assessment relates directly to this opportunity and your final piece of work may be selected to contribute to the publication if appropriate.

For the assessment you should firstly consider how the principles of harmony can underpin responsible business.  You should then select a business or organisation as a case study and conduct some primary research to evidence why you feel the business reflects the principles of harmony e.g. is it based on circular principles? Does the business promote good relationships internally and externally? Does it help to solve social, economic or environmental problems?

In developing the case study you should critically analyse its local and global responsibility from socio-cultural, environmental and economic perspectives.

Upon the successful completion of this module, the student should be able to demonstrate the ability to:

• systematically evaluate approaches to responsibility in business;

• research, critically analyse and propose solutions to ethical challenges in different organisations.

1.Engagement with Literature Skills

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set; you should make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources, where appropriate (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).    You should provide evidence that you have accessed a wide range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites.  You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly.   Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older.  You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work. 

2.Knowledge and Understanding Skills

At level 6, you should be able to demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge and a systematic understanding of the subject area, at least some of which is informed by the latest research and/or advanced scholarship within the discipline. You should be aware of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge. Your work must demonstrate the growing extent of your knowledge and systematic understanding of concepts and underlying principles associated with the subject area.  Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning.  You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set.  You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding.  Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding; ideally each should be complete and detailed, with comprehensive coverage. 

Instructions:

3.Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

You should be able to: critically evaluate evidence, arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data some of which are at the forefront of a discipline (and that may be incomplete) to devise and sustain arguments, to make judgements and/or solve problems; describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information.  This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? At all times, you must provide justification for your arguments and judgements.  Evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your work.  Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts.  Sound, valid conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work.   Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

4.Practical Skills

At level 6, you should be able to apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply your knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects. You will deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry relevant to the discipline, and apply them in complex and unpredictable contexts, to devise and sustain arguments and/or to solve problems. You should be able to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context.  How do they work in practice?  You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context or circumstances, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts, some of which may be innovative and creative.  This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria.  You should show awareness of the limitations of concepts and theories when applied in particular contexts.

5.Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice 

Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for graduate-level employment requiring the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility and decision-making in complex and unpredictable circumstances.  This includes demonstrating: the learning ability for professional development to advance existing skills and acquire new competences of a professional nature that will enable you to assume significant responsibility within organisations; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; that you can use appropriate media to effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms to specialist and non-specialist audiences; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well-structured in presentation and organisatio