Deck 7: Organizational Factors: the Role of Ethical Culture and Relationships

Question 1

Which of the following is not a characteristic of an ethical corporate culture?

A) Management and the board demonstrate their commitment to strong controls through their communications and actions.
B) Every employee is encouraged and required to have hands-on involvement in the internal control system.
C) Management conducts itself in a way that is not consistent with the code of conduct.
D) Employees are expected to be in the communication loop through resolutions and corrective actions.
E) Employees have the ability to report policy exceptions anonymously to any member of the organization.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Individuals, often from the same department, who band together for purposes that may or may not be relevant to the organization are called

A) quality circles.
B) informal groups.
C) teams.
D) work groups.
E) committees.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When developing an ethical culture, there has to be a(n) _____ element because every organization has employees that will try to take advantage if there is an opportunity for misconduct.

A) rules-based
B) statement of mission
C) ethical
D) compliance
E) punitive

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Expert power usually stems from

A) a superior's credibility with his or her subordinates.
B) the belief that a certain person has the right to exert influence and that certain others have an obligation to accept it.
C) a person's ability to influence the behavior of others by offering them something desirable.
D) a person's ability to penalize the actions or behavior of another.
E) a person's perceptions that his or her goals or objectives are similar to another's.

Question 5

A cultural audit may be used to identify

A) how cultured a firm's employees are.
B) unethical employees.
C) unethical organizations.
D) an organization's culture.
E) organizational structure.

Question 6

The apathetic organizational culture exhibits

A) high concern for people but minimal concern for performance.
B) little concern for people but a high concern for performance.
C) minimal concern for people and performance.
D) high concern for people and performance.
E) no concern for maintaining a cohesive organizational culture.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about group norms is false?

A) Group norms define the limit on deviation from group expectations.
B) Group norms have the power to force a strong degree of conformity among group members.
C) Management must carefully monitor the norms of all the various groups within the organization, as well as the organization's corporate culture.
D) Sanctions may be necessary to bring in line a group whose norms deviate sharply from the overall culture.
E) Group norms never conflict with the overall organization's culture.

Question 8

Although both structures can create opportunities for unethical conduct, which organizational structure tends to be more ethical?

A) Tall
B) Flat
C) Centralized
D) Decentralized
E) All organizational structures are equally ethical.

Question 9

The exacting organizational culture is interested in

A) performance but has little concern for employees.
B) investors' impressions of profitability.
C) maintaining a strong corporate culture.
D) employees and performance.
E) employees' impressions.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about corporate culture is false?

A) Corporate culture refers to the patterns and rules that govern the behavior of an organization and its employees, particularly the shared values, beliefs, and customs.
B) The values and ethical beliefs that actually guide the firm's employees tend not to be the same ones that management states as defining the firm's culture.
C) Corporate culture includes the behavioral patterns, concepts, values, ceremonies, and rituals that take place in an organization.
D) The culture of an organization may be explicitly stated or unspoken.
E) Failure to monitor or manage an organization's culture may foster unethical behavior.

Question 11

Associating with others who are unethical and who have the opportunity to act unethically can lead to a learning process known as

A) compliance.
B) misconduct.
C) opportunity.
D) differential equations.
E) differential association.

Question 12

_____ bring together the functional expertise of employees from several different areas of the organization on a single project.

A) Quality circles
B) Informal groups
C) Teams
D) Work groups
E) Committees

Question 13

The 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Act proposed additional monetary incentives for whistle-blowers. A primary concern about these new incentives is

A) they will encourage too many employees to attempt to blow the whistle on firms, even those that have done nothing wrong.
B) people do not generally respond at all to monetary incentives.
C) whistle-blowers might be tempted to report to the SEC with their reports and not report the misconduct to the company's internal compliance program.
D) people may exaggerate their claims in order to get a reward.
E) the funds paid out to whistle-blower might bankrupt companies.

Question 14

Marcus is the top-performing development director his non-profit organization has ever had. He possesses countless tricks and tips to continue to bring in donations, positive publicity, and supporters. Marcus would likely have _____ over new development department staff.

A) coercive power
B) group power
C) legitimate power
D) expert power
E) democratic power

Question 15

The ability to influence the behavior of others by offering them something desirable is best described as

A) coercive power.
B) reward power.
C) expert power.
D) legitimate power.
E) referent power.

Question 16

An advantage of the decentralized organization is that

A) the focus is on formal rules, policies, and procedures backed up with elaborate control systems.
B) there is a high level of bureaucracy.
C) each worker knows his or her job and what is specifically expected as well as how to carry out designated tasks.
D) it is adaptable and can quickly respond to external change.
E) there is minimal upward communication.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about power is true?

A) The five bases of power are mutually exclusive.
B) People generally use only one base of power to effect change in others.
C) Expert power exists when one person takes actions that will lead that person and others to achieve their mutual objectives.
D) Power can be used to motivate individuals ethically or unethically.
E) The use of power is unethical.

Question 18

No formal dress codes, working late, participation in extracurricular activities, gestures, and legends represent

A) a complacent workplace.
B) codes of ethics.
C) a firm's organizational chart.
D) formal expressions of an organization's culture.
E) informal expressions of an organization's culture.

Question 19

In order for whistle-blowing to be effective,

A) financial compensation must be very high.
B) employees must wish ill on the organization for which they work.
C) lawmakers must make an effort to force employees to discuss details about the misconduct.
D) it requires that the individual have adequate knowledge of wrongdoing that could damage society.
E) it must occur at a very large multinational corporation.

Question 20

An organization that delegates decision-making authority as far down the chain of command as possible and has relatively few formal rules is

A) centralized.
B) decentralized.
C) flat.
D) tall.
E) ethical.

Question 21

Which of the following is not a form of retaliation commonly experienced by whistle-blowers?

A) Relocation or reassignment
B) No promotion or raises
C) The cold shoulder by coworkers
D) Exclusion from work activities
E) Praise by supervisors for their honesty

Question 22

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

A) only applies to firms with over 50 employees.
B) has institutionalized internal whistle-blowing.
C) has placed more power under the Securities and Exchange Commission.
D) requires all organizations to make their financial information public.
E) involves too many complicated steps for it to be feasible for most organizations.

Question 23

Management's sense of the organization's culture

A) is always the same as employees' perceptions.
B) is usually easily adopted by employees.
C) is always readily evident to employees.
D) may be quite different from employees' perceptions.
E) is always different from employees' perceptions.

Question 24

_____ are satisfied by social and interpersonal relationships, and _____ are satisfied by creative or productive activities.

A) Growth needs; relatedness needs
B) Personal needs; group needs
C) Coercive needs; ethical needs
D) Relatedness needs; growth needs
E) Group needs; personal needs

Question 25

Motivation is defined as

A) a person's incentive or drive to work.
B) a force within the individual that focuses his or her behavior on achieving a goal.
C) personal ambition without regard to the impact on others.
D) a desire to be finished with a project.
E) individual goals.

Question 26

Ethical concerns in centralized structures can occur because of very little

A) mobility.
B) upward communication.
C) scapegoating.
D) downward communication.
E) communication rigidity.

Question 27

The ____ rule explains variation in employee conduct through generalizing on the percentage of employees in any given organization who will seek to do right versus how many will be indifferent.

A) 10-30-40-20
B) 20-30-30-20
C) 40-10-10-40
D) 10-40-40-10
E) 80-20

Question 28

Because researchers have defined culture so many different ways, _____ and _____ are often used interchangeably.

A) cultural cues; management
B) cultural values; anthropology
C) cultural values; culture
D) cultural cues; laws
E) cultural cues; management

Question 29

A values-based ethics approach to ethical corporate cultures relies on a(n) _____ that defines the firm as well as how customers and employees should be treated

A) set of laws
B) explicit mission statement
C) strong CEO
D) ethical audit
E) relaxed corporate culture

Question 30

Both individual ethics and organizational ethics have an impact on an employee's

A) productivity.
B) personal happiness.
C) compensation.
D) fitness level.
E) ethical intention.

Question 31

The establishment of an ethics committee within an organization

A) is usually highly informal.
B) is usually organized around general business topics.
C) might raise ethical concerns or resolve ethical dilemmas.
D) usually always succeeds.
E) usually increases ethical tension.

Question 32

_____ are used to subdivide duties within functional areas of a company.

A) Work groups
B) Individuals
C) Experts
D) Consultants
E) Committees

Question 33

A high concern for people but minimal concern for performance can best describe the _____ culture.

A) caring
B) apathetic
C) exacting
D) shareholder
E) employee

Question 34

The idea that people learn ethical or unethical behavior while interacting with others who are a part of their role sets is referred to as

A) differential dissonance.
B) cognitive memory dissonance.
C) cognitive association.
D) differential association.
E) casual interaction.

Question 35

To motivate employees, an organization offers _____ to _____ employees to work toward organizational objectives.

A) punishment; force
B) peer pressure; guilt
C) incentives; encourage
D) rewards; bribe
E) threats; frighten

Question 36

The _____ leader demands instantaneous obedience and focuses on punishing wrong behavior, achievement, initiative, and self-control.

A) democratic
B) coaching
C) affiliative
D) coercive
E) pacesetting

Question 37

Which of the following cultures combines high levels of concern for people and performance?

A) Apathetic culture
B) Caring culture
C) Integrative culture
D) Exacting culture
E) Cooperative culture

Question 38

When a foreman orders an assembly-line employee to carry out a task, which the employee perceives as unethical yet the employee feels compelled to complete, the foreman is exercising

A) legitimate power.
B) expert power.
C) reward power.
D) contingent punishment power.
E) noncontingent reward behavior.

Question 39

Melinda is a very popular executive. She inspires her employees to follow a common vision, facilitates change, and creates a strongly positive climate, all while stressing performance. Melinda has helped to create a(n) _____ culture.

A) authoritative
B) caring
C) integrative
D) exacting
E) affiliative

Question 40

Over the years, scholars have developed more than 100 definitions of culture. According to the text, all have the following common elements:

A) Culture is shared, relatively stable, and is formed over a long period of time.
B) Culture is not shared, stable, and is formed over a long period of time.
C) Culture is shared, not stable, and is formed over a long period of time.
D) Culture is shared, stable, and is formed over a short period of time.
E) Culture is man-made, shared, not stable, and is formed over a short period of time.

Question 41

Explain how corporate culture influences the ethical behavior of employees within an organization.

Question 42

How do societal expectations affect corporations and their ethical initiatives? Give an example of a company that had to alter a product or service because of society's concerns about its health, moral, or social impacts.

Question 43

Why do centralized organizations tend to be more ethical than decentralized ones? Can you think of a situation or example in which a decentralized organization might be more ethical than a centralized one?

Question 44

How do group norms influence the ethical behavior of an organization? What happens when the norms of a particular group conflict with the organization's corporate culture or objectives?

Question 45

Describe the different kinds of power. Are some types of power more likely to result in ethical behavior than others?