CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Background. Sophisticated ethics games that focus on corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making and/or moral reasoning are virtually non-existent. The problem. The ambiguity and controversial nature of ethics as a subject matter make competition and scoring, key to motivating participants, especially difficult to implement. Approach. CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION attempts to systematically overcome some of the obstacles facing ethics game design through a scoring system intended to encourage critical ethical decision-making and moral reasoning. Structurally, the game aims to balance cohesiveness through its ongoing narrative with flexibility through its modular design. The game. Participants serve on business oversight committees within three companies loosely modeled after Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. The companies face similar problems with their operations in a new Southeast Asian market. Participants explore ethical decision-making and the nature and extent of corporate social responsibility in a global context. The four modules provided here focus on discrimination, corruption, compensation, marketing practices, and privacy. Practical implications. CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION is a ready-to-use ethics game that can be used either in a single day training format or in a business ethics classroom throughout a semester. Perhaps more importantly, its structure can be adapted to explore ethical decision-making in any context.