Lesson Element
Unit 1: The Business Environment
LO6: Understand the external influences and
constraints on businesses and how
businesses could respond
Ethical business behaviour
Instructions and answers for tutors
These instructions cover the learner activity section which can be found on page 4. This
Lesson Element supports Cambridge Technicals Level 3 in Business.
When distributing the activity section to the learners either as a printed copy or as a
Word file you will need to remove the tutor instructions section.
The activities
This lesson will look at the ethical factors affecting employers, traders, the environment,
sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Learners will also consider the
impact on a business and its stakeholders of operating ethically as well as the
consequences for a business and its stakeholders of not operating ethically.
Half of the group should research ethical businesses and half the group should research
unethical businesses. Each will then present to the other with a debate to follow on the
consequences for business, employees, community etc.
Suggested timings
Activity 1: 30 minutes
Activity 2: 20 minutes
ABC – This activity offers an
opportunity for English skills
development.
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WORK – This activity offers
an opportunity for work
experience.
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© OCR 2016
Activity 1
Learners should use the internet to research either:
1. Ethical businesses – such as the Cooperative Bank, Innocent Drinks, The Body Shop,
Fair Trade coffee and chocolate.
2. Businesses that have been accused of unethical practice – Primark, Nike, Morecambe
Bay cockling disaster, Shell oil leak.
Ensure that learners cover the following:
 Definition
 Some real examples, with images
 Consequences of the actions – positive or negative
 Reasons why they think the business acts ethically or unethically.
Activity 2
Hold a 20-minute debate to discuss: should businesses act ethically, and why do so many
act unethically?
 The unethical group can present their findings first – 5–10 minutes
 The ethical group can then present their findings – 5–10 minutes
 Each group can then discuss and prepare five questions they would like to ask, so as to
give the discussion a structure
 Then manage a general discussion
 The general and short conclusion will be something like ‘of course businesses should act
ethically and stay within the law – however, this often costs money and the pressure of
trying to make a profit often causes businesses to act in unethical and sometimes
unlawful ways'.
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/teacher-blog/2012/jun/18/pupil-classdebate
There are many examples on the internet – learners will be able to find examples of
businesses that have ethical business practice as one of their key objectives. There are also
many examples of businesses that have been accused of being unethical. It makes for a
good debate for learners to investigate one side and to then present to the rest of the group.
What is important at the end of the debate is to round things up by covering the
consequences of ethical and unethical business behaviour. A similar activity can be run with
environmentally friendly and non-environmentally friendly business practice.
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Lesson Element
Unit 1: The Business Environment
LO6: Understand the external influences and
constraints on businesses and how
businesses could respond
Learner Activity
Ethical business behaviour
You will look at the ethical factors affecting employers, traders, the environment,
sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR). You will also consider the impact on a
business and its stakeholders of operating ethically as well as the consequences for a
business and its stakeholders of not operating ethically.
Half of the group will research ethical businesses and half the group will research unethical
business. Each will then present to the other, with a debate to follow, on the consequences
for business, employees, community etc.
Activity 1
Use the internet to research either:
1. Ethical businesses – such as the Cooperative Bank, Innocent Drinks, The Body Shop,
Fair Trade coffee and chocolate.
2. Businesses that have been accused of unethical practice – Primark, Nike, Morecambe
Bay cockling disaster, Shell oil leak.
For the area that you have been given, ensure you cover the following.
 Definition
 Some real examples, with images
 Consequences of the actions – positive or negative
 Reasons why you think the business acts ethically or unethically.
You will be able to find examples of businesses that have ethical business practice as one of
their key objectives. There are also many examples of businesses that have been accused
of being unethical. Investigate the one side of the argument you have been given.
You should create a presentation to demonstrate understanding of the terms, the data and
the trends that are identified within the data. If you have ICT available, create one graph/bar
chart for each table, in order to make it easier to see the trends in the above statistics. The
questions below should guide you through this.
Activity 2
Should businesses act ethically? Why do so many act unethically?
 The unethical group can present their findings first – 5–10 minutes
 The ethical group can then present their findings – 5–10 minutes
 Each group should then discuss and prepare five questions they would like to ask, so as
to give the discussion a structure
 A general discussion can then take place.
At the end of the debate make sure you know about and have examples of:
 ethical and unethical business behaviour
 reasons why businesses act ethically or unethically
 the consequences of ethical and unethical business behaviour.
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