Workplace Dilemmas: What Would You Actually Do?

Discussion cards about ethical dilemmas at work for teachers of adult B2-C1 learners and Business English students. Each card describes a real grey-area situation from office life. There is no right answer, so students have to make a decision, explain it, defend it and change their minds when the situation changes.

• Grey Areas Word Cards (B2) – 12 cards: expressions for talking about tricky decisions at work (take credit for, cut corners, turn a blind eye, bend the rules, speak up, cover for someone, own up, a grey area, a conflict of interest, go over someone’s head, blow the whistle, let something slide). Each card has a clear meaning and a talk task about the student’s own work.
• What Would You Actually Do? (B2-C1) – 16 dilemma cards: a colleague presents your idea as his own, a client wants a discount “just this once”, your manager’s slide has a wrong figure, a supplier sends you VIP concert tickets, HR sends you everyone’s salaries by mistake. The student decides what to do and why, then answers a question about their own workplace.
• Draw the Line (C1) – 10 ranking cards: four everyday workplace behaviours on each card (company time, small lies, job hunting, working from home, clients, team loyalty). The student puts them in order from totally fine to not OK and says exactly where their line is.
• Teacher Twist Cards – 16 cards: two twists for every dilemma that change one detail of the situation (“Mark is your closest friend at work”, “The software is used in hospitals”), so the student has to rethink the decision and argue again.