business sustainability project
BA 342 Sustainability, Community Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion Review Project Guidelines SP 21
BA 342 SP 21
Sustainability/Community Engagement/Diversity & Inclusion Review Project
Due Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Submit either a .doc file or a .docx file in the Canvas assignment by 11:59 PM.
Late = zero points for this assignment
Note: Any project not submitted according to these guidelines during the assignment submission window will earn a grade of zero. Waiting until the final day of your assignment submission window is taking a significant risk; “technical difficulties” are NOT an acceptable reason for failing to submit your project properly and on time.
Assignment Submission Window Opens Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Assignment Submission Window Closes Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 11:59 PM
Overview: This project entails first reviewing a Fortune 500 company’s best practices in sustainability, community engagement and diversity & inclusion and then writing, in your own words, about those practices as detailed throughout these guidelines. Each student will be assigned to a team for logistical purposes; however, this is NOT a team project, and both teams will follow the same project timeline.
Each student will be assigned a Fortune 500 company to analyze and report on and each student will submit an individual project via the team assignment in Canvas on March 10, the BA 342 Course Manager will notify the class via Canvas announcements about individually ASSIGNED companies. You must work with your assigned company.
Deliverable: Based on the paper content, format, and mechanics criteria below, you will compile your information into a 2–3 page report (no fewer than 2 full pages; no more than 3 pages). Please use complete sentences, not bullet points) and submit it via Canvas.
Paper Criteria: This project is designed to enhance your knowledge of what is meant by sustainability, community engagement, and diversity & inclusion as currently practiced by large corporations. Your mission is to look for your assigned company’s sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) report that shares the organization’s best practices and results concerning Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Diversity & Inclusion.
Research Source: Remember our language check at the beginning of the semester. You will find that companies use some or all the terms below for their Sustainability/CSR Report (sometimes found in separate reports or website sections):
Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship
(Note: If your assigned company does not incorporate Diversity & Inclusion in its sustainability/CSR report, it may report on Diversity & Inclusion on its website instead.)
If your assigned company does not have a downloadable sustainability/CSR report, look for the major sections listed below on the company website. The goal for this report is to describe, in your own words, what your assigned company has in place concerning these three topics. If your assigned company does not provide information about one of the required elements, address this in your paper, rather than leaving the reader to wonder whether you merely overlooked this part of the assignment (e.g., explore and report on what a competitor does and note how your assigned company could improve its implementation/reporting).
Paper Content and Format:
Introduction: In the introduction, provide a brief overview in your own words of what your assigned company does (products, sales volume, number of employees, geographic reach, etc.) and list its current (2020) Fortune 500 rank.
Next, report on your assigned company’s Best Practices for THE FOLLOWING THREE SECTIONS (please answer the questions given):
Sustainability: (environmental practices)
· Does your assigned company produce a comprehensive sustainability report?
· What steps does your assigned company take to improve its impact on the environment?
· What are key metrics that your assigned company focuses on as part of its sustainability initiatives?
· Has your assigned company been recognized by anyone (awards, citations, certifications) for its sustainability efforts? Describe.
Community Engagement: (employee volunteering, giving of money, goods, services)
· What does your assigned company do about giving back to the community (money or goods, for example)?
· Does your assigned company do any employee volunteer programs? Explain.
· Describe major initiatives tied to community for your assigned company.
· Has your assigned company been recognized by anyone (awards, citations, certifications) for its community engagement efforts? Describe.
Diversity/Inclusion: (recruiting, hiring, and developing talent)
· What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to your assigned company?
· What does your assigned company have to say about its best practices in Diversity & Inclusion?
· How does Diversity & Inclusion impact recruitment, hiring, development & retention for your assigned company?
· Has your assigned company been recognized by anyone (awards, citations, certifications) for its diversity/inclusion efforts? Describe.
Conclusion/Summary: Finally, discuss what you learned about your assigned company’s best practices in the three key areas above. What do you think it does well? What could it improve on?
Citations: Following the conclusion/summary, include citations to properly credit your source material and to allow the reader to seek additional information about your assigned company’s efforts, if desired.
For Your Reference: Sample Citations (APA style)
Company Website (follow examples below to cite individual pages, as needed):
Dell. (2019). Diversity and inclusion. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/diversity?s=corp#
Dell. (2019). Communities. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-difference?s=corp
Dell. (2019). Environment. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-environment?s=corp
Due Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Submit either a .doc file or a .docx file in the Canvas assignment by 11:59 PM.
Late = zero points for this assignment
Tip: Our Schreyer Business Library Research Consultants (RCs) are available to answer any project research or citation questions. Contact them at:
ul-buslib-fac@psu.edu
Paper Mechanics:
· A typed, electronic document (single-spaced, 0 pt. between lines); must be .doc/.docx only (all other file types are NOT acceptable)
· Written in first person (I, me, we, us, myself, etc.) – tell us your thoughts in your own words
· 2-3 pages (no fewer than 2 full pages; no more than 3 pages)
· Margins on all 4 sides: 1”
· Type: 12-point font; Calibri or Times New Roman
· Title: “Sustainability, Community Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion Review – BA 342 SP21”
· Your name
· Your assigned company’s name and current (2020) Fortune 500 rank
· Your assigned company’s website URL
· Bold the title and all headings delineating all six sections noted above (including introduction, conclusion/summary, and citations)
· Cite source(s), as relevant
· Grammar, spelling, and attention to detail are always important – check your document carefully
· DO NOT copy/paste from company sites. Plagiarism of any kind will earn your project a zero.
BA 342 SP 21
Sustainability/Community Engagement/Diversity & Inclusion Review Grading Rubric
This project is worth 35 points of your overall course grade. We will use the following grading guidelines.
|
Full Credit: 35 Points · Full credit will be given if ALL paper content and ALL paper mechanics requirements listed in these guidelines are followed. · This includes addressing all questions asked above; if your assigned company does not provide information about some element, address this in your paper, rather than leaving the reader to wonder whether you merely overlooked this part of the assignment. |
|
Partial Credit: 20–34 Points · Missing any of the required paper content and/or mechanics elements listed in these guidelines · Poorly written (spelling, grammar, word choice, lack of attention to detail, etc.) · Low or high page count |
|
Zero Credit: 0 Points · File not successfully submitted via the Canvas assignment by the deadline · File emailed to Teaching Team instead of submitted via the Canvas assignment · Unacceptable file type or unreadable file submitted · Incorrect company (i.e., not your assigned company) · Submission is irrelevant and unrelated to assignment · Submission addresses few of the protocols in this assignment · Any amount of plagiarism from any source; DO NOT copy/paste from company sites |
Due Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Submit either a .doc file or a .docx file in the Canvas assignment by 11:59 PM.
Late = zero points for this assignment
You must upload your file via Canvas as noted above; do NOT copy/paste your document’s text into the assignment’s comments box, and do NOT email your project to anyone on the Teaching Team. Any file type other than .doc/.docx will not be accepted (you will receive an error message from Canvas if you try to upload any other file type in the assignment). If you do not use Microsoft Word and do not know how to save your document as a .doc or .docx file, you may wish to visit one of Penn State’s IT Service Desk locations well in advance of the due date in order to learn how to submit an acceptable file.
Note: Any project not submitted according to these guidelines during the assignment submission window will earn a grade of zero. Waiting until the final day of your assignment submission window is taking a significant risk; “technical difficulties” are NOT an acceptable reason for failing to submit your project properly and on time.
BA 342 Sustainability, Community Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion Review Project Guidelines SP21
Professor R. Johnson (2021) Page 4
Due Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Submit either a .doc file or a .docx file in the Canvas assignment by 11:59 PM.
Late = zero points for this assignment
Sustainability, Community Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion Review Outline
The outline below is offered as a guide to help you organize your project (note that the spacing shown is not intended to indicate how much or how little information you should include in each section). If you like, download, or copy/paste into a new document to begin writing, in your own words, expanding this outline as necessary to result in the 2–3-page report. Remember that you are responsible for ensuring that your submitted project meets all paper content and mechanics requirements detailed in these guidelines (e.g., margins may default to your device’s settings when you download or copy/paste from this document, so confirm all your document’s content and mechanics before submitting).
Sustainability, Community Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion Review – BA 342 SP21
Student Name:
Assigned Fortune 500 Company Name:
Assigned Fortune 500 Company Website URL:
2020 Fortune 500 Rank of Assigned Company:
Introduction:
Sustainability:
Community Engagement:
Diversity/Inclusion:
Conclusion/Summary:
Citations: