shlomo sher | California State University, Fullerton (original) (raw)

Papers by shlomo sher

Simulation & Gaming, 2015

Background. Sophisticated ethics games that focus on corporate social responsibility, ethical dec... more Background. Sophisticated ethics games that focus on corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making and/or moral reasoning are virtually non-existent. The problem. The ambiguity and controversial nature of ethics as a subject matter make competition and scoring, key to motivating participants, especially difficult to implement. Approach. CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION attempts to systematically overcome some of the obstacles facing ethics game design through a scoring system intended to encourage critical ethical decision-making and moral reasoning. Structurally, the game aims to balance cohesiveness through its ongoing narrative with flexibility through its modular design. The game. Participants serve on business oversight committees within three companies loosely modeled after Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. The companies face similar problems with their operations in a new Southeast Asian market. Participants explore ethical decision-making and the nature and extent of corpo...

Teaching Philosophy, 2013

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION is a modular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) training simulation... more CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION is a modular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) training simulation/game. Participants serve as members of a business oversight committee within three companies loosely modeled after Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. The four modules provided here focus on CSR issues touching on discrimination, nepotism, corruption, compensation, marketing practices, and censorship/user privacy. Additional or alternative modules can be easily incorporated into the game format, and modules can also be used as stand-alone training simulation workshops. The three companies face similar problems with their operations in a Southeast Asian nation whose market they have recently entered. Participants explore ethical decision-making and the nature and extent of social corporation’s responsibilities in a global context. They can address their challenges alone or in cooperation with willing competitors.

Like many other foreign students, Chinese students studying at American Universities face special... more Like many other foreign students, Chinese students studying at American Universities face special challenges in value-centered humanities courses as cultural outsiders. Moral and political philosophy can be particularly difficult, since these subjects focus on delicate issues of great personal significance, yet rely on cultural norms, discourse contexts, and basic assumptions that Chinese students may not share, understand, or feel comfortable discussing. Programs that invite American professors to teach summer classes to such students in China for American university credit allow for interesting new opportunities to circumvent some of the learning obstacles these students face in the United States. This essay reflects upon general teaching strategies that take advantage of these opportunities, and presents promising approaches to three sensitive topics in this teaching context: cultural relativism as a normative moral theory, diversity, and human rights. Many of the approaches and examples discussed may also be applicable to teaching Chinese students in the U.S. or discussing key issues with them in office hours.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2011

A longstanding debate exists in both academic literature and popular culture about whether non-in... more A longstanding debate exists in both academic literature and popular culture about whether non-informative marketing tactics are manipulative. However, given that we tend to believe that some marketing tactics are manipulative and some are not, the question that marketers, their critics, and consumers need to ask themselves is that of how to actually determine whether any particular marketing tactic is manipulative and whether a given manipulative tactic is, in fact, immoral. This article proposes to operationalize criteria that can be used by marketers for making such determinations and attempts to provide some clarification toward our under- standing of the concept of manipulation and the conditions for the moral acceptability of manipulative marketing practices. It argues that a marketing tactic is manipulative if it is intended to motivate by undermining what the marketer believes is his/her audience’s normal decision-making process either by deception or by playing on a vulnerability that the marketer believes exists in his/her audience’s normal decision-making process. Such a tactic is morally objectionable on several grounds, which make it morally impermissible unless outweighed by sufficient “redemptive” moral considerations.

Simulation & Gaming, 2015

Background. Sophisticated ethics games that focus on corporate social responsibility, ethical dec... more Background. Sophisticated ethics games that focus on corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making and/or moral reasoning are virtually non-existent. The problem. The ambiguity and controversial nature of ethics as a subject matter make competition and scoring, key to motivating participants, especially difficult to implement. Approach. CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION attempts to systematically overcome some of the obstacles facing ethics game design through a scoring system intended to encourage critical ethical decision-making and moral reasoning. Structurally, the game aims to balance cohesiveness through its ongoing narrative with flexibility through its modular design. The game. Participants serve on business oversight committees within three companies loosely modeled after Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. The companies face similar problems with their operations in a new Southeast Asian market. Participants explore ethical decision-making and the nature and extent of corpo...

Teaching Philosophy, 2013

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION is a modular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) training simulation... more CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION is a modular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) training simulation/game. Participants serve as members of a business oversight committee within three companies loosely modeled after Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. The four modules provided here focus on CSR issues touching on discrimination, nepotism, corruption, compensation, marketing practices, and censorship/user privacy. Additional or alternative modules can be easily incorporated into the game format, and modules can also be used as stand-alone training simulation workshops. The three companies face similar problems with their operations in a Southeast Asian nation whose market they have recently entered. Participants explore ethical decision-making and the nature and extent of social corporation’s responsibilities in a global context. They can address their challenges alone or in cooperation with willing competitors.

Like many other foreign students, Chinese students studying at American Universities face special... more Like many other foreign students, Chinese students studying at American Universities face special challenges in value-centered humanities courses as cultural outsiders. Moral and political philosophy can be particularly difficult, since these subjects focus on delicate issues of great personal significance, yet rely on cultural norms, discourse contexts, and basic assumptions that Chinese students may not share, understand, or feel comfortable discussing. Programs that invite American professors to teach summer classes to such students in China for American university credit allow for interesting new opportunities to circumvent some of the learning obstacles these students face in the United States. This essay reflects upon general teaching strategies that take advantage of these opportunities, and presents promising approaches to three sensitive topics in this teaching context: cultural relativism as a normative moral theory, diversity, and human rights. Many of the approaches and examples discussed may also be applicable to teaching Chinese students in the U.S. or discussing key issues with them in office hours.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2011

A longstanding debate exists in both academic literature and popular culture about whether non-in... more A longstanding debate exists in both academic literature and popular culture about whether non-informative marketing tactics are manipulative. However, given that we tend to believe that some marketing tactics are manipulative and some are not, the question that marketers, their critics, and consumers need to ask themselves is that of how to actually determine whether any particular marketing tactic is manipulative and whether a given manipulative tactic is, in fact, immoral. This article proposes to operationalize criteria that can be used by marketers for making such determinations and attempts to provide some clarification toward our under- standing of the concept of manipulation and the conditions for the moral acceptability of manipulative marketing practices. It argues that a marketing tactic is manipulative if it is intended to motivate by undermining what the marketer believes is his/her audience’s normal decision-making process either by deception or by playing on a vulnerability that the marketer believes exists in his/her audience’s normal decision-making process. Such a tactic is morally objectionable on several grounds, which make it morally impermissible unless outweighed by sufficient “redemptive” moral considerations.