Business Ethics

Which moral philosophy evaluates the morality of an action on the basis of the equity, fairness, and impartiality of the action, with rules serving as guidelines in the decision-making process?

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. A person who offers a facilitation payment in order to secure a contract that will keep her company from going bankrupt and laying off hundreds of employees may be a utilitarian.

2. A person who offers a facilitation payment in order to secure a personal career advancement may be a teleologist.

3. A person who absolutely declines to offer a facilitation payment even if it helped to secure a contract that will keep her company from going bankrupt and laying off hundreds of employees may be a rule deontologist.

All of these are ways of reducing pollution, except:

Which-one of the following statements is correct?

Last year, your company, a supplier of electronic hard ware, adopted a new environmental strategy in which the long-term overlaps of shared values between the needs of the company and the needs of society and the environment receive special attention. In this context, your company has begun with the development of new technologies that should provide the means to extract, from electronic waste, the raw materials needed in the production of new units. In this sense, the company hopes both to better secure the supply of those needed raw materials in the future as well as comply with newly established legal environmental standards. However, the development of that technology proves to be more costly and more challenging than expected. And whilst the board of directors, at last year’s general assembly of shareholders, received great support for its decision to develop the new technologies, important shareholders have now voiced their serious concern that the strategy appears to be too costly, putting the company’s economic performance at risk.

The CEO is a much appreciated person; many consider him an ethical leader. However, he is not what one would call an authoritative, inspirational leader. Especially when it comes to communication, he appears to have trouble in bringing a message across in an inspiring manner. Many believe that it is because of this shortcoming that some shareholders don’t trust the companyto be able to successfully complete the development of the new technologies. Many believe that his resignation would solve that problem. He, however, does not seem to share that view.

In view of the above-described situation, which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct? See visual for I, II, and III.

There exist positive links between environmental and economic performance. In connection thereto, a firm’s innovation strategy might lead to a better economic performance for all of the subsequent reasons except:

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. Ethical leaders generally adopt one of two approaches to leadership: a compliance- based approach or an integrity-based approach. A compliance approach is more focused upon risks, while an integrity approach views ethics more as an opportunity.

2. Leaders can be classified into three categories: unethical leaders, apathetic leaders, and ethical leaders. The unethical leader is usually goal-oriented and will often do whatever it takes to achieve the organization’s objectives. Whilst unethical leaders regularly put the company’s goals above their own objectives, a small proportion may be classified as psychopathic, in which they have no conscience and little or no empathy toward others. This type of leader does not try to learn about best practices for ethics and compliance.

3. Apathetic leaders are not necessarily unethical, but they care little for ethics within the company. They do not listen to employees, otherwise, however, they communicate well. Moreover, and contrary to popular belief, apathetic leaders usually display some passion for the firm or the mission of the organization.

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

After identifying ethical risk areas, ethical leaders should develop policies and procedures for _____ and _____ misconduct. This process is an important part of risk management.

While companies might adopt risk management plans to deal with economic, marketing, and technological risks, they are less likely to consider _____ risks as a major area of concern.

Which-one of the following statements is least likely to be true?

Which of the following is not a conflict management style?

Which of the following is not a way to avoid groupthink in small-group decision making?

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. There are advantages and disadvantages to small group communication. Small groups can increase collaboration and generate a variety of different perspectives and opinions on a particular issue. However, engaging in repetitive or routine decision making can cause small groups to overlook certain ethical issues.

2. Group decision making can yield ethical outcomes. Yet, experience suggests that the diversity of opinions and discussions often result in muddled solutions suffering from a lack of consistency.

3. Regarding small-group communication and decision making, ethical leaders should make sure that the mechanisms available to group members who need support are public, so all group members are informed of one-another’s activities.

Which of the following statements is false?

Strong ethical leaders have a passion for all of the following except to ...

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. An important part of leadership is the implementation of employee-centred leadership. Employee-centred leadership recognizes that while not everyone will be a manager, every employee can and should practice leadership skills to support ethical decision making.

2. An essential component of employee-centred leadership is communication. Without communication all attempts at maintaining an ethical culture fail.

3. Evidence suggests that most firms understand the importance of communication in connection to leadership and that top management puts special emphasis on getting feedback from employees, listening to their concerns.

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. As more and more countries are adopting policies of state financed national healthcare programs, including associates in a company healthcare program is no longer an important issue in business ethics.

2. It is in many cases in the long-term interest of a company to also include potentially difficult issues related to different and differing religious beliefs in an ethics program.

3. The failure to include the issue of living wages in a company’s ethics program can possibly damage a company’s reputation if the public perceives the company as paying foreign workers unfair wages.

What is a living wage?

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

_____ is the concept that morality varies from one culture to another and that “right” and “wrong” are defined differently.

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

_____ is based upon the assumption that people act irrationally, partially because of emotions, genetics, and heuristics.

Those who ascribe to consumerism, ...

Which of the following is not a cultural dimension identified by Geert Hofstede?

An unconscious reference to one's own cultural values, experiences, and knowledge is referred to as the ...

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

_____ is based on the assumption that people are predictable and will maximise the utility of their choices relative to their needs and wants.

Which of the following statements about multinational corporations (MNCs) is false?

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. As many ethical business issues are complex close calls, ethical policies are needed to help to ensure consistent decisions that represent the interests of all stakeholders.

2. A corporate culture without appropriate communication about ethics can facilitate individual misconduct.

3. The key reason why people seem to engage in misconduct is theirs feeling pressured do to “whatever it takes to meet ethical standards”.

Which-one of the following statements is most likely to be correct?

To ensure that an ethics program addresses the needs of the average employee, it should include all of the following except ...

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. A code of ethics consists of general statements that serve as principles and as the basis for rules of conduct.

2. A code of ethics generally specifies methods for reporting violations, disciplinary actions for violations, and a structure of due process.

3. Usually, a code of ethics is more akin to regulatory rules whereas a code of conduct must contain inspirational and even altruistic statements.

Which of the following is not an advantage of having a comprehensive code of conduct?

Which of the following is not a common mistake made in designing and implementing an ethics program?

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

A(n) _____ orientation creates order by requiring that employees identify with and commit to specific required conduct, whereas a(n) _____ orientation strives to develop shared standards.

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

Though obviously not a person, a corporation can be considered a moral agent in society created to perform specific social functions. It is therefore responsible to _____ for its actions. Because corporations have characteristics of agents, responsibility for _____ behavior is assigned to them as legal entities, as well as to individuals or work groups they employ.

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. Codes of conduct do not have to be so detailed as to take into account every possible situation, but they should provide guidelines and principles capable of helping employees achieve organisational ethical objectives and address risks in an accepted way.

2. Codes of conduct are formal statements of what an organization expects of its employees. They also help employees determine what behaviours are acceptable.

3. Codes of conduct provide rules and guidelines for employees to follow. They should be specific enough to be reasonably capable of preventing misconduct.

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

_____ believe that pleasure is the ultimate good, that is, that the best moral end involves the greatest balance of pleasure over pain.

Which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

1. Moral philosophies present guidelines for determining how conflicts in human interests are to be settled and for optimising mutual benefit of people living together.

2. Moral philosophies refer to specific principles or values people use to decide what is right or wrong.

3. Contrary to moral philosophies, business ethics is not person-specific, however, it refers to what a group, organisation, or firm defines as right or wrong actions that pertain to its business operations and the objective of profits.

A person who offers a facilitation payment in order to secure a contract that will advance his or her career may be a(n)

Please fill in the missing part in a manner consistent with business ethics.

_____ evaluates the morality of an action on the basis of its conformity to general moral principles and respect for individual rights.

Which-ones of the following terms belong to the same group (i.e., the same category)?

1) Egoism

2) Utilitarianism

3) Relativism

4) Consequentialism

5) Nonconsequentialism

Which moral philosophy considers an act to be morally right if it produces some desired result?

You work as the assistant to the CEO of an internationally active pharmaceutical company. In order to promote your products, you regularly invite medical doctors (MDs) to seminars and conferences that also help to exchange ideas and share insights gained from experience. In this context, it has been common practice that your company covers all the travelling expenses of the participants and their spouses and also pay a substantial fee if participants are willing to make a contribution in the discussion forums. As this has been a common practice within the pharmaceutical industry, your company has not considered this approach as ethically questionable so far.

However, recently, a new law was passed in one of the countries where you do business that prohibits the payment of a substantial fee merely for the agreement to participate in a discussion. Yet, it remains unclear exactly which sum could be considered substantial. At the same time, the parliament of the country where your head offices are located is preparing a new law making the payment of excessive compensation to participants of company-organised international conferences illegal. In this context, the CEO has asked you to come up with a plan of action, proposing, with an emphasis on sound corporate citizenship, an ethically viable and commercially sound approach to the new situation.

Given the above information, which-one(s) of the following statement(s) is(are) correct? See Visual with choices I, II, and III.