DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS STUDIES

MODULE: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

MAY – AUG 2023
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Group Assignment (30 %)

Basis This is a group assignment

Business Ethics and Corporate Social

Responsibility
In-Class Team Assignment: Ethical Dilemmas
Instructions
The student version of this activity includes a set of six ethical dilemmas.

● Divide students into six teams

● Each team should receive a copy of their team’s assigned
ethical dilemma. They are:
o Financial Disclosure
o Who Owns My Time?
o Technology Temptations
o Is Anyone Listening?
o Community Involvement
o At What Price, Safety?
● One student in each team should be designated to record
the comments of the team
● One student from each team should be designated to report
out to the class at the conclusion of the exercise
● Students will read the scenarios and then answer three
questions:
o Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.
o Does the action violate company or professional
standards?
o Who is affected, and how, by the action?
● After the teams have discussed their scenarios and are
ready to report their team’s findings, be sure that the entire class
understands the ethical dilemma the team addressed. This can be
accomplished in several ways, such as the following:
o The student reads the scenario to the class.

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 o The instructor reads the scenario to the class.
o The text of the scenario is projected onto a
screen in front of the classroom.
● After each team has reported out, guide a general class
discussion of the dilemma and the team’s conclusion.

Attribution:
ORIGINAL CONTENT
Instructor Resource for In-Class Team Assignment: Ethical Dilemmas. Authored by: Linda
S. Williams. Provided by: Tidewater Community College. License: CC BY: Attribution.

Six Ethical Dilemmas

Financial Disclosure
By law, corporations must disclose (reveal) financial information to the public so
the public and its investors can make sound financial decisions. This poses an
advantage and disadvantage for corporations. If the company is doing well
financially, then they will be in greater demand for investors to take a risk in their
company. If the company is doing poorly, financially, then they will lose out to
competitors and be in less demand for investors to take a risk.

Enron, an energy distributing company, was in a partnership with Arthur

Anderson, an accounting firm. Arthur Anderson was responsible for auditing the
financial books of Enron. “Auditing” means to examine, inspect, and report proper
financial information to the public and Enron’s investors. Executives from both
businesses secretly knew that Enron was in financial disaster, and the numbers
were changed around in the financial books to show that the company was doing
quite well. Enron shredded documents to hide the fact that Enron was in financial
trouble. Enron executives later sent emails to their employees reporting that the
company was growing and in good financial shape. Enron employees were
encouraged to invest in the company through their 401K, a retirement account.
Several months later, Enron filed for bankruptcy, and their stock price fell from $65
a share to $0.60 a share.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.

1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.

2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

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 Who Owns My Time?
Employers and employees have a unique relationship. The employee agrees to
provide the employer with a fair day’s work. In return, the employer agrees to
provide a fair day’s wage.

Situation 1: Kendra Nickel is a receptionist for Media Technologies. After the

company installed voice mail, Kendra’s workload became lighter, so her
supervisor assigned additional responsibilities, including some accounting tasks.
Even with these assignments, Kendra is not always busy. To fill the time, she plays
computer games.

Situation 2: At Cooks’ Corner, a kitchen equipment store, most employees work

less than 40 hours per week. However, only employees who work a minimum of
40 hours per week are eligible for health insurance.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.

1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.

2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

Technology Temptations
Along with the many benefits it affords, technology also presents us with new
temptations. Technology allows us to access information for many legitimate
reasons, but it can also create ethical dilemmas. What do you think about the
situations presented below?

Situation 1: Marcie Connors collects overdue accounts for a large credit card
company. She has access to records of all transactions for any customer. Marcie
sometimes looks up the records of famous people. She checks to see where they
use their credit cards and how much money they spend. She sometimes tells her
friends about the buying habits of entertainers and politicians.

Situation 2: Jimmy Jenkins works for a not-for-profit organization. Recently, he

found a list of computer passwords near a photocopier. He started using these
passwords to look at other employees’ email files.

Situation 3: Azure Olds is in college and works as a sales clerk in a bookstore.

Occasionally, the scanner in the store is unable to read a barcode on a customer’s
selection, and the clerk must enter the code using the keypad. Azure sometimes
makes mistakes when she enters the code. As long as the customer does not
object, Azure thinks it’s unnecessary to correct her mistakes.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.
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 1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.
2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

Is Anyone Listening?
The Berman Company enjoys a reputation as a good place to work. The company
strives to provide quality services for clients.

Situation 1: Harvey Hess likes to be the first to know what’s going on in the
office. One of the reasons he is so well informed is that he looks through the
papers on the other employees’ desks.

Situation 2: To improve customer-service quality, employees’ telephone calls are

monitored. Monitoring is random and employees do not know when a quality
manager is listening to a call. Customer-service representative Ryan Ward made a
personal phone call while Megan Burke was monitoring the line. During the call,
Ryan made plans for his weekend activities.

Situation 3: Antonio Morrison used his office computer to prepare his résumé
and some cover letters. Darrin worked on these documents after hours and
provided his own paper for printing. He later learned that his supervisor knew
about his job search. The supervisor, David Williams, found the computer files
while looking for a report that Darrin had prepared.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.

1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.

2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

Community Involvement
Dawn Roundtree, a certified public accountant, is a member of the Pine Island
zoning board. The board is reviewing a request to rezone a large section of
property on the outskirts of town. The zone change would permit Best Buy, a
national electronics retailer, and Wal-Mart, a national discount superstore, to
build property if the zoning is approved. The Super Wal-Mart would consist of a
grocery store, deli, auto repair and tire installation shop, toys, men’s and
women’s clothing, pet accessories, electronics, sporting goods, automotive
products, home accessories, a salon, eye care service, and a lawn and garden
area. The plans also include a coffee, beverage, and sandwich shop.

Developers believe that Best Buy and Wal-Mart would improve the community
and offer citizens quality merchandise at significantly lower prices than they are
now paying. Local landowners are worried about their ability to sell the property
unless it is rezoned; this is the only large piece of undeveloped land in Pine Island.
Local retail storeowners have expressed fears that the giant retailers will force
them out of business. Other business owners have pointed out that the closing of
retail stores in the central business district will have a negative impact on other
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 businesses and the community at large.

Dawn knows most of the people who have presented their side of this issue; some
of them are clients of hers. Understanding the possible negative impact the new
stores could have on many of her firm’s small retail clients, Dawn has decided to
vote against the rezoning. In a three-to-two vote, the zoning board denies the
rezoning request.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.

1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.

2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

At What Price, Safety?

Ford Motors assembles a safety system for passenger automobiles. This system
substantially reduces severe injuries to drivers involved in accidents. In an effort
to increase profits, Ford Motors recently took steps to cut costs and increase
production. Ford Motors has begun using some less expensive components. These
components increase the system’s estimated failure rate from 12 to 15 failures
per 10,000 accidents. Despite this increase, the company continues to meet the
government’s safety standard of 20 failures per 10,000 accidents.

Use the three-step checklist to determine whether the actions above

demonstrated ethical behavior.

1. Is this action illegal? Explain your reasoning.

2. Does the action violate company or professional standards?
3. Who is affected, and how, by the action?

Attribution:
ORIGINAL CONTENT
Ethical Dilemmas. Authored by: Linda S. Williams. Provided by: Tidewater Community
College. License: CC BY: Attribution.

Method Written Report

 2200 - 2300 words (± 10%)
 One-sided A4 paper
 Times New Roman 12, 1.5 spacing and Justified.
 Proper headers, footers and table of contents
 All pages in the report should be numbered except for the cover page,
student declaration, question, marking criteria and Turnitin report.
 Binding (comb-binding). Sequence of binding:-
- 1: Cover Page
- 2: Student declaration

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 - 3: Assignment question
- 4: Marking criteria as per Appendix A & B
- 5: Presentation slides *
- 6: Assignment document
- 7: Turnitin report – the summary report showing all the
percentage matches and also the detailed report highlighting the
parts of the report that is matched.
* Presentation
 Microsoft power-point slides (ppt/pptx)
 One-sided A4 paper printed 4 slides per page (landscape orientation)
and bound with the written report above
 30 minutes (Including Q & A)
 Formal attire
Media of submission
1 hard copy and soft copy should be sent to Turnitin.

References  Recommended references include. books, journals, conference

papers, thesis, documentary, magazines, newspapers, websites,
online business portals etc are recommended.
 Unverified sources like Wiki sites, slideshare, other students’
assignments, etc. are strictly not allowed.
 You are required to comply with Harvard referencing style
 PLAGIARISM IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

Submission  22 MARCH 2022

 Hard and soft copy of report, slides and etc:
 Late submission is considered NO SUBMISSION.

Important  The maximum similarity allowed for the entire report is 20%; and
Note maximum 2% for each individual match within the report.
 Disciplinary action will be taken for academic dishonesty and fraud.
 Every idea or piece of data that is not your own must be cited in the
text, and its source must be referenced at the end of your assignment.
CHEATING and PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED
AND WILL RESULT IN ZERO MARKS for that assessment
item and may result in more serious action under college rules.

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The assignment requires students to:
 Show maturity, intellectual growth and high professionalism.
 Develop reading habits and keeping themselves updated on current business
environment.
 Link and apply previous knowledge and understanding to the requirements of this
module.
 Sharpen and improve their presentation and communication skills.
 Reflect formal research skills and present the report professionally, i.e. with a table of
contents, proper citations, references and appendices where applicable.
 Show initiative to seek out additional relevant data/information apart from the proposed
guidelines.

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 Appendix A

DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS STUDIES

GROUP ASSIGNMENT MARKING CRITERIA

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

(A) WRITTEN REPORT

Marks Weighted
Assessment Criteria Weightage 1 2 3 4 5 Marks Earned
1) Knowledge 5 Does not Demonstrates some Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates sound
demonstrate the grasp of the subject moderate level of the sufficient level of the subject knowledge
subject knowledge knowledge subject knowledge subject knowledge

2) Analytical skills 1 Not able to discuss Minimal ability to Some ability to Able to discuss the Able to discuss with
the given task discuss the given task discuss the given task given task good illustration

3) Writing skills 2 The content was not The content was The content was The content was The content was very
(a) Content relevant to the minimally relevant to generally relevant to relevant to the given relevant to the given
given task the given task the given task task task

(b) Organization, 1 Poorly organized Somewhat Generally acceptable Well organized and Very well organized
citations & and lacked organized with organization with supported and supported
referencing supporting evidence minimal supporting some supporting
evidence evidence
(c) Grammar, usage & 1 Too many Numerous Several grammatical A few grammatical No grammatical and
spelling grammatical and grammatical and and spelling errors and spelling errors spelling errors
spelling errors spelling errors

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 Marks Weighted
Assessment Criteria Weightage 1 2 3 4 5 Marks Earned
4) Presentation 2
(averaged from App. B)
Overall Assessment Max.
60 marks

Converted Marks 20%

………………………………………
THANA RAJ
Lecturer

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 Appendix B

(B) PRESENTATION

Marks Weighted
Presenter Weightage 1 2 3 4 5 Marks Earned
2  Does not  Demonstrates some  Demonstrate  Demonstrate good  Very good
demonstrate understanding of appropriate understanding of understanding of
understanding of the topic, but does understanding of topic topic
topic beyond a not make topic and able to  Appropriate eye  Eye contact was
(Note: write down the
surface level connections among make some contact is made used to gauge
names in the order of the
 No eye contact - ideas connections among with audience reactions and
person making the
looks only at  Little eye contact is ideas  Good vocal understanding
presentation)
notes or away made with  Some eye contact qualities (pace,  Very good vocal
from audience audience is made with inflection, volume, qualities (pace,
 Poor vocal  Acceptable vocal audience enunciation) inflection, volume,
qualities (pace, qualities (pace,  Appropriate vocal  Shows enthusiasm enunciation)
inflection, inflection, volume, qualities (pace, for topic
volume, enunciation) inflection, volume,  Able to create
enunciation)  Shows little enunciation) enthusiasm about
 Lacks interest in interest for the  Shows some topic
the topic topic interest for topic
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

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