Deck 10: Moral Choices Facing Employees

Question 1

According to the traditional law of agency,which statement is true?

A)law of agency is not legal concept but a moral standard of loyalty that employees today seldom follow.
B)employees are under a legal obligation to act loyally and in good faith and to carry out lawful instructions.
C)an employee's work contract is irrelevant to his or her moral obligations for legal reasons.
D)no moral value is more important than loyalty,whether to a person or an organization.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

A)doesn't apply to countries where bribery is common.
B)makes no distinction between bribery and extortion.
C)provides stiff fines but not prison sentences for corporate officials engaging in bribery overseas.
D)outlaws "grease payments".

Answer 2

B

Question 3

To resolve difficult moral dilemmas,the better we understand the exact ramifications of the alternatives-the more likely we are

A)to make a sound moral decision.
B)to drive the boss go crazy.
C)to be a success.
D)to go to jail.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Inside traders ordinarily defend their actions by claiming that they don't injure

A)the boss.
B)their family.
C)the President.
D)anyone.

Question 5

When an employee's interests are likely to interfere with the employee's ability to exercise proper judgment on behalf of the organization,what exists?

A)a golden opportunity
B)a conflict of interest
C)a balance of power
D)a disaster

Question 6

Insider trading is

A)the buying or selling of stocks (or other financial securities)by business "insiders" on the basis of information that has not yet been made public and is likely to affect the price of the stock.
B)the name of a baseball card shop.
C)knowing when to make the best buy.
D)giving great advice on a deal.

Question 7

A whistle-blower

A)doesn't have to be a past or present member of the organization.
B)doesn't have to report activity that is illegal,immoral,or harmful.
C)is any employer who spreads gossip for personal gain.
D)far from being disloyal,may be acting in the best interest of the organization.

Question 8

In the 1997 case of U.S.v.Hagan,the Supreme Court found that Hagan

A)had been discriminated against because of whistle blowing.
B)was innocent of insider trading.
C)violated the FCPA despite never having gone overseas.
D)had misappropriated confidential information.

Question 9

Which is the best argument for legally protecting trade secrets?

A)Trade secrets are the intellectual property of the employee who developed them.
B)Employees who disclose trade secrets violate the confidentiality owed to their employers.
C)The theft of trade secrets evens out the competition.Employees who disclose trade secrets violate the confidentiality owed to their employers.
D)Employees who disclose trade secrets know how to communicate.

Question 10

Conflicts of interest

A)have become less frequent today.
B)always involve personal financial gain.
C)are morally worrisome only when the employee acts to the detriment of the company.
D)occur when employees have special or private interests that are substantial enough to interfere with their job duties.

Question 11

Whistle-blowing involves exposing activities that are

A)sports related.
B)harmful,immoral,or contrary to the public interest.
C)too close to call.
D)boring and need some excitement.

Question 12

A "trade secret"

A)is legally equivalent to a patent or copyright.
B)need not be treated confidentially by the company in order to be protected.
C)can be almost any information not generally known if it is valuable to its possessor and treated confidentially.
D)is a narrow,precise concept that the law defines in great detail.

Question 13

The use of one's official position for what always raises moral concerns and questions?

A)power trips
B)egos
C)stepping stones to success
D)personal gain

Question 14

The Donald Wohlgemuth case shows that

A)trade secrets can be patented.
B)trade secrets often become an integral part of an employee's total job skills and capabilities.
C)employees need to divest themselves of any skill acquired while handling trade secrets.
D)"noncompete" or "nondisclosure" contracts are always legally valid.

Question 15

Some writers deny that employees have any obligation of loyalty to the company,because

A)companies are not the kind of things that are properly objects of loyalty.
B)you cannot trust anyone.
C)it's every man for himself.
D)companies just aren't the same any more.

Question 16

Conflicts of interest may exist when employees have financial investments

A)in suppliers,customers,or distributors with whom their organizations do business.
B)in sports teams.
C)and question the wisdom of the deal.
D)that lead to office romance.

Question 17

In determining the morality of giving and receiving gifts in a business situation,which of the following factors is MOST relevant?

A)the purpose of the gift and whether the gift might influence the recipient's judgment.
B)the size of the business giving the gift.
C)amount of cash given as a gift.
D)whether the company receiving the gift is privately held or publicly held.

Question 18

U.S.companies have a history of paying off foreign officials for business favors.Such acts were declared illegal by

A)the U.S.Customs department.
B)the Vice President.
C)the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)of 1977.
D)the United Nations.

Question 19

According to the Supreme Court

A)even if you are not an insider,you can be guilty of insider trading if you misappropriate sensitive information.
B)anyone buying/selling stock based on nonpublic information is guilty of inside trading.
C)insider trading violates the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution.
D)it should be left up to the company,not the government,to decide whether or not to prohibit insider trading.

Question 20

Conflicts of interests are what kind of problem?

A)social
B)evil
C)moral
D)legal

Question 21

Whistle-blowers are only human beings,not saints,and they sometimes have their own

A)salary.
B)self-serving agenda.
C)bandwagon.
D)office.

Question 22

A kickback is a kind of bribe.

Question 23

Employees have certain general duties to their employers,and because of the specific business,professional,or organizational responsibilities they have assumed,they may have other more precise role-based obligations.

Question 24

A bribe is remuneration for the performance of an act that's inconsistent with the work contract or the nature of the work one has been hired to perform.

Question 25

Insider trading is the buying or selling of stocks by business "insiders" on the basis of information that has not yet been made public and is likely to affect the price of the stock.

Question 26

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)outlaws grease payments.

Question 27

As a general rule,if the contents of the work agreement that exists between the employee and the employer are legal and if the employee freely consents to them,then the employee is under an obligation to fulfill the terms of the agreement.

Question 28

According to Professor Norman Bowie,which of the following factors is primarily relevant to the motivation of whistle-blowers?

A)the whistle-blower's feelings of duty to obey the law.
B)belief that internal channels have been exhausted.
C)their whistle-blowing has some chance of success.
D)public interest morally outweighs loyalty to the organization.

Question 29

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act marked an important advance for several reasons.One of which is that it

A)makes it easier to fire whistle-blowers.
B)reduces the law's protection of employees who disclose securities fraud.
C)makes it illegal for executives to retaliate against employees who report possible violations of federal law.
D)provides penalties for blowing the whistle illegitimately or maliciously.

Question 30

The SEC's insider-trading rule reduces equality of opportunity in the marketplace.

Question 31

The law precisely defines the concept of a trade secret,just as it does patents and copyrights.

Question 32

Companies have a right to prevent employees in technical fields from quitting and working for another company.

Question 33

In discussing the case of the truck stop cashier who is asked to write up phony receipts,the text argues that in at least one scenario

A)there is nothing wrong with writing up the receipts.
B)she should resign immediately.
C)her prudential concerns may take precedence over moral ones on a temporary basis.
D)she should never whistle-blow and report the misconduct.

Question 34

Which act provides sweeping new legal protection for employees who report possible securities fraud,making it unlawful for companies to "discharge,demote,suspend,threaten,harass,or in any other manner discriminate against" them?

A)Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
B)Foreign Corruption Act
C)Economic Espionage Act
D)U.S.vs.O'Hagan

Question 35

The Supreme Court has rejected the idea that inside trading involves "misappropriating" confidential information.

Question 36

All gifts are bribes.

Question 37

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 forbids companies to pay kickbacks in the United States,but permits them to pay kickbacks to companies outside the United States.

Question 38

An employee can have a conflict of interest even if he or she doesn't act to the detriment of the organization.

Question 39

The authors make the case that the FCPA illegitimately imposes parochial American standards on foreign countries.

Question 40

A conflict of interest arises when an employee has private interests that are substantial enough to interfere with his or her job duties.

Question 41

What is a conflict of interest,and when does it arise?

Question 42

According to Norman Bowie,whistle-blowing can never be justified because it involves violating one's duties to the organization.

Question 43

What is insider trading?

Question 44

By definition,whistle-blowing can only be done by a past or present member of the organization.

Question 45

How do trade secrets differ from information that is patented or copyrighted?

Question 46

Employees have no obligations to people with whom they have no business relations.

Question 47

Prudential reasons are those moral reasons that are separate from self-interest.

Question 48

What are the main features of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)?

Question 49

According to Norman Bowie,a discussion of whistle-blowing in the 1990s parallels the discussion of civil disobedience in the 1960s.

Question 50

What is a key lesson to be learned from the example of the cashier at a truck stop who is asked by her manager to provide the truckers with phony chits so they can get a larger reimbursement from their companies?

Question 51

According to Norman Bowie's definition,whistle-blowing is conceptually restricted to reporting on activities that are harmful to third parties,violations of human rights,or contrary to the public purpose and legitimate goals of the organization.

Question 52

​Some business theorists dispute the need to outlaw insider trading.

Question 53

What arguments are given in favor of insider trading? What arguments against it?

Question 54

When faced with a moral decision,employees should follow the two-step procedure of identifying the relevant obligations,ideals,and effects,and then deciding where the emphasis should lie among these considerations.

Question 55

What is whistle-blowing,and what motivates whistle-blowers?

Question 56

List and briefly explain the seven factors to take into consideration in determining the morality of giving and receiving gifts in a business situation.

Question 57

Prudential reasons are reasons that refer to the interests of others and the demands of morality.

Question 58

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act weakened legal protections for whistle-blowers.

Question 59

According to Norman Bowie,whistle-blowing is morally justified only if five criteria are met.What are these five criteria?

Question 60

What,if anything,is wrong with foreign forms of bribery?

Question 61

If all the other businesses in a foreign country are providing a "grease payment" for border patrol,is it all right and ethical to also provide a "grease payment"? State and defend your point.

Question 62

What are the potential motivations of being a whistle-blower?

Question 63

Provide examples of abuses that can occur when a person is in a position of power.

Question 64

An individual speaks up and helps protect the organization through harm.Some employees refer to him as "the snitch." What means can you ensure that the employee is protected from harm?

Question 65

Are whistle-blowers a friend or foe to an organization?