Cisco workers sing for their ethics training

Cisco workers are singing the praises of their ethics training courses. Instead of using a stuffy and dry training course to teach workers ethics, Cisco is using an interactive training program that mimics the TV show American Idol, according to a story in Ragan.com. Cisco's "Ethics Idol" is a series of four interactive flash modules that employees can access from their desktops. In each episode, an animated contestant describes an ethical dilemma in a witty song parody, according to Ragan.com.

Ragan.com writes:

In a module about the company’s gift policy, for instance, fictional employee Gertie Twoshoes sings “Don’t take me, don’t take me, don’t take me out to lunch” to the tune of The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.”

At the end of the song, three quirky judges—Penny Pureheart, Nigel Crustbottom and Rudy Rockson—offer their take on whether or not the employee behaved ethically, and why.

Each employee casts a vote and the polling technology used shows instant results—how they rated the situation compared to others within their organization. Each episode ends with the Cisco ethics office providing the answer and an explanation for why the answer is what it is.

Other ethical quizzes include a fictional sales rep who sings about taking a potential customer to a strip joint, and a manager wondering whether to hire her husband - one of a number of candidates - for a job.

“We even had several employees volunteer to sing or perform in future Ethics Idol modules. For the first time in Cisco’s history, employees are excited for the next round of ethics training," Jeremy Wilson, manager of Cisco’s ethics office is quoted as saying.

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