Reflective Ethics and Decision Making in Business: Harvey Norman Ltd.

Other (Not Listed) Instructions:

Prepare a reflection essay (1,100 words) based on a time when you experienced making or observing a decision being made within a business or organisational context. If you are not currently associated with a business or organisation or have not had this type of experience, you may select a recent personal incident, or an event reported in the media.
(The decision made was when the Harvey Norman CEO, Gerry Harvey announced he was returning the Jobkeeper Payment to the Australian Government in 2021.)
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ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
For your assignment, you will research and write a reflective essay based on a time when you experienced making or observing a business decision being made within a business or organisational context. If you are not currently associated with a business or organisation or have not had this type of experience, you may select a recent personal incident, or an event reported in the media.
Reflective writing is documenting the thinking process or revisiting a practical situation and reviewing your
experiences through the lenses of the concepts or theories you are studying. In other words, reflective writing is recounting a particular experience and explore how you have changed or learned from those experiences. The subject is you.
When engaging in reflection, you begin by recalling a situation and the thoughts and feelings you encountered during the experience. From there, you explore your beliefs, values, and attitudes that underpin these thoughts and feelings. Last, identify one or two salient points, concepts, or theories that you can relate to your situation and discuss your insights.
It is important to realise that while you are writing your reflection, the story of the incident or event is not the focus. Rather you should focus on the insights you gained from re-examining and documenting your reactions and connecting your real-life situation. to the course concepts or theories.
When writing your reflective essay, you are not expected to review all the chapters in the subject prior to
completing this assignment but rather focus on the relevant chapters that are indicated in the Key Information section of this brief. Additionally, a reflective essay consists of a balance between your personal observations, opinions, feelings, and beliefs and conventions of academic writing, such as crafting a thesis statement and using the salient findings, concepts, or theories to support or further explain your reflection.
Reflection Essay Format
When writing your reflective essay, we suggest you use the 4Rs Model to Reflective Writing (Moon, 2006; QUT, 2010) to guide your structure. Consider including the following elements in your essay.
1. Introduction Paragraph
For your introductory paragraph, you should include the following:
a. A hook is the first sentence that sets the tone for your report. The hook should give the reader a sense of the topic you are writing about and why it is interesting.
b. Provide a summary of any key learnings you gained and introduce any salient points, concepts, or theories you will highlight in your essay.
c. Thesis Statement – Include a sentence or two that summarizes the main idea of your essay.
2. Reporting and Responding - Report your experience or explain what issue was involved.
a. Briefly explain the chronological story of your selected incident or event.
b. Include your initial thoughts, feelings and perspectives.
c. Introduce the salient points, concepts, or theories you will use in the reflective discussion section.
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3. Relating – Relate or connect the ethical issues with your own experience, skills, or knowledge.
a. Discuss how your own beliefs, values, and attitudes influenced your thoughts and feelings.
b. Explain how your incident and thoughts and feelings are connected to any salient points, concepts or theories you have been studying.
c. Discuss your current knowledge and skills that are relevant in dealing with the experience. Did you have the skills or knowledge to deal with the issue? What skills or knowledge did you need to develop a business strategy or perform a strategic analysis?
4. Reasoning – Detail significant factors underlying the issue or experience.
a. Highlight any significant factors underlying the incident or issues. Explain why these factors are important to understanding the ethical or moral situation or event.
b. Connect any relevant salient points, concepts or theories to support your reasoning.
c. Are there any other perspectives you might use? How would a knowledgeable person perceive or handle a similar situation or issue?
5. Reconstructing – Reconstruct future practice or professional understanding.
a. Reflect on your experience and detail what you have learned. Explain how you would deal with the situation in the future and what might you do differently.
b. Describe any different options you may use in the future. Are your ideas supported by any theories or concepts? Provide scholarly references to support your ideas. Again, use salient points, concepts, or theories you have identified to support your ideas.
c. Explain any changes you may make to benefit others.
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SUGGESTED STRUCTURE
Your essay may be structured in any way that best presents your reflection. However, the following structure can be used as a guide for your essay and subheads.
1. Cover Page
2. Introduction
a. Provide an overview of the situation or event and the salient points, concepts or theories you will use for your reflection discussion.
b. Provide a brief overview of the lessons you have learned.
3. Reflective Discussion
a. Report your experience or explain what issue was involved.
b. Relate or connect the ethical issues with your own experience, skills, or knowledge.
c. Detail significant factors underlying the issue or experience.
d. Reconstruct future practice or professional understanding.
4. Conclusion
a. Summarise your perspective or stance and reiterate your learning
b. Summarise the implications for practices and future development
5. Reference page (listed in alphabetical order)
6. Appendix, if needed

Other (Not Listed) Sample Content Preview:

Reflective Ethics and Decision Making
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Reflective Ethics and Decision Making
Introduction
Decision-making and ethics are the significant aspects that determine the effective operation of business and accomplishment of core set objectives. During my learning period, I have experienced business leaders over the media being in situations requiring an ethical decision-making process. Therefore, I understand the need for critical thinking among top executives to systematically identify, assess, and resolve issues rather than assume. Conceptual skills back the leader’s decision-making process regarding the case scenario of CEO Harvey Norman, who opined that he would return job keeper payment to the government of Australia. A common notion is that leaders can use emotions and self-awareness in making the right decisions. Harvey Norman is one of the companies that incorporate moral integrity in its operations by repaying the $6 million it had claimed through the Australian Taxation Office.
Reflective Discussion
Reporting and Responding
Critical thinking is one of the techniques that top management can use in making relevant decisions while resolving any underlying issues. In such a case, they can distinguish facts from any form of biases and assumptions from the underlying potential solutions. I believe that top executives utilize managerial decision-making to balance quantifiable and unquantifiable management aspects. An organization has a core obligation to rely on their judgment and has clear set objectives before making any decisions. Gerry Harvey, the founder of Harvey Norman, choose to repay $ 6 million of jobkeeper subsidy to the federal government with a warning that if companies would let coronavirus pandemic drag them for too long, the economy would tip to a recession. In the case of Harvey Norman, the decision to pay back job keeper based on record profits reignited calls for enhancing transparency on the multi-billion-dollar wage subsidy, which sparked criticism of the government’s choice in clawing back funds from unwitting individuals (Karp, 2021). Harvey Norman announced a move to return $6 million as company-controlled entities receive under the jobkeeper scheme.
Relating
Personal life, culture, and professional life are the major factors that influence ethical standards. I believe that critical thinking is critical in scenarios that leaders encounter a moral dilemma. Organizational leaders should have an open mind in embracing other people’s opinions to make relevant decisions. For example, Harvey Norman’s CEO repaid the Australian government more than $ 6 million for job keeper payments after several months of public commentary on the ethics of accepting profitable business supports (Karp, 2021). According to the yearly results, Harvey Norman reported repayment of $6.02 million of wages in assistance and support through the Australian Taxation Office. Such a payment emerged after months of speculation on the decision of the retailer to receive COVID-19 support while performing exceptionally well during the pandemic.
The $6.02 million was an exclusion of $14 million that Harvey Norman-owned franchisees claimed. In this case, ...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Reflective Ethics and Decision Making in Business: Harvey Norman Ltd.

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