Deck 3: Ethics and Social Responsibility

Question 1

Small-business owner Jason is thinking about giving a potential customer an expense paid vacation to Las Vegas for her and her husband. When asked if he is being ethical, Jason replies, "Look whatever works, works." Which ethical principle is Jason most likely using?

A) focus on the rights of individuals
B) pragmatism
C) utilitarianism (consequences)
D) focus on integrity (virtue ethics)

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Team leader Gary is scheduled to prepare a performance of Lisa, a team member who also happens to be his wife's closest friend. The ethical temptation Gary faces is

A) sexual harassment.
B) misuse of corporate resources.
C) dealing with confidential information.
D) conflict of interest.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Unethical behavior is often triggered by

A) pressure from higher management to achieve goals.
B) an organizational atmosphere that condones such behavior.
C) both a & b
D) a system of checks and balances.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Fairness in employment practices centers on

A) hiring no family members or friends.
B) giving people equal rewards for accomplishing the same tasks.
C) obeying equal employment opportunity legislation.
D) avoiding conflicts of interest.

Question 5

According to concept of moral laxity, workers will often behave unethically because

A) they have planned to be unethical.
B) they come from dysfunctional families.
C) other issues seem more important at the time.
D) management pressures them into unethical behavior.

Question 6

Ethics are important because

A) suppliers prefer to deal with ethical companies.
B) customers prefer to deal with ethical companies.
C) employees prefer to deal with ethical companies.
D) all of the choices.

Question 7

The purpose of backdating stock options is to give the stock-option holder

A) large payout on his or her birthday.
B) tax-free investment.
C) chance to diversify his or her stock portfolio.
D) sure profit on the options.

Question 8

Kate, the owner of a small telecommunications firm gives gifts of stock in her company to telephone company mangers who purchase her equipment. Kate is giving in to the ethical temptation of

A) kickbacks.
B) misuse of corporate resources.
C) sexual harassment.
D) treating people unfairly.

Question 9

Which one of the following is not recommended as a method for a company to protect itself against sexual harassment charges?

A) Develop a zero-tolerance policy on harassment and communicate it to employees.
B) Retaliate swiftly against employees who bring forth charges of harassment.
C) Give swift and sure punishment to harassers.
D) Train managers at all levels on sexual harassment issues.

Question 10

According to the concept of moral intensity, a worker is most likely to behave ethically and legally when

A) a manager observes his or her behavior closely.
B) the worker has intense morals.
C) the consequences of the act are minor.
D) the consequences of the act are substantial.

Question 11

Bonita is an ethically centered production manager so she will ship a product

A) only after all its problems have been eliminated.
B) only if the shipping people use packing material that does not harm the environment.
C) only after an ethics committee has approved it.
D) as quickly as she can to meet the customer's schedule.

Question 12

Building a sustainable environment includes

A) developing a green supply chain
B) omitting hazardous emissions
C) both a & b
D) writing a code of ethics

Question 13

Marvin has his own Website that carries ads for a dozen retailers. At night, Marvin spends hours clicking on these sites so he can collect commissions from the advertisers. Marvin is engaged in the scandal referred to as

A) click fraud.
B) work-at-home scam.
C) cyber squatting.
D) backdating Websites.

Question 14

Benefits derived from social responsibility include;

A) enhanced organizational efficiency
B) producing better products
C) attracting people who want to work for the firm
D) both a & c

Question 15

The stakeholder view of social responsibility states that organizations must respond to the needs of

A) employees and customers.
B) shareholders and owners.
C) all interested parties.
D) all those who might sue the organization.

Question 16

Pierre takes a utilitarian viewpoint of ethics. He will therefore judge a business decision to be ethical so long as

A) more good than bad results from the decision.
B) everybody is treated fairly.
C) certain rights are not violated.
D) he has good character and integrity.

Question 17

A firm is said to have good corporate social performance when

A) stockholders invest in socially responsible causes.
B) charitable deductions are automatically deducted from pay without the consent of employees.
C) the company has not been convicted of ethical violations for five consecutive years.
D) stakeholders are satisfied with its level of social responsibility.

Question 18

The ethical dilemma of choosing between two rights refers to

A) choosing between the lesser of two evils.
B) deciding which of two employee rights is the most important.
C) deciding to offer a bribe or lose out on an important opportunity.
D) choosing between the two types of sexual harassment.

Question 19

Business ethics deals primarily with

A) social responsibility.
B) the pricing of products and services.
C) moral obligation.
D) being unfair to the competition.

Question 20

Which one of the following questions is not asked in six-question ethics test?

A) How does it smell?
B) Who gets hurt?
C) What can we possibly get away with?
D) Would you tell your child (or young relative) to do it?

Question 21

Which one of the following approaches to creating an ethical and socially responsible workplace is likely to be the most powerful?

A) Passing out buttons with the statement "Just Say No to Bad Ethics"
B) Placing posters about ethics throughout the organization
C) Top management acting as models of the right behavior
D) Including a statement about ethics and social responsibility in the employee handbook

Question 22

Lois is a sleazy individual who is out to manipulate and trick people. According to the virtue ethics point of view, even when Lois's actions do not harm people, she is still unethical.

Question 23

A whistle blower is an employee who

A) exposes organizational wrongdoing.
B) complains a lot to company management.
C) engages in unethical behavior.
D) referees disputes with other employees.

Question 24

According to a survey conducted by the Ethics Resource Center, a frequent ethical problem is lying to employees, customers, vendors, or the public.

Question 25

One of the ethical problems with backdating stock options is that it involves lying about when the option was granted.

Question 26

A recommended way of minimizing unethical behavior is for employees to

A) write anonymous notes to ethical violators.
B) immediately report all suspicious behavior to top management.
C) spend part of their vacation preparing a personal philosophy of ethics.
D) confront fellow employees about ethical deviations.

Question 27

According to the utilitarian view of ethics, what really counts is the net balance of good consequences over bad.

Question 28

According to the ethical philosophy of pragmatism, there are certain absolute principles or standards, objective truth, and objective reality that one must follow in business.

Question 29

According to the concept of moral intensity, an intensely moral person will be equally ethical in almost all situations.

Question 30

As a Website advertiser, you know that you have been the victim of click fraud when thousands of people click on your ad with absolutely no interest in making a purchase--and you are charged for all those clicks.

Question 31

An individual driver of unethical behavior is unconscious biases that lead us to behave in unjust ways toward others.

Question 32

Oscar, the meat department manager at a supermarket, follows a deontological view of ethics. He therefore sees no ethical problem in selling rabbit meat and labeling it as chicken, so long as no customer gets sick.

Question 33

A socially responsible mutual fund will only purchase stocks in companies that

A) have a no-smoking policy in place.
B) have a culturally diverse management team.
C) hire some job candidates who are HIV positive.
D) have good social performance.

Question 34

Dhani is the human resources manager for a government agency. He faces a conflict of interest when his girlfriend's mother applies to the agency and he must provide input on whether the woman should be hired.

Question 35

In some situations a company action can be legal, yet still unethical.

Question 36

Ethics is the study of moral obligation, or separating right from wrong.

Question 37

Violating software agreements is so widely practiced, it is now considered no more illegal than an able-bodied person parking in a spaced reserved for physically disabled people.

Question 38

Corporate social responsibility has three components according to professors Basu and Palazzo:

A) cognitive, linguistic, and cognitive
B) ethical, social, authoritative.
C) reflective, analytic, corporative
D) conceptual, sensing, assertive

Question 39

An ethically centered manager is more concerned about the completion dates of a project than high quality, because he or she is primarily concerned about customer satisfaction.

Question 40

Whether to use corporate resources for personal use is an ethical dilemma that falls into a gray area for many people.

Question 41

Parties often disagree about what constitutes socially responsible behavior, such as selling handguns in a retail store.

Question 42

Are values closely related to ethics? Explain

Question 43

According to the concept of a virtuous cycle, corporate social performance and financial performance enhance each other.

Question 44

Economically viable refers to such financial benefits as attaining reduced costs from energy savings, gaining governmental subsidies, and avoiding penalties..

Question 45

One of the questions in the guide to ethical decision making asks, "Who gets hurt?"

Question 46

Blowing the whistle on one's employer frequently leads to negative consequences for the individual, such as no further promotions or low performance evaluations.

Question 47

Organizations take a major social responsibility initiative when they establish programs that help employees balance the demands of work and personal life.

Question 48

The stakeholder viewpoint is the traditional perspective on social responsibility that a business organization is responsible only to its owners and stockholders

Question 49

A major corporate thrust toward ethical and socially responsible behavior to go green. How can a company try to create a sustainable environment

Question 50

The concept of social responsibility holds that business organizations have a legal obligation to be good citizens.

Question 51

Lincoln Electric Co., a Cleveland-based manufacturer of welding equipment, has become the model of a company whose management has avoided downsizing.

Question 52

A study of Wal-Mart suggests that what constitutes being socially responsible is not so clear cut.

Question 53

Imagine that you are about to hire a relative or close friend over a more qualified outside candidate. Take this problem through the ethical decision-making guide, and reach a decision about whether to hire him or her.

Question 54

Nestle India wants to produce its products locally. About half its 480 factories are located in developing countries.The company has introduced a water education program, has bored wells
for nearly 100 village schools for children, and teaches hygiene programs.
1. Why is Nestle a socially responsible company?
2. How has social responsibly increased Nestle's profits?