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This article describes a 60-minute classroom activity using LEGO® bricks that demonstrates and reinforces the importance of the managerial process. The activity, Plan Before You Play (PBP), is targeted to introductory business classes, and differs from others in that it requires little investment or up-front planning, is easily scalable, and, with a few minor adjustments, can be altered sufficiently to discourage information drift across multiple class offerings and academic terms. It can also be modified to subject specific discussions. Students can participate in PBP regardless of their level of knowledge or interest in the subject. Participating in PBP provides students with a concrete example of how good communication and a decision framework can result in more efficient use of resources. The activity also encourages creativity and can be used to generate healthy competition between student groups.

Despite revisions to curriculum in ethics education in business schools, there continues to be high profile examples of unethical decision making regularly spotlighted in the media. Rather than simply teaching about behaviors and how they might impact decision makers and stakeholders, we describe a suite of activities used to highlight various behaviors and biases that impact the decisions individuals might make. These activities are intertwined with course materials regarding ethics and corporate governance to remind and help students better understand how decision making can be influenced and challenged by personal ethics. We provide lesson planning suggestions including adapting to remote delivery, and student handouts. This suite of activities can be incorporated into any undergraduate or graduate level course that has content dealing with ethical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate can be a useful way to engage students with topics and stimulate discussion on what might appear to be a seemingly straightforward concept. This article describes a modified debate activity in which groups of six students debate preassigned topics in front of their classmates. The activity is designed to help students better understand how personal ethics and decision making can be influenced and challenged by various policies, procedures, and stakeholders. This article provides lesson planning suggestions, student handouts, and marking rubrics. This activity can be incorporated into any undergraduate or graduate level course that has content dealing with ethical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an argument to be made for letting corporations hold off on contributing to their employees' defined benefit pension plans, as long as there is a guarantee the cash will come eventually. That is the reason that provincial governments began allowing creditworthy companies to instead provide a letter of credit, backed by a Canadian bank, guaranteeing the cash deposit, and secured by the company's line of credit or some similar facility. Sometimes circumstances are such that a company needs all the cash it can get to grow, or perhaps to manage through tough economic times. Given the sluggish recovery from last decade's financial crisis and the difficulty for pension funds to grow amid persistent low interest rates, it perhaps is understandable that more companies are using standby letters of credit as IOUs for their employee pensions. The letters provide the companies more flexibility with their capital, and diminish the risk that, should returns to pension funds rise again to more normal rates, there could be "trapped surplus." It is, however, harder to make a case for why public sector companies and Crown corporations have begun using letters of credit in place of cash deposits to pensions. They certainly do not face the same pressure for capital flexibility, given their revenue is frequently assured, and they face no competition that would pressure them to redirect capital for strategic purposes. And yet, research shows that this is happening, at least to some degree. That should give policymakers pause. Unfortunately, there is a troubling lack of data available as to which organizations have been using letters of credit in place of cash contributions to pension funds. Clearly they are proving useful for some companies, and that the exact reasons vary widely. We observe some companies using the letter of credit option that would appear to have plenty of capital flexibility, so the rationale for their use might not be what the policy anticipated. Meanwhile, it is unclear why so many other companies have chosen not to avail themselves of this temporary pension-funding relief, despite the advantages it offers for avoiding the risk of trapped surpluses. There also remain restrictions on who can underwrite these credit guarantees -- regulations do not consider foreign banks and insurance companies acceptable, for example -- raising the cost for companies that arrange letters of credit. Taken together, it would seem that there are signs that the policy changes allowing pension-funding relief might be serving their purpose and might be helping companies that could use it, but there is a worrying lack of information to be sure how well they are working and what problems may loom. It certainly seems like a close review is in order. When a Crown corporation is writing IOUs to its defined-benefit pension fund, that is surely a sign that policy-makers are not keeping a close enough eye on the outcomes this policy has led to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]