Business Ethics

BUS201 Business Ethics Page 1

CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY

College of Business and Law

Assignment 3: Case Study

Due Date: Week 12, Sunday midnight (Darwin time)

Value % 50%

Length: 3,500 – 4,000 words (excluding title page, TOC, reference list, and

appendices)

Learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Preparation:  Participate in lectures and tutorial in week 1 to week 12.

 Engage with the learning activities on Learnline.

 Start researching and working on your assignment early and clarify any question you may have with your lecturer.

 Research relevant information and sources to address the assignment task.

Presentation:  Report-style written assignment that should be presented in a professional way (no executive summary needed).

 Add a title page with your student information (name, student number, study location) and the unit information (unit code and name, lecturer

name, assignment number and title).

 Formatting suggestion: font style Calibri or Arial, font size 12, 1.5 line spacing, justified text, margins 2.5cm each, no indents, subheadings are

permitted but should not be numbered, add page numbers.

BUS201 Business Ethics Page 2

Task Details

Task The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the largest coral reef structure in the world and

located along the east coast of Queensland, Australia. Since 1981 it is recognised as

an UNESCO World Heritage Site for its natural beauty and ecological importance.

Over the last few decades, however, economic developments and some major

natural events along the Queensland coast have caused a range of problems that

impact on the environmental quality of the GBR. Recent reports and news articles

state that the outlook for the GBR moved from already ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’, which

increased the call for urgent action, especially from environmental groups.

The main task of the assignment is to analyse the situation around the GBR from a

business ethics perspective and to critically discuss using the ‘tragedy of the

commons’ and ethical theories. Please see below task and questions that you need

to address in your assignment. The case study assignment is organised into three

parts, an analysis, a critical discussion, and recommendation and reflection.

 The ‘tragedy of the Great Barrier Reef’?

As part of your analysis, address the following points:

 Provide a brief introduction about the GBR and its importance.

 What are the key stakeholder groups and their interests?

 What are the key environmental issues that affect the GBR?

 In your analysis, consider the different ethical theories.

As part of your critical discussion, address the following points:

 What is the ‘tragedy of the commons’ theory and how does this relate to environmental ethics?

 Do we have a ‘tragedy of the GBR’? Critically discuss in the context of your above analysis (stakeholders, issues, ethics) and the ‘tragedy of the

commons’ theory.

 Do businesses have a right to use the GBR’s finite resources or impact on its environmental assets for the sake of economic success? Use ethical

theory to justify your answer.

 Does the GBR and its non-human inhabitants have rights on their own? Or are the rights of the human population more important? Use ethical

theory to justify your answer.

 What role do environmental groups play in highlighting the environmental issues of the GBR and are these groups just anti-business?

Use ethical theory to justify your answer.

BUS201 Business Ethics Page 3

As part of your recommendation and reflection, address the following points:

 In your view, whose responsibility is it to act on the environmental issues to prevent a further decline of the environmental quality of the GBR? And

what kind of actions you think are needed. Explain.

 Which of the identified issues concerns you personally most and why? Explain.

 Overall, how do you see the future of the GBR?

In this assessment, you have the opportunity to analyse and discuss a current

environmental situation in Australia from a business ethics perspective. The analysis

part will enable you to research and review the role of the GBR, its stakeholder

groups, and the environmental issues affecting the reef. In the critical discussion,

you then will need to use the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and ethical theory to

critically discuss questions regarding the GBR and environmental aspects. In the

recommendation and reflection part, you will have the opportunity to provide your

personal views and reflections. Within your case study assignment, please address

the above listed tasks and questions, as well as support your text with evidence.

Important specifics on the case study

For this case study, you are provided with a range of resources and are required to

research and use additional appropriate academic and non-academic resources (at

least 10 additional) for your discussion. Additional credible non-academic sources

can come from, for example, government or non-governmental websites, interests

or stakeholder groups, or credible news organisations. Furthermore, the textbook

can be used as a reference, however, your research and focus of discussion should

be based on above mentioned types of resources. Support your text with in-text

citations and a reference list.

Make sure all sources are relevant and current (preferably within the last five years;

however, seminal work can be older). The general structure of a case study is a

report-style assignment that includes a title page, (an executive summary is NOT

needed), a table of content (please number sections), an introduction (what the

reader can expect), the main body of the assignment (analysis of the case, discussion

based on the questions, and recommendation and reflection), and a conclusion

(what were the main aspects/findings). You can use tables, figures or images to

support your text. The reference list should follow on a new page, formatted in the

CDU Harvard Referencing style. If needed, you can place additional supporting data

or information in appendices.

Please note, in addition to following the CDU Harvard Referencing style, you are

required to add page numbers to all the in-text citations (where available in the

source), as well as a working link to the online source in the reference list. If you use

paper-based only sources, you may be asked to provide scanned copies of the pages

used.

BUS201 Business Ethics Page 4

Case study

resources

Below resources provide you with initial information about the case study and

associated issues. As stated above, you are required to conduct further research on

suitable resources.

The Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef, Australia – by Tourism and Events Queensland

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154/ (3:01 mins)

Pt 1: Great Barrier Reef Solutions - Behind the News (ABC program)

https://youtu.be/YvBnaBm9AqU (3:16 mins)

The biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef

https://www.reefplan.qld.gov.au/resources/explainers/biggest-threats-to-the-gbr

At what price? The economic, social and icon value of the Great Barrier Reef

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloi

tte-au-economics-great-barrier-reef-230617.pdf

What’s the economic value of the Great Barrier Reef? It’s priceless

https://theconversation.com/whats-the-economic-value-of-the-great-barrier-reef-

its-priceless-80061

Great Barrier Reef outlook now 'very poor', Australian government review says

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/30/great-barrier-reef-

outlook-now-very-poor-australian-government-review-says

Green activists killing tourism on the Great Barrier Reef

https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.cdu.edu.au/docview/2237629819/1A9A84A5CB164E2CPQ/1?accounti

d=10424

WWF – Great Barrier Reef

https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/oceans/great-barrier-reef

The tragedy of the commons

What is the tragedy of the commons? – TedEd talk by Nicholas Amendolare

https://youtu.be/CxC161GvMPc (4:57 mins)

The tragedy of the commons – Original article by Garrett Hardin

https://cdu-edu-

primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/7r169d/TN_jstor_archive_291724745

BUS201 Business Ethics Page 5

Assessment

criteria

Analysis of the situation and issues (25%)

Analysed and demonstrated an understanding of the current environmental

situation around the GBR and identified the main stakeholders, environmental

issues, considered ethical theories and based on relevant and credible academic and

non-academic resources.

Discussion of the ‘tragedy of the GBR’ (35%)

Critically discussed the ‘tragedy of the commons’ theory in relation to the GBR, as

well as addressed the given questions with consideration of ethical theory.

Demonstrated an ability to interpret, evaluate and formulate arguments and logical

conclusions. Discussion is supported with on relevant and credible academic and

non-academic resources.

Recommendation and reflection (20%)

Provided personal recommendations and reflections of the situation around the GBR

and business ethics and supported with credible academic and non-academic

resources where needed.

Written essay (10%)

Written and presented in a professional way with correct spelling and grammar.

Structure and flow supports the discussion and readability.

Referencing (10%)

Used appropriate academic journal articles, and other credible academic and non-

academic resources, and referenced correctly in-text and in the reference list (CDU

Harvard Referencing style + page number and link).

Penalties Late Submission

Late assignments will lose 5% of the available marks each day (or part thereof).

Plagiarism

You are to identify the sources of any ideas and words in your assignment that are

not yours. Unattributed materials may not be included in the consideration of your

assignment and serious cases of academic misconduct will be handled in accordance

with the Student Complaints Management Process.