Course Title: Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term2 2022
Course Code: BUSM8844C
Course Title: Identify situations requiring complex ethical decision making
Important Information:
Please note that this course may have compulsory in-person attendance requirements for some teaching activities.
To participate in any RMIT course in-person activities or assessment, you will need to comply with RMIT vaccination requirements which are applicable during the duration of the course. This RMIT requirement includes being vaccinated against COVID-19 or holding a valid medical exemption.
Please read this RMIT Enrolment Procedure as it has important information regarding COVID vaccination and your study at RMIT: https://policies.rmit.edu.au/document/view.php?id=209.
Please read the Student website for additional requirements of in-person attendance: https://www.rmit.edu.au/covid/coming-to-campus
Please check your Canvas course shell closer to when the course starts to see if this course requires mandatory in-person attendance. The delivery method of the course might have to change quickly in response to changes in the local state/national directive regarding in-person course attendance.
School: 525T Business & Enterprise
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 BSBLDR413 Lead effective workplace relationships
A range of learning activities are planned for this course including self-paced and collaborative classroom based activities.
A Practice Firm (simulated work environment) will be set up where students will be employed in a virtual office. The students will be asked to work in this practice firm every week and perform normal activities as they might in an accounting and bookkeeping office. It will give a real working life experience.
The self-paced activities will be delivered through 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 discussions, 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 typically delivered using a blended mode. This unit will be delivered as a cluster with the unit BSBLDR413 Lead effective workplace relationships.
The weekly activities are as below:
Week |
Topic / Learning Materials to be covered |
Assessment due |
1 |
Workplace Behaviours that Instil Trust and Mutual Respect
Reading: Pre Class content -Links provided in the weekly module Activity: IN - Class. Exploring course schedules and discussion in your time Quiz 1 - Introduction to Ethics |
|
2 |
The Essence of Ethical Dilemmas.
Class activity |
|
3 |
Impact of remuneration and incentives
Class activity |
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 |
4 |
Personal Values and their role in ethical decision making
Class activity |
|
5 |
Social, Ethical and Business standards
|
|
6 |
Current approaches to Whistleblowing
Class activity |
|
7 |
Signs of Ethical Collapse
Class activity |
|
8 |
The Conflict of Moral Responsibility
Class activity |
|
9 |
Solving Ethical Business Dilemmas
Class activity |
In-Class Presentations of Report The groups will cross observe other groups and ask questions and take notes for the Assessment 2. Assessment Task 1 –Report Due |
10 |
Organisational culture and group behaviour
|
In-Class presentations continue The groups will cross observe other groups and ask questions and take notes for the Assessment 2. Assessment Task 1 –Report Due |
11 |
Assessment working time |
|
12 |
In Class Presentation and Peer Review Assessment
|
Assessment task 2 – Peer Review Due |
13 |
In Class Presentation and Peer Review Assessment
|
Work on Role Plays in class |
14 |
In Class Discussions and Peer Review Assessment
|
Assessment task 3 – Due All students must be present -IN-Class Role plays |
15 |
In Class Role Play and Assessment 3
|
Assessment task 3 – Due All students must be present -IN-Class Role plays |
16 |
Re-sits if any in class |
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 are as follows:
Assessment 1 (Weeks 9 and 10)
It will be a case study. This assessment is due in weeks 10 of the semester with 3 - 4 groups presenting in class each week. Presentations will be carried in class during week 9 - 10.
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 (Week 11-12 )
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 (Weeks 14 and 15 )
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 one of the three grades-
- C (Competent)
- NYC ( Not Yet competent)
- DNS ( Did Not Submit)
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