Exam 2: Being Ethical and Socially Responsible

As a result of the Bhopal incident, in which a toxic gas leak killed thousands of people, leading officials at Union Carbide have dedicated themselves to operating their business ethically. Ways in which the company can encourage ethical behavior include all of the following except

An ethical decision or action is one that is right according to some standard of behavior.

Excellent Air Incorporated (EAI) Excellent Air Inc. is a well-known establishment in the airline business. It is currently one of the top firms in the industry. The company prides itself on good customer service and being concerned with the broader societal good. EAI management is not only concerned with doing things right, but also with doing the right things. Many of their decisions reflect this philosophy. Initially, the company had a problem with employees reporting their suspicions about unethical behavior to the press instead of to EAI management. As a result, the company made sure its employees knew the firm's guidelines on fixing ethical issues. EAI also developed a code of conduct based on standards that continue to be upheld within the company. Since the code of conduct has been put in place, there have been fewer ethical violations. Although employee salaries at EAI are not as high as those at competing firms, the company experiences very low employee turnover. The firm has created a corporate culture that not only makes its employees want to stay, but that also results in higher profits. If EAI can maintain the relationship it has built with its employees and customers, it will have little difficulty keeping up its remarkable success. -Refer to Excellent Air Incorporated. To fix the ethical issue problems, EAI management should have implemented all of the following guidelines for making ethical decisions except which one?

Customers expect a firm's products to

Describe the four types of pollution. Who should pay for a clean environment?

How should social responsibility programs be funded? Explain your answer.

Major advances in consumerism have come through federal legislation.

What two additional rights have been added to Kennedy's original Consumer Bill of Rights?

Define a code of ethics. Do codes cover every business situation?

Noise pollution can be reduced by

Karen is the assistant manager of a midsized logistics firm. She believes her manager, Michael, has become carried away with supporting nonprofit organizations and encouraging employees to do community service. What argument would Karen most likely use to turn Michael to her point of view?

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, working conditions were deplorable by today's standards.

Suppose a manager at the Rolodex Corporation has recently become aware that employees are taking office supplies home and taking longer coffee and lunch breaks than the personnel policy allows. The manager finds these are widespread practices and wants to solve the problem. The best way to do this would be to

It is easy for an organization to develop ethics codes, policies, and procedures to deal with all relationships and every situation.

Customers can't find out which firms are acting responsibly and which are not.

Jennifer, a recent college graduate, has always been concerned about protecting the environment and now hopes to play a major role in seeing that legislation for protecting the environment is enforced. With whom should Jennifer seek employment?

Ed works in a position where there is very little supervision. In fact, although he considers himself ethical, he figures he could go away for a week without anyone noticing. Which general set of factors is most likely to influence Ed's ethical behavior?

Consumers will probably pay in large part for cleaning up our environment through increased taxes or increased product costs.

The federal act which provided over $7 billion to the EPA to protect and promote "green" jobs and a healthier environment is the

What is an affirmative action program? Be certain to detail the objectives of such programs in your answer.