Deck 4: Demanding Ethical and Socially Responsible Behavior

Question 1

Both managers and workers cite low managerial ethics as a major cause of American businesses' competitive woes.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

People should look at each situation individually and decide for themselves if it is right or wrong.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Legal behavior is a first step toward ethical behavior.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Given the level of diversity within the United States, agreement on common standards of ethical behavior is unachievable.

Question 5

Legal behavior is directly related to our relationships with others, while ethical behavior is not.

Question 6

Ethical behavior focuses on treating others fairly.

Question 7

Jake and his college friends frequent a small pub on weekends. Last weekend, after a few beers, one of his friends decided to take the salt and pepper shakers from their table because they needed a set at their apartment. In this situation, this was not a particularly questionable activity because it was a restaurant where one pays for these extras.

Question 8

Punishing business leaders who have broken the law may help restore trust in the free-market system and leaders in general.

Question 9

Laws that protect us from fraud, theft and violence determine ethical behavior.

Question 10

A society gets into trouble when people consider only what is illegal and not also what is ethical or unethical.

Question 11

Making accounting records more transparent may help restore trust in the free-market system and leaders in general.

Question 12

The Enron scandal illustrates the difference between unethical behavior and illegal behavior.

Question 13

Ethical behavior requires more than following the law.

Question 14

Ethical behavior involves the clear and easy choice of right and wrong actions toward others.

Question 15

Ethical behavior refers to the standards that are accepted by society as right or wrong.

Question 16

People involved in business may be tempted to do something unethical in order to increase sales and profits, but rarely do because if they are caught, our legal system will deal harshly with them.

Question 17

An accurate statement regarding this chapter is: "Business law establishes ethical behavior."

Question 18

Making businesspeople more accountable for company actions may help restore trust in the free-market system and leaders in general.

Question 19

Moral behavior refers to behavior that is accepted by society as right versus wrong.

Question 20

Legal behavior and ethical behavior are basically the same.

Question 21

When facing an ethical dilemma, it is often helpful to discuss the situation with your supervisor because ethical decisions will always withstand scrutiny.

Question 22

Business behavior determines the ethics of society. We can improve society's moral and ethical behavior by first making a commitment to improving business's moral and ethical behavior.

Question 23

Trust between workers and managers must be based on a foundation of fairness, honesty, openness, and moral integrity.

Question 24

The question "Is it legal?" establishes ethical behavior.

Question 25

Barney extends his lunch break beyond the allotted time. Wilma uses the office telephone for unauthorized personal phone calls. Fred misrepresents his product to a potential customer. All of these are examples of unethical behavior.

Question 26

You are in a business meeting at work that requires your group to make an ethical decision. Your willingness to post the final decision on the bulletin board in the break room for all to see passes the test: "How will it make me feel about myself?"

Question 27

According to the Making Ethical Decisions box, after ex-cons have completed their sentences, they should not be allowed to start their own businesses.

Question 28

Trying to make decisions that will benefit all parties involved is consistent with the question "How will it make me feel about myself?"

Question 29

Making ethical choices is always easy.

Question 30

Behavior that is in conflict with your values and sense of right and wrong can damage your self-esteem.

Question 31

It can be very difficult to maintain a balance between ethics and goals such as pleasing stakeholders.

Question 32

Utilizing the phrase "the ends justify the means" as a corporate value system can negatively impact company morale and competitiveness.

Question 33

An ethical manager's decisions are based only on the following questions: "Is it legal?" and "Is it profitable?"

Question 34

A common form of cheating in schools today is plagiarizing online material.

Question 35

Two recent studies found a strong correlation between academic dishonesty among undergraduates and dishonesty at work.

Question 36

A growing number of people feel that an employee's ethics are a personal matter, and have nothing to do with management.

Question 37

While telling an abusive joke about an ethnic group may not be unlawful, it is unethical.

Question 38

As the human resources director for your company, it is your job to evaluate the company's benefits plan. Although several workers utilize the company day care facility, the facility costs the firm considerably more than another benefit might cost, such as having an on-site physician. The on-site physician services are supported by insurance, and the physician actually rents space from the company. Under these circumstances, eliminating the day care is a balanced decision.

Question 39

In reality, ethical behavior depends on the situation. For example, in negotiating a contract with your employees, the way they win higher wages is by your losing the fight to hold down labor costs. You realize it is a win-lose relationship.

Question 40

On her company website, Ali asks customers who fill orders to place a check-mark in a box if they are willing to let her share their information with her suppliers. By asking this question, Ali is addressing privacy issues, and covering her actions in case someone should try to sue her for sharing private information. She is responding to the question, "Are my proposed actions legal?"

Question 41

The majority of CEOs believe that employee misconduct results from the failure of organizational leadership to establish ethical standards.

Question 42

An ethic of care is based on principles like justice, fairness, equality, or authority.

Question 43

An ethic of justice is based on a sense of responsibility to reduce actual harm or suffering.

Question 44

As a manager, you have a responsibility for the unethical behavior of your employees.

Question 45

Management can create an environment in which unethical behavior can develop.

Question 46

Employers should proceed cautiously when designing an employee incentive program that rewards employees strictly on increased sales.

Question 47

In order to maintain a good reputation, it is good strategy to manage your business ethically.

Question 48

"Do what I say, not what I do" can be an effective code of conduct to instill corporate values.

Question 49

An ethic of care is based on a sense of responsibility to reduce actual harm or suffering.

Question 50

Effective corporate values start with employees and develop throughout the organization to include top management.

Question 51

One good reason for managing a business ethically is to help reduce employee turnover.

Question 52

Corporate values, like personal values, are learned by observing what others do.

Question 53

Employees observe behavior and adopt standards of right and wrong.

Question 54

In order to do the right thing for all stakeholders, a business should be managed ethically.

Question 55

"Actions speak louder than words!" is an old saying that refers to the fact that people's actions-how they act as opposed to what they say-are often testament to their true ethical values.

Question 56

In order to avoid the costly act of being sued in court, it makes good sense to manage your business ethically.

Question 57

Overly ambitious business goals and employee incentives can lead to unethical behavior.

Question 58

Several years ago, the garment and soft goods industry agreed to adopt higher ethical standards with respect to contract manufacturers that produce their goods. The leadership agreed that this was a good approach in order to avoid the U.S. government's intervening and creating new laws to force the industry to only work with foreign manufacturers who operate with high ethical standards. This was sensible strategy on the part of the garment and soft goods industry.

Question 59

A business should be managed ethically to keep existing customers and attract new customers.

Question 60

Integrity-based ethics codes are based on avoiding legal punishment.

Question 61

In light of the fact that over 60% of all theft in retail stores is committed by employees, New Generations Clothier, Inc., requires that managers personally unlock fitting rooms for all sales associates and count the number of items associates take to the fitting rooms. This policy is written in the company manual. Breaking with the policy is grounds for dismissal. It is correct to say that this is part of New Generations' compliance-based ethics.

Question 62

People who report illegal or unethical behavior are called whistleblowers.

Question 63

Enforcement is perhaps the most important step in an effective code of ethics.

Question 64

At Fast-Track Financial Services, it is not unusual for a financial consultant to lose a client to another consultant working out of the same office. Clients have a right to do business with whomever they choose. If it is a high-net worth client, with the potential for high commissions on sales, the incentive to steal a fellow worker's client exists because the firm's culture has not established integrity-based ethics to deter this activity.

Question 65

Compliance-based ethics codes focus on preventing unlawful behavior by increasing control and by penalizing wrongdoers.

Question 66

A code of ethics designed to avoid criminal misconduct is an example of a compliance-based ethics code.

Question 67

The brewers of Budweiser beer encourage their customers to drink responsibly. This reflects a compliance-based approach to ethics.

Question 68

Compliance-based ethics codes are based on preventing unlawful behavior.

Question 69

Dewy Cheatum encourages his employees to create and use legal loopholes to gain a competitive advantage. In keeping within the legal limits of the law, the employees are within their compliance-based ethics rights.

Question 70

An integrity-based ethics code moves beyond legal compliance in order to create a "do-the-right-thing" climate.

Question 71

As a result of pressure from business lobbyists, Congress failed to pass legislation protecting whistleblowers.

Question 72

America's business ethics can improve simply by requiring written contracts with employees, customers, and owners. This alone will do the job!

Question 73

Since most ethics violations are small and rather insignificant in nature, employees need to understand that addressing these issues is secondary to making profits. CEOs may be justified in putting these on the back-burner, waiting for more convenient moments to address them.

Question 74

The job of an ethics officer is to serve as a counselor for employees and as an investigator for the company.

Question 75

To be effective, an organization's code of ethics needs to be communicated to outsiders such as suppliers, subcontractors, and customers.

Question 76

Cigarette producers label their products with warnings of potential health hazards. Due to the fact that this is a government-mandated disclosure, it is part of the industry's compliance-based ethics.

Question 77

In order to be successful, efforts to improve the ethical behavior of businesses must begin with top management's support of a corporate code of conduct.

Question 78

Businesses with a formal code of ethics are less common now than in the past.

Question 79

An important step in improving U.S. business ethics is for companies to hire whistleblowers.

Question 80

Corporate social responsibility refers to the concern businesses have for the welfare of society.