Exam 2: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility: Doing Well by Doing Good

Amy works on a sales team with many male colleagues. Many times she arrives at work and hears the men speaking about sexual relations with their partners. They discuss female body parts and look at Amy and make gestures. Amy feels uncomfortable in this workplace atmosphere and has asked them to stop this behaviour many times. The men are engaging in behaviour that is both illegal and unethical.

A socially responsible company entrusts a watchdog group to provide solutions to unethical behaviours.

A company that produces gourmet coffee includes its employees, coffee bean growers who supply the company, people who drink its gourmet coffee, and the people who live in the community where the company produces the coffee. What do we call these various groups?

In most countries, "to pay a living wage" means to pay workers enough to provide for a comfortable lifestyle for their families.

The law is very clear about when a gift becomes a bribe and organizations need to know and follow the law.

It is possible for someone's actions to be completely legal yet still be unethical.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation regularly donates money to provide vaccines for people living in third world countries, addressing the elimination of some basic childhood diseases. Their work demonstrates social responsibility.

Transparency International enforces regulations whereby organizations must publish their annual reports.

A corporate code of ethics guarantees that employees will not participate in unethical behaviours while at work.

In which way does an ethical dilemma differ from an ethical lapse?

According to research by the ERC (Ethics Resource Center), what has more influence than any other variable on the ethical conduct of individual employees?

Padraig has noticed some of his company's sales representatives behaving in an unethical manner toward the customers. He reports this ethical lapse through his company's anonymous ethics hotline. What is the term used to describe Padraig?

What does the current research indicate about organizational culture?

Planned obsolescence designs products with limited durability in order to shorten the time between consumer purchases.

A range of experts have developed frameworks for reaching ethical decisions. While the specifics vary, the key principles of most decision guides are very similar. These principles can be formulated as questions. List the six questions you might ask yourself when attempting to reach an ethical decision to a complex problem. Describe a real-world situation where these principles could be applied.

Explain the relationship between ethics and the legal system. Provide a specific example.

A manager advises his company that a vendor will offer the company a discount if contracts are renewed another 12 months. This is an example of an unethical business practice.

Universal ethical standards also apply to international businesses.

The U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created to set higher ethical standards for public corporations and accounting firms.

Define and describe two terms: business ethics and ethical dilemmas. Give two current examples of ethical dilemmas in business.