The ethics simulation game is a learning tool designed to teach individuals how to make decision between ethical challenges. While one might think making such decisions is an easy task, more dilemmas are present than imaginable.
The first decision that had to be made was about a product already on the market that was contaminated yet only put a small percentage of users at a low risk. After narrowing the possibilities down to two solutions, the choice was made to warn customers of the potential dangers but to continue selling. Originally, this scenario had a familiar ring and the Ford Pinto case came into mind. (DeGeorge, 2005). Was our company about to do the same thing and knowingly put thousands of lives in jeopardy? Our initial decision had been to recall everything in order to avoid any chances of a lawsuit or accidental deaths. After several debates, though, it was determined that this was a different situation being that cars are luxuries and medicines were necessities. Since this particular product complied with FDA standards, no one saw any reason to pull it from the market.
The next decision the company faced was more complicated. Our business had been working to get the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to raise their health standards. Unfortunately, when the standards were finally raised, some of our products on the market did not comply with them. We were forced again to decide whether to recall the product or not. The only other option we could come up with was to sell to another country that had lower safety standards than our own. While initially we leaned towards shipping everything over to another country, in the end it was decided that doing so would not demonstrate what our company represented. According to the Ethics Simulation Game, our business strives for the “highest expression of values” (2002) and selling anything we can’t sell in the U.S. to anyone else sends out the wrong message.
In the ethics
References: A.O. (2002). EthicsGames, LLC [Computer Software]. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from , Simulation, MGT216 DeGeorge, R.T. (2005). Business ethics (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall.