Professional Ethics, Competence and Commercial Awareness - 2019 entry

This module assumes no prior knowledge but seeks to develop an understanding of business from several key perspectives.  Health and Safety is addressed through a study of the mechanisms by which major failures usually occur.  You will be given a basic grasp of accounting, particularly with respect to using accounts as a tool for measuring and improving the financial health of a business. The investor’s perspective is also addressed through a study of key investment ratios and discussion on the nature and workings of the stock market.  The principles of English contract law are introduced, with practical guidance on legal issues likely to affect construction contracts in the renewable energy industry.

The skills obtained by yourself during this module are widely applicable and easily transferred to a wide range of industries and situations.  Learning is based on seminar sessions with topics generally being discussed as a group.  You are encouraged to engage in further self study with direction to appropriate resources and/or key words.

Today’s energy professionals demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to society, to their profession, and to the environment. These principles are embedded in professional codes of conduct and mechanisms for self-regulation. Professional competence integrates knowledge, understanding, skills and values and is accrued through professional development. This module encourages understanding of these ideas and their need. In addition, the module aims to develop understanding of business practice and business governance. The module is focused on the development of skills that are deemed discipline specific under UK-SPEC and the Engineering Benchmark document, and are not covered in the M-level curriculum elsewhere. They are entered here as Personal Skills for consistency with University codes of practice for module specification. The module encourages you to conduct a reflective self-assessment of your professional development, close to the time of graduation, such that a professional development plan can be formulated.

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

- ethical challenges in science and engineering, institutional codes/rules of conduct; 
- employer’s liability and professional indemnity, health and safety at work, identifying and communicating examples of good practice;
- methodical approaches to risk identification and assessment, mitigating risk to health, safety, society or the environment;
- motivation theories, working in groups and teams;
- leadership, the organisational environment;
- job evaluation, recruitment and selection week;
- the UK legal system, sources of law;
-starting a new business – corporations memorandum and articles;
- contract law, tender processes;
- principles of financial accounting, maintaining accounts;
- income statement, position statement;
- cash flow, statement measuring profitability and efficiency;
- what intellectual property is, securing intellectual property;
- market analysis, assessing competition;
- branding and marketing, securing the supply chain;
- standard costing systems business planning;
- sources of funding, investment pitches;
- self-assessment against programme learning outcomes;
- preparing a professional development action plan, the role of (CPD);
- maintaining evidence of competence and professional activity.

As above 1 piece of CW 30% and/or 1 Exam 70%

Basic reading:

1.  Jordan, G., Engineers and Professional Self-Regulation, From the Finniston Committee to the Engineering Council. 1992. Clarendon Press, Oxford.                                    

2.  ECUK, 2008. UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence. Available at: <a href="http://www.engc.org.uk/ukspec/default.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.engc.org.uk/ukspec/default.aspx</a>                                                          

3.  Energy Institute. The Professional Development Framework. Available at: <a href="http://www.energyinst.org.uk/content/files/pdframework.doc" target="_blank">http://www.energyinst.org.uk/content/files/pdframework.doc</a>                                                  

4.  Energy Institute. Rules of Professional Conduct. Available at: <a href="http://www.energyinst.org.uk/content/files/rules.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.energyinst.org.uk/content/files/rules.pdf</a>                                                                 

5.  Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Code for Professional Conduct (v0503). Available at: <a href="http://www.iom3.org/content/code-conduct" target="_blank">http://www.iom3.org/content/code-conduct</a>                                          

6.  Drury, C., 1992. Management and cost accounting (3rd edition). Chapman and Hall.                                                                                                   

7.   Handy, C.B., 1986 Understanding organizations (3rd edition  or later editions) Penguin.                                                                                           

8.  Cole, G.A. 1996. Management. Theory & Practice, (5th edition). Letts Educational.                                                                                          

9.  Gray, E.R. and Smeltzer, L.R., 1989. Management: the competitive edge. Macmillan.                                                                                                   

10.  Vause, B. 1997. Guide to Analysing Companies. The Economist Books.                                                                                                                 

11. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), What is Intellectual Property?. Available at <a href="http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/" target="_blank">http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/</a>                                                     

12. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Available at <a href="http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/" target="_blank">http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/</a>                                

13.  Watton, P., Collings, J., and Moon, J., 2001. Reflective Writing, Guidance Notes for Students. (available at: X:\Shared Areas\CSM Shared Area\dlm\Handbooks\Work Placement Handbook)

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Reading list for this module: