TEAM PROJECT

CORPORATE CULTURE PROFILE

The team project will involve of two components:

1. In-class presentation
2. A written corporate culture analysis report done separately by
each member of the team.

IN-CLASS PRESENTATION: Length: 45 minutes

The in-class presentation will consist of three major parts:

I GENERAL INFORMATION (4/5 sections)

Company history (including current information)

Products/services
Financials
SWOT analysis
Awards/recognitions if applicable (relating to general awards or
recognitions but not those that are specific to the ethical or CSR
levels)

Note: In the general information section, you are not discussing the
ethical or CSR levels of the company.
II ETHICAL LEVEL (This consists of four sections)

A. How the Company Treats Its Stakeholders:

This aspect is about the company’s ethical treatment of its

stakeholder groups such as: Employees, customers, investors (if
publicly owned), suppliers, community, franchisees (if applicable),
distributors/dealers and any other stakeholders mentioned by the
company. Discuss how the company treats its stakeholders above
the minimum requirements of the law. Also, how does the
company’s mission/vision and stated values/principles
communicate its ethical aspects?

Note: Do not confuse the ethical level of a company with the CSR
level (especially in terms of the community stakeholder).
Remember CSR is beyond the ethical level. See the course packet
on the difference between the ethical level and CSR level.
Also, if a company has a Sustainability Report or Social
Responsibility Report, this may entail ethical level information as
well as CSR information (only use the ethical level info in this
section)

B. Behavior That the Company Expects:

This aspect of the ethical level focuses on the type of behavior that
the company expects from stakeholders that work for the company
(employees) and those that have business contracts with the
company (suppliers, distributors/dealers, franchisees).

1Behavioral expectations can be expressed through some of the

company’s stated values/principles (which ones?) and also
through the company’s Code of Business Conduct (sometimes
called the Ethics Code of Conduct).
The company’s stated values/principles are more general in
nature, whereas the Code of Conduct/Ethics Code provides details
about expected behavior. The Code of Conduct could a few pages
long to 20 pages or more.

What are the expected behaviors of those that have business

contracts with the company? Is there a separate code of conduct
for suppliers (distributors/dealers or franchisees where applicable)?

C. Internal Controls (IC)

1This aspect is a risk management mechanism for the purpose of

protecting the company’s ethical culture and protecting its integrity
and reputation. IC concerns how the company tries to ensure that
employees and business partners (esp. suppliers) will adhere to the
values/principles, and code of business conduct in order to
maintain a strong ethical culture.

Maintaining the company’s ethical culture could consist of the

following components (this is not an exhaustive list):

1. Leadership Role: The leaders of the company must

promote and ensure ethical behavior from their employees and
business partners. Leaders must “walk the talk” and be role models
of ethical behavior. They must uphold the ethical values of the
company and act according to the ethical codes of conduct.

2. Due Process: This concerns the different ways an

employee can discuss ethical issues/concerns they are facing or
report their awareness of unethical behavior done by others
(whistle blowing policy). Who do the employees contact about
ethical concerns? Is there a hotline/ethics line they can call
anonymously? Is there a reporting due process for business
partners (esp. suppliers)?

3. Ongoing Ethics Training and Communication

This can apply to both employees and business partners (such as

suppliers). Ethics training can be done through leadership
mentoring, workshops, online simulations, and discussions of
ethical situations employees may face. Are there any ethical
scenarios included in the code of business conduct manual that
guide employees through ethical dilemmas?

4. Monitoring Business Partners (esp. suppliers,

franchisees). To ensure the ethical behavior of the company’s
business partners, the company may perform announced or
unannounced on-site visits to check for ethical issues such as:
Product quality; product safety; labor concerns (e.g. wages, work
conditions, forced labor, child labor, etc). What type of
qualification process do suppliers go through before they are
accepted as business partners of the company?

5. Employee Feedback (sometimes called “Pulse

Surveys”) Some companies do surveys to get the employee’s
perspective on how well the company is doing in terms of its
ethical responsibilities and whether the company’s values and what
is stated in the codes of conduct connect with day to day business
decisions and operations.

D. Team Evaluation of the Ethical Level: Present your

team’s evaluation of company’s ethical level and whether your
team thinks the company manifests a strong ethical culture. Give
reasons for the team’s evaluation.
III CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY LEVEL
(CSR) (this consists of two sections)

1The CSR level of corporate responsibility goes beyond the ethical

level and consists of initiatives that make a positive contribution to
the well-being of humanity and society. Corporations want to
make a difference and serve a greater purpose. It should be noted,
that sometimes the terms “corporate philanthropy” or “corporate
citizenship” are used interchangeably with the term “corporate
social responsibility” or CSR for short.

The amount of CSR initiatives a company has can be

overwhelming. Choose what is most interesting, significant and
meaningful while at the some time indicating the breadth of the
company’s overall CSR initiatives.

CSR initiatives can be broken down into two main categories:

Community-related initiatives and environmental initiatives.

A. Community-related Initiatives: This concerns the

company’s contribution to the community in which it operates
(local) or to the global community in terms of the following types
of community initiatives: This is not an exhaustive list.

Health and disease

Disaster relief
Helping the poor/underprivileged
Education/training/mentoring programs
Advocating for human rights (esp. children, women)
Community improvement projects (housing, cleanup, etc.)

Large companies may have a Social Responsibility Report or

Sustainability Report that discusses their community-related
initiatives. These reports may also include ethical level
information. This should not be included in the CSR section.
Companies use a variety of methods to accomplish these initiatives
such as: Employee volunteerism (including skill-based); product
donations; cash contributions to non-profits/NGOs; partnerships
with non-profits/NGOs and others.

B. Environmental Initiatives:

1Environmental initiatives are usually discussed separately on

company websites and are differentiated from community-related
initiatives that focus on other issues as delineated above. It should
be noted that companies sometimes use the word “sustainability”
in a narrow sense to refer to their environmental initiatives.

Below are examples of environmental initiatives:

1. Reduction of the company’s CO2 (carbon dioxide)

emissions (also known as greenhouse gases) through energy
conservation and recycling programs. LEED certified buildings.

2. Developing/manufacturing “green” products or making

existing products more “green” (e.g. biodegradable products).

3. Nature, land or water conservation/preservation projects

Some companies have a Sustainability Report that discusses their

environmental initiatives. However, it is possible that this report
may include community-related initiatives as well (keep these two
categories separate).

As with community-based CSR initiatives, environmental

initiatives may involve partnerships with non-profits/NGOs, and
employee volunteerism relating to the environment.
THE CORPORATE CULTURE ANALYSIS REPORT

Each team member will write their own (this is not a team event)
corporate culture analysis report.

From a potential employee and customer point of view, what

specific ethical and CSR aspects of the company are most
important to you and why? This report is a reflection of your own
thoughts, views, and opinions.

The report must be 3 full pages in length with a separate cover

sheet designating your name and the name of the company.

The report is to be double-spaced.

Times Roman font style
14 point font size
1 ¼ inch margins all around

PRESENTATION MATERIALS TO BE TURNED IN

At the beginning of class on the day of your team presentation the

following must be turned into me:

1. A hard copy of all Power Point slides (these should be large

enough for me to read (4-6 per page). Also a hard copy of the
Prezi presentation.

If your team is doing a Prezi presentation, I will also need a

password and I.D. to access your presentation on the internet.
Make sure that you make the Prezi “Public and Allow Copy.”

2. Team project bibliography. This will consist of all the

informational sources used for the team project presentation.
Sources such as:
 a. The various company websites

b. Legitimate business news sources outside the company

websites (e.g. The Wall Street Journal; Business Week;
Fortune Magazine; CSRWire, Financial Times; etc.)

c. Video/audio clips put out by the company or other legitimate

sources (give title of clips and web address information)

d. Communication/interview with company officials (such as

Ethics Officer, CSR Officer) or employees.

3. Any other materials (handouts in class).

4. Corporate Analysis Report from each team member.

GRADING AND REQUIREMENTS

The project (including the written analysis report) is worth 20% of

your total course grade.
Your team will receive an overall grade for the project.

The Team Presentation Grade Will Be Based on the Following:

1. Overall organization: This requires that the relevant material

must be under the appropriate parts and their respective sections
and organized according to the outline set forth in this document.

2. Professionalism: This includes: 1) How each team member

communicates (voice projection, articulation, command of
material, eye contact with audience, etc.) 2) Professional
appearance in terms of attire 3) Level of team cohesiveness (how
together you are as a group and the sense of “team spirit” within
the team) 4) Team member engagement in terms of the level of
enthusiasm/passion with regard to the material presented.

3. Quality of work: This concerns depth of research, focus, level

of detail, and the presentation of interesting information. Depth of
research should be reflected in the project bibliography.

4. Methods and Creativity: This involves how the material is

presented such as: 1) Use of PP slides, Prezi or Apple’s Keynote
and creativity in terms of design and visuals 2) Video/audio clips
3) Show and tell/handouts to audience 4) Audience participation.
This is not an exhaustive list of possibilities.

5. Level of each team member’s contribution during

presentation: The concerns the distribution of time given to each
team member during the presentation.

6. Utilization of Time: This concerns whether the time spent is

appropriate for the amount of information to be covered in each
part of the presentation. There are 3 parts to the project (with
multiple sections under each part):
1) General Information 2) Ethical Level 3) CSR Level

REASONS FOR A GRADE REDUCTION FOR AN

INDIVIDUAL TEAM MEMBER

Even though your team will receive an overall grade for the
project, there are several reasons why an individual team member
could receive a grade reduction on the team project.

1) If a team member is not participating in any capacity, then no

credit (a grade of “F” for 20% of the overall grade) will be given
on the project for that team member.
2) If a team member does not participate at all on the team project
but only turns in the analysis report, then that team member will
receive a D+ as an overall grade (that is assuming the report is
handed in on time and the requirements met).

3) If a member is participating very minimally regarding the team

project, then there will be a grade reduction for that team member
to be determined on a case to case basis.

Before you contact me about the above situations, your team must
try and resolve the problem. If the problem cannot be resolved, a
written document explaining the situation must be submitted to me
and signed by each team member. It is expected that you treat one
another with respect and dignity and to communicate with others in
a professional manner. Someone’s lack of participation may be due
to the way they are being treated by team members.

4) If a team member is absent on the presentation day without a

legitimate reason (extreme circumstance) that can be verified, but
has participated sufficiently in the project, there will be a grade
reduction of one whole letter grade for that team member.

5) If a team member fails to turn in their analysis report (or it is not

turned in on time or the requirements are not met) then there will
be a ½ letter grade reduction on the overall project for that team
member.

Teamwork in corporations involves both face-to-face as well as

electronic communication. I hope you have a chance to meet
frequently with your team members and to rehearse the entire
presentation at least once before your team’s presentation date.