Moral Minefield

Assignment Guidelines
Greg Strapach 4/14/22

For the following questions, be sure to connect to the reading material in your book. This is a writing
assignment, so answers should be written in complete and coherent sentences and paragraphs. Answers
in the A range will refer to the text and fully explain how the concepts learned in the text apply to the
question.

You may type your answers directly into this document after the prompts, save it, and then upload it into
the submission box.

Play through the Moral Minefield level for this week and answer the following questions:

1. Copy and paste (or screenshot) your Level overview and scores. You can find this information
again in your Overview & Profile.

2. Reflect on the scenarios presented in the game. Was there anything you found particularly
difficult? Anything that surprised you?
a. The scenarios from the game were not too difficult. I find the wording to be tricky though.
You have to really slow down and remember, “ethics” when reading the questions. I wasn’t
sure about the questions of keeping long-term or short-term employees because this to me
seemed like ageism. However, the way the decision was made, for the most good for the
most people, made since. The other situation that was challenging was the bonus one.
Choosing to lay people off in order to pay money to others seems odd. Almost like
corporate greed, but I guess if you can put a spin on the situation and say that these people
are essential, that then makes it ok. I do not agree with it, I think that if someone wants to
walk because of an unpaid bonus then we let them walk.
3. Explain one of the decision-making scenarios you were given in this level and analyze it in terms
of one of this week’s theories.
a. One scenario that I’d like to bring up is the one around retaining loyal long-term employee
or the new tech-savvy employees. The decision was focused around retaining employee
who have been around for a while or keeping those who could benefit the company in the
long run despite being new. Stripping away the tenure and the emotions, I was left with the
simple fact that one set was better equipped for the future of the company. Using discourse
theory, I subsequently weighed the needs of the many who would be affected over those of
the few. In the long run, keeping better equipped employees would ensure the company
would have a bright future for all. This meant laying off a few in order to secure the well-
being of the many. I believed this to be the most ethical choice because if I were to take a
survey of all those impacted, they would have most likely agreed. At its core, this is what
discourse ethics considers. A decision that brings impacts the larger group must come to a
consensus. I only skipped the actual surveying piece and concluded what I thought to be
the most logical decision. I mean, no one wants to lose their jobs and the larger number
impacted would quickly vote to keep theirs.

4. How could you use the concepts discussed in this simulation in your job today? Relate these
concepts to the other course materials and to your own experiences.
a. I wouldn’t use these concepts too often in my job, but I have seen plenty of examples
throughout my time. For instance, the company regularly makes sacrifices of planned
investments in order to fund more critical, in the moment projects. I remember being told
all of our businesses would be getting upgraded equipment and when the time came, we
had to push this back in order to raise employee wages. When I think of who is making
these decisions, I consider how tough it must be and how they have to see the bigger
picture. Playing the long game means making sacrifices that at times may not be popular.
b. Other concepts discussed in this week’s modules that I found interesting were the feminine
perspective on ethics. While I found most of this section to be irritating and outdated, I did
find it interested that typical stereotype of females was being sued to draw assumptions
about ethics. In the portion where it spoke about typical masculine metaphors, I didn’t
really see how these examples were truly typical of males. I think that women exhibit just
as many if not more of these same traits. To view businesses as separate entities from their
stakeholders doesn’t seem too masculine to me, in fact this seems pretty logical and how I
believe most people process the idea of business and stakeholder relations. I don’t know,
this whole last section gets muddy and feels very dated to me.
 References:

Fryer, M. (2015). Ethics Theory and Business Practice. Sage.