BUSINESS ETHICS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

MGT 166: BUSINESS ETHICS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Paper 4 Instructions Objectives • Develop and support critical thinking. • Drive exploration and analysis of ideas and course themes. • Organize your thoughts and structure your paper to communicate effectively. • Develop communication skills for business. Course Learning Objectives Addressed • Demonstrate ethical awareness (the ability to identify moral or ethical issues and the inclination to apply moral reasoning and do something about them). • Explain the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, their relevance in business and society today, and make the business case for both. • Identify and assess the potential impact of social, economic, and environmental issues and opportunities on a geographic region, an industry, or a business over time. Background1 Facebook conducted research in the U.S. to better understand teen girls’ experience with appearance comparison on social media and how this impacted their body image and overall health. It found that frequent social comparison is a key driver of subjective well-being, and teens say Instagram makes this problem worse. • 66% of teen girls on Instagram experience negative social comparison (compared to 40% of teen boys). • 52% of teen girls who experienced negative social comparison on Instagram said it was caused by images related to beauty. • 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. 1 “Teen Girls Body Image and Social Comparison on Instagram – An Exploratory Study in the U.S.” Wall Street Journal. September 29, 2021. https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/teen-girls-body-image-and-socialcomparison-on-instagram.pdf. Accessed May 16, 2024 ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 1 of 7 Assignment This assignment involves imagining yourself in a specific scenario. For this assignment, you will make a decision and present it to the Board of Directors for approval. THE SCENARIO You are the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facey, Inc., a (fictional) cosmetics company that creates accessible cosmetics with a youthful, spirited style. Facey offers products for two targeted customer groups: • • young adults (ages 14 to 24) “tweenagers” (preteen or young teenagers, typically between the ages of 8 and 13 years old) Under your leadership, Facey’s profit has risen steadily for five years. You are under intense pressure to keep your company’s sales growing. In fact, your annual bonus, and the bonuses of all Facey employees are based on the rate of growth in sales each year. Advertising with Facebook and Instagram is the anchor of your company’s marketing efforts. Sales generated from this marketing have been excellent. That became even more obvious when Facebook and Instagram were offline for more than six hours on Monday, October 4, 2021. During that time, Facey’s sales were 51% lower than expected. One of your company’s core values is to honor its customers. The company considers customers the most important stakeholders it has. Customers have a high degree of trust in your brand and are a powerful source of word-of-mouth marketing2 that introduces the brand to new prospective customers. Social media, including Facebook and Instagram, is under increasing scrutiny. The film “The Social Dilemma” raised awareness of issues. More recently, the Wall Street Journal’s publication of “Facebook Files” raised concerns about the negative impact of Instagram on teen girls. This publication and other issues prompted a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing where former Facebook employee Frances Haugen said she believes that “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.” Should Facey continue to advertise on Facebook and Instagram? The Board of Directors is looking to you for your answer. You must answer this question in your paper. Your paper is your presentation to the Board of Directors. You want Facey’s Board of Directors to support for your decision. The stakes are high. If the Board does not support your decision, you may lose your job. IMPORTANT! 2 Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM marketing) happens when consumers talk about a company’s product or service to their friends, family, and to others with whom they have close relationships. WOM marketing includes some forms of social media marketing. ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 2 of 7 1. Stick to the question: Should Facey continue to advertise on Facebook and Instagram? Do not discuss alternatives to advertising on Facebook and Instagram. You are not to argue for anything in place of social media advertising. That is beyond the scope of this Paper. 2. Discuss the impact of your decision on the company’s projected revenue over the next few years. 3. Facey’s Board of Directors knows the company as well as you do. Don’t tell them things they already know. 4. Do not plagiarize text from these instructions. (Besides, the Board knows everything printed here.) Use your own original thoughts throughout the paper. You are to think critically about whether Facey should continue advertising with Facebook and Instagram and then make your decision. There is no right or wrong answer in this situation. This assignment is about how you make your decision – your process – and how you make the business case for your decision to your Board of Directors. In your Paper, you are to state your decision and explain your rationale for it. You should anticipate resistance you may get from the Board of Directors and address that proactively. Work alone on this Paper. Do not work with another student. Doing so is an academic integrity violation. Required In This Paper • You must state your decision. It must be clear that you have decided that Facey will continue to advertise with Facebook and Instagram or it will not. • You must make the business case for your decision by explaining your rationale for it. This must demonstrate critical thinking. Your process and considerations used in reaching the decision must be clear and your rationale must be sound. • Anticipate at least one serious counter argument from the Board of Directors and address it proactively. Anticipating and addressing more than one is preferable but full credit is possible if just one counter argument is addressed thoroughly and effectively. Formatting Requirements • To see an example Paper, at the bottom of course Canvas home page, click on the Key Link to the Papers module. The Example Paper conforms to the formatting requirements. • The body of your Paper must be 350 – 450 words. (Really! Not 347 words or 451 words. Edit your work to meet this requirement.) • At the upper left of the first page, provide, in single spaced lines, the information below. This content is not included in the word count of the Paper. Your name on one line Your student ID (PID) Due date of the Paper Title(s) of the material(s) EXAMPLE: • 1” margins on all sides of the page • 1.5 line spacing in the body of the paper • Indent paragraphs ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 3 of 7 • Microsoft Word 11-point Ariel or Calibri font or the equivalent in black text • Provide the word count in parenthesis at the end of your Paper. (Use the word count function in your software.) Before Submitting Your Paper Consider using this checklist to be sure your Paper is high quality work that you will be proud to submit. Content  Reread the prompt for the Paper and verified that the Paper meets all the requirements.  Paper is thorough, demonstrating introspective thought, and exploration of themes and / or connections with previous knowledge and experiences.  My opinions and definitive assertions are well supported. Critical Thinking  Demonstrates rigorous questioning of ideas, assumptions, and claims in the preparation material through sound analysis, problem solving and conclusions.  Includes at least one insightful claim based on my reasoning and evidence.  I have identified, analyzed, and solved problems systematically, not by intuition or instinct. Quality of Communication  The Paper is well structured.  My observations are descriptive and to the point. There are no extraneous words or phrases.  I have proofread the Paper out loud. The Paper is free of grammar, spelling and other errors. Format  At the upper left of the first page in single spaced lines:     Name on one line Student ID Due date of the Paper Title(s) of the reading(s) or other preparation material EXAMPLE:  350 – 450 words (excluding information in the upper left of the page and citations.)  1” margins on all sides of the page.  1.5 line spacing in the body of the paper.  New paragraphs are indented.  Microsoft Word 11-point Ariel or Calibri font or the equivalent in black text  Word count is included in parenthesis at the end of the Paper.  Citations are included if needed.  File is a PDF or Microsoft Word file (.doc, .docx) ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 4 of 7 Careful! Do Not Plagiarize Plagiarism involves using the writings of another person. There are two types of plagiarism: • Intentional – when a student knowingly copies work from someone else • Technical – usually involves a student failing to correctly paraphrase, quote or cite another’s work Do not cut and paste content from elsewhere into your paper! That may result in plagiarism. You have a very limited number of words for each Paper. Quoting someone else takes away valuable space in your Paper to express your own thoughts. You should use the work of others (with citations) very little or not at all in your Papers. Someone else’s writing must be cited unless the information contained in their work can be considered common knowledge easily obtained from several sources. Beware of the following: • Paraphrasing – even if words are changed and reorganized, a citation is required. • Summarizing – even if there is a concise or “boiled down” rewrite, a citation of the original source is required. If you use sources for this assignment, cite them in a footnote or bibliography. (Footnotes and the bibliography will not be counted as part of the 350 – 450-word limit.) Use the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation method. Deadlines Matter Papers will be accepted up to 48 hours after the deadline, but a late penalty will be applied. If you miss the deadline for submitting your paper, submit it as soon as possible to minimize the late penalty. (Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your work! Expect technical problems and other issues.) If late by: ≤ 10 minutes Penalty is: Points deducted: 10% – 0.8 points > 10 to 60 minutes 15% -1.2 points > 1 to 24 hours 20% -1.6 points > 24 to 48 hours 25% -2 points (continued next page) ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 5 of 7 Scoring Rubric Papers are scored on the following criteria: Content (3 pts possible) 3 pts Excellent, thoughtful work; includes introspective thought, exploration of themes and /or connections with previous knowledge and experiences; definitive assertions are well supported; demonstrates comprehension of course content; clear evidence that all materials were completed and considered thoroughly; meets all the requirements of the Paper 2 pts Good but falls short of one to several criteria for full credit or has at least one significant problem; may have less evidence that readings were completed and considered 1 pt Satisfactory; falls short of several criteria and/or has some significant problems; may have less evidence that readings were completed and considered 0 pts Poor effort or incomplete Critical Thinking (2 pts possible) 2 pts Excellent. Demonstrates critical thinking with rigorous questioning, sound analysis, problem solving and conclusions. It includes at least one insightful claim based on reason and evidence. 1 pt Satisfactory. Good effort but falls short of one to several criteria for full credit 0 pts Poor. Little or no evidence of critical thinking Quality of Communication (2 pts possible) 2 pts Good. Material is well structured and demonstrates quality college-level writing; observations are descriptive and to the point; grammar is good; the work has been carefully edited and proofread and contains no or very few errors 1 pt Satisfactory. Material is poorly structured; demonstrates less than quality college-level writing; shows inattention to detail, and/or weak effort; contains significant grammar and/or proofreading mistakes 0 pts Poor. Writing is not at college-level, with little or no evidence of editing and proofreading Format (1 pt possible) 1 pt Meets formatting requirements 0 pts Does not meet formatting requirements. ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 6 of 7 Key to Scoring Notes Used for Feedback in Canvas C – Content CT – Critical Thinking QC – Quality of Communication Convoluted writing* F – Format Too short 1 Does not meet requirements of the Paper Lack of evidence of critical thinking and analysis 2 Meets some but not all requirements of the Paper Insufficient critical thinking and analysis Spelling error(s) Too long Critique of the material rather than critical thinking or analysis Word(s) used incorrectly Incorrect line spacing 3 4 Statement(s) of fact(s) without attribution when needed No insightful claims Incorrect/inappropriate slang, colloquialism; failure to explain usage. Incorrect margins 5 One or more arguments are unsupported Insightful claim lacks supporting reason or evidence Insufficient proofreading and editing Poor readability, e.g., problem with text color, lack of paragraph indentation 6 Superficial discussion Does not address any implications or consequences Grammar issue(s) Information missing from or not put in upper left corner 7 Summarizes material No /Lack of synthesis of ideas Punctuation error(s) Does not include word count 8 Restates material Observational rather than analytical Lacks structured paragraphs Incorrect font size 9 Wrong material(s) covered Fails to introduce an idea that wasn’t already presented in the material Content requires more paragraphs, has run on sentence(s) or has other structural problem(s) 10 Contradictions within the submission or false statements made No conclusion (Doesn’t leave the reader with an overall point/main idea) *Convoluted writing may include: • Failure to make points clearly, using well-constructed sentences written with a consistent grammar style and building a coherent argument structure systematically. • Sentence structure characterized by excessive detail, needless repetition, and outlandish figures of speech; unnecessarily intricate or complicated. • Sentences contain unnecessary words; paragraphs contain unnecessary sentences. • Long, wordy sentences which are sometimes difficult to follow due to their excessive detail or lack of punctuation. • Wanders all over the place before getting to the point. • Hard to understand. Many ideas mixed in together. Confusing to the reader. ©2024 Cathy Moran. Do not copy, post, publish or distribute in any way without permission. Page 7 of 7