Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MNGT622 ModuleHandbook 22-23
MNGT622 ModuleHandbook 22-23
MNGT 622
10 CREDITS
Module Handbook
Module Team:
Dr. Divya Jyoti (Module Convenor)
Dr. Alison Stowell
Tutor E
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Learning Outcomes
3. Module Team
4. Module Schedule
5. Assessment
6. Resource List
1. Introduction
Over the past two years, our lives have changed in unprecedented ways. In the face of the
pandemic, we have been required to obey demanding new rules and accept new risks,
making enormous changes to our daily lives. These disruptions can challenge us to think
differently about ethics – about what we owe each other.
- Prof Hugh Breakey (December 2021)1
The questions of what is owed, to whom and why and is it right or wrong encompass not
only individuals but also societal actors including business organisations, which, in the midst of the
turmoil during the Covid-19 pandemic, have been faced with significant decisions2 including
matters of life and death. But should business firms be entrusted with such decisions that have
significant impact on society? On environment? Why or why not? Where do the limits of
responsibility lie for business organisations? What do they owe us? And what is owed to them?
How is managerial decision making on ethical issues enacted? And how is the remit of such ethical
decision making determined? Are such decisions rewarding? Can they be? For who? And who
decides?
These questions characterise and highlight some of the dimensions of the dynamic and
vibrant conversations at the interface of business and society which we will begin to examine,
reflect and discuss in our module with two main objectives - to introduce you to theories and
concepts relating to business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability; and to
enable you to apply these theories to practical situations in organisations, as well as in life in
general.
The overall objective of the module is to attempt to develop moral sensibility and practical
reasoning in the context of everyday managerial choice and action in organisations (and society).
The module is concerned with developing an understanding of the ethics and responsibility related
issues that organisations face, with an emphasis on morality in action. We will examine how
ethics/CSR/sustainability ‘in action’ can be diffused and difficult and will together in our sessions
reflect on 'how to work it out'.
1
https://theconversation.com/has-the-pandemic-fundamentally-changed-our-ethics-171304
2
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/lu/Documents/risk/lu-business-human-rights-dilemmas-midst-of-
covid-19-guide-for-senior-executives.pdf
Learning & Teaching Strategy
‘Working out’ the complex issues generated in the dynamic and contested business-society
relationship – also referred to as grand challenges3 and wicked problems4 - is not easy. The
module, therefore, adopts a participative learning and teaching approach and encourages
students to take ownership of their learning. The module will be delivered through 14 in-person
sessions designed to develop a nuanced understanding of both the theoretical debates and
practical challenges of CSR/ethics/sustainability issues in organisational life through a combination
of lectures, group work and class activities. The lectures will enable students to develop
knowledge and understanding of theoretical perspectives of conceptualising the business-society
relationship, ethical challenges faced by ‘global’ business firms, and (un)ethical behaviours,
decisions and practices of individuals in organisations. The class activities including group work,
discussions, case studies, games and role plays will encourage students to reflect on practical
issues in the business environment and to analyse the managerial implications and choices for
‘ethical’ practices and actions.
Assessment Strategy
The assessment consists of an individual written assignment (3,000 words maximum) and
offers students the choice to identify any relevant ethics/CSR/sustainability issue, and to
undertake an in-depth analysis drawing on the module content to demonstrate how the learning
outcomes have been achieved.
3
George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A. and Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand
Challenges through Management Research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), pp: 1880-1895.
4
Waddock S and McIntosh M (2011) Business unusual: Corporate responsibility in a 2.0 World, Business and Society
Review, 116(3), pp: 303–330.
2. Learning Outcomes
Wednesday, 3rd May 2023 Guest Lecture: The Seafood Business for
Prof Jan Bebbington
10:00 – 12:00 Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS)
Thursday, 4th May 2023 Lecture: Circular Economy Dr. Alison Stowell
10:00 – 12:00
Students must choose a topic that relates to an aspect of the module i.e. ethics, CSR or
sustainability, to research. Suggestions and guidance on possible topics will be offered during the
module but students are free to develop their own topics based on the material presented in the
lectures and discussions in class.
The reading list provides a wide range of resources to enable you to develop your understanding
of the key themes and concepts and to also draw on for your assessments. More will be provided
during the lectures.
Banerjee, S. B and D-L Arjalies, (2021) ‘Celebrating the End of Enlightenment: Organization Theory in the
Age of the Anthropocene and Gaia (and why neither is the solution to our ecological crisis)’.
Organization Theory, 2 (2021), 1-24.
Bendell, J. (2018). ‘Deep adaptation: A map for navigating climate tragedy’, IFLAS Occasional Paper 2.
Available at: jembendell.com/2018/07/26/the-study-on-collapse-they-thought-you-should-not-
read-yet/.
Berners-Lee, M. and Clark, D. (2013) The Burning Question: We can’t burn half the world’s oil, coal and gas.
So how do we quit?, London: Profile Books Ltd.
Blühdorn, I. and Welsh, I. (2007) ‘Eco-politics beyond the paradigm of sustainability: A conceptual
framework and research agenda’, Environmental Politics, 16(2): 185-205.
Dasgupta, P. (2007) ‘Nature and the economy’, Journal of Applied Ecology, 44: 475-487.
Defries, R. and Nagendra, H. (2017) ‘Eco-system management as a wicked problem’, Science, 356: 265-270.
Dyllick, T. and Muff, K. (2016) ‘Clarifying the meaning of sustainable business: Introducing a typology from
business-as-usual to true business sustainability’, Organization and Environment, 29(2): 156-174.
Elkington, J. (1997) Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, Minnesota:
Capstone.
Hediger, W. (1999) ‘Reconciling “weak” and “strong” sustainability’, International Journal of Social
Economics, 26: 1120-1144.
Hopwood, B., Mellor, M. and O’Brien, G. (2005) ‘Sustainable development: Mapping different approaches’,
Sustainable Development, 13: 38-52.
Hulme, M. (2009) Why we Disagree about Climate Change. Understanding Controversy, Inaction and
Opportunity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jackson, T. (2016) Prosperity without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow, second edn,
Oxon: Routledge.
Lewis, S. and Maslin, M. (2015) ‘Defining the Anthropocene’. Nature, 519: 171-180.
McNeill, J. R. (2000) Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century
World, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Naess, A. (1973) ‘The shallow and the deep, long-range ecology movement. A summary’, Inquiry, 16(1):
95-100.
Naess, A. (2008) ‘Section 2 - The long-range deep ecology movement’, in A. Drengson and B. Devall (eds)
(2010) The Ecology of Wisdom - Writings by Arne Naess, Berkeley: Counterpoint, pp. 99-145.
Patel, R. and Moore, J. (2018) History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, London: Verso Books.
Pilling, D. (2018) The Growth Delusion: The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations, London: Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Porter, M. and van der Linde, C. (1995) ‘Green and competitive: Ending the stalemate’, Harvard Business
Review, 73(5): 120-134.
Porter, M. E. and Kramer, M. K. (2011) ‘The BIG Idea – Creating shared value’, Harvard Business Review,
Jan-Feb: 62-77.
Rayner, S. (2006) ‘Wicked Problems: Clumsy Solutions – Diagnosis and Prescriptions for Environmental Ills’,
J. Beale Memorial Lecture, University of New South Wales, July 2006.
Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut economics. London: Random House Business, Chapter 4: Get Savvy with
systems.
Rittel, H.W. J. and Webber, M. M. (1973) ‘Dilemmas in general theory of planning’, Policy Sciences, 4(2):
155-169.
Rockström, J. and Edenhofer, O. (2020) ‘The global resilience imperative’, Project Syndicate (online), May
7th. Available at: www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/building-resilience-to-health-climate-
biodiversity-risks-by-johan-rockstrom-and-ottmar-edenhofer-2020-05.
Rockström, J. et al. (2009) ‘Planetary Boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity’, Ecology
and Society, 14(2): 32 [online]. Available at: www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/.
Schmitt Figueiro, P. and Raufflet, E. (2015) ‘Sustainability in higher education, A systematic review with the
focus on management education’, The Journal of Cleaner Production, 106: 22-35.
Siegel, D. S. (2009) ‘Green management matters: Only if it yields more green: An economic/strategic
perspective’, Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(3): 5-16.
Stead, J. G. and Stead, W. E. (2019) ‘Why porter is not enough: Economic foundations of sustainable
strategic management’, in T. Wunder (ed.) Rethinking Strategic Management, Cham: Springer,
pp. 67-85.
Stead, W. E. and Stead, J.G. (2009) Management for a Small Planet. Third Edition, Berkeley, CA: Sage
Publications.
Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O. and Ludwig, C. (2015). ‘The trajectory of the
Anthropocene: The great acceleration’, The Anthropocene Review, 2(1): 81-98.
Steffen, W. et al. (2018) ‘Trajectories of the Earth system in the Anthropocene’, Perspectives, 115(33):
8252-8259.
Stowell, A.F and Brown, C. A. (2022). The Little Book of how to Manage Planet Earth. Imagination Lancaster,
Lancaster.
(https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/171628/1/NERC_the_little_book_of_how_to_MANAGE_plan
et_earth.pdf)
Stowell, A.F and Brown. C.A. (2022). Management of Sustainability, or How should we manage Planet
Earth? in D Knights and H Willmott (eds), Introducing Organizational Behaviour and
Management. 4th edn, Cengage Learning, pp. 500-546.
Williams, F. (2018) Green Giants: How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability into Billion-Dollar Businesses,
New York: AMACOM Books.
Earthrise: The Story of the Photo that Changed the World (30.22)
Johan Rockström Ted Talk ‘10 years to transform the future – or destabilize the planet’ (7.37)
Kate Raworth, ‘Building a thriving economy within our planetary boundaries’ (41.28)
Kate Raworth - A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow (15.53)
Russell Brand “You will own nothing, and you will be happy”? The Great Reset (12.14)
The Call of the Mountain – Arne Naess and The Deep Ecology Movement (50.54)
Banerjee, S. B. (2008) ‘Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly’, Critical Sociology,
34(1): 51-79.
Carroll, A B (1987) ‘In Search of the Moral Manager’, Business Horizons, March-April 1987
Carroll, A B (1991) ‘The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of
Organizational Stakeholders’, Business Horizons, July-August 39-48
Carroll, A B (1999) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct’, Business &
Society 38, 268.
Carroll, A.B., Brown, J. and Buchholtz, A.K. (2018) Business & Society: Ethics, Sustainability & Stakeholder
Management. 10th edn. Boston: Cengage Learning
Crane, A. and Matten, D. (ed.) (2007) Corporate Social Responsibility: Volume 1. London: Sage Publications
Freeman, R E, & Liedka, J (1991) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: A Critical Approach’ Business Horizons,
July-August: 92-98.
Garriga, E. and Melé, D. 2004. Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. Journal of
Business Ethics, 53(1-2), pp.51-71
Gond, J.P., Palazzo, G. and Basu, K. (2009) Reconsidering Instrumental Corporate Social Responsibility
through the Mafia Metaphor, Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(1), pp: 57-85
Mintzberg, H (1983) ‘The Case for Corporate Social responsibility’ Journal of Business Strategy, Fall:4, 3 -15.
Mitnick, B. M., Windsor, D. and D. J. Wood, (2021) ‘CSR: Undertheorized or essentially contested?’.
Academy of Management Review, 46(3), 623-629.
Rasche, A., Morsing, M. and Moon, J. (2017) Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, communication &
Governance, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Schwartz, M., & Carroll, A. (2008). Integrating and unifying competing and complementary frameworks: The
search for a common core in the business and society field. Business & Society, 47, 148-186
Arnold, D G & Hartman, L P (2005) ‘Beyond Sweatshops: Positive deviancy and global labour practices’ Business
Ethics: A European Review, July 2005, Vol 14:3, p206-222.
Arnold, D. G. & Hartman, L. P. (2005) Beyond Sweatshops: Positive deviancy and global
labour practices, Business Ethics: A European Review, Vol 14(3), pp: 206-222
Berkey, B. (2021) ‘Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation. Why Multinational Corporations
have positive duties to the Global Poor. The Journal of Business Ethics, 2021(169), 43-56.
Kuyumcuoglu, H. S. (2021) ‘Sweatshops, Harm, and Interference: A Contractualist Approach. Journal of Business
Ethics, 2021(169), 1-11.
Gereffi, G. and Lee, J. (2016) Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains and Industrial Clusters: Why
Governance Matters, Journal of Business Ethics, 133 (1), pp: 25–38.
Levy, D. and R. Kaplan, (2008) Part VI ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Theories of Global Governance:
Strategic Contestation in Global Issue Arenas’. In (eds). Crane, A., Matten, D., McWilliams, A.,
Moon, J. and D. S. Siegal, (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Mahoney, J (2007) The Challenge of Human Rights: Origin, Development and Significance, Blackwell
Publishing.
Visser, W. (2008) Part VI ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries’. In (eds). Crane, A.,
Matten, D., McWilliams, A., Moon, J. and D. S. Siegal, (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Corporate
Social Responsibility, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wettstein, F. (2022) Business and Human Rights: Ethical, Legal, and Managerial Perspectives. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Global Ethics Forum: A Conversation with Sarah Chayes on Corruption and Global Security (22.07)
Human Rights and ESG at the 2021 Global Ethics Summit: Part One. (6.17)
What global trade deals are really about (hint: it’s not trade) (11.06)
The True Cost: Who Pays the Real Price for YOUR Clothes (Investigative Documentary) (50.55)
Stakeholder Theory
Carroll, A B (2004) ‘Managing ethically with global stakeholders: A present and future challenge’ Academy
of Management Executive, May 2004, 18:2, 114-120
Carroll, A B (2016) ‘Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: taking another look’ International Journal of Corporate Social
Responsibility, 1:3, 8 pages.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and L. J. Spence (2014/2008). Corporate Social Responsibility – Readings and cases in
a Global context. London: Routledge.
Dentoni, D., Bitzer, V. and G. Schouten (2018) ‘Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder
Partnerships’. Journal of Business Ethics (2018) 150, 333-356.
Freeman, R E, Martin, K, Parmer, B (2007) ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ Journal of Business Ethics, 74: 303-314.
Mitchell, R K, Agle, B R & Wood, D J (1997) ‘Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience:
defining the principle of who and what really counts’, Academy of Management Review, Vol 22
No.4 853-896.
Stieb, J A (2009) ‘Assessing Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory’ Journal of Business Ethics, Vol 87 No. 3: 401-
414.
Visser, W. (2017). The quest for sustainable business. An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility.
London: Routledge.
Whiteman, G., Walker, B. and Perego, P. (2013) Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations of Corporate
Sustainability. Journal of Management Studies, 50(2), 307-366.
Ryan Hillier Why purpose-driven companies are thriving (and can change the world) (22.49)
Ethical and Responsible Organisations: What role for managers? - Part 1 &2
Anand, V, Ashforth, B E & Joshi, M (2004) ‘Business as usual: The acceptance and perpetuation of
corruption in organisations’ Academy of Management Executive, May 2004, 18:2, 39-53
Ashforth, BE, Gioia, DA, Robinson, SL & Treviño, LK (2008), 'Re-viewing organizational corruption', Academy
of Management Review, 33(3), pp. 670-684.
Ashkanasy N. M., Windwor, C. A. and Trevino L. K. (2006) Bad Apples in Bad Barrels Revisited: Cognitive
moral development, Just world belief, Rewards and Ethical decision making,
Balch, D. R. and Armstrong, R. W. (2010) Ethical marginality: The Icarus syndrome and banality of
Carollo, L., & Guerci, M. (2018). ‘Activists in a suit’: Paradoxes and metaphors in sustainability managers’
identity work. Journal of business ethics, 148, 249-268.
Easter, S., Ceulemans, K., & Lynn, M. L. (2021). Moving Beyond Sisyphus: Pursuing Sustainable Development
in a Business-as-Usual World. Business & Society, May, 1–40.
Gond, J. P., El Akremi, A., Swaen, V., & Babu, N. (2017). The psychological microfoundations of corporate
social responsibility: A person-centric systematic review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38,
225-246.
Hahn, T., Pinkse, J., Preuss, L., & Figge, F. (2015). Tensions in corporate sustainability: Towards an
integrative framework. Journal of business ethics, 127, 297-316.
Hahn, T., Preuss, L., Pinkse, J., & Figge, F. (2014). Cognitive frames in corporate sustainability: Managerial
sensemaking with paradoxical and business case frames. Academy of Management Review, 39,
463-487.
Kok, A. M., de Bakker, F. G., & Groenewegen, P. (2019). Sustainability struggles: Conflicting cultures and
incompatible logics. Business & Society, 58, 1496-1532.
Pinto, J., Leana, C.R. and Pil F.K. (2008) Corrupt organizations or organizations of corrupt individuals? Two
types of organization-level corruption, Academy of Management Review,33 (3), pp: 685-709.
Smith-Crowe, K. and Warren, D.E. (2014) The emotion-evoked collective corruption model: The role of
emotion in the spread of corruption within organizations, Organization Science, 25(4), pp.1154-
1171.
Siltaloppi, J., Rajala, R., & Hietala, H. (2020). Integrating CSR with business strategy: a tension management
perspective. Journal of business ethics, 1-21.
Walls, J. L., Salaiz, A., & Chiu, S.-C. (2021). Wanted: Heroic leaders to drive the transition to “business
beyond usual”. Strategic Organization, 19, 494-512.
Zyglidopoulos, S. C., Fleming, P.J. and Rothenburg, S. (2009) Rationalisation, overcompensation and the
escalation of corruption in organizations, Journal of Business Ethics, 84, pp: 65-73
The Ethics of Business: Are 'ethical' businesses all they are cracked up to be? (27.36)
Alamgir, F. and Alakavuklar, O.N. (2020) Compliance codes and women workers’(mis) representation and
(non) recognition in the apparel industry of Bangladesh. Journal of Business Ethics, 165(2), pp.295-
310
Drebes, M.J. (2014) Impediments to the implementation of voluntary codes of conduct in production
factories of the Global South: so much to do, so little done, Third World Quarterly, 35(7), pp: 1256-
1272.
Jensen, T., Sandstörm, J. and Helin, S. (2009) Corporate Codes of Ethics and the Bending of MoralSpace,
Organization, 16(4), pp: 529-545.
Helin, S., Jensen, T., Sandström, J. and Clegg, S. (2011) On the Dark Side of Codes:Domination Not
Enlightenment. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27, pp: 24-33
Kobrin, S. (2009) Private Political Authority and Public Responsibility: Transnational Politics, Transnational
Firms, and Human Rights. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(3), 349-374.
Reinecke, J., Manning, S. and Von Hagen, O., 2012. The emergence of a standards market: Multiplicity of
sustainability standards in the global coffee industry. Organization studies, 33(5-6), pp.791-814.
Sinkovics, N., Hoque, S.F. and Sinkovics, R.R. (2016), "Rana Plaza collapse aftermath: are CSR compliance
and auditing pressures effective?", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp.
617-649.
Stansbury, J. (2007) Ethics programs and the Paradox of Control, Business Ethics Quarterly, 17(2), pp:239-
26
Wijen, F., 2014. Means versus ends in opaque institutional fields: Trading off compliance and achievement
in sustainability standard adoption. Academy of Management Review, 39(3), pp.302-323.
The systematic impacts of sustainability standards : briefing, white paper, and webinar (56.35)
Standards, audits and certifications in supply chains(2.34) - an excerpt from a conversation of the
The forests behind the label - Why standards are not enough? (12.31)
Circular Economy
Blomsma, F. (2018) ‘Collective ‘action recipes’ in a circular economy – On waste and resource management
frameworks and their role in collective change’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 199(2018), 969-282.
Calisto Friant, M., Vermeulen, W.J.V. and R. Salomone, (2021) ‘Analysing European Union circular economy
policies: words versus actions’. Sustainable Production and Consumption 27: 337-353.
Corvellec, H., Stowell, A.F. and N. Johansson, (2021) ‘Critiques of the Circular Economy’. Journal of
Industrial Ecology, early view. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13187
Esposito, M., Tse, T. and K. Soufani, (2018) Introducing a Circular Economy: New Thinking and New
Managerial and Policy Implications. California Management Review, 60(3), 5-19.
Gregson, N., Crang, M., Fuller, S. and H. Holmes, (2015) Interrogating the circular economy: the moral
economy of resource recovery in the EU. Economy and Society, 44(2), 218-243.
Hopkinson, P., Zils, M, Hawkins, P. and S. Roper, (2018) Managing Complex Global Circular Economy
Business Model: Opportunities and Challenges, California Management Review, 60(3), 71-94.
Kunz, N., Mayers, K., and L. N. Van Wassenhove, (2018) Stakeholder views on extended producer
responsibility and the Circular Economy. California Management Review, 60(3). 45-70.
Lacy, P. and J. Rutqvist, (2015) Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillian.
Stahel, W. R. (2016) Circular economy – A new relationship with goods and material would save resources
and energy and create local jobs. Nature, 431(March), 435-438.
Urbinati, A., Chiaroni, D. and Chiesa, V (2017) Towards a new taxonomy of circular economy business
models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 168(2017), 487-498.
Winans, K., Kendall, A. and Deng, H. (2017) ‘The history and current applications of the circular economy
concept’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, 68(P1): 825-833.
William McDonough: Cradle to Cradle, the Circular Economy, and the New Language of Carbon (78.15)