Digital Pharma: Novo Nordisk’s online ethics tools
pharmafile | June 8, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Novo Nordisk, compliance, ethics
Two new e-learning tools have been launched to help shed some light on ethical grey areas and give individuals a greater understanding of their personal ethics profile.
Produced by a partnership of Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk, the University of Copenhagen and ethical conduct consultancy LRN, the Ethics Decision-Making and Ethics Dilemma tools are aimed at everyone from students to managers in all areas of business.
Lise Kingo, executive VP at Novo Nordisk, said: “Sometimes you find yourself in a ‘grey zone’ where there is no obvious right or wrong. The new tools aim at supporting you in navigating in such a grey zone by providing a better understanding of basic ethics and practical guidance on how to make sound decisions.
“The strength is that the tools combine academic knowledge with hands on experience from business and other practitioners.”
The Ethics Decision-Making Tool uses a series of games and questions to improve ethics understanding.
It begins with a checklist to help the user analyse an ethical dilemma and weigh its pros and cons by posing nine questions, such as: Is it compliant? Is it responsible? Is it generally acceptable?
The questions also include ‘would it be ok to see it on the front page of a newspaper?’ a question often posed of those in the pharma industry seeking to push marketing boundaries.
The second part of the tool gives a business example of how a chain of decisions in a grey zone results in unintended consequences. This sets the scene for the third part, a board game where the users can play a game and use the checklist before making decisions in a series of grey zone dilemmas.
The second tool, Ethics Dilemma, uses a simple questionnaire format to help the user improve understanding of their own ethical standpoint.
Questions include: what you would do if a busy clerk in a large store mistakenly gives you a 20 euros note in return instead of a 10 euros note? After exploring the user’s personal standpoint the tool moves on to show how different ethical standpoints can influence decisions.
Peter Sandøe, Professor of Bioethics at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Copenhagen University said he had high hopes for the Ethics Dilemma tool.
“It is our hope that the Ethics Dilemma tool will enhance mutual appreciation and fruitful dialogue by enhancing understanding of the different ethical standpoints that people can have. When faced with an ethical dilemma there is no clear right or wrong and what you decide to do is influenced by many factors including your ethical standpoint.”
The project’s steering group included Novo Nordisk’s director of global bioethics management Lise Holst and VP of its business ethics and compliance office Jacob Fossar Pedersen along with the director of UNESCO’s division of ethics of science and technology Henk ten Have.
The free tools are available at: www.ethics-e-learning.com.
Dominic Tyer is web editor for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and the author of the Digital Pharma blog He can be contacted via email, Twitter or LinkedIn.
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