Deck 2: Business Ethics and the Social Responsibility of Business

Question 1

Although corporations are not persons but artificial entities created by the state, it is clear that they can and should be held morally accountable.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Not everything that is legal is also morally correct.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Deontologists are sometimes criticized for rigidity and excessive formalism.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

To a libertarian, it is not unjust for some people to accumulate fortunes while others live in poverty.

Question 5

Most philosophers now agree that people can discover fundamental ethical rules by applying careful a priori
reasoning.

Question 6

Harvard philosopher John Rawls stressed liberty as the most important obligation owed by a society to its members.

Question 7

The two major forms of utilitarianism are situational and a priori.

Question 8

Jeremy Bentham was not a proponent of utilitarianism.

Question 9

In employment relationships, ethical issues arise regarding safety and compensation of workers, privacy, and the legitimacy of whistle-blowing.

Question 10

According to Adam Smith, the capitalistic system is composed of economic motivation, private productive property, free enterprise, free markets, competition, and limited government.

Question 11

An ethical relativist looks to a central authority, such as the Bible, to guide her in ethical decision making.

Question 12

Because there are no universal, clear-cut standards to apply to ethical analysis, it is impossible to make meaningful ethical judgments.

Question 13

Ethics can be broadly defined as the study of what is good or right for human beings.

Question 14

Situational ethics judges a person's ethics, and it does so from the perspective of the actor.

Question 15

According to Milton Friedman, the social obligation of a corporation is to return as much money as possible to its shareholders.

Question 16

The study of business ethics has several central authorities.

Question 17

Intuitionism holds that rational persons possess inherent powers to assess the correctness of actions.

Question 18

One criticism of utilitarianism is that it ignores justice in some important instances.

Question 19

A leading proponent of the utilitarian approach to ethics was the eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Question 20

Factors leading to the need for the ethical and social responsibility of business are the demands of maintaining a competitive, fair marketplace and the size and power of individual corporations.

Question 21

According to one argument in favor of corporate social responsibility, the more responsibly companies act, the less the government must regulate them.

Question 22

Situational ethics is essentially the same as ethical relativism.

Question 23

Utilitarian notions underlie cost-benefit analysis.

Question 24

Kant's approach, like that of ethical fundamentalists, asserts that universal laws stem from the direct pronouncements of God.

Question 25

From a Kantian perspective, for an action to be moral, it must be possible for it to be made into a universal law and it must respect the autonomy and rationality of all human beings.

Question 26

Under a Kantian approach to ethics, a person should not lie to colleagues unless that person supports the right of all colleagues to lie to one another.

Question 27

In Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, how many "institutions" are in the capitalistic system?

A)3
B)4
C)5
D)6

Question 28

Ethical relativism holds that when any two individuals or cultures differ regarding the morality of a particular issue or action, they are both correct because morality is relative.

Question 29

Bill would like to propose to the board of directors of Midway Corporation that it distribute five percent of its pre-tax yearly income to feed the poor.To Milton Friedman and others, Bill's proposal might be considered unethical,
because it violates the purpose for which the corporation was established.

Question 30

In 2002, Congress passed what legislation seeking to prevent business scandals by increasing corporate responsibility through imposing additional corporate governance requirements on publicly held corporations?

A)The Securities and Exchange Act
B)The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
C)The Kohlberg Act
D)The Uniform Commercial Code

Question 31

How many stages are there in Kohlberg's theory of moral development?

A)2
B)3
C)4
D)5

Question 32

What is unjust to a social egalitarian will also be unjust to a libertarian.

Question 33

The definition of the doctrine of ethical relativism includes:

A)that when any two individuals differ regarding the morality of an issue or action, they are both correct because morality is relative.
B)the proposition that a good or moral act is one that results in "the greatest good for the greatest number."
C)the notion that cost-benefit analysis is relative to making ethical decisions.
D)that, without any further evaluation, the ultimate judgment of the correctness of an action relates to pronouncements of a central authority.

Question 34

The theory of distributive justice analyzes society through a "veil of ignorance."

Question 35

Which of the following does not describe the libertarian social ethics theory?

A)Libertarians stress market outcomes as the basis for distributing society's rewards.
B)Libertarians encourage social control over all people in order to design an equitable society.
C)Libertarians believe it is an injustice for society to take wealth earned by some citizens and distribute it to those who did not directly earn it.
D)The fact that some people end up with fortunes while others are poor proves only that some can play in the market effectively while others cannot.

Question 36

Although discussions have occurred, thus far legislators have not passed any statutes which seek to prevent corporate misconduct and increase corporate responsibility.

Question 37

Deontological theories assess good and evil in terms of the consequences of actions rather than by the motives that lead to them.

Question 38

Under a strict utilitarian approach, it is ethical to force an individual to participate in a painful medical experiment if the purpose of the experiment is to develop a cure that will benefit large numbers of people.

Question 39

Business ethics is a subset of ethics; there is no special set of ethical principles that applies only to the business world.

Question 40

The ethical theory that underlies cost-benefit analysis is:

A)libertarianism.
B)utilitarianism.
C)deontology.
D)ethical relativism.

Question 41

The ethical decision-making approach that views ethical decisions from the actor's perspective and then judges whether the decisions were ethical is:

A)ethical fundamentalism.
B)absolutism.
C)situational ethics.
D)act utilitarianism.

Question 42

Nineteen-year-old Martin was raised in a good, Christian home and attended parochial school through eighth grade. Martin is a good student and citizen who conforms to the expectations of his church, family, and peers.He does so because he loves his family and church, is loyal to them, and trusts them.Under Kohlberg's schematic analysis, Martin is most likely at what stage of moral development?

A)Preconventional
B)Conventional
C)Postconventional
D)Universal

Question 43

Under which ethical system would it be ethical to compel a few citizens to undergo painful or fatal medical tests in order to develop cures for the rest of the world?

A)Utilitarianism
B)Ethical fundamentalism
C)Distributive justice
D)Libertarianism

Question 44

Through his observation of human behavior, psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed a model of moral development.Describe the stages of moral development that were studied and developed by Kohlberg and the relevance of this model for ethical business behavior.

Question 45

True cost-benefit analysis as a social theory:

A)only measures monetary gains and losses in making business decisions.
B)compares direct and indirect costs and benefits of program alternatives for meeting a specific goal.
C)is another theory that judges persons' actions by what those persons believe is right for themselves.
D)emphasizes justice and a central moral authority.

Question 46

A common criticism of deontological ethical theories is that they:

A)are excessively pragmatic.
B)are rigid and excessively formal.
C)only consider actions by their motives.
D)fail to consider universal principles.

Question 47

In what way or ways are situational ethics and ethical relativism similar?

A)They both look to a central authority or set of rules to guide ethical decision-making.
B)They both assess each separate act according to whether it maximizes pleasure over pain.
C)They both judge actions from the perspective of the person who actually made the judgment.
D)All of these are true.

Question 48

Arguments favoring social responsibility of business entities include all but which of the following?

A)Corporations are subject to a higher standard of accountability than are public bodies.
B)Limited liability granted to corporations carries a responsibility to contribute to society's betterment.
C)Corporate involvement in social causes makes good business sense.
D)The more responsibly companies act, the less regulation the government must provide.

Question 49

The definition of business ethics includes which of the following points?

A)It is a science completely separate from applied ethics.
B)It is fully codified in federal statutes.
C)It has a central authority and universal standards.
D)It seeks to determine what is good and right in business settings.

Question 50

Which arguments oppose business involvement in socially responsible activities?

A)Lack of corporate focus on profitability.
B)Unfairness to company employees and shareholders.
C)Lack of accountability.
D)All of these are true.

Question 51

How does Immanuel Kant's approach to ethical decision-making differ from that of an ethical fundamentalist?

A)Kant's approach is premised on man's rationality and not on principles handed down from above.
B)Kant's approach stresses liberty and not justice.
C)Kant's approach judges society in moral terms by how it distributes goods and services.
D)Kant's approach assesses each separate act according to whether it maximizes pleasure over pain.

Question 52

Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, said the capitalistic system was composed of institutions which include all but which of the following?

A)Economic motivation
B)Free enterprise
C)Labor
D)Limited government

Question 53

An auto designer chooses to devote his efforts to designing an automobile that is the safest vehicle possible.He does so because he wishes to save lives and prevent disabling injuries.He believes he and his employer have a duty to provide the public with the safest possible vehicle.The designer's approach to ethical decision-making is best characterized as:

A)utilitarian.
B)deontological.
C)ethically relative.
D)ethically fundamental.

Question 54

According to Jack Behrman, a professor of business ethics, free enterprise involves a:

A)combination of properties.
B)capitalistic combination of factors of production.
C)group expression of the use of private property.
D)All of these are true.

Question 55

A common criticism of ethical relativism is that it:

A)promotes open-mindedness and tolerance.
B)assumes that a person's actions are always correct for that person, but if that is true, then all behavior is, by definition, moral.
C)is rigid and excessively formal.
D)is too judgmental.

Question 56

The type of moral equality espoused by John Rawls is:

A)freedom to do what one wishes.
B)social and material equality.
C)freedom from government regulation.
D)equality of opportunity, not of results.

Question 57

Compare the social ethics theories of distributive justice and libertarianism.How are they alike? How are they different? Explain your answer.

Question 58

Kohlberg observed that people progress through stages of moral development according to the major variables of:

A)age and education.
B)age, economic status, and peer influence.
C)education and family guidance.
D)religion, education, and the influence of peers and family.