“Signature Work” Paper
For this paper, you need to select a sustainability concern that is important to you and prepare a 5 – 10 page (single-spaced, 11 font, standard margins) paper related to this. (You can Google “sustainability
issues” and find sites/reports that list hundreds of issues!) The paper must include section headers (take
these from 1 to 7 below; e.g., “Atlantic King Crab: A Sustainability Concern…” for Section 1; “The
Importance of This Concern” for Section 2; “Bob’s Tuna Vessel: Tacking the Challenge” for Section 3,
etc.). The paper must include references to material from this course and non-course material (i.e.,
material that you find on your own). A reference list is not required; however, in-text citations (author
name(s), date) are required (see earlier in the syllabus for a discussion on in-text citations). In all, you
can think of this paper as just a series of short responses to 1 – 7 below.
Here is the structure for the paper:
1: Select and describe a sustainability concern (that is, what is?)
For example: emissions causes by commercial vehicles
2: Reflect on your experience here at QU (e.g., in your prior classes) and elsewhere and describe
why the concern you selected is (or should be) important to (a) you, (b) society, and (c)
corporations from a moral (e.g., you can reference a moral theory), social, and/or economic
perspective (select at least two of these).
For example: emissions/pollution is a concern for A, B, and/or C…for reasons X, Y,
and/or Z
3: Select and briefly describe a corporation that you believe can (and should address) this
concern; this can be, but need not be, a corporation that you work for.
For example: if you work for a company that transports products, perhaps there is an
opportunity to improve the efficiency of this transportation process – different routes,
different travel times, different vehicles, etc. But again, it doesn’t have to be a
corporation you work for…
4: Discuss how the corporation that you selected can benefit from responding to this concern – or,
if it can’t benefit, why this is acceptable (given that corporations need profits to compete and
survive in the long-term).
For example: direct energy savings that result from increased fuel efficiency in the
transportation process…
5: Discuss how (a) society and/or (b) the environment can benefit from the corporation
responding to this concern.
For example: reduced emissions/pollution can benefit…
6: Identify and describe the stakeholders that the corporation that you selected will need to
consider and engage in developing a strategy to respond to this concern. Why are these
important?
For example: drivers, customers, etc…these people are important for reasons X and Y
7: Propose a concise strategic plan (you can use tables, lists, bullets, etc.) to address this concern
in the corporation that you selected; in this plan, take the role of a sustainability consultant and
offer a recommendation for how executives in the corporation should, e.g., “champion”
sustainable development in the corporation, lead the transformation, and connect the
sustainability strategy to the broader strategy of the corporation.
See the figure on p. 3 of the Kotter paper (that discusses “leading change” file is attached) in Module 7
for clear insights into the steps that you could consider in this process. In fact, the easiest
way to complete this part of the paper is to just list the eight steps and then describe
what you recommend for each of these
