Inspiring Socially Innovative Commerce:
14 new ideas from UOW Business Ethics students
Business Ethics students from UOW presented 14 ethically and socially innovative ideas on 15 October to persuade local and national organisations to implement positive social change. Addressing issues from recycling construction materials, to water scarcity to green management, the third-year students have been working to convince organisations, including Wollongong City Council, Red Cross, BlueScope Steel and Engineers Without Borders, to implement socially innovative initiatives.
This is a first for UOW Faculty of Commerce students and is aligned with the faculty commitment to ‘socially innovative commerce’. The presentations tested the wider application of the Business Ethics and Governance course and engaged the students with not-for-profits, government and private sector.
“In the current economic climate, business students need to understand how they can enact values in the workplace. These group presentations offer students an opportunity to demonstrate how a socially innovative idea positively impacts the workplace, their clients, stakeholders and the broader community,” says Dr Mario Fernando, the subject co-ordinator. “The students are learning about the challenges of being ethically assertive and the consequences of being ethically mute.”
The COMM351: Business Ethics and Governance students were asked to identify a business ethics or governance issue within an organisation and convince the organisation to implement a socially innovative initiative that would benefit stakeholders. This work is part of their grades and the oral presentations will be judged as if they are presenting the information to the top management team of a company or relevant audience.
The five-member assessment panel includes George Onisiforou from the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs and Allen Consulting Group whose recent projects for Allen have focused on corporate social responsibility as well as corporate and community partnership issues in the not-for-profit sector.
Tom Ward (front); (from left) James Sandra,
Juanita Hyde, Tonje Brataas and Jay Wheatley
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