Deck 4: Demanding Ethical and Socially Responsible Behavior

Question 1

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

Answer 1

False

Question 2

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

Answer 2

False

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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 5

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

Question 6

Legal behavior and ethical behavior are basically the same.

Question 7

Gary and his college friends often spend weekends hanging out at a small pub. Last weekend, after a few beers, one of his friends took the salt and pepper shakers from the table because they needed a set at their apartment. In this situation, this was not an unethical action because it was a restaurant and potential loss is figured into the prices.

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

Legal behavior is a first step toward ethical behavior.

Question 11

Ethical behavior requires more than following the law.

Question 12

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

Question 13

Ethical behavior focuses on treating others fairly.

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

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

Question 19

Ethical behavior refers to the standards that are accepted by society as true or false.

Question 20

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

Question 21

Two recent studies found no correlation between academic dishonesty among undergraduates and dishonesty at work.

Question 22

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

Question 23

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

Question 24

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 25

Andrea owns a small online retail business. On her company website, she asks customers who fill orders to mark a box if they are willing to let her share their personal information with her suppliers. By asking this question, Andrea 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 26

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

Question 27

Making ethical choices is always easy.

Question 28

Micah often takes longer lunch breaks than allowed. Melissa chooses to use her work computer to check out her personal Twitter account instead of using up her phone's data. Louis misrepresents his product to a potential customer. All of these are examples of unethical behavior.

Question 29

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

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

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 34

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 35

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

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

Question 38

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

Question 39

You're working as a human resources director for a small company. Part of your job is to assess the company's benefits plan. There are several workers utilizing the company daycare facility. However, the daycare costs the company far more than another benefit might cost, like employing 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 daycare is a balanced decision.

Question 40

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

Question 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

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

Question 44

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

Question 45

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

Question 46

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

Question 47

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

Question 48

Employees observe behavior and adopt standards of right and wrong.

Question 49

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

Question 50

"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 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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 55

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

Question 56

People who report illegal or unethical behavior are called whistleblowers.

Question 57

Recently, Silky Soft Inc., a clothing and soft goods company agreed to adopt higher ethical standards with respect to contract manufacturers producing their goods. Company leadership agreed this was a good approach to avoid the U.S. government's intervening and creating new laws to force the entire industry to work only with foreign manufacturers who operate with high ethical standards. This was sensible strategy on the part of the clothing and soft goods industry.

Question 58

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

Question 59

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

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

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 ignoring these small problems and waiting for more convenient moments to address them.

Question 63

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

Question 64

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

Question 65

Business issues such as treating employees fairly and ethically are part of corporate responsibility.

Question 66

Tobacco companies label their products with warnings of the potential health hazards that could occur from smoking. Due to the fact that this is a government-mandated disclosure, it is part of the industry's compliance-based ethics.

Question 67

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

Question 68

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

Question 69

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

Question 70

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

Question 71

Dewey Cheatsum urges his employees to find and use legal loopholes to gain a competitive advantage whenever they can. In keeping within the legal limits of the law, the employees are within their compliance-based ethics rights.

Question 72

Surveys show that students are willing to agree to lower salaries if they know their employer is participating in socially responsible activities.

Question 73

Beer brewers, both large and small, often encourage their customers to drink responsibly. This reflects a compliance-based approach to ethics.

Question 74

A charitable donation contributed by a corporation is an example of corporate philanthropy.

Question 75

To be effective, an organization's code of ethics should be kept in-house and not communicated to outsiders such as suppliers, subcontractors, and customers.

Question 76

Corporate philanthropy refers to the position a firm takes on issues that affect society.

Question 77

At Fisher Financial Services, clients have a right to do business with whichever consultant they choose. It is not out of the ordinary for a financial consultant to lose a client to another consultant in the same office. 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 78

Corporate philanthropy refers to the position a firm takes on social and political issues.

Question 79

A large amount of retail theft is committed by employees; therefore, Suit Up, Inc., requires that managers personally unlock fitting rooms and count the number of items taken to the fitting rooms by not just customers but sales associates too. This policy is written in the company manual and breaking with the policy is grounds for dismissal. It is correct to say that this is part of Suit Up's compliance-based ethics.

Question 80

When stating a firm position on various social and political issues, corporate policies often commit company profits to back these positions.