Business Professional Ethics
Academic Session – 2020/2021 Semester/Term 3
Continuous assessment
Course Code UDE 2009
Group Assignment – Case Review (CO3) - (30%)
CASE 1 - Disclosing of Information to Employees
A CEO of a company discovers that the company is in serious financial difficulty. It seems
inevitable that some employees will have to be retrenched to save the company. However, the
CEO is uncertain about how this situation should be handled. Should he disclose this information
as soon as possible to the employees so that it will give them more time to find alternative
employment and accept this retrenchment?
The company has a strong Labour Union and one of the requirements is that all matters
connected with the employees must be informed to the union so that the union can enter into
negotiation with the company. The CEO and the senior managers of the company feel that this is
their right to retrench and that no one should interfere with this right.
It is the thinking of the authorities that on the other hand, if this information is disclosed, the
employees would be angry and would create trouble or labour unrest or may also sabotage the
work process. The employment contract also says that the company is obliged to inform the
employees with regards to any job changes. The CEO is having difficulty and doubt with this
problem. You are the manager involved directly with the CEO to carry out this action and
what would you do?
Question
1. Does the CEO have moral responsibility to disclose this information to the
employees? – (5 Marks)
2. What is the ethics factor in this situation? – Discuss (10 Marks)
CASE 2 – Insider Theft
Nabilah is an assistant manager at a retail-clothing store. She is aware of numerous incidents of
insider theft. The cash drawer is always short several ringgit at a time and there are bogus
returns with a common customer. Her manager, Bazli is also her friend. She has worked with
him at other companies and he is responsible for her obtaining her present job as an assistant
manager.
Nabilah is in charge of the paperwork that deals with customer returns, deposits, and inventory.
The entire staff only consists of six people, including the manager, Bazli and assistant manager,
Nabilah. Everyone is aware of the problems and Bazli is telling you the sales associates are the
ones he is suspicious of. You know that only the manager and assistant are allowed to do the
deposits, paperwork and all returns. All the clues are pointing to your manager but he insists it is
the lower level employees, all cash drawer shortages are reported to the corporate office of the
company and it reflects on you.
The customer that keeps getting the returns comes in and tries to return items that don’t have a
receipt. Nabilah is already aware of the bogus returns and declines the return without proof of
purchase. Bazli realizes at this point that Nabilah has proof that he is acting unethically and in
turn harming the company. She believes that most likely there are other instances of Bazli’s
unethical behavior.
Question
1. Discuss the unethical behavior applied reflecting to the situations – (7 Marks)
2. Suggest some ethical conduct to help Nabilah solve the situations – (8 Marks)
- Always act as role models by being ethical towards employees
● For example, if the CEO himself breaks the law, then he could not have been setting the
right tone from the top for the organization.The organization should take immediate action to
fix any ethical problem and remedy the harm, which includes taking appropriate action
against the offending employee in a swift and firm manner. The supervisor should always
consistently “do as they say” as opposed to double talk, where in the organization the
leaders talk about the importance of ethics and integrity, but ignore them in their personal
lives and social engagements.
Group Assignment – UDE19 Continuous assessment Business Professional
Ethics2020/2021 (UDE 2009) – CO3
Evaluation Form for Assignment and what is the requirement to complete the Assignment -
Rubric
Group assignment from students or participants should be written in English. (Regarding BM,
please communicate with UMCCed) A copy of the details of assignment has to be submitted and
given to the lecturer for marking. (18 pages)
The students or the participants will do a group assignment in order to assess their individual and
group skills, confidence, ability, knowledge, supervisory managerial capabilities and how
they could work together as a team.
You are recommended to use Times Roman 12 for all text and Times Roman 14 Bold for major
titles and Times Roman 12 Bold for minor titles or sub-headings. Ensure that the contents of the
assignments are not duplicated from other students or participants.
The maximum marks for individual assignment is thirty (30) marks (30%) and the assessment
criteria are as follows:-
Assessment Criteria for Assignment – Professional Business Ethics
1. Front cover 1 Mark
2. Index and page Numbers 2 Marks
3. Introduction 2 Marks
4. Knowledge of the Subject (Body) 15 Marks
5. Graphs / Charts / Tables / Pictures / Others, etc. 5 Marks
6. Recommendations and Conclusion 2 Marks
7. References 1 Mark
8. Overall Presentation of Assignment 2 Mark
-----------------
Total Marks 30 Marks
UM-PTO1–MQF-BR006-S00. Dated 14022021
Rules and Guidelines on Report Preparation and Submission
Cover Page
Students are required to use the cover page template provided. Please put the name of the
group members and the matrix numbers clearly.
Acknowledgement
This we would leave it to the student if you want to do it.
Table of Content or Index
You need to ensure a proper table of content or index according to your assignment and should be
numbered as for pages. All typing should be on one side each of the pages and ensure that
the assignment pages has page numbers.
Introduction
In the first page or so give a write –up what is Business ethics and how important it is within any
organization.
Body of the Assignment
This would contain the actual understanding of the overall study of Business Professional Ethics,
explanation of the case study that you are using, other information that are required, the figures or
charts that you are using and the final conclusion.
Conclusion
Students need to state whether the assignment would help them in terms of emerging ethical
behavior within the organization and also among Malaysians.
Summary of Report
The 2 pages of summary of report must be done and this would be after the conclusion.
Recommendation
You can give some recommendation for improvement in future.
Appendixes
This is optional and is up to your own judgement.
References
You need to get the proper references connected with your study on Business Professional Ethics,
a few from books and may be a few from the Internet. (About 6 to 9 references).
Report Format and Spacing
Please refer to the written report rubric, it is there and spacing is 1.5, Justify.
Number of Pages
16 pages of write-up with two (2) full pages of the summary of the report are what are
required, total of 18 pages. You may have about (8) eight pages per case study. Each question for
the case study should be mentioned.
Markings
The criteria for the markings is according to the Rubric
Report Submission
Week 12 – 2 Marks would be deducted for late submission.
Number of Students in the Group – For Assignment
Groups consist of Six (6), five (5), Four (4) or three (3) students and you arrange it accordingly.
Please check with you class Rep.
Dr. T. M. Carlton PMC, PJK, PKL.
Lecturer / Trainer / Educator
UMCCed - UM Dated – 08022021
