Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/54806
were "undecided." Six students pro- vided incomplete responses. The arguments students used to support their explanations were diverse. Twelve percent seemed unable to articulate a coherent ration- ale for their choices, which indicated the need for more training in ethical reasoning, argument, and communi- cation. Another 14 percent provided their opinions of Foudy's actions in single-sentence answers. While a majority of the students used one or more of the three major approaches to normative ethical rea- soning to justify their choices, 25 of them ignored these approaches. The majority of students who approved of Foudy's actions instead used what we call an "authoritarian" argument, arguing that employees must submit to the authority of their employers. Several others argued caveat emptor, noting that it is up to customers to protect their own interests. It seems that these students could not identify and evaluate alternative actions that Foudy might have taken. But the majority of students obviously enjoyed the opportunity to articulate their ideas more exten- sively. Nearly 50 percent of students wrote more complex responses, utilizing words such as "there- fore," "because," and "but" as they weighed different solutions or justi- fied their choices. Ten percent used more than one type of ethical reason- ing. In an exit survey, 69 percent either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "The overall exercise was a useful learning experience." A Starting Point Of course, it is not possible to con- dense centuries of moral philosophy into an online quiz. However, this brief introduction to ethical reason- ing and argumentation gives students a starting point for ethical discussions throughout the curriculum, where they explore different ethical perspec- tives and understand the criteria that can be used to judge behaviors. All of our instructors read the cases in the quiz, and after the quiz has been administered, several incor- porate its content into their class discussions. This spring, one of our instructors plans to devote an entire class period to the four cases. We continue to experiment with the quiz—for example, we might use it to measure the impact of our ethics thread by giving a modified version of the quiz a second time at the end of our program. But our broader goal is to introduce students to the fundamental ethical approach- es. By requiring them to justify their evaluation of each case, we want students to learn to articulate their viewpoints and defend their deci- sions—and, we hope, become more ethical business leaders. William Guth is a professor emeritus of management and strategy at New York University's Stern School of Business. Michael Steinmann is an associate professor of philosophy at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Edward Stohr is a professor and Harry Jin is a research assistant at the Stevens Institute of Technology's Howe School of Technology Management. Simulating Ethical Dilemmas Another business school also is applying tech to teaching ethics—the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington soon will launch a new tool for teaching and measuring the development of students' ethical judgment. The Ethics Simulation Tool, made possible by an anonymous $250,000 gift, will use immersive technology to create realistic simulations of ethical situations students might encounter in the real world. "No one comes up to you and asks, 'Would you like to commit fraud today?'" says R. Thomas Lenz, chair of the Kelley Undergraduate Program and the Glaubinger Professor of Business Administration. An ethical viola- tion arises "in a very subtle way, so we want students to be able to look at situations and spot the moral hazard if it is there." The simulation is likely to explore issues such as bribes and payoffs, but it also will deal with the more subtle gray areas related to financial misreporting. In addition, students will study conceptual frameworks that can help them find solutions to ethical dilemmas, Lenz says, while also learning what is and isn't considered ethical in other countries. Everyone in Kelley's 5,000-student undergraduate program will be required to go through the eight-week simulation. The Ethics Simulation Tool will be a major feature of a comprehensive curriculum redesign that will launch in 2012. Once the program is in place, the school hopes to share the simulation with other schools at a national conference. BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2011 59 JAMES ENDICOTT/CORBIS