Business Ethics and Sustainability: Reflective Session Journal

This document presents a series of reflective journal entries covering various sessions related to business ethics and sustainability. The reflections delve into topics such as ethical decision-making frameworks, the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) concept, sustainability imperatives, challenges related to pollution and waste, supply chain ethics, and the circular economy. Key concepts like the triple bottom line, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the importance of ethical investments are also explored. The reflections provide insights into real-world examples of corruption, profit shifting, and the need for due diligence, highlighting the importance of ethical considerations in business practices. The student reflects on how these sessions have shaped their understanding of ethical and sustainable business strategies.

Session 2
This session has helped me understand about business decision making
in an ethical manner. I have understood through the reading that what are the
relevant facts and whether I need to understand them or not. Then I need ask
myself whether I would be happy of the decision I made public. I need to than
analyze whether there is any universal rule which would be applicable in the
situation. Where there is any code of conduct or legal rules applicable in the
situation should always be analyzed and applied. I than needs to refer to
various theories such as the stakeholder theory to analyze whether the action
would provide an ethical result or not and if yes and who would be benefited.
In needs to analyze what if everyone indulged in the same actions as per the
Kant theory. Finally I need analyze the consistence of the action with existing
values and principles. For example if I need to select between my personal
interest and company interest I will apply all the above questions to solve the
ethical dilemma. Here if everyone chooses personal interest over the company
interest it would not be beneficial. Moreover it is prohibited by law.

Session 3
The session was related to ethical actions. I was also to know about ethical
breakdowns such as bribery and corruption, profit shifting (minimizing tax) and
money-laundering, non-disclosure of information or intentional misleading of
information, not acting with due diligence, excessive remuneration, creating
power imbalances and challenging the rules. I got to know the difference
between Greed and giving, governance and culture, good practices examples
and code of practices and Whistleblowers. In relation to key consequences of
corruption I got to know that not only it is unethical but also illegal. One of the
most significant examples I got to known in relation to corruption was that of
Haiti. The country is at the bottom of TI’s global corruption index and had a
string of natural disaster having high death tools. The proverb “the disaster
usually does not kill you – the building does” is totally applicable in the
situation. I also got to know that profit shifting from a higher tax jurisdiction to
a lower tax jurisdiction is also unethical on the part of the companies. Not
acting with due care and diligence is also punishable under the Corporation Act
2001(Cth) which civil pecuniary penalties and management bans.

Session 4
The fourth session was in relation to Giving Voice to Values. The session
discussed GVV concept, 7 pillars, strategies, course and application of GVV in
practice. Through this chapter I was able to understand the meaning of
managerial accounting, differences between financial accounting and managerial
accounting, current focus of managerial accounting and managerial accountants’
organisational role. In relation to the seven pillars the first pillar states that we
should know and appeal to a short list of widely shared values, the second pillar
asks to define professional and personal purpose broadly and explicitly before
conflicts arise, the third pillar asks us to believing that we have a choice in relation
to voicing own values, the fourth pillar provides that we should expect values
conflict, the fifth pillar is in relation to Self-knowledge and alignment, the pillar is
in relation to preparing a well response by anticipating the typical reasons &
rationalizations with respect to well response and the seventh and final pillar asks
us to practice. I got to know about the saying of Disney’s Davey Crockett as per
which once we are sure that we are we should go ahead. I also got to known
about Articulate, align & reframe in terms of GVV Strategies

Session 5
The fifth session was in relation to Sustainability imperative. In this session I got
to know about black inks in terms of the benefits of ethical actions, having good
sustainability initiatives and enhancing social and environmental performance. I
also got to known about ethical investments, economic inequalities and systems.
In relation to ethical investments I got to know that I need to analyze the
surrounding circumstances, how triple bottom line performance is present and
whether the investment is ethical in terms of ethical entities or ethical managers.
In relation to the video of the Doughnut I got to know that how the situation may
be when the interest of the customers is put after the interest of the
shareholders. I got to know the difference between socialism, communism and
mixed economy. The market system or the invisible hand is a very imperfect,
however the concept provided by Churchill in relation to democracy & substitute
capitalism. Capitalism is exploitative and produced inequalities and provides two
sources of income. It has also been described as being alienating. However it is
selected as an economy because organization who have such polices are hugely
profitable.

Session 6
The session was in relation Sustainability challenges. I got to know how to get a
movement going and how to sell sustainability, pollution, Climate change
& energy, health & Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability mega forces. There are
millions of square Kilometres cleared every year in countries like Indonesia. This
results in a loss of habitats and species. In addition the burning method of
clearance causes significant smoke pollution which subsequently causes green
house gases increase which even triggers neighbouring counties like Malaysia and
Singapore with smoke. Organizations such as nestle and other big produces by
certified palm oil products in reality because of public pressure. The differences
can be paid by Europeans and Australians but not the poor counties like India
which has the largest market. Thus the question arises that to what degree these
poor countries are ask to do the right thing with respect to the environment in
the light of their present circumstances. The only solution in this situation can be
the emergence of larger middle class in India. Technological advancements can be
one of the primary ways in which global sustainability challenges can be
addresses such as electric cars and other electronic products used to conserve
energy and emit less pollution.

Session 7
This session was also related to sustainability challenges. The primary area
which the session covered was in relation to waste, fast fashions, supply chain,
and circular economy. There is a war in relation to waste. It has been reported
that an average Australian families throughout at least $3,500 worth of food
on a weekly basis. In the same way there is food wastage in UK as well. The
problems in relation to plastic bags in the Australian supermarkets have not
been reduced. There have also been slave labour uses as companies fail to
trace materials through the supply chain. I got to known about the circular
economy which is an emerging ideal process for reducing waste and make
consumption more sustainable and efficient. The principles are based on
reduce, reuse and recycle. In relation to reduce addictive technology such as
3D printing where no offcuts are present can be used. In relation to reuse
packaging can be reused and in terms of recycle materials such as pep soft
drinks can be clothed out. There have been various examples which have
depicted a successful use of the circular economy where reduce, reuse and
recycle have been applied to make profits and act sustainably.

Session 11
This session was in relation to Measurement, reporting and analysis of triple
bottom line performance. Here I got to know about the key performance
indicators, how to assess the quality of reporting and worked examples of
water, waste and power. I got to know that insight is provided by key
performance indictors with respect to how our performance is regarding our
critical success factors. A caution in relation to KPIs is that whether we should
pick the most easy method for the purpose of achieving or measuring or we
should be using most relevant and important matters. The question here is
also that whether photos and words can be considered as KPIs instead of just
numbers such as photos are used by Whittlesea Council for the purpose of
measuring street cleaning stories in relation to new migrants’ children
socializing and connecting via cooking classes and quality. The quality of
reporting can be assessed by the adaptation of a bush quality approach. I also
got knowledge about KPI worked examples such as water, power & waste. For
instance waters needs to be analyzed as a precious resource, the cost and
benefits of using it has to be analyzed and a water use monitoring process is
required to be implemented.