Course Title: Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term1 2020

Course Code: BUSM8844C

Course Title: Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making

School: 650T Vocational Business Education

Campus: City Campus

Program: C5390 - Diploma of Accounting

Course Contact: Doug Gourlay

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5944

Course Contact Email: doug.gourlay@rmit.edu.au


Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Upasana Mahajan

Course Coordinator

Email: upasana.mahajan@rmit.edu 
Location: 80.05.30

Nominal Hours: 40

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

None

Course Description

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making in a variety of industries and organisational settings.

It applies to individuals who use ethical principles and apply ethical frameworks to make decisions in workplace situations.

The skills in this unit must be applied according to commonwealth, state and territory legislation, and applicable national standards and industry codes of practice or similar instruments.

Work functions in the occupational areas where this unit may be used are subject to regulatory requirements. Refer to the FNS Financial Services Training Package Companion Volume Implementation Guide or the relevant regulator for specific guidance on regulatory requirements.


National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:

FNSINC503 Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making

Element:

1. Identify ethical principles

Performance Criteria:

1.1 Identify personal and professional ethical principles relevant to own role, and their effect on actions and behaviour in the workplace

1.2 Analyse the impact that financial rewards and other incentives may have on an individual’s actions

1.3 Analyse the impact of context, group dynamics, and cognitive biases on conduct and behaviour

1.4 Analyse how psychological tendencies and decision-making biases can prevent individuals from perceiving ethical issues in the decisions that they make

1.5 Analyse the difference between ethical conduct and compliant or legal conduct

Element:

2. Apply ethical frameworks in the workplace

Performance Criteria:

2.1 Identify workplace situation where complex ethical decisions are required

2.2 Source and access ethical frameworks that can be applied to workplace situation

2.3 Assess factors that may prevent application of ethical frameworks to workplace situation

Element:

3. Analyse legal and organisational protection that apply to ethical decision making

Performance Criteria:

3.1 Identify legal protection for ethical actions in workplace situation

3.2 Identify organisational and industry policies and procedures for escalating ethical issues

3.3 Identify sources of advice and guidance that can be used to apply ethical frameworks in the workplace


Learning Outcomes



Details of Learning Activities

This unit will be delivered as a cluster with the unit BSBLDR402 Lead Effective Relationships 

A range of learning activities are planned for this course including self-paced and collaborative classroom based activities.

A Practice Firm - Work simulated environment will be set up where students will be employed in the virtual office. The students will be asked to work in this practice firm every week and perform the normal activities as in office kind situation, It will give the real working life experience. Practice firm will operate from Week 9-16.

The self-paced activities will be delivered thought various technology platforms and include your contribution to wikis and discussion threads, reflective journals, quizzes and interactive sessions.

The collaborative classroom based activities will include group discussion, group problem solving activities and opportunities to practice your skills in a simulated/real workplace environment.

We expect you to participate and contribute in all scheduled learning activities.


Teaching Schedule

This course is delivered face to face. This unit will be delivered as a cluster with the unit FNSINC503 Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making.

The weekly activities are as below:

 

Week

Topic / Learning Materials to be covered

Assessment due

1

Workplace Behaviours that Instil Trust and Mutual Respect

  • Why good relationships matter
  • Critical Business Relationships
  • Business responsibilities are key to good relationships
  • Ethical Responsibilities Often Extend Beyond Legal Requirements
  • What is Ethics?
  • The role of ethics in workplace relationships
  • Why Ethics Matter
  • How do I know if my decisions are Ethical?

 

2

The Essence of Ethical Dilemmas

  • Approaches to ethical dilemmas – Consequential, Categorical
  • A clash of Values - Justice vs. Mercy
  • A clash of values - Kindness vs. Honesty
  • Ethical principles -  Moral Generalist and Moral Particularist

Class activity
Case studies in the accounting/bookkeeping world

 

3

Impact of remuneration and incentives

  • Ethical case studies (Cricket Australia , Enron, Volkswagen)
  • Class activity - Present examples of organisations demonstrating a lack of ethics
  • The slippery slope of unethical behaviour.
  • Ethics questionnaire
  • The effects of Culture on ethical behaviour

Class activity
Case studies in the accounting/bookkeeping world

 

 

4

Personal Values and their role in ethical decision making

  • Personal values and their role in business
  • Class Activity - Identifying personal values
  • Making Sense of Their Core Values
  • Values questionnaire
  • What is moral conflict
  • Dealing With Moral Conflict

Class activity
Case studies in the accounting/bookkeeping world

 

5

Social, Ethical and Business standards

  • Financial Industry Compliance and Codes of Conduct
  • Class activity – Questions
  • Students present examples of non-compliance they researched

Assessment Task 1 & 2 released

Allocate student groups and schedule for Classroom presentations and Peer Reviews across weeks 11-15

All students to attend this week

6

Current approaches to Whistleblowing

  • Whistleblowing
  • Class activity – cases studies
  • ASIC’s 5 criteria for whistleblowing
  • 4 strategies for dealing with unethical behaviour

 

7

Signs of Ethical Collapse

  • Legal vs. Illegal
  • Ethical vs. Unethical
  • Behaviour that is unlawful in public in Victoria Australia
  • The Death of Corporate Greed?
  • Class activity – Questions and reflection

 

8

The Conflict of Moral Responsibility

  • Frameworks for ethical decision making
  • Why people don’t get involved
  • Class discussion
  • Class activity – Presentation of key learnings from CPA published articles

 

9

Solving Ethical Business Dilemmas

  • Sticking to their ‘ethical’ guns (values)
  • An ethical approach to bad behaviour
  • Class activity – Students present key learnings from CPA published articles

 

10

Organisational culture and group behaviour

  • What is organisational culture? 
  • The World’s Most Ethical Companies
  • Organisational approaches to instilling ethical behaviour

Assessment Task 1 – Report Due next week

11

Assessment working time

Assessment Task 1 – Report Due (Teams 1 and 2) end of week 11.59pm Sunday

12

In Class Presentation and Peer Review Assessment

 

Assessment Task 1 – Report Due and Group Presentation during scheduled class time

Assessment Task 2 – Peer Review  during scheduled class time

13

In Class Presentation and Peer Review Assessment

 

Assessment Task 1 – Group Presentation in class time

Assessment Task 2 – Peer Review during scheduled class time

14

In class Peer Review Assessment

 

Assessment Task 2 – Peer Review during scheduled class time

15

In class Role Plays for Assessment task 3

 

Assessment Task 3 – All students must be present

16

In class Role Plays for Assessment task 3

 

Assessment Task 3 – All students must be present

 


Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts


References

Lead Effective Workplace Relationships

978-1-76073-065-9


Other Resources

Online learning materials can be accessed by going into the RMIT web sites Online Learning Hub.

The online learning materials listed include: 

  • Course outlines
  • Power point Presentations
  • Supporting Reading material
  • Industry relevant articles
  • Activities.


Overview of Assessment

Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to:

  • identify three workplace situations that require ethical decisions to be made, and:
  • analyse the ethical frameworks that apply to each situation
  • determine the legal requirements and ethical dimensions of each situation including:
  • identifying variances between legal requirements and ethical dimensions
  • evaluating the impact of variances between legal and ethical requirements on decision making
  • evaluate the factors in each situation that could inhibit ethical decision making
  • determine the legal and organisational protections available when responding to each ethical situation.

 

Note: If a specific volume or frequency is not stated, then evidence must be provided at least once.

 

Knowledge Evidence

The candidate must be able to demonstrate the following knowledge to effectively complete the tasks outlined in the elements and performance criteria of this unit, and to manage tasks and reasonably foreseeable contingencies in the context of the work role.

  • Industry context in which the unit is being delivered, and common job roles in that industry
  • Impact of remuneration and incentives, organisational culture and situational contexts on an individual s actions and behaviours in the workplace
  • Theories of group dynamics in social psychology in relation to how people respond when confronted with an ethical situation that is inconsistent with their values
  • Frameworks for ethical decision making, problem solving and policy setting
  • Organisational artefacts relating to ethics, values and standards
  • Key principles of industry legislation, regulations, codes, and other instruments required to perform work described in the performance evidence
  • Procedures, strategies or protocols to identify and address unethical conduct

 

Assessment Conditions

Assessment must be conducted in a safe environment where evidence gathered demonstrates consistent performance of typical activities experienced in the industry capability field and include access to:

  • case studies representing situations of comparable context and complexity to those reasonably likely to occur in the industry
  • instruments, artefacts or other objects or materials required to effectively complete the elements, performance criteria and evidence requirements of the unit.

 

Assessors of this unit must satisfy the assessor requirements in applicable vocational education and training legislation, frameworks and/or standards.

You are advised that you are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate your assessment work to your teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met.

Feedback

Feedback will be provided throughout the semester in class and/or online discussions.  You are encouraged to ask and answer questions during class time and online sessions so that you can obtain feedback on your understanding of the concepts and issues being discussed. Finally, you can email or arrange an appointment with your teacher to gain more feedback on your progress.

You should take note of all feedback received and use this information to improve your learning outcomes and final performance in the course. 

 


Assessment Tasks

The course will have 3 assessments in total. The details of each assessment is as follows:

 

Assessment 1

It will be a case study.  This assessment is due in weeks 11-13 of the semester with 3 - 4 groups presenting in class each week. 

The purpose of the assessment is to give you the opportunity to critically investigate, evaluate and critique a case study involving the accountancy and/or bookkeeping industry, where there have been instances of unethical and/or unlawful organisational behaviour

The assessment provides an opportunity for you to engage in verbal exchanges, using language and concepts appropriate to your audience and adopting active listening and critical questioning techniques.

 

Assessment 2 

It will be a presentation based on the case study completed in assessment 1. It is called PEER REVIEW.  

Through the process of peer review, the purpose of the assessment is to critically investigate, evaluate and critique a case study presented by fellow students who have analysed instances of unethical and/or unlawful organisational behavior. (Assessment Task 1)

You should rigorously assess the facts, the opinions, the recommendations and the strategies presented and develop a range of thought provoking and challenging questions and points of view to further elicit an understanding of current workplace behaviors and the protective standards and legislation available to ensure an organisational culture that embraces ethical and lawful practices

 

Assessment 3 

This Assessment is designed to help you reflect on your individual and team performance during the completion of the Group Assessment Tasks 1 and 2. 

In this assessment task you will firstly answer a range of short answer questions and then apply your knowledge to take part in a series of different role-play scenarios. You will be presented with three (3) situations in which you will need to demonstrate your skills to be able to lead effective workplace relationships in the workplace.  

The Assessment contains two parts: 

Part A: Short Answer Questions  

Part B: Role Play Scenarios 

 

To be successful, you will have to complete all the assessments successfully.

 


Assessment Matrix

The assessment matrix that maps all the assessment is available on CANVAS under Assignments.

All assessments will utilise a competency-based model and will be deemed as either Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory. 

 

Other Information

Submission Requirements

 

You should: 

  • Ensure that you submit assessments on or before the due date. 
  • Always retain a copy of your assessment tasks. (Hard copy and soft copy)
  • When you submit work for assessment at RMIT University you need to use a cover sheet that includes a declaration and statement of authorship. You must complete, sign and submit a cover sheet with all work you submit for assessment, whether individual or group work.  On the cover sheet you declare that the work you are presenting for assessment is your own work.  An assignment cover sheet for submission of each assessment task is available on Canvas.
  • Each page of your assessment should include footer with your name, student number, the title of the assessment, unit code and title and page numbers.   For example, Julie Macpherson, 324567, Task 2, OHS2345C Ensure safe workplace, Page 1 of 10.

 

Late Submission Procedures

You are required to submit assessment items and/or ensure performance based assessment is completed by the due dates.

If you are prevented from submitting an assessment item on time, by circumstances outside your control, you may apply in advance to your teacher for an extension to the due date of up to seven calendar days.  

More Information:  http://www.rmit.edu.au/students/assessment/extension

Form to use:  http://mams.rmit.edu.au/seca86tti4g4z.pdf

Where an extension of greater than seven days is needed, you must apply for special consideration.  Applications for special consideration must be submitted no later than two working days after the assessment task deadline or scheduled examination. 

More Information: http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=g43abm17hc9w (unresolved)

Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/8a5dgcaqvaes1.pdf

Resubmissions (VET Programs):

If you are found to be unsuccessful in a particular Course Assessment Task (or you do not submit/attend) you will be allowed one resubmission.  Your teacher will provide feedback regarding what you need to do to improve and will set a new deadline for the resubmission. 

If you are still not meeting the assessment requirements you must apply to your Program Manager in writing outlining the steps you will take to demonstrate competence in your course. Your submission will be considered by the Program Team and you will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible.

Grading & re-submissions

Re-submissions do not contribute to your overall grade for the course.

Adjustments to Assessment

In certain circumstances students may be eligible for an assessment adjustment. For more information about the circumstances under which the assessment arrangements might be granted please access the following website:

More Information: http://rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=7usdbki1fjf31

 

Marking Guide (Competency):

 

You must demonstrate that you have all the required skills/knowledge/elements in the unit of competency you are studying.

 

You will receive feedback on each assessment task that will inform you about your progress and how well you are performing.

Course Overview: Access Course Overview