English Module
unit THREE: Ethics
Third Year: 2020/2021
I. STARTI NG UP
A. Discuss this list of unethical activities. In your opinion, which are the worst? Are
any common in your country?
1. Finding ways of paying as little tax as possible
2. Using your work computer or phone for private purposes (e.g. online shopping)
3. Accepting praise for someone else's ideas or work
4. Selling something as genuine when you know it is not
5. Using your influence to get jobs for friends or relatives (nepotism)
6. Phoning in sick at work when you are not ill
7. Not telling the truth about your age or experience on an application form
8. Not saying anything when you are charged too little for something by mistake
9. Paying people in cash for jobs done around the home in order to reduce the cost
10. Claiming extra expenses (e.g. getting a taxi receipt for more than the actual fare)
B. Are some jobs/professions more ethical than others? How ethical do you think these
professions are? Which are seen as more/less ethical in your country?
accountant / civil servant /lawyer/ police officer/ politician /banker /estate agent/
nurse/ university lecturer /soldier/ car sales executive/ journalist /doctor /taxi driver
C. Discuss the questions.
1. What is the purpose of a business. in your opinion? Is it just to make money?
2. What do you understand by the term 'an ethical business'?
II. Vocabulary : Right or wrong
A. look at the situations, Which do you think are the most serious?
1. A new contact suggests that a payment into his private bank account will enable a
company to win a valuable supply contract.
2. An employee informs some friends about a company takeover before it is generally
known so they can buy shares and make a profit.
3. A company is making copies of luxury branded products and selling them in street
markets.
4. An upmarket private airline only employs attractive women under 25 years old as cabin
crew and ground staff.
5. An industrial company is disposing of waste chemicals in the sea.
6. A car manufacturer is secretly taking photos of a rival's new model at a test track.
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English Module
unit THREE: Ethics
Third Year: 2020/2021
7. A cosmetics and pharmaceutical company tries out all its products on rats and mice.
8. Some criminals buy property and expensive cars with money they got from illegal
activities. The goods are then sold and the now 'clean' money is used in other businesses
and new bank accounts.
9. A group of rival mobile phone companies get together and agree to charge approximately
the same amount for a range of services and packages.
10. A company tells the authorities that it is making a lot less profit than it actually is.
B. Match words from Box A and Box B to make word partnerships which
describe the activities in Exercise A.
EXAMPLE: 1 bribery and corruption
bribery price environmental sex insider
tax counterfeit money animal industrial
And corruption testing discrimination fraud trading
fixing laundering goods pollution espionage
C. Discuss the questions.
1. Which of the activities described in Exercise A are illegal in your country?
2. Are there any which you think should not be illegal because this damages business?
3. In your opinion, which are the easiest or most difficult to control?
III. READING
A. In groups, discuss the question.
The ethics of Is there ever a time when it is OK to lie on a resume?
The ethics of resume writing
It's never OK to lie on a resume. But what about stretching the truth?
by Clinton D. Korver
How much can you "dress up" your resume to make yourself as strong a candidate as
possible without crossing the ethical line of deception? Consider a few conflicting
thoughts,
• Over 50% of people lie on their resume.
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English Module
unit THREE: Ethics
Third Year: 2020/2021
• A Monster.com blog about the dangers of lying on your resume elicited 60 comments
from job seekers recommending lying and only 46 discouraging it. Recommenders
justified lying by claiming, everyone else is doing it. companies lie about job
requirements. and it's hard to get a good job.
• Executives caught lying on their resumes often lose their jobs. If you are reading this
blog. you probably are not tempted by dishonesty. But what about the following'
• Claiming a degree that was not earned because you did most of the work and were only
a few credits short.
• Creating a more impressive job title because you were already doing all of the work o f
t h a t position.
• Claiming a team's contributions as your own, because other members did not carry their
weight.
• Inflating the number of people or range of functions for which you had direct
responsibility because you really did have a great deal of influence over them.
These are called rationalizations-constructing a justification for a decision you
suspect is really wrong. You create a story that sounds believable but doesn't pass close
examination. You begin to fool yourself. You develop habits of distorted thinking.
So where is the line? You need to decide that for yourself. Here are some tests to
keep your thinking clear,
• Other-shoe test How would you feel if the shoe were on the other foot and you
were the hiring manager looking at this resume? What assumptions would
you draw and would they be accurate?
• Front-page test, Would you think the same way if the accomplishment in question were
reported o n t h e front page of the Wall Street Journal? Or your prior employer's internal
newsletter?
But wait, you say. My resume doesn't quite pass these tests, but there is
something real underneath my claims. and I do not want to sell myself short.
When in doubt. ask an old boss. While asking an old boss may be difficult. it has
many benefits. Precisely because it is difficult. it forces you to think clearly and
sometimes creatively. Asking also checks the accuracy of your claims, trains your old
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English Module
unit THREE: Ethics
Third Year: 2020/2021
boss in how to represent you during reference checks. and sometimes your old boss may
give you better ways to represent yourself.
B. Read the article again and answer the questions.
1. What reasons are given for not being totally honest on your CV?
2. What can happen to senior managers who lie on their CVs?
3. Which of the four rationalisations do you think is the most serious? Why?
4. What happens to you when you start using rationalisations?
C. Discuss the two situations and decide what you would do in each case.
1. You discover that one of your top employees, who has done an excellent job for the last 15
years, lied about their qualifications when she joined the company.
2. One of your employees, who is not a good worker, has asked you to give him a good reference.
You would be happy if this employee left the company.
