Business Ethics Final

with human resource issues, the most important word to remember is “fairness”

true

employees do not care about the fairness of the decision-making procedure as much as they care about the fairness of the outcomes they receive

false

a weak moral person can still be an ethical leader

false

an employer cannot be held liable for an employees sexual harassment activities

false

pursuant to the U.S sentencing guidelines, an organiation cannot be convicted of a crime unti majority of the employees break the law

false

ethical action happens before ethical judgement

false

as a senior executive, it makes sense for you to use the firm’s corporate letterhead to write refeences for employees leaving the firm who have previously served the firm well

false

in a strong organizational culture, strong subcultures exist and guide behavior that differs from one subculture to another

false

organization cultures are maintained through formal systems alone

false

discrimination is an ethical issue-beyond any legal protections-because it’s at the core of fairness in the workplace

true

the corporate ethics and compliance office concept moved beyond the defense industry as a result of the 1991 U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines

true

According to ethics and compliance officers, a respected and trusted insider who knows the company’s culture and people is a preferable choice for a firm’s ethics or compliance officer

true

alignment of the goals and rewards of an organization with the organizations value is essential because employees will generally do what is measured and rewarded

true

It is impossible to globalize any ethics program since different countries have different ethical values. For example, a “bribe” in the U.S. might be the standard way of “greasing the wheel” in a third world country

false

people are less likely to engage in unethical behavior if it is likely to be detected and punished

true

in business, when people talk about ethics, they are talking about behavior

true

according to research, rewards and not discipline are the most important influences on people’s behavior at work

false

the broad categories of typical ethical problems individuals face in the workplace include all of the following except

human resource issues, conflicts of interest, customer confidence issues, use of corporate resources, LEADERSHIP CONCERNS

according to the executive ethical leadership reputation matrix, what is an executive characterized as a strong “moral person” and a strong “moral manager”

ethical leader

The US sentencing guidelines use a “carrot and stick” approach to managing corporate crime what is meant by the use of “carrot” and “stick”?

the carrot refers to incentives in the guidelines to behave ethically and the stick refers to the punishment if the guidelines are not followed

at toys for toddlers, biance is interested in getting the continual stream of information among employees about “what’s really going on”. She should explore what at TFT?

the grapevine

at ABC manufacturing, ashker, biance, and carolyn are employees who understand and follow the rules and policies of the organization, and they have good ethical compasses. They have the judgement or experience required to discern the differences between right and wrong, and they have the moral grounding to do the right thing. Ashker, biance, and carolyn can be described as which of the following?

good soldiers

what approach to formal corporate ethics initiatives focuses on meeting required behavior norms or obeying the letter of the law?

compliance

divorcing business from ethics and values rarely runs large risks

false

the media might be largely responsible for cynical attitudes

true

discarding the few “bad apples“ will usually solve all the ethical problems within an organization

false

according to the authors, most people are guided by a strict internal moral compass and will not be swayed by organization factors

false

good character is the main factor determining whether an individual acts ethically within an organization

false

what ethics approach focuses on the integrity of the moral actor

virtue ethics

when employees come to an organization, they have already developed into “good” or “bad” apples. therefore, there is little a manager can do to impact an employee’s ethical behavior

false

business ethics cannot be taught

false

ethics cannot be defined

false

we define ethical behavior in business as “behavior that is consistent with the principles, norms, and standards of business practice that have been agreed upon by society”

true

a law can be unethical

true

in some industries, companies have joined together in voluntary efforts to promote ethical conduct among organizations in the industry

true

there are two ways to think about individual ethical decision making - the prescriptive approach and the logical approach

false

ethical dilemmas represent conflicts in values

true

a challenge involved in using a strictly consequentialist approach is that it is often difficult to obtain the information required to evaluate all the consequences for all stakeholders who may be directly or indirectly affected by an action or decision

true

according to Kohlberg, as individuals move forward through the sequences of stages, they are cognitively capable of comprehending all reasoning stages below and above their own

false

according to cognitive moral development theory, a level I individual (labeled the conventional level and including stages 1 and 2) has developed beyond identification with others’ expectations, rules, and laws to make decisions more utonomously

false

locus of control refers to an individuals perception of how much control he or she exerts over life events

true

honesty-humility is comprised of three different facets including sincerity, fairness, and greed avoidance

false

business managers generally rely on the consequentialist approach

true

employees good behavior can be spoiled by a “bad barrel”

true

“bad barrels” are caused by “bad apples” in an organization

false

ethics cannot be taught because individuals come into an organization already as a “bad apple”

false

“bad apples” are just a few individuals who spoil it for the rest of us

false

what students may need more ethics training because research has found that they rank lower in moral reasoning than other students

business

definition of ethics - “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group” - focuses on

conduct

parties who are affected by the business and its actions and who have an interest in what the business does and how it performs are what

stakeholders

the prescriptive approach is to what as the descriptive approach is to what

philosophy ; psychology

what challenges one to ask “how would you feel if your behavior appeared in the wall street journal?“

disclosure rule

rachael likes to win. she also holds the value of being honest and having high levels of integrity. given that these two values, winning and integrity, are in conflict, rachael likely confronts what?

ethical dilemma

what is the first step in the sound ethical decision maiing business

gather the facts

what ethical approach focuses on doing what is “right” based on broad, absolute, and unviersal moral principles or values

deontological approach

“what kind of world would this be if everyone behaved this way or made this kind of decision in this type of situation?“

deontological approach

Which element of the due care theory is represented? Life tools manufacturing has a system in place to recall products that prove to be dangerous at some time after manufacture and distribution.

notification

what is involved int he due care theory

ability to return the product if dissatisfied for any reason

literature on corporate social performance suggests three reasons that corporations should care about social responsibility: pragmatic, economic, and regulatory. these are mutually exclusive and they do not overlap

false

the ethical reason is based on the recognition that business must use its power responsibly in society or risk losing it. corporations exist as legal entities with certain advantages because society allows them to do so, and these corporate rights and advantages can be removed from firms that are perceived to be irresponsible

false

a stakeholder is “any party who is affected by the business and its actions and who has a stake in what the organization does and how it performs“

true

the economic responsibilities of a firm involve its primary function of producing goods and services that consumers need and want, while making an acceptable profit

true

legal responsibilities go beyond ethical responsibilities to encompass the more general responsibility to avoid harm and do what’s right

false

the social investment forum reported that socially responsible investing grew from 40 billion dollars in 1984 to nearly 52.5 trillion in 2024

true

ethical disasters in corporations often start as small issues and it is either denial or mismanagement that causes seemingly minor situations to mushroom into huge legal, ethical, and public relations nightmares

true

the implosion of the financial markets in 2008 was largely the result of illegal behavior

false

because stakeholders interests frequently do not overlap, an organization is able to focus on one stakeholder at a time

false

at the turn of the last century, consumers didn’t even have the right to sue a manufacturer for a defective product

true

in ethical decision-making and particularly in cases dealing with product safety, firms are best served when they consider the long-term consequences of a decision

true

the three reasons that corporations should care about social responsibility are

pragmatic, ethical, and strategic

what late economist said that management should “make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of society, both those embodied in the law and those embodied in ethical custom“

Friedman

socially responsible what are those shareholders who clearly care about the financial and the social bottom line of a business

investors

what responsibilities center on the corporations participation in activities that promote human welfare or goodwill, generally through donations of time and money or products and services

philanthropic

what does the triple bottom line address in a firm

economic, social, and environmental impact

the first real consumer law took effect in 1916 in what case, where a consumer was given the right to sue the company for a defective product

MacPherson v. Buick Motor Company