Consider yourself an ethical individual? Think you understand what is meant by social responsibility? We all know that ethical and value driven leaders are required in society and what this unit will do is challenge your current thinking and ask you to explore different perspectives around ethics and social responsibility. It will provide you with the capabilities and thinking frameworks that will allow you to reflect on the notion of ethics and ethical decision-making and provide you with the confidence and self-belief that you are acting in a way that is appropriate, moral, and rationally supported. A sensitivity and understanding of ethics and social responsibility is now an imperative within modern society. Truly sustainable inspirational leadership can only evolve from an ethical and socially responsible base. This unit works on that level but also provides the tools necessary to allow individuals to reflect on the moral judgements that we make on a daily basis.

Students will gain an understanding of the University's Statement of Values and from this foundation of personal ethics within the University environment; students will learn the theoretical philosophical frameworks that encompass ethical decision-making. The unit will also clarify the conceptual boundaries between ethics and other areas, such as law, commerce, and religion. Attention will be drawn to forms of unethical conduct that can adversely influence the life of a University student (such as academic misconduct, cyber bullying, and peer pressure) and will, through a series of real-world based scenarios, consider how ethical frameworks can assist a person to make appropriate decisions within a range of settings. These settings will include the contemporary research environment, the context of policy settings to minimise criminal behaviour, an understanding of ethics and its context to corporate life, how ethics influences the life of a legal professional, the interconnection of religion to ethics, and how ethical frameworks operate in the global context.