Business English- Moral Dilemmas Conditionals Practice
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Vocabulary and grammar practice by discussing difficult business choices, mostly with second conditional and sometimes with first conditional, including similar but different moral issues words.
Lesson Plan Content:
Business moral dilemmas conditionals practice
Choose one of the situations below and make a moral dilemma question out of it. Most of the situations are imaginary and so should contain “would”, but if they are realistic or likely for your partner, please use “will”. You will usually need to add a subject, and maybe other words such as “can” or “could”. Before your partner answers, tick in the column below that you imagine will be their reaction. Are your predictions correct?
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Situation
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Reaction |
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Yes |
No |
Maybe |
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ask you for a job for their child |
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suggest promoting someone because they are from an underrepresented group (e.g. an ethnic minority) |
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suggest a policy which is good for the company but bad for the local community |
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offer you a job for a less money in a company which is more socially responsible |
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hear about a legal way of paying less tax |
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hear about an illegal way of paying less tax |
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learn that your company is doing something illegal |
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a director gets involved in a personal scandal |
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learn some gossip about a rival |
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learn about a takeover before shareholders do |
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meet two of your main rivals at a social event |
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have a 97% market share |
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receive an expensive watch from a potential supplier |
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receive some smoked salmon from a supplier |
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have a very attractive PA |
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make your staff work harder by shouting at them |
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learn that your boss is having an affair |
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cut costs by not cleaning water before it goes into a river |
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make cash by selling what a company owns and closing it |
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hide losses by moving money around the company |
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set up in a country where many children work instead of going to school |
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customers say they will stop buying until you change |
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difficult to tell if people are in this country legally |
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suppliers in a developing country make almost no profit |
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decide the CEO’s pay and bonuses |
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spend company money on good causes |
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a supplier really relies on you doing business with them |
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make staff do unpaid overtime |
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customers believe anything you say about your products |
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a future law affects your business |
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a decision hurts quarterly profit but comes good in two years |
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Try to think of a moral dilemma associated with each of the topics below (from above or your own ideas).
- accounting scandals/ creative accountancy
- asset stripping
- backstabbing
- blackmail
- bribery
- bullying
- child labour
- collusion/ price fixing
- community involvement/ being a good neighbour/ stakeholders approach
- consumer boycotts/ consumer campaigns
- cover-up
- damage to the environment/ pollution
- diversity policies/ positive discrimination
- employing illegal immigrants
- excessive management compensation
- fair trade products
- gift giving
- giving to charities
- inaccurate product descriptions/ false claims
- insider trading
- lobbying politicians
- monopolistic practices/ profiteering
- nepotism
- only focusing on short-term profits
- PR
- sexual harassment
- slander/ libel
- social enterprises
- tax avoidance
- tax evasion
- whistleblowing
Some of the phrases above are a little different from each other. What are the differences in these cases?
- accounting scandals/ creative accountancy
- collusion/ price fixing
- community involvement/ stakeholders approach
- consumer boycotts/ consumer campaigns
- damage to the environment/ pollution
- diversity policies/ positive discrimination
- bribery/ gift giving
- monopolistic practices/ profiteering
- slander/ libel
- tax avoidance/ tax evasion
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