Deck 6: Ethics, Business Operations, and Rights

Question 1

You are a building inspector for the county. A friend of yours is a plumbing contractor. Under county regulations, all steps in plumbing construction from the initial dig to the final installation of sink and bathroom fixtures requires an inspection sign-off. Your plumbing contractor friend has just called and wants to take you to dinner for your birthday at a five-star restaurant. Because you are friends anyway, the dinner presents no ethical problems.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Deleted e-mail cannot be obtained during discovery when a company is in litigation.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Voice mail messages on employee phones can be monitored by employers.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

With respect to #9, using your work computer and paper to complete the case analyses would be unethical.

Question 5

Attending a class on company time would be unethical.

Question 6

A supplier has just been awarded a large contract by your company. As an employee in purchasing, you were largely responsible for awarding that supplier the contract. The supplier's sales representative has just called and would like to take you to lunch to thank you for the support. Going to lunch with the sale representative does not present any ethical problems.

Question 7

Your supervisor has had a calendar with pictures of naked women on the inside panel of his desk for several months. A secretary spotted the calendar and commented to your supervisor that it was not appropriate for an office. Your supervisor took down the calendar and has asked you to back him up if any complaints are filed. He has asked you to say that you never saw the calendar. It would not be unethical for you to do as your supervisor requests because he has removed the calendar.

Question 8

You are taking a graduate level course in management that will help you in performing your duties at work. Each week you must submit case analyses to your professor. Using work time to complete the analyses would be unethical.

Question 9

It is illegal for an employer to look on MySpace in screening potential employees.

Question 10

Walmart still retained the ad agency Ms. Roehm had selected for Walmart before her termination.

Question 11

Ms. Roehm was successful in her wrongful termination suit against Walmart.

Question 12

Alice is a co-worker who is going through a divorce and has two small children. Alice's husband is not paying the child support the temporary court order requires. As a result, Alice is broke until she can get her court hearing. Alice has been able, through diverting checks returned to the company, to take about $2200 from the company to "temporarily help her cover her bills," as she has explained to you. You must report Alice's embezzlement.

Question 13

Alice is a secretary in your department. Alice is also a member of the American Guild of Organists. Alice has been placed in charge of the Guild's national convention. Each time you pass by Alice's desk or go to her to have some work done, you notice she is on the phone discussing or working on the convention. Alice's work on the convention during work hours is an ethical violation.

Question 14

Your company's policy on company vehicles is that no family members may use them or ride in them. It would be unethical to use a company car to drive you and your spouse to a movie.

Question 15

Accepting gifts from suppliers and vendors is not a problem so long as no bid decisions are pending.

Question 16

Your supervisor has told you that he wants to "get rid of Jane." Jane is a Hispanic female co-worker who is very bright and capable and hardworking. Your supervisor has asked you to document everything Jane does and says that will help build a case for termination. You should do as your supervisor tells you.

Question 17

Your company has several outdated computers sitting in a storage closet that no one is using. You have taken one home and set it up for personal use. This is unethical conduct.

Question 18

E-mail can be obtained during discovery when a company is in litigation.

Question 19

Employers are permitted to monitor employee e-mails and use of the Internet.

Question 20

You work for a school district as a facilities coordinator. You drive to the various schools in the district and supervise construction and remodeling and assess various building needs. When you are traveling around to the various schools, you use a district vehicle that is clearly marked as such. One day you stop at the country club and have lunch before heading to the next school since the country club is on the way. You also stop at the bank drive-thru teller to do some personal banking business. Both the lunch and the bank stop are ethical breaches.

Question 21

You need not disclose in your employment application those positions you held which will not result in good feedback about you if your supervisors there are contacted.

Question 22

Diversity provides companies with a competitive edge.

Question 23

Some employee screening devices are not as valid as others.

Question 24

Violation of company rules is not considered an ethical violation.

Question 25

Employer e-mail systems have been ruled as employer property in which employees have no rights of privacy.

Question 26

Employers should try to control the sexually suggestive content of worker e-mails.

Question 27

Using things of minimal value that belong to your employer for personal reasons (such as paper, paper clips, pens) is not an ethical violation.

Question 28

Employers cannot be held responsible for sexual harassment if they did not take part in it.

Question 29

Diversity is not important to the Coca-Cola company.

Question 30

Employers have no responsibility to investigate allegations of sexual harassment.

Question 31

It is an ethical violation to disclose personnel information about your co-workers even to your family.

Question 32

Whistleblowers have both internal and external avenues for dealing with issues.

Question 33

Employee hotlines exist to help employees who feel they cannot communicate concerns through the lines of authority.

Question 34

One benefit of diversity is a better ability to understand customers.

Question 35

The commitment of the CEO to diversity is critical for the company's attitudes toward diversity.

Question 36

Implementing diversity requires more than just diversity training.

Question 37

Employer hiring practices must be balanced with prospective employees' rights to privacy.

Question 38

Employers cannot monitor employee e-mails.

Question 39

It is not your responsibility to report a co-worker who leaves the office early each day without taking time off.

Question 40

The failure to disclose a current employee's conduct that resulted in dismissal and harm to a prospective employer is a breach of ethics.

Question 41

If whistleblowers do not have internal avenues for dealing with issues, they will quit or turn to external avenues.

Question 42

Freedom from physical abuse is a basic fair employment practice.

Question 43

BP had no way of knowing about the evolving issues at Deepwater Horizon.

Question 44

A journalist who fails to disclose his or her financial interest in the subject of a story he or she is covering has a conflict of interest.

Question 45

Confrontation is easy for most people.

Question 46

When there is a developing safety issue in the workplace, it is best for an employer to just wait and see how much harm can result before taking precautions.

Question 47

OSHA reportable injury figures are the same as injuries claimed under workers' compensation systems.

Question 48

If an employee can return to work, there is not a lost work day even if the employee is on a stretcher.

Question 49

The safest and simplest conflict of interest policy for purchasing agents is to accept nothing from suppliers.

Question 50

Smart-pigging is used to detect weakness in deepwater oil wells.

Question 51

Equal treatment and opportunity is generally a part of labor policies and principles.

Question 52

BP's focus on costs influenced its judgment and decisions on engineering issues.

Question 53

BP followed industry standards in its construction of Deepwater Horizon.

Question 54

Confrontation is a key part of ethics.

Question 55

A purchasing agent who is an owner of 25% of the shares in a supplier does not have a conflict of interest.

Question 56

Whistleblowers who turn to external avenues for dealing with issues are unethical.

Question 57

It is more ethical to remain silent about misdeeds.

Question 58

English-only policies in the workplace are not permitted by the EEOC.

Question 59

A purchasing agent for a company could accept a Rolex from a supplier so long as there is no bid pending.

Question 60

A purchasing agent whose daughter works for a supplier has a conflict of interest.

Question 61

The Prudhoe Bay and BP refinery problems had no effect on BP's stock price.

Question 62

Pension accounting for ERISA differed from pension accounting for the SEC.

Question 63

Malden Mills was able to emerge after the fire with a story of continuing success.

Question 64

The regulation of disposable diapers did not make it all the way down the regulatory cycle.

Question 65

The federal government affected the entire oil industry with a temporary moratorium on offshore drilling following BP's Deepwater Horizon spill.

Question 66

Malden Mills employees continued to work for Malden and Feuerstein without any problems after Feuerstein paid them whilst the factory was being rebuilt.

Question 67

Despite environmental concerns, there was little change in demand for cloth diapers.

Question 68

BP had no warnings about its pipeline problems in Prudhoe Bay.

Question 69

A company can be relieved of its pension obligations in bankruptcy.

Question 70

BP traders squeezed the pipeline to affect oil prices.

Question 71

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 does not apply to all employers with pension plans.

Question 72

BP had unaddressed safety violations at the time of the Texas City Refinery explosion.

Question 73

Herman Miller abandoned the use of rain-forest woods over the objections of customers and craftsmen.

Question 74

Herman Miller follows a policy of compliance with existing environmental laws.

Question 75

All damage cases from the Valdez spill are settled.

Question 76

BP transferred employees who raised concerns about safety at its facilities.

Question 77

BP did not use a riskier design than the industry generally used on its Deepwater Horizon rig.

Question 78

New environmentalism requires that the CEO be involved in company initiatives and practices.

Question 79

Ten years after the Valdez spill, scientists concluded there were no indications of continuing oiling effects.

Question 80

Arthur Little had a conflict of interest in the disposable diaper study it performed.