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TEACHING ETHICAL DECISIONS- MAKING TO STUDENTS SPECIALISING IN ECONOMY

Iuliia Goman

Abstract

The aim of this research is to teach ethical decision-making to future economists by solving the problem of advertising to children shown in the in the English-language documentary ?Consuming Kids?. Research methods included analysis of literature on the issues of what is ethical/unethical and the decision-making process, and the evaluation of 14 business reports written by students. The writing task entailed looking into the problem of the negative effects of advertising to children and preparing a report to the Managing Director of the company Happy Childhood regarding a documentary including the following information: a comparison of marketing to children now and in the past; the potential risks of advertising to children; and ways to eliminate those risks. Studying the issue of what is ethical/unethical concluded that nowadays market conditions have changed and it is no longer possible to equate ethics with morality and good actions. Ethical approach entails appropriate analysis of each and every case, making the decision by taking into account all the circumstances. Thus, assessing students? ability to make ethical decisions can be done using the following criteria: clarity of problem formulation; effective reasoning in justifying one?s position; the feasibility of the decisions suggested for solving a problem. The analysis of the documentary and students? work allowed us to achieve the following outcomes: the use of the documentary provided a real-life simulation for the task ?writing a business report? and students played the roles of company managers conducting research on children?s marketing. Furthermore, the documentary spurred on the students? creativity and generated well-planned decisions. Finally, not only did the students analyse urgent issues and write business reports, but they also demonstrated the ability to readily take ethical decisions, a skill which is vitally important for future managers. The students took ethical decisions when fulfilling the following tasks: taking an example of a video games, cartoon or TV programme and pointing out the immoral techniques used by marketers; and asking colleagues questions to using examples of immoral techniques.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/5.4/s22.034

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