Business ethics

Issues concerning shareholders and employees are of critical importance to the good functioning of any organization. In an academic essay

format, compare and contrast the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC) with a traditional capitalist corporation of your choice and

determine how the treatment of these stakeholders impacts on ethical outcomes.
Word length: 2,500 words
This essay requires you to investigate the ethical treatment of shareholders and workers in a traditional, capitalist corporation of your

choice and compare and contrast your findings with the treatment of these stakeholders in the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation. Please

choose an organization that you admire for its ethical behaviour rather than one, such as Enron, that behaved so reprehensively that its

only value these days is a “whipping boy” for ethicists.
As such, you need to investigate those issues that present as ethical dilemmas for these stakeholders and these are mentioned at

considerable depth throughout chapters 6 and 7 of the Crane and Matten (2010) text. The 1982 BBC documentary “The Mondragon Experiment” is

an excellent source of information about the origins and nature of the MCC and how the underlying principles upon which it based are made

practical. This film can be found on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zMvktpKDmo . Further information about how Mondragon has

progressed to the current day can be found on the corporation’s website at <http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/eng/ >.
Suggestion as to how to organise your essay
This suggestion about you could approach this essay is just that – a suggestion. In other words, you are encouraged to organise your essay

as you wish, presumably with a view to making the best case for your specific argument. Like all academic essays, you are required to make

an argument that is convincing and well-supported by references. Again, what follows is not meant to prescriptive, just a suggestion about

how you might proceed.
Firstly, review Module 2 to identify the issues that provide the fundamental points of difference between corporations and workers’

cooperatives such as Mondragon. It may be a good idea to read a little more widely to consider the political ideologies that underpin the

establishment of these organizations. Doing so provides your essay with a sound theoretical foundation as to how human beings are

conceptualized by those ideologies and how they relate to the major normative theories (See Fig. 3.2, p. 98, Crane & Matten, 2010). From

this, good students will be able to get an appreciation and better understanding of the ethical foundation of the MCC. This is important

because the major challenge in this essay is to determine how these points of difference (ideologies) manifest as ethical problems in both

Chapters 6 and 7 of the Crane and Matten text.
The first paragraph in the body of the essay should outline the contrasting political ideologies and concepts of human beings and the

points of difference and how they impact in terms of creating ethical dilemmas for both shareholders and workers. Subsequent paragraphs

should be focussed on the relevant ethical dilemmas outlined in the text and discussion should ensue as to how these issues can/may be

resolved by adopting an alternative ethical position in the way we organise.
You should be aware that you write the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph last. Good students will find a strong

definitive position about the nature of organizing and allude to essential criteria that will facilitate ethical behaviour for both

shareholders and workers. Critique of both, the chosen corporation and the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, will be essential for a high

mark.
Graduate attributes tested and developed
G1 – Demonstrate applied knowledge of business ethics and practice.
G4 – Evaluate, synthesise & critically review theoretical frameworks with other evidence to provide solutions to real-world problems.
G7 – Comprehend and address complex ethical dilemmas.
G8 – Demonstrate an understanding of complex sustainable dilemmas and the need for responsible leadership.
G11 – Communicate professionally & effectively in both oral and written communication to various audiences to achieve targeted outcomes.
Submit your assignment
Your assignment must be submitted twice as a word processing file:
• To Turnitin, a service which checks student assignments for copying or plagiarism. The link to Turnitin for each assignment is on

StudyDesk.
• To EASE, for marking. EASE is the university’s system for electronically submitting assignments, and getting them back with

feedback after they’ve been marked. There is a link to EASE on StudyDesk, or you can go directly to <ease.usq.edu.au >.
Submit your assignment to Turnitin
Use the link on StudyDesk. When your assignment is correctly submitted, it will have a red X next to it. Clicking on the X lets you delete

the file.
How to understand your Turnitin report
Turnitin will give you a similarity percentage and a report on all the copied material in your assignment. To access the Turnitin report,

click on the link ‘Similarity’. The Turnitin report may take a few minutes, an hour, or even a day to appear.
The report will almost certainly identify some copying that isn’t a problem, such as references, material you have put in quote marks, and

common phrases. If your report shows 10% or 15% copying, it probably isn’t a problem. We don’t look at the number; we look at the

assignment itself.
Sometimes Turnitin identifies copying that seems strange. For instance, Turnitin may tell you that part of your assignment was the same as

part of another student’s assignment from an American university. Even though you’ve never seen that student’s assignment, this is still a

problem, because it usually means that both of you have copied some text from the same source, for example, a book. Turnitin might be

wrong about the place you copied words from, but it will be right to say you have copied. If you find Turnitin identifying any copying

that isn’t acceptable, you are able to delete the assignment you uploaded, change it, and submit the new version to Turnitin.
Criteria for assignment 3
Compare and Contrast Rubric
Category 1 2 3 4
Purpose & Supporting Details The paper compares or contrasts, but does not include both. There is no supporting information or support

is incomplete. The paper compares and contrasts items clearly, but the supporting information is incomplete. The paper may include

information that is not relevant to the comparison. The paper compares and contrasts items clearly, but the supporting information is

general. The paper includes only the information relevant to the comparison. The paper compares and contrasts items clearly. The paper

points to specific examples to illustrate the comparison. The paper includes only the information relevant to the comparison.
40 Marks
Organisation & Structure Many details are not in a logical or expected order. There is little sense that the writing is organized.

The paper breaks the information into whole-to-whole, similarities-to-differences, or point-by-point structure, but some information is in

the wrong section. Some details are not in a logical or expected order, and this distracts the reader. The paper breaks the information

into whole-to-whole, similarities-to- differences, or point-by-point structure but does not follow a consistent order when discussing the

comparison. The paper breaks the information into whole-to-whole, similarities-to-differences, or point-by-point structure. It follows

a consistent order when discussing the comparison.
20 Marks
Transitions The transitions between ideas are unclear or non-existent. Some transitions work well; but connections between other

ideas are fuzzy. The paper moves from one idea to the next, but there is little variety. The paper uses comparison and contrast

transition words to show relationships between ideas. The paper moves smoothly from one idea to the next. The paper uses comparison and

contrast transition words to show relationships between ideas. The paper uses a variety of sentence structures and transitions.
20 Marks
Grammar & Spelling (Conventions) Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content. Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar or

spelling that distract the reader from the content. Writer makes no errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the

content.
20 Marks