MANG1048 Business in Society Coursework Brief 2026 | UoS

MANG1048 Business in Society Coursework

This assessment relates to the following module learning outcomes:

A. Knowledge and Understanding

You will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

A1. the salience of using alternative intellectual lenses when thinking about and evaluating business functions, behaviours, and challenges;

A2. the importance of societal institutions in conditioning the nature, goals and impact of business organisations and their agents;

A3. the vast intellectual terrain and history of ideas that have shaped the contemporary business world.
You will be able to:

B. Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

You will be able to:

B1. describe the major societal factors that shape economic and business activity:

B2. identify different schools of thought that have shaped our economic, political and social understanding of who we are as economic agents;

83. recognise the intellectual foundations of business enterprise, business organisations and practices;

B4. evaluate the appropriateness of different thinking and research tools for critically engaging with ideas, theories, and empirical evidence.

C. Transferable and Generic Skills

You will be able to:

C1. use a wide range of intellectual ideas and analytical thinking to enrich your arguments;

C2. appreciate ideas from different perspectives that deepens your understanding of complex phenomena and problems;

C3. reflect on ideas deeply and richly in a way that opens up the space for the exploration of meaning in business contexts and practical problems;

C4. develop fundamental academic skills related to essay writing, critical thinking, and synthesis of diverse
sources;

C5. use library and other resources effectively, and applybibliographical skills.3

Coursework Brief

For this assignment, you are required to complete the following THREE tasks:

1. Carefully read and summarise (-400 words) the following article: Chang, Ha-Joon (2007) "Lazy Japanese and thieving Germans: Are some cultures incapable of economic development?, Chapter 9 in Chang's book, Bad Samaritans (London: Random House). The article is available in Blackboard.

2. Make TWO comparison points between the ideas, arguments, and/or evidence provided in the article you read in (1) above and those that you encountered while studying for this module (~500 words).

3. Critically engage with the following statement (~900 words): Rapid technological progress in recent decades has made the existence of very high levels of pay inequality among the workers of modern capitalist societies unavoidable.

Guiding notes:

1. Before you start writing the comparison section (task 2), make sure you have found two relevant comparison points to discuss. Relevance of comparisons will result in stronger arguments.

2. "...and those that you encountered while studying for this module": "studying' here includes the module's lectures, supplementary material provided, assigned and further readings, as well as your wider reading that goes beyond (but should still be related to) the module material. In other words, material beyond what I have used, referenced, or suggested, can also be used, as long as it is related to our module's content.

3. 'Critically engage' does not mean that you necessarily have to criticise the statement. In fact, you can either support, criticise, or even offer a balanced account of the statement. The important thing here is that, irrespective of what approach you are adopting, I want to see some critical thinking in your essay: arguments that reflect a good synthesis of available knowledge and information, an evaluation of the relevant arguments and evidence, a proper interpretation of them, and a structured and coherent presentation of your arguments.

Further notes:

All sources read and mentioned in the main text should appear in the list of references at the end of the document. Please use the Harvard style for referencing (see next page).
Marking will be based on the detailed Grade Descriptor document that accompanies this brief. Please see the Blackboard for details.

Further guidance about how to approach the coursework tasks will be provided during (someof) the lecture hours of the module. A document answering to all relevant FAQs will also bedistributedearly on during the module’s delivery.

Nature of Assessment: This is a SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT. See 'Weighting' section above for the percentage that this assignment counts towards your final module mark.

Word Limit: +/-10% either side of the word count (see above) is deemed to be acceptable. Any text that exceeds an additional 10% will not attract any marks. The relevant word count includes items such as cover page, executive summary, title page, table of contents, tables, figures, in-text citations and section headings, if used. The relevant word count excludes your list of references and any appendices at the end of your coursework submission.

You should always include the word count (from Microsoft Word, not Turnitin), at the end of your coursework submission, before your list of references.

Title/Cover Page: You must include a title/ cover page that includes: your Student ID, Module Code, Assignment Title, Word Count. This assignment will be marked anonymously, please ensure that your name does not appear on any part of your assignment.

References: You should use the Harvard style to reference your assignment. The library provide guidance on how to reference in the Harvard style and this is available
Submission Deadline: Please note that the submission deadline for Southampton Business School is 16.00 for ALL
assessments.

Turnitin Submission: The assignment MUST be submitted electronically via Turnitin, which is accessed via the individual module on Blackboard. Further guidance on submitting assignments is available on the Blackboard support pages.

It is important that you allow enough time prior to the submission deadline to ensure your submission is processed on time as all late submissions are subject to a late penalty. We would recommend you allow 30 minutes to upload your work and check the submission has been processed and is correct. Please make sure you submit to the correct assignment link.

Email submission receipts are not currently supported with Turnitin Feedback Studio LTI integrations, however following a submission, students are presented with a banner within their assignment dashboard that provides a link to download a submission receipt. You can also access your assignment dashboard at any time to download a copy of the submission receipt using the receipt icon. It is vital that you make a note of your Submission ID (Digital Receipt Number). This is a unique receipt number for your submission, and is proof of successful submission. You may be required to provide this number at a later date. We recommend that you take a screenshot of this page, or note the number down on a piece of paper.

The last submission prior to the deadline will be treated as the final submission and will be the copy that is assessed by the marker.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the version received by the deadline is the final version, resubmissions after the deadline will not be accepted in any circumstances.