Deck 5: Ethics and Social Responsibility

Question 1

Most of the laws guiding human resource management are based on the individualism approach.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Utilitarian, individualism, moral-rights, and objective dualism are the four approaches that guide ethical decision-making.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Principled level of moral development is also referred to as the postconventional level.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Rights that should be considered in the moral rights approach include the right of free consent, the right to privacy, and the right of freedom of conscience.

Question 5

In the individualism approach, the right of free speech must be considered.

Question 6

Ethics, found between the domains of law and free choice, is the code of moral principles that governs any individual or groups.

Question 7

An ethical dilemma arises in a situation when each alternative choice or behavior is undesirable because of potentially harmful ethical consequences.

Question 8

The basis for the recent trend among companies to police employee personal habits such as alcohol and tobacco consumption on the job is called the utilitarian ethic.

Question 9

Free choice lies between the domains of codified law and ethics.

Question 10

An individual who must make an ethical choice in an organization is called the moral agent.

Question 11

An individual at the postconventional level lives up to expectations of others, fulfills duties and obligations of social systems, and upholds law.

Question 12

Procedural justice requires that different treatment of people not be based on arbitrary characteristics.

Question 13

At the principled level, individuals are concerned with external rewards and punishments.

Question 14

Individuals, at the preconventional level, are concerned with external rewards and punishments and obey authority to avoid detrimental personal consequences.

Question 15

Individualism is popular in the highly organized society of today because it supports immediate self-gain.

Question 16

Monitoring the Internet to maintain the company's ethical climate and workplace productivity could be considered part of an individualistic approach.

Question 17

The ethical concept that acts are moral when they promote the individual's best long term interests, which ultimately leads to the greater good, is known as the moral rights approach.

Question 18

The justice approach is closest to the thinking underlying the domain of free choice.

Question 19

Objective dualism is the ethical concept that argues that moral behaviors produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Question 20

If something is not illegal, it must be ethical.

Question 21

The great majority of managers operate at level two, the conventional level.

Question 22

A formal statement of the organization's values regarding moral principles and governing its response to social values is called a code of ethics.

Question 23

Social responsibility is management's obligation to make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society as well as the organization.

Question 24

Managers who are essentially ethical individuals make up the first pillar of an ethical organization.

Question 25

Special interest groups include trade associations, political action committees and consumerists.

Question 26

The majority of managers operate at the preconventional level of personal moral development.

Question 27

MANAGER'S SHOPTALK in Chapter 5 recommends that when challenging your boss on ethical issues you do not demand a resolution on the spot.

Question 28

Important stakeholders in corporations include the government and the community.

Question 29

When Earth Day was first celebrated in 1980, environmentalists were considered by most business leaders to be an extremist fringe group.

Question 30

Women's sense of integrity seems to be entwined with an ethic of care; hence, they may be ideally suited for the servant leadership needed in today's organizations.

Question 31

The only aspect of an organization that influences ethics is culture.

Question 32

A public poll finds that 79 percent of respondent believe questionable business practices are widespread.

Question 33

Economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary responsibilities are the four areas of social responsibility can evaluate corporate social performance.

Question 34

According to your text, approximately 20% of American adults ever reach the postconventional level of moral development.

Question 35

Ethical behavior occurs when decisions enable an individual or company to gain at the expense of society.

Question 36

All stockholders of an organization are its stakeholders but not all stakeholders are its stockholders.

Question 37

The three pillars of an ethical organization are ethical individuals, ethical leadership, and structures and systems.

Question 38

According to a study by Transparency International, businesses based in countries such as Russia and China were found to be using bribes on an exceptional scale.

Question 39

A stakeholder is any group within or outside the organization that has a stake in the organization's performance.

Question 40

The NEW MANAGER SELF-TEST in Chapter 5 suggests that displaying courage in a group situation often reflects a person's level of moral development.

Question 41

The assumption that "If it's not illegal, it must be ethical," ignores which of the following?

A) Domain of codified law
B) Domain of ethics
C) Domain of free choice
D) Discretionary responsibility
E) Domain of symbolism

Question 42

Policy-based statements generally outline the procedure to be used in specific ethical situations.

Question 43

An organization's decision to produce a new product is in the

A) domain of codified law.
B) domain of free choice.
C) domain of ethics.
D) domain of compensatory justice.
E) domain of social responsibility.

Question 44

A(n) __________ is the individual who must make an ethical choice in an organization

A) the symbolic leader
B) an obstructive manager
C) the defensive individual
D) the moral agent
E) an authoritarian manager

Question 45

Social sustainability refer to interacting with the community in which a company does business in a way that makes money for the company but also improves the long-term well-being of the community.

Question 46

In UNLOCKING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS THROUGH PEOPLE in Chapter 5, the South Mountain Company operates with a "business of place" philosophy of only taking jobs in their geographic area.

Question 47

Carol is a manager at Softest Tissue Corporation. She is faced with an interesting problem. One of her employees has been cheating the company out of expense money. Carol must decide whether or not to fire this employee. In this role, Carol is acting as

A) a moral agent.
B) an ethical theorist.
C) a symbolic leader.
D) an authoritarian leader.
E) an obstructive manager.

Question 48

The __________ approach is the ethical concept that moral behaviors produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

A) defensive
B) justice
C) utilitarian
D) individualism
E) moral-rights

Question 49

Ethics training programs are an important supplement to a written code of ethics.

Question 50

A new drug has not been approved by the FDA to sell in the U.S. because further testing is needed. The company has a chance to sell its product in another country immediately to start recovering the costs of R & D and production three years ahead of time. This example places the decision in which of the categories from the text?

A) The ethical domain
B) The domain of free choice
C) The legal domain
D) The obstructive category
E) The protective domain

Question 51

In the domain of ethical behavior, obedience is to

A) enforceable norms and standards.
B) oneself.
C) laws prescribed by the legal system.
D) unenforceable norms and standards.
E) the organization.

Question 52

A chief ethics officer is a company executive who oversees all aspects of ethics and legal compliance.

Question 53

A normative approach to ethical decision making

A) reduces ethical dilemmas to easy-to-understand formulas.
B) uses various approaches to describe guiding values for decisions.
C) states that everyone must use their employer's value system at work.
D) dictates only one way to choose to resolve dilemmas.
E) none of these.

Question 54

__________ refers to the code of moral principles and values that govern behaviors with respect to what is right and wrong.

A) Social responsibility
B) Free domain
C) Ethics
D) Codified law
E) Discretionary responsibility

Question 55

Principle-based statements define fundamental values and contain general language about company responsibilities, quality of products, and treatment of employees.

Question 56

A situation that arises when all alternative choices or behaviors have been deemed undesirable because of the potentially negative ethical consequences, making it difficult to distinguish right from wrong, is considered

A) a moral agent.
B) a social responsibility.
C) an ethical dilemma.
D) an ethical standard.
E) discretionary responsibility.

Question 57

An ethics committee is a group of executives appointed to oversee company ethics.

Question 58

The three pillars of an ethical organization are ethical individuals, ethical leadership, and ethical products.

Question 59

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act provides some safety for whistle-blowers.

Question 60

The decision by the CSX to downsize and reduce its labor force is in the

A) domain of codified law.
B) domain of free choice.
C) domain of ethics.
D) social responsibility.
E) none of these.

Question 61

Which of these refers to the ethical concept that moral decisions are those that best maintain the rights of those people affected by them?

A) Individualism approach
B) Justice approach
C) Utilitarian approach
D) Moral-rights approach
E) Discretionary responsibility approach

Question 62

The golden rule "do unto others as they would do unto you" is

A) an example of the utilitarian approach to ethical behavior.
B) representative of the moral-justice approach to moral decision making.
C) an example of the values that guide the individualism approach to ethical behavior.
D) silly and outdated.
E) an example of the justice approach to ethical behavior.

Question 63

Sexual harassment is unethical because it violates an important part of which approach to ethical behavior?

A) The utilitarian approach
B) The individualism approach
C) The justice approach
D) The moral-rights approach
E) The defensive approach

Question 64

Which of these refers to procedural justice?

A) The concept that different treatment of people should not be based on arbitrary characteristics
B) The concept that rules should be clearly stated and consistently and impartially enforced
C) The concept that individuals should be compensated for the cost of their injuries by the party responsible
D) The concept that people should be treated differently
E) None of these

Question 65

Individualism is most closely related to

A) social responsibility.
B) free choice.
C) economic responsibility.
D) codified law.
E) togetherness.

Question 66

Grant is a manager at Computer-Care Company. He is expected to consider the effort of each decision alternative on all parties and select the one that optimizes the satisfaction for the greatest number of people. This is an example of the

A) utilitarian approach.
B) individualism approach.
C) moral-justice approach.
D) justice approach.
E) soft-line managerial approach.

Question 67

The ethical decision approach that requires persons to be guided by standards of equity, fairness and impartiality is the

A) moral-rights approach.
B) individualism approach.
C) utilitarian approach.
D) justice approach.
E) discretionary responsibility.

Question 68

The concept that different treatment of people should not be based on arbitrary characteristics is referred to as

A) procedural justice.
B) compensatory justice.
C) distributive justice.
D) organizational justice.
E) moral-justice.

Question 69

The moral rights approach that deals with individuals refraining from carrying out any order that violates their moral or religious norms is the

A) right of free consent.
B) right to privacy.
C) right of freedom of conscience.
D) right of free speech.
E) right of due process.

Question 70

Ritchie's Robots decided to continue operations at one plant while shutting down another. The decision was justified on the basis of what was best for the total corporation. This is an example of the

A) utilitarian approach.
B) individualism approach.
C) moral-justice approach.
D) justice approach.
E) illegal approach.

Question 71

Sexual harassment is unethical because it violates the

A) right of free consent.
B) right to privacy.
C) right of freedom of conscience.
D) right of free speech.
E) right of due process.

Question 72

__________ is NOT a normative ethics approach?

A) Utilitarian approach
B) Individualism approach
C) Social responsibility approach
D) Moral-rights approach
E) All of these are normative approaches as described in the text.

Question 73

Disk Replacement Services has just completed a procedure manual to handle employee grievances. One of the main criteria is to make it clear to employees that rules will be administered fairly and consistently. Disk Replacement operates on

A) the procedural justice approach.
B) the utilitarian approach.
C) the individual approach.
D) the defensive approach.
E) the free-choice approach.

Question 74

An example of __________ is when everyone is pursuing self-direction, the greater good is ultimately served because people learn to accommodate each other in their own long-term interest.

A) utilitarian approach
B) individualism approach
C) moral-justice approach
D) justice approach
E) social responsibility

Question 75

Which approach to ethical decision-making is consistent with due process, free consent, privacy, freedom of conscience and free speech?

A) Moral-rights approach
B) Individualism approach
C) Utilitarian approach
D) Justice approach
E) Dual-economic approach

Question 76

The __________ ethic was the basis for the state of Oregon's decision to extend Medicaid to 400,000 previously ineligible recipients by refusing to pay for high-cost, high-risk procedures.

A) justice
B) moral-rights
C) obstructive
D) individualism
E) utilitarian

Question 77

Which ethical approach are companies citing to justify their policing of employee's personal habits on and off the job, such as alcohol and tobacco consumption?

A) Justice approach
B) Utilitarian approach
C) Individualism approach
D) Moral-justice approach
E) Discretionary responsibility

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT one of the moral rights that could be considered during decision-making?

A) The right to free consent
B) The right to invade privacy
C) The right to free speech
D) The right of freedom of conscience
E) The right to life and safety

Question 79

All of these are of concern to managers, under the justice approach, EXCEPT

A) compensatory justice.
B) distributive justice.
C) procedural justice.
D) obstructive justice.
E) all of these

Question 80

Human beings have fundamental rights and liberties that cannot be taken away by another individual's decision. This ethical decision making approach is known as the

A) utilitarian approach.
B) individualism approach.
C) moral-rights approach.
D) dualism approach.
E) None of these.