# Unit 10 Ethics Ethics. # OVERVIEW Vocabulary: Honesty and dishonesty Discussion : Doing the right thing Reading: Whistleblowing on tobacco Listening:

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Unit 10

EthicsEthics

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OVERVIEWOVERVIEW

• Vocabulary: Honesty and dishonesty

• Discussion: Doing the right thing

• Reading: Whistleblowing on tobacco

• Listening: A code of ethics

• Language review: Narrative tenses

• Skills: Problem-solving

• Case study: Profit or principle

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Teaching objectives

• To enable Ss to talk about Ethics • To familiarize the Ss with language about honesty and

dishonesty• To practice reading & listening for gist and specific ideas• To refresh Ss’ grammar knowledge about Narrative tenses • To practice language used for Problem-solving• To work out solutions to the Case-Study task• To practice writing a letter

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Assignments

1.You are members of Livewire’s board of directors. Hold a meeting to find the solutions to deal with the problems.

2. Write a letter to your employees about your solutions.

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Definition of EthicsDefinition of Ethics

The branch of philosophy that deals with morality. Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions, and between virtuous and nonvirtuous characteristics of people.

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Ethics are moral rules or principles of

behaviour that should guide members of a

profession or an organisation and make them

deal honestly and fairly with each other and

with their customers

行为准则，道德标准

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WarmerWarmer

Answer the following questions:

1. Is it always wrong to lie?

2. Is it worse to steal from another person than to steal from a shop?

3. If you know your brother was selling fakes would you tell the police?

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QuotationQuotation

“Those are my principles; if you

don’t like them, I have others.”

---- Groucho Marx---- Groucho Marx

principle n. deeply held values and beliefs about the

right or moral way to act 原则；信念

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TheThe MarxMarx BrothersBrothers

Marx BrothersMarx Brothers, a team of American film comedians known as Chico (1891—1961), Harpo (1893—1964), Groucho (1895—1977) and Zeppo (1901—1989). Chico and Harpo are famous for their slapstick （滑稽表演，闹剧） ; Harpo never spoke but only mimed （哑剧表演） . He generally played a harp solo （竖琴独奏） in each film. Groucho is famous for his repartee （机敏应答） . Zeppo usually took non-comedy parts, and did not appear in every film. Marx Brothers films include Duck Soup, A Day at the Races, A Night at the Opera, Horse Feathers and Animal Crackers.

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StartingStarting upup

Discuss these questions. 1. What is the purpose of a business? Is it just to

make money?

2. What do you understand by these phrases?

a) business ethics

b) a code of good practice

c) a mission statement

3. Should mission statements include statements about ethics?

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StartingStarting upup2. a) Business ethics are theories about conduct and

values which take account of the moral responsibilities a business has to the community it exists in, to its employees and to its customers. 商业道德

b) A code of good practice is a written document laying down ethical ways of working for the personnel of a company. 工作规范体系

c) A mission statement is a document in which a company sets out its general approach to doing business and/or its objectives. Not all companies have mission statements, and they can vary from a single sentence (Microsoft’s is ‘A computer on every desk and in every home’.) to several pages. 宗旨说明；任务说明

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Examples of Mission Statement• “Provide society with superior products and

services by developing innovations and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, and to provide employees with meaningful work and advancement opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return.”—Merck (a pharmaceutical company)

• “To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential.”—Microsoft

• “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”—Google

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StartingStarting upup• accountant• banker• car sales executive• civil servant• estate agent• journalist• lawyer• nurse• dentist• police officer• teacher• taxi driver

4. Rank the

professions

according to

how ethical you

think they are.

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StartingStarting upup• Avoiding paying tax• Claiming extra expenses• Using work facilities for private purposes (eg.

personal phone calls)• Accepting praise for some one’s ideas or work• Selling a defective product• Using your influence to get jobs for relatives

(nepotism 任人唯亲，裙带关系 ) • Ringing in sick when you are not ill• Taking extended lunch breaks• Giving good references to people you want to

get rid of• Employing people illegally

B. Discuss this list of unethical

activities and rank them

according to how bad you feel they are.

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VocabularyVocabulary ：： HonestyHonesty andand dishonestydishonesty

• 1. trustworthy law-abiding crooked• 2. a slush fund a sweetener compensation• 3. inside trading industrial espionage disclosure• 4. a whistleblower a swindler a conman• 5. a bribe a bonus a commission• 6. fraud deceit integrity

A. The sets of words and phrases are related either to honesty or to dishonesty. Which word is different from the others in each set?

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VocabularyVocabulary ：： HonestyHonesty andand dishonestydishonestyB. Complete these sentences.1. Our company does nothing illegal. We are very law-

abiding.2. We’ve got a slush fund which is used in countries

where it is difficult to do business without offering bribes.

3. Their car looked so much like our new model. We suspect industrial espionage.

4. They fired him because he was a whistleblower. He informed the press that the company was using under-age workers in the factory.

5. He denied accepting a bribe when he gave the contract to the most expensive supplier.

6. I admire our chairman. He’s a man of his word and is greatly respected for his integrity.

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DiscussionDiscussion ：： DoingDoing thethe rightright thingthingA. Work in groups. Discuss the ethical

questions below. 1. You have a shortlist of people for the post of Sales

Manager. One of the female candidates is clearly the best qualified person for the job. However, you know that some of your best customers would prefer a man. If you appoint a woman you will probably lose some sales. What should you do?

2. Your company, a large multinational, has a new advertising campaign which stresses its honesty, fairness and ethical business behaviour. It has factories in several countries where wages are very low. At present it is paying workers the local market rate. Should you increase their wages?

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DiscussionDiscussion ：： DoingDoing thethe rightright thingthing3. A colleague in a company which tests medical

equipment has been making bad mistakes recently at work. This is because she has a serious illness. You are her friend and the only person at work who knows this. She has asked you to keep it a secret. What should you do?

4. You are directors of a potato snack manufacturing company. Research has shown that any price increase causes an immediate dip in sales (although sales recover within six months). It has been suggested that you could maximise your profits by simply reducing the weight of the product in the packets and maintaining the current price. What should you do?

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DiscussionDiscussion ：： DoingDoing thethe rightright thingthingB. Do you agree with this statement?

Give your reasons. ‘If we face a recession we

should not lay off employees. The company should sacrifice a profit. It’s management’s risk and management’s responsibility. Employees are not guilty; why should they suffer?’

Akio Morita (1921—1999), cofounder of Sony

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ReadingReading ：：Whistleblowing on tobaccoWhistleblowing on tobaccoA. Discuss these questions. 1. Do you think smokers are fully aware

of the harm that smoking cigarettes can do to their health nowadays? Why?

2. As smoking is legal and a matter of personal choice, how can we persuade young people not to take up smoking effectively?

3. Why are advertisements by tobacco companies banned in many countries?

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ReadingReading ：：WhistleblowingWhistleblowing onon tobaccotobaccoB. Role play A habitual smoker was diagnosed with lung

cancer because he always smoked a cigarette brand that enhanced its nicotine effectiveness chemically. The smoker was not aware of the chemical enhancement then. So the smoker sued the tobacco company for $2 million. Should the smoker be awarded that sum of money? Work in groups of three, with one acting as the judge, the other two as the lawyers for the smoker and the cigarette company respectively.

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ReadingReading ：： WhistleblowingWhistleblowing onon tobaccotobaccoC. Read the article and answer these questions.

1. Why did CBS decide not to air Mike Wallace’s

interview with Wigand? Why did CBS management

permit 60 Minutes to air the interview later?

CBS feared that Wigand’s employer would sue CBS for 15 billion dollars because it claimed that CBS induced Wigand to break the strict Confidentiality Agreement between Wigand and his employer.

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ReadingReading ：： WhistleblowingWhistleblowing onon tobaccotobacco2. What did Brown & Williamson do when they knew that

Wigand exposed their unethical behaviour in the interview with Mike Wallace?

Brown & Williamson threatened to want Jeffrey Wigand’s head and sued Wigand for breaking the Confidentiality Agreement. Brown & Williamson also intimidated CBS to drop Mike Wallace’s interview with Jeffrey Wigand in 60 Minutes.

3. According to Wigand himself, why did he choose to go public when he knew it was a big risk to himself and his family?

Jeffrey Wigand enjoyed battling big tobacco because he can do something to help others.

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ReadingReading ：： WhistleblowingWhistleblowing onon tobaccotobaccoD. Match these phrases from the article with a

phrase with a similar meaning.

lead sb to do sth

get sb addicted to sth

be free from anxiety or stress

associate sb with sth

get sb hooked on sth

induce sb to do sth

identify sb with sth

be comfortable with

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ReadingReading ：： Whistleblowing on tobaccoWhistleblowing on tobacco

Phrases with similar meanings

get sb hooked on sth / get sb addicted to sth

induce sb to do sth / lead sb to do sth

identify sb with sth / associate sb with sth

be comfortable with / be free from anxiety or

stress

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ReadingReading ：： WhistleblowingWhistleblowing onon tobaccotobaccoE. Discuss these questions.1. Can you list things that motivate young people

to smoke?

2. According to the motivations you have listed how can we persuade young people to quit smoking effectively?

3. If you find your best friends doing something unethical, how will you deal with it?

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ListeningListening ：： A code of ethicsA code of ethics

A. Discuss the following questions.

1. Is it important for companies to have a

written code of ethics?

2. Is it more important for some industries than

others to have a code of ethics?

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B. Claire Bebbington is External Affairs Manager for a division of BP (British Petroleum). Listen to the first part of the interview. Decide whether these statements are true or false, according to Claire.

1. The issue of ethics is simple.

2. If a company puts its code of ethics in writing, it is more likely to act on it.

3. Following up a code of ethics is difficult.

Key: 1. F 2. T 3. T

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C. Listen again to the first part of the interview and compelete the extracts.

‘Firstly, it makes a ____________ to certain good __________ and so it’s a way of communicating the importance of _______________ to all of its employees and partners.’

‘If you express these things in _______, especially, then you can be held ___________ for them.’

commitmentbehaviour

good behaviour

writingaccountable

hold sb. accountable for sth.: 认为某人应对某事负责

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D. Listen to the second part of the interview and complete the question that Claire asks. What examples does she give to illustrate the question?

‘When does a facilitation ________ become

a ________?’

payment

bribe

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ListeningListening ：： A code of ethicsA code of ethicsA facilitation payment is money paid to speed a process

along, but one which is not actually a bribe because it is done openly. However, it may not be part of any official procedure. For example, a supermarket wishing to build a new store in a district where there is resistance may offer to make a donation to the local school. A multinational eager to impress a local politician may offer political financing in a deal which is - superficially at least - entirely separate from the business at hand. A bribe happens in secret, but the line between the two is not always clear, particularly when, for instance, political parties may be under no legal obligation to divulge the names of their donors.

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ListeningListening ：： AA codecode ofof ethicsethicsThe example she gives of a facilitation payment is

‘When you are paying consultants to make introductions to new business contacts, obviously the reason you choose these consultants is because they are well placed to give that kind of advice in a particular country.’ She also points out that the size of the payment is an issue: ‘Sometimes facilitation payments are out of proportion to the kind of business that you are expecting to win.’ This may be an indication that something greater is at stake. Finally she mentions problems with nepotism.

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Language reviewLanguage review ：： NarrativeNarrative tensestenses 1. The past simple is common when we describe a

sequence of events or tell a story in chronological order about events that happened in the past.

2. We use the past perfect to situate an event that happened before another past event.

3. The present perfect is used to describe past events of current significance.

4. We use the past continuous to describe unfinished events which were in progress around a particular past time.

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Language reviewLanguage review ：： NarrativeNarrative tensestenses

• The newspapers asked questions.

• The product was recalled.• The company lost a lot of

money.• The product was launched.• The product was tested.• The number of complaints

doubled.• People started to complain.• The product sold well.

A. The sentences describe stages in an unsuccessful

product launch. Put them in a logical

order. Then listen to the conversation

and check your answers.

e-d-h-g-a-f-b-c

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B. Answer these questions about the product launch.

1. What was the product ？

2. What was the problem?

The product was a face cream.

It caused an allergic reaction.

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D. Complete the story with the correct tenses of the verbs in brackets.

That reminds me of the problem we had with our new milk carton. We introduced it a few months earlier and it had become popular with customers. People were buying it, talking about it and recommending it to their friends, and so on. Then we changed to a new supplier who was cheaper and we started to get lots of complaints. People couldn’t open the cartons any more. We were surprised about the problem because we tested it on some of our workers. They said it was fine.

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D. Complete the story with the correct tenses of the verbs in brackets.

In the end, we decided to go back to our original supplier. We looked really stupid. In the meantime, we had lost a lot of customers. We have been very careful about choosing suppliers for packaging ever since.

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E. Tell a story about any of these ideas.

1. A significant news event you remember well.

2. An ethical problem you know about.

3. A memorable event in your life (good or bad).

4. An unusual or memorable experience while you were travelling.

5. Your first or last day in a job or organisation.

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SkillsSkills ：： Problem-solvingProblem-solving

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• There are several ways we could deal with this.

• Let’s look at the pros and cons …

• Let’s look at this from a different angle.

• It might be worth …• Let’s think about the

consequences of …• The best way forward is to …• So the next thing to do is …

A. Listen to two company directors

discussing a problem

concerning one of their managers.

Tick the expressions in the Useful language

box that you hear.

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B. Role play this situation.

You are senior managers at a hi-fi manufacturer. Your company is losing market share. You strongly suspect your main rival is using unfair methods to promote its products.

For example, you are almost sure that your rival has been:

a) making cash payments to main dealers;

b) offering expensive gifts to important customers.

Hold a meeting to consider how to solve the problem.

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Case studyCase study ：： PrfitPrfit oror principleprinciple??

Background

Company Livewire

Products Electrical appliances

CEO Nikos Takakis

General Manager Carl Thomson

Documents

# Unit 10 Ethics Ethics. # OVERVIEW Vocabulary: Honesty and dishonesty Discussion : Doing the right thing Reading: Whistleblowing on tobacco Listening: