My Final Reflection Paper OGL 345

Corey White

Coming into this class I didn’t know what to expect. As the first week came around I was super
nervous and a bit overwhelmed. I had only the slightest idea of what Ethics was and it might
impact an organization. For me, that wasn’t the worst part, as I open the course from the canvas
dashboard, the first thing I read was the syllabus, as I started reading it, I quickly noticed that we
were going to be using a few different platforms throughout the course. I remember thinking to
myself I may have bitten off more than I could chew. We were going to be using two online
textbook Platforms that I have never used before, one was the Perusall which housed our
textbook for the course “ethics theory and business practice by Mike fryer and the other was a
gaming platform site simulator called Moral minefield business ethics simulation by EL
games/planet Jockey. I remember the syllabus saying that we had to purchase everything and that
we had to have access codes for certain things and I started to stress a little. But as I continue to
read through the syllabus I started to see that I could do this and that I can get through this course
and then I was ready for the challenge. I realized that not only was this class needed to graduate,
but it was a class I needed for life. It also made me think of a quote that I had read in the “Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey the quote goes “think of the end in mind”
(Covey,2017) and so I did. In this reflection, I would like to share with you my thoughts and
opinions and lessons that have changed the way I approach business and life.

First I would like to start by discussing my thoughts about our textbook “ethics theory and
business practice” by Mike Fryer. This book is very interesting in my opinion the only thing is
that it was very overwhelming for me to read through. There are so many different theories and
concepts being thrown at us from every which way. Although it was written in an organized way
I just felt like I was getting too much information all at once if that makes sense. However, I do
feel like Fryer broke ethics down to where it was understandable and practical, Who knew there
were so many different approaches to ethics as it pertains to business. As Fryer states in our text
“this book…has sought to help us establish well-informed opinions, rather than poorly informed
opinions, about ethical right and wrong in business”(Fryer, 2015). I think that that held
throughout each chapter. Fryer introduced theories and then back them with examples such as
case studies and even YouTube clips. One video example in particular that stuck out to me was
the Glengarry Glen Ross clip –Video Activity 6.4. This video clip helped me to understand
Master Morality and reminded me of when I used to work for a manager that would play the
same clip every morning when we would come into the office.
Next, I would like to discuss the platform we used called Perusall that housed our textbook. This
platform allowed us to not only read the book but to have a live discussion via chat messages
with other students taking the class. This was a new concept for me and I thought it was
fantastic. I was able to ask questions and get some answers back, I was also able to answer some
questions and help others to understand. Overall it helped my understanding of different theories
that came up such as Virtue Theory and the Normative Stakeholder Theory. One key feature that
I liked and I utilized a few times with the readout loud tool which allows the book to be read
word for word out loud like an audiobook. I thought this was a cool feature because I was able to
follow along and take notes without having to stop and go back. It was kind of funny times
because I felt like Stephen Hawking was reading me a book but it worked when I needed it to. I
also liked that you could see your point totals and how they broke down. For me, the only
drawback was that that was a strick cut off time to turn in your notations and questions. I found
myself rushing through a few assignments just to make sure that I got as much in as I possibly
could. Unlike the next platform, I would like to discuss that one was well contracted, it helped to
see what others were thinking to open my eyes to new ideas.
Another platform that we used was the EL games planet jockey Moral Mindfield simulation
game. This was supposed to be an online business simulation training for students. For me, I felt
like it was a waste of time, to be honest. I felt that the artwork was poorly done and the
simulations were not well thought out. There were many times when the correct answer was
contradicted by the outcome. Sometimes there weren’t even enough answers to answer the
question fully. I felt like sometimes the answer could be one or the other or both. I didn’t like
that there were only short clips with not enough information written for us to make the right
choices. I was unhappy with the characters who were exaggerated and slightly racist. Lots of
things in the background threw me off and made me lose focus at times For example King Kong
Going crazy on the skyscraper in the back of a pigeon that lands on the table or microphone that
comes into the scene out of nowhere. I felt like I was struggling the whole time. I was almost
playing against myself. What I mean by this is that sometimes I had to make a decision that I
didn’t necessarily agree with. I could feel myself pulling back and not answering how I felt about
a question just to it get it correct. Furthermore, I didn’t feel like the reading matched up with the
levels we were on each week.
One concept that I was able to take away from this course was the discourse theory. This theory
has to do with human espression and how it links to our knowledge. As I know that I have
declared before, Fryer mentions in our text that discourse ethics should be encouraged so that all
different perspectives are discussed. For example, if a department in an organization starts to
shut people out of conversations that have to do with the discussion making for the company,
they would miss out on the opportunity to tackle some of the issues that said person may have
brought to light. I now see that it is necessary to bring all the heads to the table so that you can
make an ethically sound decision based on all the information.
In conclusion, although I came into the course overwhelmed by just looking at the syllabus, I can
honestly say that it wasn’t as hard or expensive as I thought, and it turned out to be a great
experience. The inresting thing about it is that now, I can reccogize some of the unethical
business practices that occur in my life. I think that both the textbook and the Persall platform are
effective tools that helped me gain some insite into the best practices for business and life. On
the other hand, I felt that we could have done without the Moral Mindfield game simulations. As
I look back on the course as a whole I think I came out with a better understanding of ethics.
Thank you.
References:

Fryer, M. (2015). Ethics theory & business practice. SAGE.

https://app.perusall.com/courses/organizational-ethics-summer-a-2020/ethics-theory-and-business-
practice

Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. New York: Free
Press