Virtual Team Challenge: Spill!
Teacher In-Class Curriculum Guide
Task Two: Ethics
Overview
What are Ethics?
Students discover that ethics is a consideration not only
in business, but in their day-to-day lives. They get an
introduction to some of the language and concepts of ethics
and social responsibility -- and learn keys to ethical decisionmaking.
Consider this situation: Again, you find yourself living in a cave
in prehistoric times, collecting berries and bartering them for
the other things you need.
Objective
Students will learn that: An ethical decision is one that
upholds principles of ethical action - otherwise known as
'ethical principles'.
Some Key Terms from class:
1. Ethics refers to the beliefs, values and morals that dictate
how we should behave in certain situations, and in our dayto-day lives.
2. Ethical principles are guidelines or moral standards
that serve to guide individual and collective action by
incorporating commonly-held morals, values, and beliefs.
3.Morals refer to rules that prescribe what an individual or
society feels is 'right' and 'wrong' action.
4.Values refer to ideas about what a society believes to be
good, desirable, or attractive.
5.Beliefs are the collection of convictions one accepts as true,
actual, or valid.
6.Negative duties, obligations, or rights describe action from
which we must refrain. Most ethical duties are negative
duties. For example, the obligation not to steal.
7.Positive duties, obligations, or rights describe duties or
actions that we are obliged to perform. There are far fewer
positive duties than there are negative duties.
Portable Skills from the In-Class Handouts:
One day, a migrating prehistoric family settles in a nearby
cave and decides that it, too, will collect berries. What's more,
they brought with them an exciting new invention that has
emerged farther along the mountain range where you live:
the 'wheel'.
You quickly find out that this new invention revolutionizes
berry collection - and soon you find that your neighbors are
collecting so many berries, it is becoming harder and harder
for you to find your own. Furthermore, you are afraid of what
over-picking berries may mean to the local wildlife. With less
berries, the hunter will catch fewer and fewer animals, which
means that there will be fewer sandals and baskets. Your
neighbor's relentless pursuit of berries will spell disaster for
everyone. So what do you do about it? What should you do
about it?
As humans started to organize into bigger and bigger
communities, they needed ways to ensure that people treated
each other, and their environment, in a certain way. They
needed a way to let everyone know what 'right' and 'wrong'
were in any number of situations. They formed mechanisms
to ensure that people in society treated each other in a way
everyone agreed was acceptable.
Almost 4000 years ago, people started to codify rules for
how people are supposed to treat one another into laws. But
sometimes, laws aren't enough. For example, what if you have
the opportunity to do something you know is wrong, but it's
not against the law?
Despite eons of evolution of human society, the solution to
this problem is sometimes elusive. However, today, we have
sets of guidelines and standards that help people know how
to behave or act in certain situations. These guidelines and
standards about how to behave in one's 'place of living' have
evolved for thousands of years - and were given its current
name, 'ethics', by ancient Greek theorists.
• Who is Affected By Business Decisions? An Introduction to
Ethics in Your World Today
• Ethics in the Business World: Ethics and Negotiations
Tell the students: Most people use the word 'ethics' to
describe the beliefs, values and morals that dictate how we
should behave in certain situations, and in our day-to-day lives.
Stakeholder Theory
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Virtual Team Challenge: Spill! Teacher In-Class Curriculum Guide
Task Two: Ethics
It can refer to the way we treat each other, but it can also refer
to how members of a profession should go about performing
work related tasks. It can also mean the level of responsibility
businesses have to their owners, employees, and the people
that live in the communities in which they operate. When
we make decisions guided by ethics, we may not even know
it. We could be subconsciously applying our inner beliefs,
values, morals - or, consciously using ethical guidelines. Such
'unspoken' inner beliefs, values, morals - as well as more formal
ethical 'guidelines' - are collectively known as Ethical Principles.
Ask the students: Have you ever had a situation where you felt
that there was no 'right' thing to do? What were your choices?
(Hint for the students: What are some examples of
opportunities you have had to help other people even though
it meant doing something you may not like yourself? Have
you helped someone answer homework questions right before
class? Did you say yes, because you felt it was the right thing
to do? Has anyone ever asked for an answer to a question on
an exam? Did you say no, because you feel cheating is wrong?)
Tell the students: The decisions you may have made may be
examples of ethical principles in action. Ethical principles are
guidelines for action that incorporate commonly-held morals,
values, and beliefs. You may have decided to behave a certain
way based on your beliefs, your morals, or your values without
even knowing it. Sometimes, we don't even notice that we
are abiding by them because we just 'feel' we have to act in a
certain way.
Here is an exercise that will help us understand the concept
of ethical duties and obligations - and therefore help us apply
ethical principles.
Ask the students: Who are some of the people or institutions
of which you feel that you are a part. Make a list on the
blackboard.
(Hint for the students: This should be easy: Your school, your
class, your family, your town, your religious organization, your
part-time job, your country, etc.)
Now, ask the students: To which of these people, groups
or institutions do you feel you have a responsibility or an
obligation? Circle them.
(Hint for students: Think about whom you feel indebted
towards: Do you feel a responsibility to your parents, guardians
or family who feed and clothe you? Or your employer, who
gives you steady paycheck? How about your country, which
provides us with roads, schools and other services, like fire
protection?)
Obligations or Duties. Positive obligations or duties refer to
things we ought to do. For example, Men have a duty as
citizens of the United States to register for the draft by age 18.
Negative obligations or duties refer to things we shouldn't do.
For example, it is advisable to refrain from stealing from one's
employer - or anyone else, for that matter.
Tell The Students: Look at the list we just made. We may think
of people, groups, and institutions that are circled on that list as
parties to which we have ethical responsibilities, obligations, or
duties to behave in a certain way.
Chances are, when we make most decisions that may affect
these people or groups, we know what the 'right' thing to do is.
Sometimes, however, the 'right' thing to do is not clear cut. In
situations like these, there are ethical principles which may help
guide decisions where the answer is not so clear cut.
Tell the students: Choose one obligation to one group or
institution on the blackboard, and underline it. Now, read
aloud the definitions of the moral rights rule, utilitarian rule,
and the practical rule:
The moral rights principle: This is the principle that states people
should be treated as 'autonomous' free humans with basic
rights. People's rights and freedom to decide for themselves on
decisions affecting their own lives should always be respected.
The practical principle: This is the principle that states that
people should be comfortable if their actions or behavior
guided all future action, or became some sort of universal law.
'Right' decisions are those that one would want others in the
same situation to always make.
The utilitarian principle: This principle states that people should
act in a way that maximizes the positive impact of decisions, and
minimizes the harmful impact, for all parties affected by their
behavior or decisions.
Ask the students: How would the underlined obligation be
justified by each rule?
(Hint for the Students: Consider the example of the duty to
your classmates not to cheat on exams. How would each justify
this rule?)
The moral rights rule may say that it is unfair to cheat because
it does not give everyone taking the exam the same chances at
getting an 'A'.
The utilitarian rule says that in the long run, people in your
school will suffer as your degrees become meaningless when it
becomes known that cheating is tolerated.
Finally, ask the students: What are some of the responsibilities
or obligations you feel you have to these people, groups, or
institutions? Make short lists alongside the circled items.
The practical rule implies that if everyone cheated on
everything, then you probably wouldn't get a fair chance at
anything in life.
(Hint for students: You can get creative. 'I have a duty to my
school and my classmates not to cheat on exams.' Or, 'I have a
duty to respect my parents' wishes'. Make as long a list as you
can in five minutes.)
Tell The Students: Just as you feel you have a responsibility to
some of the people, groups, and institutions on the blackboard
- these groups and institutions and others have obligations
of their own. The decisions that organizations make may
affect many people. In your handouts, you are introduced to
'Stakeholder Theory' which examines the people, groups and
institutions to which businesses have ethical obligations.
Tell the students: Look at the list of obligations, or duties we
just made. They are comprised of two kinds of obligations
or duties: Positive Obligations or Duties, and Negative
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Virtual Team Challenge: Spill! Teacher In-Class Curriculum Guide
Task Two: Ethics
Ethics in New City
Tell the Students: Now that we know a bit about ethics,
obligations and duties, and ethical principles, are you ready to
see how ethical principles are applied in New City?
Tell the students: You are about to enter New City and your
second task. You will have a new set of decisions to make and
goals to pursue, as well as new guidelines to follow, people to
talk to, and things to do. Hopefully, you have learned enough
about how to navigate New City, because things will now
become more difficult.
Remember why we are here: to be introduced to the world of
business - and ethics is a component.
For instance, people have come up to you and asked you for
'advice' on a decision someone they know had to make. What
did you decide to do? Looking back, did any of the answers
you gave involve ethical principles?
For Homework: As you evaluate your tasks during the week,
see if you can identify which ones require ethical decisionmaking.
Tell the students: While you are helping your client make
a specific decision, pay close attention to the characters you
interact with. Try to identify which New City residents are
asking you to make decisions or perform actions that may
involve ethical principles - and how the ethical principles
we have learned may apply. Also, record any decisions or
suggestions you made when confronted. Did you do the right
thing? Why or why not?
In-Class Exercise: Ethics in action in New City.
CEO video: Log onto the official Virtual Team Challenge
website (www.virtualteamchallenge) and listen to your CEO's
opening briefing. He will give students important information
about their upcoming task.
Tell the Students. Remember, as we begin, you start in your
team office. Talk to Evelyn and then exit the team office and
make your way up to City Hall. After you get your briefing
from Will Standon, someone will walk up to you and ask you
for a favor. Login, get the game started, and see what he has
to say.
For the teacher: After students are logged in, they leave the
office by clicking on the 'doormat' placed before the sliding
glass doors, and turn right to walk towards City Hall. Someone
in New City offers students a reward for picking something
up for them - but it is an ethical dilemma because it is unclear
if they are stealing property - or just retrieving it. You can
discuss this with the students.
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Virtual Team Challenge: Spill!
In-game Curriculum Questions
Task Two: Ethics
1) Which of the following describes the word ethics?
A) Moral standards and guidelines that regulate 'right' and
'wrong' conduct
B) Ideas about what an individual feels is 'right' and
'wrong' conduct
C) A discipline in philosophy containing several branches,
including normative ethics and meta-ethics
D) All of the above accurately describe the word ethics.
2) Who coined the word 'ethics'?
A) Prehistoric cavemen
B) King Hammurabi
C) The Ancient Greeks
D) Enlightenment thinkers
3) Which of the following best describes ethical principles?
A) Inner beliefs, morals, values, that one turns to when
making difficult decisions
B) Explicit guidelines that people use when deciding which
course of action or behavior would be 'the right thing to
do' in a given situation
C) Codes of personal conduct derived from the Ten
Commandments and the Golden Rule that are intended to
govern behavior
D) All of the above are examples of ethical principles
4) Which of the following is an example of an ethical
principle?
A) The belief that video games are evil
B) The belief that one should always tell the truth
C) The belief one should never take 'no' for an answer
D) The idea that everyone should be equal in the eyes of
the law
5) Which of the following is not an example of an ethical
principle?
A) The belief that torture is wrong
B) The idea that one should always treat others as they'd
like to be treated
C) The idea that one should always act the same way as
would others, given the same circumstances
D) The belief that one should always do what is in the best
interests of everyone involved
6) Which of the following is an example of a positive duty?
A) The obligation to refrain from lying
B) The obligation to pay for items, rather than steal them
C) The duty to treat one's parents and teachers respectfully
D) The duty to never cheat on exams
7) Which of the following is an example of a negative duty or
right?
A) The obligation to pay taxes
B) The obligation to pay for items, rather than steal them
C) The obligation to clean one's room and take out the
garbage
D) These are all negative duties
8) The 'moral rights rule' states that the 'best' decision is one
that:
A) Does not infringe upon the basic freedoms and rights of
those affected
B) Grants moral rights to participants making the decision
C) Everyone would be morally comfortable with
D) These statements all describe the moral rights rule
9) The 'practical rule' states that the 'best' decision is:
A) The one most easily achieved
B) That which you'd want others in the same situation to
always make
C) The decision that would meet the least objection
D) These statements all describe the 'practical rule'
10) The 'utilitarian rule' states that the 'best' decision is one
that:
A) Is the most useful
B) Does not infringe upon the basic rights of life, liberty
and happiness
C) Maximizes the benefit, and minimizes costs or harms, for
all those involved
D) These statements all describe the 'utilitarian rule'
11) Which of the following is not true about ethics?
A) Ethics considers moral standards and guidelines that
regulate 'right' and 'wrong' conduct
B) People use ethics to describe ideas about what an
individual feels is 'right' and 'wrong' conduct
C) Ethics is a discipline in philosophy containing several
branches, including normative ethics and meta-ethics
D) All of the above statements about ethics are true
12) What statement is true about negative duties and ethical
obligations?
A) Negative duties are those which one does not necessarily
want to perform
B) Negative duties are those that are damaging to the
individual
C) Negative duties are usually optional
D) Negative duties entail that one should refrain from
certain actions and behaviors
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