For this report you are to select a book (fiction or non-fiction); OR a movie (it can also include documentaries); OR a relatively detailed news feature (5 – 6 printed pages in a magazine OR a 30 – 60 minute TV report). While you can choose to base your report on any of these categories, the one constraint is that the piece of work you choose has to be about the issues we have discussed in the course (ethics, governance and sustainability). Some examples are provided after the assignment description. These examples are for illustrative purpose only. You do not have to choose from this list.
The assignment asks you to think outside the box and to extend “both our language and our understanding” beyond business risk management concerns (and beyond the constraints of academic research) to engage in the wider societal discourse on ethics, governance and sustainability.
More specifically:
1. Select a source (the “creative piece of work”) from one of the above categories.
2. Briefly describe the narrative in your chosen source (remember it can be a book OR a movie OR a news feature). What is the story there?
3. Describe how it relates to the issues we have discussed in the course (ethics, governance and sustainability). Depending on your chosen source, you may choose reflect on all three issues (ethics, governance and sustainability) more or less equally; or you may choose to prioritise one issue (e.g., ethics) over the other two issues (e.g., sustainability and governance) — but in that case make sure you also reflect on the other two (even if it is to a lesser extent). (i.e., if you choose the “central actor” of your story to be ethics, make sure you also reflect on sustainability and governance as the “supporting cast”.
4. How has engaging with this creative piece of work extended your understanding of the role of Business in Society?
Please see the feedback sheet for details of assessment criteria.
Some examples of the creative pieces of work:
Books:
1. Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
2. Gaia (James Lovelock)
3. White Beach (Germaine Greer)
4. The Sceptical Environmentalist (Bjorn Lomborg)
5. Conscious Capitalism (Raj Sisodia)
6. Cadel (James Bradley)
7. Art of War (Sun Tzu)
8. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig)
9. The Weather Makers (Tim Flannery)
10. The Lorax (Dr Seuss) – Yes this too!
11. Affluenza (Hamilton and Dennis)
12. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan)
Movies:
1. Greed is good
2. The Corporation
3. Blood Diamonds
4. Inconvenient Truth
5. Wolf of Wall Street
6. 2040
7. I am Greta
8. Defend Conserve Protect
9. Avatar
10. Bambi
11. Frozen
12. Interstellar
Summing up: Ethics, governance and sustainability often involve “hyperobjects”. Hyperobjects are things that are too big to be comprehended within individual level frames of references. So issues such as climate change, become too extended in time and space, and it becomes difficult to conceptualise these issues and link them with our daily lives. Engaging with fiction / creative sources allows us to step out of our comfort zone and think creatively regarding connecting these abstract notions, and link them (deeply and meaningfully) back to our lives, families, professions and societies.
