MGMT 1040 Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability in BusinessFall 2011

Librarians:Sophie Bury <sbury@yorku.ca>

William Denton <wdenton@yorku.ca>Xuemei Li <lixuemei@yorku.ca>

Peter F. Bronfman Business Library, S237 SSB

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/businessethics These slides are there too.

Online course guide

Have you visited the Bronfman Library?

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2. Once

3. Two or more times

York University Libraries

www.library.yorku.ca

Peter F. Bronfman Business Library

http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/BG/

Sources of information

Library resources

• The catalogue• Article databases• Sustainalytics

The free web

• Company sites• Think tanks• Google• Wikipedia

Selected for quality and relevance to teaching and research. Generally not available on the Internet.

Schulich and the Libraries are partners in funding the electronic resources

Google and Wikipedia: Great places to start, but not to finish.

Thinking critically about information sources

A good way to start is to familiarize yourself with the world of business information: who produces it, who consumes it, and why?

Answers to these kinds of questions should help inform your decision as to whether a source is relevant or authoritative in the context of your research question.

You always need to evaluate any information resource retrieved through any search tool

Search by:• Author• Title• Keyword

Library resources: the catalogue

Who = AuthorWhat = Article titleWhen = Date Where = Journal title, volume, and page

This short video is also available to help you find articles when you are working from a citation or reference.

Finding articles by citation 1: through the catalogue

Singh, J. B. (2011). Changes and Trends in Canadian Corporate Ethics Programs. Business and Society Review, 116(2), 257-276.

Finding articles by citation 2: Google Scholar

Singh, J. B. (2011). Changes and Trends in Canadian Corporate Ethics Programs. Business and Society Review, 116(2), 257-276.

http://scholar.google.com/

Matten, Dirk. (2003) “Symbolic Politics in Environmental Regulation: Corporate Strategic Responses”. Business Strategy and the Environment. 12.4: 215-226

To find this article through the library catalogue you would search:

Arti

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title

Auth

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Journ

al ti

tle

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Finding articles by citation: quiz

1. Article title = Symbolic Politics in Environmental…

2. Author = Matten, Dirk3. Journal title = Business Strategy

and the Environment4. Wait a second … I’m not sure

Article databases

These threeare all linked in the subject research guide.

Many different kinds of articles

Newspapers (primarily)

• Published in academic journals – may be peer-reviewed

• May be generally dedicated to the area of business e.g. Academy of Management Journal, or to a subfield within business such as business ethics, e.g. Business Ethics Quarterly

• Written by academics and researchers• Typically focuses on original research• There is a publication lag time• Uses specialized language• Has extensive bibliographies• Plain covers, few or no pictures or

advertisements

Scholarly journals

• Published in trade or professional journals or magazines, e.g. Directors & Boards, CA Magazine

• Target members of a specific business, industry or organization.

• Written by practitioners or journalists who cover the field

• Often published by an association or organization

• Valued for currency• Typically focus on industry trends,

new products, and organizational news

• Editorial reviews quite common, may contain short bibliographies

• Often printed on glossy paper with pictures, and illustrations and some focused advertising

Trade magazines

• Published in popular magazines e.g. Canadian Business, Economist, Forbes

• Target audience is general public and/or business professionals

• Tend to focus on general business information, especially current trends and news

• Sometimes unsigned articles• No bibliographies• Use of laymen terms not

specialized language• Features glossy paper, pictures

& illustrations, and heavy advertising

Popular magazines

• Published in newspapers or newswires, e.g. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times or Canada Newswire

• Usually the articles are short• Focuses on current news in

business• Written by business columnists

and journalists

Newspapers

Avoid natural language. Use “and” and “or” to search.

and puts together distinctive concepts and narrows the searchmanagement and ethicswhistleblow* and legislation

or combines synonyms or like terms and broadens the search web or internet

ethics or morals

Truncation symbols expand words ethic* (= ethic, ethics, ethical, ethically)manag* (= manage, manager, management)

Developing a good search strategy

Choose only one answer:When searching the library catalogue, which search string will find the most records?

frau

d an

d acc

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frau

d in

acc

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frau

d or a

ccou.

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wai

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Question: Which finds the most?

1. fraud and accounting2. fraud in accounting3. fraud or accounting4. wait a second … I’m not sure

Choose only one answer:To retrieve all variations on the word “canada” (such as canada, canadian, …) which truncated form works best?

can

ada*

can

a*

can

*

can

ad*

wai

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Question: Which matches the most?

1. canada*2. cana*3. can*4. canad*5. wait a second … I’m not sure

Two search demonstrations

Topic: whistleblowing and business ethics

Topic: Starbucks and corporate social responsibility

Video: Ray Anderson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUG4JXE6K4A

What caught your interest?

Questions you came up with?

Let’s take one question and formulate an effective search strategy.– What are the main keywords?– Are there synonyms or alternate spellings?– Should you use ANDs or ORs?– Would truncation help you out?

Search exercise

1. Go to the library home page at www.library.yorku.ca

2. Search for Business Source Premier and go to its site

3. Keeping principles of effective search strategy in mind, run to a search to see what you can find on your chosen topic using the search strategy you’ve come up with

Business Source Premier looks like this:

Sustainalytics

Sustainalytics rates companies on environmental, social and governance performance.

For most performance issue areas, it includes aboriginal relations, community involvement, corporate governance, employee relations, the environment and human rights.

The framework calls for a complete examination of each company's performance record in that area, as well as an evaluation of each company's record in these areas overall.

It also includes a Controversy Report.

Example: Barrick Gold Corp

Information produced by corporations: annual reports

SEDAR:Canadian annual reports since 1997

EDGAR:US annual reports

Consider:• Purpose of the site• Audience(s) for the site• Positives and negatives of this site as an

information source• CSR information available

Imperial Oilwww.imperialoil.ca

Information produced by corporations: web sites

Business ethics/CSR information on the free web

This may take many forms and you need to consider authority, accuracy, currency, coverage, and objectivity.

You also need to consider the relevance of the site in the context of your research project

“A free and prosperous world through choice, markets and responsibility.”

“Holding corporations accountable.”

Business librarians are available to help you all through the year:

• at the reference desk• bgref@yorku.ca• 416-736-5139• or by IM

Thanks for your attention

Or use the Meebo chat box on our site: http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/BG/

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/businessethics