Course Title: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law

Credit Points: 12

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
BUSM4136	City Campus	Postgraduate	660H Grad School of Bus and Law	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2011, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 2 2013, Sem 1 2014, Sem 2 2014, Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015
BUSM4137	RMIT Intl University Vietnam	Postgraduate	660H Grad School of Bus and Law	Face-to-Face	Viet1 2011, Viet2 2011, Viet3 2013, Viet1 2015

Course Coordinator: David Goodwin

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 0123

Course Coordinator Email:david.goodwin@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Graduate School of Business and Law, Victoria and Russell Sts, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

The pre-requisite for this course is Business in a Global Context.

Course Description

The aim of this course is to provide participants with opportunities to explore the nature of personal and organisational ethics and organisations as responsible moral and legal entities with a view to encouraging sustainable corporate social responsibility.

This course explores the role of the firm in society, be it a public or private sector organisation and the managers and employees who enable it to produce goods and services. It considers the concept of an organisation as a ‘legal person’ and what responsibilities it has to a range of constituents and stakeholders from a legal and social perspective.

The course introduces critical knowledge around ethics and morality that informs the legal and social structures in which managers and organisations operate (PLO 1). It seeks to enhance a manager’s ability to analyse the complexity around business problems and to design creative solutions that address the ethical, legal and social responsibilities of organisations (PLO 2 & 3) both internally through the creation of ethical cultures and externally recognising the need for sustainable practice (PLO5 ).

The course also considers the challenges of doing business in an international context in countries that have different moral and legal perspectives.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

See learning outcomes below

Upon successful completion of the course you will be able to:

Apply knowledge and principles of personal, professional and organisational ethics.

Demonstrate an understanding of the legal components of corporate social responsibility.

Identify what constitutes an effective corporate code of conduct.

Overview of Learning Activities

This course may be delivered face-to-face and/or online through classes, lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. You will be expected to be an active participant and undertake the required preparatory work.

The following learning activities have been designed to assist you to develop the important capabilities outlined in this course guide.

While this list is not exhaustive, it provides you with an overview of some of the activities to be undertaken to successfully complete the course.

• Engage in research by means of searching texts, internet resources and journals (academic and profession).
• Read text material and selected articles.
• Prepare written answers to problems and topic questions.
• Resolve questions in case study problems.
• Participate in classroom discussions.
• Prepare and participate in class presentations.

Overview of Learning Resources

Students will be advised of the prescribed readings for this course and other reading materials upon enrolment.

You may access online learning tools and content for this course from the student portal, myRMIT, or, if you are an RMIT Vietnam student, through Vietnam Blackboard.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment may include individual business reports and essays, group projects and presentations, assignments, class participation, case study analyses, online discussions and activities, in-class quizzes, and tests.