Research paper: Business and the enviroment
Business and the Environment
Does business, or anyone else for that matter, have direct ethical responsibilities to natural objects like animals, plants, and
ecosystems? Or are all environmental responsibilities indirect, derived from more primary responsibilities to other people? Are
there limits of business’s environmental responsibilities best left to the market or legal system? What are the tradeoffs between
growth and sustainability? What are the ethical responsibilities do business leaders to protect the environment? What are the
limits to these responsibilities? What are the relevant stakeholder groups that leaders should take into account when making
decisions that can impact the environment? How, in your opinion, can organizational leaders best fulfill their environmental
responsibilities?
RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT: One of the major activities of this course will be your personal
exploration into a relevant ethical challenge of leadership. Your activities in this area will result in a
research paper.
Assignment Description – You as an individual (not as a team) are responsible for preparing a paper
approximately 10-20 double-spaced pages in length (1” margins, Times New Roman 12 pt. font; not including title
page plus references: 10 total) that reports the results of your research into the assigned leadership/ethics topic
(see below). The paper should include a comprehensive review of what we know about the topic based on
academic and practitioner research. Use Business Source Complete online database through the TAMUC library.
The following sources are acceptable: Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Perspectives, British Journal
of Management, Group and Organization Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Management
International Review, Management Science, Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organization
Science, Business Ethics Quarterly, California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of
Business Ethics, Sloan Management Review, and Leadership Quarterly. This report should augment (not repeat)
material presented in the course and should draw useful conclusions about the questions provided.
Grading Criteria
–
1. Comprehensiveness and accuracy of course concept applications (e.g., Does the paper focus on all of the
relevant ethical issues that organizational leaders face for the assigned topic?) (35%)
2. Breadth and depth of the exploration and analysis (e.g., Does the paper combine the knowledge of both
academic scholars and practicing managers in order to come to appropriate conclusions for the assigned topic?)
(40%)
3. Writing quality (e.g., Is the paper a professional product that reflects college level work? Are research sources
properly documented and referenced? Does the paper conform to APA style guidelines? Is information logically
organized?) (25%)
