Deck 1: Ethical Theory, Philosophical Foundations, Our Reasoning Flaws, and Types of Ethical Dilemmas

Question 1

Ethical egoism is selfishness.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Robert Nozick is the leading thinker for utilitarianism.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Self-interest is the same as selfishness.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Volkswagen's defeat device allowed it to record lower levels than actual emissions of its cars.

Question 5

Locke and Rawls develop their ethical theory on the basis of a tabula rasa.

Question 6

The Rights Theory is generally associated with Plato and Aristotle.

Question 7

A credo consists of how you define yourself by job title and income.

Question 8

An ethical breach is not necessarily a violation of the law.

Question 9

Part of a credo includes a list of lines you would never cross to be successful.

Question 10

Unwritten rules of conduct are part of our normative standards.

Question 11

Laura Nash provides tools for examining how a company got into an ethical dilemma.

Question 12

Kant would label paying lower wages in developing countries than the wages paid in developed economies as unethical.

Question 13

"We all don't share the same ethics" fails to consider common values that do exist in business.

Question 14

Kant and Rand do not agree on the importance of self-interest in ethical theory.

Question 15

Robert Solomon is a proponent of virtue ethics.

Question 16

Volkswagen executives do not believe company pressures influenced decisions.

Question 17

"It's a gray area," is an example of ethical analysis.

Question 18

Locke and Rawls are contractarians.

Question 19

Kant is part of the utilitarian school of thought on ethics.

Question 20

Third-trimester abortions would be supported under a Rights Theory.

Question 21

The failure to disclose that your college degree was withheld because of outstanding parking fines and violations is unethical.

Question 22

Using positive law as an ethical standard means simply compliance with the law.

Question 23

A real estate agent who recommends a management firm to an apartment complex buyer without disclosing that the agent owns 50% of the firm has committed an ethical violation.

Question 24

A commercial broker who accepts fees from both the seller and the buyer of the business without disclosure to either has not committed an ethical violation if both parties are happy with the transaction.

Question 25

Purchasing agents accepting a pleasure trip from a supplier when no bids are pending is still an ethical violation.

Question 26

An illegal act is an unethical act.

Question 27

Taking information from a confidential file accidentally left on your desk is not unethical.

Question 28

A major donation by one of your long-term suppliers to a non-profit organization run by your spouse should not create perception problems so long as your purchasing decisions are based on the merits.

Question 29

It is not plagiarism to use facts obtained from several sources that are footnoted or listed as sources.

Question 30

A physician conducting a study on a new prescription drug manufactured by a firm in which he is a 10% shareholder does not have a conflict of interest so long as his stock ownership is disclosed in his report on the drug.

Question 31

A member of the city council who is employed by a waste management firm would have a conflict of interest in voting on the city's award of a contract for the handling of the city's waste.

Question 32

A valid ethical barometer is the reaction of family and friends outside the business setting to your proposed decision.

Question 33

Payments of royalties from drug sales by a pharmaceutical firm to the university where a researcher conducting studies has validated the firm's claims is a conflict of interest.

Question 34

The element of balance in the Blanchard/Peale ethical model requires an examination of the issue from the perspective of the affected party.

Question 35

An agreement by an agent to accept a 10% commission from a seller who will sell goods to the agent's employer is ethical so long as the agent would have chosen that seller anyway.

Question 36

A physical fitness expert retained by a fitness magazine to evaluate walking shoes has a conflict of interest if she has an endorsement contract with one of the shoe companies that manufactures the shoes she will be evaluating.

Question 37

It is plagiarism to rewrite the phrasing of another source and not use quotes or a footnote.

Question 38

Giving preferential treatment in contract bidding to the daughter of a member of the company board is not a conflict of interest.

Question 39

A conflict of interest is unethical only if those involved actually change their decision based on the benefits to be derived.

Question 40

Having loan applicants pay for the expenses of bank officer travel for purposes of evaluating collateral is not a conflict of interest.

Question 41

Ethical choices often prove costly to firms in the short term.

Question 42

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 43

Taking advantage of a party in a contract situation due to the party's inexperience, and not due to any lack of disclosure on your part, is ethical.

Question 44

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 45

"Everyone else does it," is a signal of an ethical pitfall.

Question 46

Speeding is not an ethical issue as long as you are in the normative range of the speed limit.

Question 47

"The lawyers have okayed this," is a signal that the decision/action is legal and ethical.

Question 48

If I discover that a fellow employee is reporting falsely his overtime hours, it is best for me to say nothing and ignore the situation.

Question 49

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

Question 50

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.

Question 51

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 52

The failure to disclose relevant information about a product or service would be withholding information or giving a false impression.

Question 53

If my supervisor asked me to cover for him by lying about his whereabouts, I should agree to do it but remind him that I can't make it a habit.

Question 54

If I worked in purchasing in my company, it would be a conflict of interest and unethical for me to accept season tickets for my city's NBA team from the company that has supplied catering for the company's training sessions.

Question 55

If I discovered that I unintentionally violated a federal environmental regulation, I should just wait and see if anything happens before taking any action.

Question 56

The failure to speak out when an ethical or legal lapse occurs within your firm is in itself an ethical violation.

Question 57

Attending a class on company time would be taking advantage or taking things that do not belong to you and unethical.

Question 58

Labeling infertility surgery as "diagnostic surgery" in order to allow the patient to recover the costs from an insurer is unethical.

Question 59

A company executive exerting pressure on a scientist and her university to delay disclosure of study results harmful to the company and its products would be unethical.

Question 60

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 your work computer and paper to complete the case analyses would be unethical.

Question 61

It would not be unethical to continue interviewing for positions after you have already accepted employment with a particular firm.

Question 62

You work for a construction firm that is submitting a bid for the construction of a new company headquarters building for Smithco. A friend you have known since high school works in Smithco's capital budgeting area and has full knowledge of all the bids from all firms. It would be unethical for your friend to share that information with you before you submitted your bid.

Question 63

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 fall into categories of ethical breaches.

Question 64

Although you are not part of your company's engineering group, you have discovered a major flaw in the company's new paper-thin solar calculator. The calculator adds when the subtract button is pressed if there are more than 3 figures to the right of the decimal point. Since it is not your area, you have no ethical duty to report the issue.

Question 65

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 66

A newspaper reporter is interviewing you about your experiences in working for a member of Congress. You have indicated you have information about his private life, but will not share it. The reporter responds, "Tell me, just between you and me."   You share the information and a quote from you on the private life of the member of Congress appears in the newspaper the next day. The reporter has engaged in conduct that violates at least one category of ethical dilemmas.

Question 67

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

Question 68

It would not be unethical for you to accept two employment offers in case one fell through.

Question 69

You should disclose to your employer if a relative of yours has submitted a bid for work with your company.

Question 70

Your college of business is sponsoring a case competition. All teams must watch the other teams compete. The order of presentation is by luck of a draw. The team that is the last to present left during one of the presentations, went to the computer room and redid its PowerPoint slides and restructured its presentation based on what other teams had presented. This team has done nothing unethical.

Question 71

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 $2,200 from the company to "temporarily help her cover her bills," as she has explained to you. Not reporting Alice's embezzlement is an ethical breach.

Question 72

Your company has several outdated computers sitting in a storage closet that no one is using. You have taken one home without permission and set it up for personal use. This conduct falls into at least one of the categories of unethical conduct.

Question 73

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 74

Doug rented a car to drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Doug did not see the warning and he put the wrong kind of fuel in his diesel rental car. The car broke down half-way between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Doug called the rental car company and complained about his defective vehicle. The rental car company sent out a tow truck with a different car for Doug, paid for a hotel for the night, and offered him coupons for free rentals in the future. Doug did not disclose the fueling issue. Doug has not violated any of the categories of ethical breaches.

Question 75

The mayor owns property next to one of the proposed sites for the city's new baseball stadium. The mayor has a conflict of interest and should not vote on the location of the stadium when the city council takes action on the site.

Question 76

Following positive law is not the full extent of ethics.

Question 77

You work for a construction firm that is submitting a bid for the construction of a new company headquarters building for Smithco. A friend you have known since high school works in Smithco's capital budgeting area and has full knowledge of all the bids from all firms. It would be unethical for you to hire your friend to get him to bring the information to your company.

Question 78

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. Because you are just doing what you are told to do, there is not an ethical breach in doing as your supervisor instructs you.

Question 79

Conduct may comply with the law, but still be unethical.

Question 80

Although you are not part of your company's engineering group, you have discovered a major flaw in the company's new paper-thin solar calculator. The calculator adds when the subtract button is pressed if there are more than 3 figures to the right of the decimal point. It is not necessary for the company to take any action to correct the problem or refund money for those who already own the new calculator.