An Ethics Briefing to an Executive Team: Going from a Problem to Formal Recommendations

Robert A. Giacalone; Vickie Coleman Gallagher; Mark D. Promislo

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An Ethics Briefing to an Executive Team: Going from a Problem to Formal Recommendations

Robert A. Giacalone

Boler School of Business, John Carroll University, USA

Vickie Coleman Gallagher

Monte Ahuja College of Business, Cleveland State University, USA

Mark D. Promislo

Norm Brodsky College of Business, Rider University, USA

Volume 17: 2020 pp. 149-164: ABSTRACT

Business ethics education is most effective when students take an active approach and must respond to various demands and feedback. In this paper we describe a classroom exercise in which students are tasked with delivering an ethics briefing to “executive teams” (role played by other students or even by real executives). Through a combination of individual analysis and group work, students become immersed in real-world ethics problem-solving, in which there are no easy solutions. Students must defend their ethical recommendations as well as challenge those from other groups. The exercise concerns an existing controversial business called Seeking Arrangement. Survey results from graduate students who have participated in the exercise reveal that it is effective in producing better ethics problem solving, as well as greater confidence in addressing ethical issues.