Bournemouth University

Global responsibility and sustainable business practice

Project Leaders: Chris Shiel, Head of Learning and Teaching, The Business School, and Andrew Bunney, Lecturer with special responsibility for e-learning

Introduction to the module

The unit was designed and validated in 2002 as a twenty-credit online option for final year students on the BA (Hons) Business Studies programme and as a core unit on the part-time Business and Management degree. The unit will also now be offered to students taking the online Foundation Degree; an exciting development, as many of the students will be military personnel. The unit is also being validated on a new programme that caters largely for the international market, the BA (Hons) International Business Communication.

The unit aims to raise awareness of the relationship between sustainability issues and business practice in the context of globalisation. The development of students' ability to critically evaluate the complex role of business practice in global systems is therefore an important element in the unit. Students are expected to develop an understanding of sustainability solutions as applied to business practice, their role in promoting sustainability and the business case. The unit encourages reflective practice as well as increasing awareness of global responsibility within student's own spheres of influence.

On completion of the unit the student is expected to demonstrate:

  • a critical understanding of the role of the interdependent major global systems and the role of diversity in meeting the needs and rights of future generations
  • an awareness of the limits to growth and the need for precaution
  • an understanding of the role of the business community in promoting sustainable development
  • an ability to reflectively evaluate the wide range of sustainability solutions, regulations, tools and techniques currently available.

Assessment is by outcome-orientated and pragmatic extended coursework.

Key issues

  • A business studies course concerned with raising awareness of the relationship between sustainability issues and business practice in the context of globalisation needs to blend theory and practice, using theoretical concepts to evaluate sustainability solutions in business.
  • A collaborative, knowledge-building, online learning approach responds to the university's 'flexibility agenda', allows for wider participation and enables the unit to be delivered in overseas partnerships.
  • Project champions are a critical success factor, their ability to influence decision-making structures being particularly important, though paradoxically they can also inhibit development if they 'falter' or are regarded as 'zealots'.
  • Working in partnership with an NGO (Development Education in East Dorset, DEED) introduces different perspectives and can ultimately lead to culture change, but reconciling the different cultures can be problematic at times.
  • Persuading other staff of the importance of global perspectives and finding space for its inclusion is very time consuming but the ongoing debate will inform further change.

More examples of practice:

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