Ethics in the Workplace Next event: Tuesday, October 28, Salem Civic Center. 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The purpose of this workshop is to expose high school students to real world business decisions that do not have cut-and-dry right-or-wrong answers. Students tend to think in terms of black-and-white. Most think that any dilemma has a right answer, it’s up to the person facing the dilemma to choose to do the right thing. The choice made will result in praise or scrutiny, but the right choice is clear to any observer. Business leaders know this is not the case. The Ethics in the Workplace workshops place six to seven students with two business leaders at a round table. Each is given a booklet that includes an exercise in defining one’s own values, then works toward hypothetical ethical dilemmas. View Ethics in the Workplace Workbook. The first step is for the students to consider what they think is important. The eye-opening part of this exercise is that there are no throw-away categories. They might all agree honesty is important, but then they might agree it’s important not to hurt someone’s feelings willfully. Sometimes these are in conflict. Likewise faith might be very important to them. So is family. So is success. So is service. In what order do they place those priorities? That’s a self-discovery that as important a part of this workshop as any other. Next, the room is given a dilemma – a hiring decision between five candidates for an important job. Each candidate has strengths and each has weaknesses. Plus, the decision-maker has considerations from his or her boss that have to be taken into account. The students discuss their choices at the table with the business leaders. Once each table has agreed on whom they would hire, the emcee asks each table for its choice, then lets the tables discuss/debate their choices. The role of the adults in this workshop is to provide the “what if” factor. The table leaders are instructed not to agree blindly with each other, but present any point with a possible alternative. The students will be the ultimate decision-makers at each table. Lunch is provided for all who attend the event. The students are on-site from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Table leaders arrive by 8 a.m. for training and leave the same time as the students.