University curriculum often does not intentionally teach students how to make ethical decisions in the workplace. Thus, this study aimed to explore if ethical frameworks and interactive case videos could be utilized to fill this gap, i.e., teach ethical decision-making in a classroom setting. The videos that involved choice-making were uniquely developed by the research team based on actual ethical scenarios at the workplace.
A total of 111 hospitality business students (in the midst of their internship) attended a three-hour on-site workshop, watched the videos, and then participated in a survey. The workshop content and the survey items were pivoted on the conceptual frameworks of Kallet as well as Sherfield and Moody. The quantitative survey questions gathered students’ opinions regarding the helpfulness of the frameworks and the videos in helping them make ethical decisions. The open-ended questions collected further comments on how the lesson on ethical decision-making could be improved.
The results revealed that students’ primary considerations in decision-making were the factors of conscience, law, and fairness. While a large majority of students found both the frameworks and the videos to be at least moderately useful, they preferred pedagogical designs that offered even more complexity, realism, and engagement. The key recommendation from this study is that while frameworks and videos may be useful, the teaching of ethical decision-making could be enhanced by incorporating more multifaceted and complex scenarios from students’ internship workplaces to facilitate deeper discussions, possibly through the use of role-play.

Authors:
Chien Ching Lee, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Lee Keng Ng, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Yee Fun Emily Woo, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Yin Kai Ng, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Emily Woo is an academic staff at Singapore Institute of Technology where she leads the work-study module for hotel & MICE students. She holds a Masters degree in Hotel Administration. She conducts coaching, mentoring, and corporate training.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-woo-62bb67157/

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