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.

By: Alex Case

Level: Intermediate

Theme: Business English

Study Area: Conditionals

Download Lesson Plan (PDF) 212 KB

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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?

Situation	Reaction
Situation	Yes	No	Maybe
ask you for a job for their child
suggest promoting someone because they are from an underrepresented group (e.g. an ethnic minority)
suggest a policy which is good for the company but bad for the local community
offer you a job for a less money in a company which is more socially responsible
hear about a legal way of paying less tax
hear about an illegal way of paying less tax
learn that your company is doing something illegal
a director gets involved in a personal scandal
learn some gossip about a rival
learn about a takeover before shareholders do
meet two of your main rivals at a social event
have a 97% market share
receive an expensive watch from a potential supplier
receive some smoked salmon from a supplier
have a very attractive PA
make your staff work harder by shouting at them
learn that your boss is having an affair
cut costs by not cleaning water before it goes into a river
make cash by selling what a company owns and closing it
hide losses by moving money around the company
set up in a country where many children work instead of going to school
customers say they will stop buying until you change
difficult to tell if people are in this country legally
suppliers in a developing country make almost no profit
decide the CEO’s pay and bonuses
spend company money on good causes
a supplier really relies on you doing business with them
make staff do unpaid overtime
customers believe anything you say about your products
a future law affects your business
a decision hurts quarterly profit but comes good in two years

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

Download Lesson Plan (PDF) 212 KB

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