Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability - Adv Dip Pro Dev

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2020/21 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

This module aims to enable the student to understand the processes of contracting, working with and addressing the recommendations of consultants, within the sustainable business framework. The module, by introducing the methods of consultancy, will prepare the student themselves for career development in this area.

• autumn semester - Thursday morning

The field of corporate social responsibility has practically transformed our world and reoriented the way organisations conduct and perceive their operational activities. Corporate managers and those who represent organisations are expected to behave ethically at all times. Modern societies now expect that solutions to our social and environmental problems cannot only be the prerogative of nation governments, businesses of the 21st century have a lot to contribute when finding solutions to these problems. The demands modern stakeholders put before organisations have continued to increase; tomorrow’s managers need to know how to meet these demands. Some scholars have in fact argued that corporate social responsibility has drawn our attention to some of the excesses which globalisation has brought unto the corporate scene in the 21st century. We have seen some unacceptable practices which have accompanied globalisation and consequently made the job of CSR and what it advocates much more difficult. Many things have been made a lot more challenging for everyone as a result of this. We cannot ignore the adverse impacts of these excesses. There are a number of unacceptable practices in the form of injustices and human rights abuses, extreme poverty in several nation states both - emerging and even some advanced nations, environmental degradation, some irresponsible and reckless practices by some corporate leaders and terrorism on a very large scale. In recent years, a number of social, economic and environmental problems have continued to cause concern to us all, for example; climate change, waste management and irresponsible use of our depletable resources just to mention a few. Sustainable Development is a buzzword in CSR, both corporate and individual citizens still need to demonstrate that they are serious in executing what sustainable development means to us, what it requires from us all and how the needs of future generations of all inhabitants of this planet would be met sustainably, these are issues tomorrow’s managers would need to know how to embed in corporate strategies. This module hopes to lay the foundation on how modern managers should address these and other CSR related issues.