Content area
Full Text
This article makes two contributions to the teaching of business ethics literature. First, it describes the steps involved in developing effective ethical dilemmas to incorporate into a computer-based business simulation. Second, it illustrates these steps by presenting two ethical dilemmas that an instructor can incorporate into any business simulation. Instructors who use business simulations in their courses can use the sample dilemmas as presented or modify them as desired or necessary to fit their course design and objectives. Instructors can also use the steps described to develop their own ethical dilemmas.
Keywords: ethics; business; simulation; dilemma; pedagogy
The challenge for business educators is to find effective ways to teach students how to identify and analyze ethical dilemmas in business in whatever form they occur (AACSB Ethics Education Task Force, 2004). Research on learning concludes that learning is more likely to be remembered and correctly applied when the student repeatedly practices the behavior to be learned over an extended period of time and under a variety of circumstances (Bjork & Druckman, 1991; Dempster, 1988; Donovan & Radosevich, 1999; Driskell, Willis, & Copper, 1992; Goldstein, 1986). This conclusion from the learning literature suggests that ethics education is more likely to be effective when students have an opportunity to practice making ethical decisions repeatedly throughout their curriculum (Dennehy, Sims, & Collins, 1998; Ferris, 1996; Kuhn, 1998; LeClair, Ferrell, Montuori, & Willems, 1999; Liedtka, 1992; Mallinger, 1997; Payne, 1993; Sims, 2002a, 2002b).
Instructors can use a variety of effective pedagogical tools to teach ethics, including lectures, group discussion, reflective writing, case analyses, roleplays, and experiential exercises. Although useful, these tools may not immerse students in a realistically complex environment in which they have to live with the consequences of their decisions (Wolfe & Fritzsche, 1998). For example, a student who has never experienced the situation presented in a case discussion might find it hard to understand and appreciate the strength of the pressures on the manager described in the case that caused the manager to make an unethical decision.
Like the other pedagogies, business simulations can also serve as a valuable platform for teaching business ethics by incorporating ethical dilemmas into the simulation game (Burns, Gentry, & Wolfe, 1990; Kuhn, 1998; Schumann, Anderson, & Scott, 1997; Wolfe &...