Emtrain partners with ethicists Sally March and Chris MacDonald on Code of Conduct course

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - May 15, 2014 - PRLog -- Current behavioral theory suggests most of us act unconsciously – based on impulse or reactions. Even if we intend to do the right thing, we may fall prey to impulse, rationalization, poor decision-making and … ethical compromise. Emtrain’s new Code of Conduct course for corporate compliance training teaches critical thinking skills through video clips showing common ethical dilemmas with alternative courses of action.

Emtrain’s online course is accompanied by separate videos where ethicist Sally March discusses the danger of impulse and rationalizations and Professor Chris MacDonald highlights the power of critical thinking. All videos can be shared or embedded into corporate communications and are intended as short workforce messages that can be sent to employees throughout the year to keep ethical principles top of mind.

Besides fostering an ethical decision-making environment, Code of Conduct training is valuable for communicating the leaders’ vision and the company’s mission. But unless ethics and compliance training is engaging, it’s almost worse than no training at all. Companies can easily add pictures and videos of friends and colleagues, passionate videos from the CEO about the vision, and graphics, text, and sound files that showcase the company and its culture, so that employees can be “hooked” into the learning experience. Emtrain’s course includes a customizable “Values” chapter where companies are prompted to insert relevant, personalized files to engage people taking the course. Get additional details at http://emtrain.com/courses/3179-code-of-conduct.

“Surveys show that employees want to work for ethical companies. Engaging with employees is half the battle in trying to influence behavior and corporate culture,” said Sally March, a former global compliance officer for Nortel Networks and Head of Risk Advisory for BBC Worldwide. “We hope companies will take the framework we provide and make it reflect their own values and culture while communicating common ethical principles. As a Compliance Officer, people used to tell me ‘You can’t teach me to be ethical,’ and that’s right.  We designed this course to help people stop and reflect about the ethical dimension of common situations.  That way, training becomes more than a ‘check-the-box’ compliance effort; it becomes a catalyst for thoughtful discussion on these issues.”

"This course provides what every ethics educator is after -- a way to engage learners so that they can grapple with ethical issues in a fun and friendly way. Watching the video scenarios and thinking about the best course of action is great way to stimulate critical thinking,” said Professor Chris MacDonald. “Following up to the initial course with intermittent brief quizzes and videos will reinforce the initial lessons and strengthen the skills developed.”

"Collaborating with ethicists Sally March and Chris MacDonald has been intellectually rewarding. We’re all focused on raising awareness to how people often make mentally lazy decisions and need to exercise more critical thinking. Through the training itself and follow-up videos, we’re leveraging Chris’s thought-leadership, as reflected in his book The Power of Critical Thinking, and Sally’s practical “in the trenches” insight and experiences. Our goal is to involve employees in a learning activity that causes them to reflect on issues rather than mindlessly rushing through to get their completion certificate as is so often the case in mandated compliance training,” said Janine Yancey, President of Emtrain.

About Ethicist Sally March

Sally March is an ethics and compliance expert and regular columnist for the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (https://www.corporatecompliance.org/). As the former Global Compliance Director for Nortel Networks, the Head of Risk Advisory for BBC Worldwide and Board Member for the Association of Corporate Counsel Europe, Sally has navigated a broad spectrum of situations, which has fueled her thought-leadership on business ethics. In 2013, Sally received an award from the SCCE for her contributions to the ethics profession. March is currently a director of Drummond March, Ltd (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sally-march/5/a57/8), advising companies on the implementation and enhancement of Ethics and Compliance programs.

About Professor Chris MacDonald

Ethics Professor Chris MacDonald is author of the popular Business Ethics Blog (http://businessethicsblog.com/). MacDonald has been named one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” three times and has been labeled one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics.” He is co-author of a popular business ethics textbook, a best-selling textbook on critical thinking, and founder and co-editor of the Business Ethics Journal Review (http://businessethicsjournalreview.com/).

About Emtrain

At Emtrain, we believe that ethics and compliance combine with strong people skills as the building blocks for a winning corporate culture. Our mission is to bring these concepts to life and educate in an engaging way that empowers people to work together more productively, make the right business decisions, and move the business forward. Emtrain is partnering with ethics, legal, human resources, and management experts to serve as Course Experts to offer the best training possible. Find us online at www.emtrain.com, @EmtrainLMS (http://twitter.com/EmtrainLMS) on Twitter, and as Emtrain (http://www.linkedin.com/company/emtrain) in the company pages on LinkedIn.