Complete and correct reference list the end the essay

The assessment for this module consists of one piece of coursework, a 2000 word essay worth 100% of your module mark due on Friday, 15 January 2021 at 12.00pm UK Time. As such care should be taken to make sure you understand what is expected and that you manage your time and resources well. We suggest that you consider very carefully the marking criteria before you embark on writing the essay.

Module Assessment: Essay questions

does a thing make ‘me’ look? Value today becomes, for any business, intimately tied to

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The selected bibliography here offers numerous ideas for your essay:
READINGS
Beckert, Jens and Aspers, Patrik (eds) (2011) Chapter 5, by Jens Beckert: The Transcending Power of Goods. Imaginative Value in the Economy.

Bude, Heinz, Society of Fear (Cambridge, U.K.: Polity Press, 2017).

MNGT321 Assessment Guide

Potter, Andrew, The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves (New York: Harper, 2010).

Twenge, Jean M., and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (New York: Free Press, 2010).

York, Peter (2014) Authenticity Is A Con. New York: Biteback Publishing.

In the second lecture of the ‘Can We Manage Ecology?’ theme we introduced Cultural Theory to show how the problem posed by nature is not, paradoxically, to do with nature itself. It is rather a problem that is essentially socio-cultural and ethical because the natural environment is experienced and acted on through values that portray the earth as, for instance, resilient, fragile or requiring expert control.

There are various ways you can approach this essay but do ensure you address and discuss the connection between how business is organised now in what we might call the ‘New Economy’ and the Anthropocene since this is the core of the question. In Lecture 1 we outlined how endless demands of humanity cannot easily be reconciled with the finite nature of all forms of existence, whether living or non-living. You can use this point as a platform to analyse the two examples we have asked you to find and illustrate. One helpful starting point is to suggest how despite the evident reality (the finitude of existence) the discourses of business in the New Economy try to maintain the promise of endless growth by making recourse to a variety of arguments towards a ‘totally sustainable’ future.

One of the dimensions of the New Economy which is truly new is a special kind of waste which is often the result of throwing away perfectly functional objects: things that are not broken or useless (most of the electronic devices we throw away are simply the consequence of rapidly changing fashions and styles, rather than of obsolete functionality). This means

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Although we have not covered it in the module, you could use examples from what is termed

the ‘Circular Economy’. With its entrepreneurial and industrial focus on resource circulation,

demands of production and consumption, on the one hand, and social and environmental

impact, on the other.

to dilemmas and controversies which were even hard to acknowledge and discuss. Perhaps

2020 will come to be seen as something of a ‘practice run’ for humanity’s survival on the

DeFries, R. and Nagendra, H. (2017) ‘Ecosystem management as wicked

Problem’, Science, 21, 356, 6335, 265-70.

(See Moodle/One Search)

Hulme, M. (2009) Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy,

Earthscan. (electronic resource in Library)

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Mol, Arthur, Gert Spaargaren, and David Sonnenfeld, ‘Ecological Modernization Theory:

Taking Stock, Moving Forward’, in Handbook of Environmental Sociology, ed. by Stewart

Porter, M. E. and Kramer, M.R. (2011) ‘The Big Idea: Creating Shared Value. How to reinvent

capitalism—and unleash a wave of innovation and growth’, Harvard Business Review. Jan-

Greenleaf. (electronic resource on OneSearch – in Library)

Steffen, W. et al (2011) ‘The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical

Acceleration’, The Anthropocene Review, 2, 1, 81-98. (See Moodle/One Search)

Hannah Arendt argues that evil becomes possible when thoughtlessness becomes accepted as an appropriate way to be and to act. Looking at contemporary institutions and ways of working, shopping, playing, etc., how does society and contemporary social practices encourage or facilitate thoughtlessness? Give some concrete examples of strategies and practices being used. In contrast, discuss what organisations can do to develop cultures of thoughtfulness (or thinking). Again, illustrate your answer with two concrete examples.

In considering this question, it might be good to first give an account of thoughtlessness and its opposite, thinking, as outlined in the work of Hannah Arendt. It might be useful to relate it to Eichmann and the Nazi regime more generally as this will facilitate the move to
contemporary society. Also take specific note to the questions it raises. Does thoughtlessness always lead to evil? Can thinking keep me away from evil? Can groups or societies become thoughtless (or thoughtful)?

Arendt, Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1963)

Arendt, H. (1981). The Life of the Mind. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Bouilloud, J.-P., Deslandes, G., & Mercier, G. (2019). The Leader as Chief Truth Officer: The Ethical Responsibility of “Managing the Truth” in Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 157, 1–13.

Jennings, M. M. (2002). A Primer on Enron: Lessons from a Perfect Storm of Financial Reporting, Corporate Governance and Ethical Culture Failures. California Western Law Review, 39, 163–262.

Van Rooij, B., & Fine, A. (2018). Toxic Corporate Culture: Assessing Organizational Processes of Deviancy. Administrative Sciences, 8, 23.

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Coursework Preparation and Submission Details

Your essay/report should be prepared for submission as follows:

•Essay must be structured properly: introduction – main body – conclusion – references. You should obey the rules of grammar and spelling.

This module will be marked electronically and you will receive feedback online via Moodle.

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MNGT321 Assessment Guide

already agreed) will receive a penalty of one full grade lower than the grade

awarded and zero (non-submission) thereafter.

The word count for assessed piece of work includes: • Main body of text
• In text quotations
• In text references
• Section headings

The word count does not include title, reference list (or bibliography) and appendices (where relevant). It does not include tables and figures – however, we do warn against placing too much information into these.

The University suggests extensions should be granted for the following circumstances:

Inadequate referencing may lead to you plagiarising in your work, intentionally or not.

Submitting plagiarised work for assessment is a University offence regardless of whether it was intentional. When you submit your coursework via Moodle, it will be automatically checked using Turnitin software for any plagiarised content. You should not use another person's work without acknowledging it, either when it is quoted (i.e. copied from a book or paper), referred to or interpreted (i.e. paraphrased) and failure to do so will be considered a very serious offence. Any work containing plagiarised material will be dealt with in accordance with University assessment regulations.

Module Assessment: Marking, Criteria, and Feedback

Turnaround and Feedback

The assignment requires you to develop an extended analysis in one form or another. The essay will be assessed on the coherence of all elements of the piece of work. Specifically, in most cases:
•The mark for the work is NOT an aggregate of marks for different elements of the assignment (e.g. the introduction, literature review etc). Whilst each element will be commented upon and makes an important contribution to the mark, the final mark will reflect how all of the different elements together address the set assignment.

•It is not possible to answer a question such as ‘how many marks did I lose by not

This is generic guidance about our approach to marking.

All assessment is marked using letter grades which are then converted to aggregate scores to calculate the overall module mark. Full details of the assessment regulations can be found on the following Student Based Services webpage in the red box link under the page heading:

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MNGT321 Assessment Guide