BUA5VED: Value, Ethics & Diversity in Organisations- Literature Review Assignment

Internal Code: IAH334

Literature Review Assignment:

Task: You need to produce an individual written assignment (total 2500 words, 35 marks) as detailed below. You should look at the Written Marking Rubric so you understand the criteria that will be used to assess your work. Individual Written Assignment The individual written assignment comprises three inter-related components: 1. Self-reflection. 2. Short literature review. 3. Application exercise. 1. Self-reflection Identify and discuss an ethical decision you have taken, or an ethical dilemma you have faced, in a workplace context. How is the decision or dilemma an ethical one? Discuss the ethical approach/-es that underpinned your decision or dilemma. Begin by brainstorming ideas for this assignment and then narrow down the possibilities to one workplace decision or dilemma that has clear ethical elements. First, you should describe your decision or dilemma: Who are the main people involved? What is the setting (organisational, industrial, cultural)? What are the key pieces of contextual and background information you need to present to help others make sense of your decision or dilemma? In this assignment component, you need to demonstrate your understanding of what morality and ethics mean with reference to your chosen decision/dilemma. So, how does your decision involve questions and judgments about right and wrong, good and bad? Is there a line you can draw in your chosen situation between ethics and law? Was a values conflict involved? Are there issues of the common good, utility, duties and rights, justice, fairness and equality, harm or negligence involved? Remember to define any key terms used. By considering the answers to these questions, you should be able to articulate how your decision or dilemma was an ethical one. Next, think about what guided your decision or the dilemma? Here you need to reflect on the underpinnings of your approach to making your ethical decision. In this section, you must refer to and use at least one ethical concept or theory covered in the subject to discuss your approach. These concepts or theories could include: cognitive moral development (Which level and stage were you reasoning at?); utilitarianism (Were you trying to maximise utility for the greatest number of people?); Kantian ethics (Were you driven by duty? Was there a maxim involved?); justice as fairness (Were you honouring or violating somebody’s rights? Were there procedural or distributive justice issues involved?); virtue ethics (Was your decision based on a particular trait of your moral character?); feminist ethics (Was your decision located in an ethics based on abstract principles, or an ethics of care?). Remember to define any key terms used. In discussing your approach/-es, you might like to reflect critically on the process and/or the outcome of your decision or the dilemma. For this self-reflective exercise, you are encouraged to write in the first-person. That is to say, it is permissible for this exercise to write: “I have experienced the following .... This happened to me”. Typically, you would not use the first person to write an academic assignment. 2. Short literature review Drawing upon academic literature, synthesise and evaluate current understandings of either ethical leadership or whistle-blowing. Pick the topic that you are more interested in: ethical leadership or whistle-blowing. Then you should conduct a literature search using the online library resources. Resources to develop your library search and information literacy skills have been provided for this subject in the assessment section of the LMS site. You should identify academic literature, and specifically peer-reviewed academic journal articles, that provide an insight into current understandings of your chosen topic. What are the current debates in the literature on ethical leadership or whistle-blowing? What is the dominant understanding of your chosen topic? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these dominant understandings? For this component, you should ensure that you draw upon 8-10 readings from the academic literature; a minimum 6 of these readings must be peer-reviewed academic journal articles. You may draw on no more than 2 readings currently available through the reading list for this subject. You are partly being assessed on your research and information literacy skills, and in particular your ability to conduct a library search and to identify appropriate materials for this task. You should not use the first person to write section 2. 3. Application With reference to an organisation with which you are familiar, evaluate whether there are ethical issues that require attention and discuss how these might best be addressed. The aim of this exercise is to get you to apply the knowledge you have gained through the subject, and in particular from your work for components 1.1 and 1.2, to your current or previous organisation. In addition to applying your new knowledge, you are also being tested on your ability to use academic research as a form of evidence notably for your discussion of how the ethical issues you have identified in your chosen organisation could be addressed. For this component, you should ensure that you draw upon 8-10 readings from the academic literature; a minimum 6 of these readings must be peer-reviewed academic journal articles. You may draw on no more than 2 readings currently available through the reading list for this subject. You may use some or all of the articles that you identified in Section 1.2, in addition to any others that may be relevant. You are partly being assessed on your research and information literacy skills, and in particular your ability to conduct a library search and to identify appropriate materials for this task. You should not use the first person to write section 3.