Ethics Exam One

Ethics

Moral principles guiding right and wrong behavior.

Law

Rules enforced by the government.

Fraud Triangle

A model explaining the three components that lead to fraud: Pressure, Opportunity, and Rationalization.

Motivation

Financial or performance-based stress that pushes someone toward committing fraud.

Opportunity

Lack of oversight or weak controls that allow fraud to occur.

Rationalization

Mental justification for unethical behavior.

Ethical Awareness

Recognizing an issue as ethical and being able to act accordingly.

Consequentialism

An ethical approach focused on outcomes, advocating for the greatest good for the greatest number.

Deontological Ethics

An ethical approach that emphasizes rules and duties regardless of outcomes.

Virtue Ethics

An ethical approach focusing on character and moral integrity.

Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning Theory

A theory with three levels: Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional moral reasoning.

Milgram’s Experiment

A study revealing that individuals will follow authority figures even to the extent of harming others.

Dark Triad

A set of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, associated with unethical behavior.

Locus of Control

The degree to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them.

Cognitive Dissonance

Mental discomfort experienced from holding contradictory beliefs or behaving inconsistently with one's values.

Moral Disengagement

The process by which individuals convince themselves that ethical standards do not apply to them in a particular context.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out and interpret information that confirms preexisting beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias in which people with low ability in a subject overestimate their competence.

Loss Aversion

The psychological phenomenon where losses are felt more intensely than equivalent gains.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

The tendency to continue an unwise decision due to prior investments.

Organizational Culture

The shared values, norms, and practices within an organization that shape the behavior of its members.

Formal Systems

Policies, codes of conduct, and leadership messaging that influence ethical behavior.

Informal Systems

Workplace norms and social expectations that affect ethical culture.

Ford Pinto Case

An ethical issue where Ford prioritized profit over safety by not fixing a deadly design flaw.

Theranos

A company that misled investors and patients about the effectiveness of its technology.

Atlanta Cheating Scandal

An incident where teachers altered test scores under pressure, illustrating ethical breakdowns.

Uber’s Ethical Issues

A toxic workplace culture that led to ignoring harassment claims and breaking laws.

Wells Fargo Fraud

The unethical practice of pressuring employees to open fraudulent accounts to meet sales quotas.

influence people will always use

euphemisms positive twists

approaches

Consequentialist/ utilitarianism

deontological theory

virtue ethics

beneficence

lets do no harm or no matter what I choose harm will be caused

non maleficence

don’t set out to hurt people; minimizing harm

Machiavellianism

personality trait characterized by manipulativeness, deceitfulness, and a focus on self interest

Psychopathy

personality constructed by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, dishonesty and often superficial charm; they also display callousness, manipulativeness, and impulsiveness.

Narcissism

- personality trait marked by inflated sense of self-importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, and a lack of empathy for others.

business values and principles

no forced labor, no harassment

Univeral values

honesty, fairness, freedom

tips outside of approaches for deciding what to do

• Beneficence and non maleficence
• Business principles/values
• Slowing down/gathering info/doing your homework

pre conventional

the right decision is the one that keeps me out of trouble; childlike stage

conventional

teenage years; what is everyone else thinking, what is the popular thing to do; where you do things based on collective ideas

post conventional

questions on universal ethics; when you fundamentally understand why choices are correct

internal

I am in control of the things that happen to me and I can change things that are going on in my life

external

I am just a passive recipient of life, less likely to speak up or act on anything

diffusion of responsibility

when everyone is someone responsible for something, and no one takes the full blame

displacement of responsibility

displacing the responsibility on someone else; like your boss

Moral Justification

reasoning and rationale behind actions deemed morally right or acceptable.

Advantageous Comparison

mechanism that individuals can deploy to make harmful behavior seem morally acceptable.

Distorting Consequences

individuals misrepresent or minimize the negative impact of their actions to avoid guilt or accountability.

Dehumanization

involves treating individuals as less than human, stripping away their dignity, individuality, or moral worth.

Attribution of blame

assigning responsibility for an event or outcome, often in situations where something negative has occurred. It involves evaluating causality, responsibility, and blameworthiness

Slippery Slope

idea or course of action that is believed to lead inevitably to something unacceptable, wrong, or disastrous.

Psychological Distance

the degree of separation—whether cognitive, emotional, or physical—between an individual and a person, event, or concept.

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or values.

Illusion of Optimism

the tendency for individuals to believe that they are less likely to experience negative events and more likely to encounter positive outcomes than reality suggests.

Dunning-Krueger Effect

cognitive bias in which individuals with low ability in a particular domain tend to overestimate their competence, while highly skilled individuals may underestimate their abilities.

Loss Aversion

a cognitive bias where people tend to feel the pain of losing something more intensely than the pleasure of gaining something of equal value.

Present Bias

the tendency to prioritize immediate rewards over future benefits, even when waiting would lead to a better outcome.

Sunk Costs

expenses that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered, regardless of future decisions.

reinforcement theory

through rewards and punishment- want to get rewards but avoid punishment

social learning theory

teaching others around that certain actions can be rewarded or punished by watching others

goal setting

having goals help set the intention; attainable

roles (Standford prison study)

when we are in a certain role we deindividuate

happens when people start to perceive a role and start to act the way its perceived

psychological safety

idea that as a manager you need to create a safe environment to lead in the right way and making a connection with subordinates

corporate social responsibility

have a positive impact on society, if not they could get a hurt reputation, hard time getting employees, more regulations

shareholder approach

what will make the company the most money

stakeholder approach

still care about shareholders, but care also equally about employees, customers

tripled bottom line

instead of just thinking about money, think about what it means for people and the planet; profit, people, planet

ESG: environmental social governance

investment decisions based on what happens with the environment or society in the business.

Strategic CSR

idea that when people start thinking about CSR, generic philanthropy however over time it becomes baked into the plan. Competitive advantage, bring it into the “as a way to do well we have to do good”, a company creating a self-reflection of what they could be doing to cause harm and being more strategic to reduce those harms. Walmart giving free education to help employees being paid low get the opportunity to grow into higher paying jobs

Ethics in the global environment

How people in different cultures view ethics differently

Ethical imperialism

our values are the only the correct way to do things. However, it can come off as our values are inherently the only right way to do things.

Ethical relativism

kind of changing the way you view values and ethics depending on where you are; human rights, China having forced labor and you just having to be okay with it.

Individualism

USA is very individualist; my rights and privacy is my rights and privacy

Collectivism

what is the best for the entire group; privacy in China may be more collective to help keep everyone safe

Power distance

where you just go with the flow of what is going on because your boss said so. Kind of like Russia having one central power

Values to voices tips

practicing in front of others to help with confidence, writing down notes to jog memory, and try not to be driven by emotion