Written assignment 1: Management and Ethical Leadership

Assessment:

The importance of ethical leadership is a subject of interest in current management and leadership research. To some extent this has been driven by what has been seen as an on-going sequence of large, dominant and indeed global organisations behaving badly since around the turn of this century. Many of these organisations were financial institutions involved in quite questionable lending practices that ultimately led to the global financial crisis and in some cases to their own demise. It is contended that if these organisations had had a more ethical culture then the practices by a few senior managers may not have led to either their demise or their significant loss of corporate reputation. With hindsight possibly leaders with high moral values and good ethical leadership could have made a difference to the outcomes suffered by these organisations. Develop an essay about ethical leadership that addresses the following questions:

This are the main questions:

a. Do you believe that leaders are hard wired in terms of their ethical values and so do not or cannot change; or are leaders able to be flexible so at times will they display ethical standards and ethical leadership while at others maybe not?

b. Does an ethical leader have to be both a ‘moral person' as well as a ‘moral manager'?

c. Is it easier to act unethically and express unethical leadership towards followers than it is to act ethically and express ethical leadership? For example, if unethical leadership and the acts related to this leadership rely on not being found out how realistic is this presumption? Is it the case that in the end you are always found out?

d. What role do think Rupert Murdoch played in establishing a culture within News Corporation that ultimately led its employees to engage in the practice of phone hacking? Do you consider Rupert Murdoch to be an unethical leader?

e. When looking at the statements or letters from your ASX-listed corporation's Chief Executive Officer (or Managing Director) and Chairman, what inferences can you make about whether or not these people demonstrate ethical leadership within their organisation?

Your response MUST include discussion for the following sources, viz.:

Brown, ME & Mitchell, MS 2010, 'Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research', Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4, October, pp. 583-616.

Amernic, J & Craig, R 2013, 'Leadership Discourse, Culture, and Corporate Ethics: CEO-speak at News Corporation', Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 118, No. 2, pp. 379-394.

In addition to the required sources shown above, you should use AT LEAST TWO other references that you have found. A superior answer will also include some real world examples as part of the evidence that supports your claims and arguments. The format of this assessment item should follow a discussion essay format with a brief introduction, a body and a brief conclusion. For further help on how to write an essay, see the ‘College of Business Essay/Report Writing Guide' which is available in the ‘Assessments' folder on the Management Dynamics vUWS site.

You also need to support any claims that you make by using relevant research literature, concentrating on peer-reviewed or scholarly sources. Note that newspaper articles and Wikipedia are not considered scholarly sources due to issues about peer review of the material presented. However, you can use newspaper articles and Wikipedia to obtain a general understanding on a topic that you are researching. Where scholarly sources are used then appropriate citing and referencing of these sources should be completed as part of your submission.

Length:

1000 words (± 100 words). Given the short length of this assessment item you should aim to be clear and concise in your writing in order to adhere to the word limit. Do not use direct quotations but rather briefly paraphrase what is discussed in your sources. Note this word count does NOT include the words used to compile your ‘References' section at the end of your submission.

Written assignment 2: Employment Relations

Assessment:

In this assessment task you are required to read the materials and articles that used for assignment #1 and those below that relate to the Aurizon dispute (see below) and answer the following question.

Your response MUST include discussion for the following sources, viz.:

Brown, ME & Mitchell, MS 2010, 'Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research', Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4, October, pp. 583-616.

Amernic, J & Craig, R 2013, 'Leadership Discourse, Culture, and Corporate Ethics: CEO-speak at News Corporation', Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 118, No. 2, pp. 379-394.
and those below that relate to the Aurizon dispute (see below) and answer the following question.

This is the main Question:

Describe how the Unitarist and Pluralist approaches to conflict would explain the positions of (a) management and
(b) unions in the Aurizon dispute. Identify which one of the approaches provides the better explanation. Explain how you reached this conclusion.

The format of this assessment item should follow a discussion essay format with a brief introduction, a body and a brief conclusion. For example, in your opening paragraph you should state the position that you will take in terms of responding to the question outlined above.

You also need to support any claims that you make by referring to the sources you use. It would be expected that reporting of the Aurizon dispute would be found in the media. It would be anticipated that material on unitarism and pluralism would be sourced from peer-reviewed or scholarly sources. The question is asking you to think of whether the particular frames of reference (unitarism and pluralism) explain the actions of management and unions.

Brigden, C 2012 ‘Unions and collective bargaining' in 2011' Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 361-376.
We would suggest that you read the short section on ‘Developments in Industrial Relations' pp. 367-368 as this section provides some insights on the approach adopted by Aurizon. The author links lock out approaches taken by employers to that taken by Qantas. There is a short summary of the Qantas matter earlier in the article.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2014 ‘Coal train drivers will be locked out for 48 hrs', ABC News, 26 February 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-26/coal-train-drivers-will-be-locked-out-for-48-hrs/5284344
Accessed 12 March 2014.

Hannan, E and O'Brien, A 2014 ‘Rail operator Aurizon locks out striking drivers', The Australian, 26 February 2014
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/rail-operator-aurizon-locks-out-striking-drivers/story-e6frg6n6-1226837664910 Accessed 12 March 2014.

Kirkwood, I 2014 ‘Commission to investigate Aurizon drivers' dispute', Newcastle Herald, 2 March 2014 http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2122937/commission-to-investigate-aurizon-drivers-dispute/
Accessed 12 March 2014.

Kohler, A (2012) ‘Industrial disputes: the bucks and the business ‘, ABC: The Drum Posted 21 March 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-21/kohler-industrial-disputes-the-bucks-and-the-business/3903104 Accessed 23 August 2013.

Validakis, V 2014 ‘Aurizon to lock out train drivers after strike action', Mining Australia, 25 February 2014
http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/aurizon-to-lock-out-train-drivers-after-strike-act
Accessed 12 March 2014.

Length:

650 words (± 65 words). Given the short length of this assessment item you should aim to be clear and concise in your writing in order to adhere to the word limit. Note this word count does NOT include the words used to compile your ‘References' section at the end of your submission.