Deck 2: B: Being Ethical and Socially Responsible

Question 1

There is nothing unethical about accepting payments to do something you would normally do in your job anyway.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Businesspeople, by the very nature of their work, rarely face ethical issues to resolve.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Ethics is the study of right and wrong and of the morality of the choices we make.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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

Question 5

Ethical behavior is most likely to be compromised when the personal ethics of businesspeople are high.

Question 6

An individual's moral values and central, value-related attitudes clearly influence one's business behavior.

Question 7

The field of business ethics applies moral standards to business situations.

Question 8

Customers are so used to misleading advertising that it does not infuriate them anymore.

Question 9

Employees have an easier time determining what is acceptable behavior if their company provides them with a code of ethics.

Question 10

Sponsors of advertisements aimed at children must be especially careful to avoid misleading messages.

Question 11

False and misleading advertising is illegal and unethical.

Question 12

Fairness and honesty in business are two important ethical concerns.

Question 13

Businesspeople face ethical issues every day, and some of these issues can be difficult to assess.

Question 14

Business ethics rarely involves the application of moral standards to the business activity of a normal company.

Question 15

A personnel manager of a large company would probably agree that the more ethical the company, the easier it is to attract good people.

Question 16

Most authorities agree that business ethics should be improved.

Question 17

A code of ethics is a written guide to acceptable and ethical behavior as defined by an organization.

Question 18

All bribes are unethical.

Question 19

Relationships with customers and coworkers rarely create ethical problems.

Question 20

Ethical issues often arise out of business's relationships with investors, customers, employees, creditors, or competitors.

Question 21

Awareness of businesses' social responsibilities has increased along with government involvement.

Question 22

Generally, social responsibility does not cost money.

Question 23

The economic model of social responsibility emphasizes profits.

Question 24

When translated, caveat emptor means "let the buyer beware."

Question 25

Social responsibility is good business, but it does cost money.

Question 26

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

Question 27

Within a firm, social responsibility begins with management's attitude.

Question 28

A corporate code of ethics officer informs the press about unethical practices within the organization.

Question 29

A businessperson can take some comfort when faced with an ethical dilemma by talking openly about it with management because ethical decisions will always withstand scrutiny.

Question 30

Those who "blow whistles" sometimes lose their jobs.

Question 31

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's program for restoring the economy and improving social conditions became the foundation for increased government involvement in business.

Question 32

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 deals with corporate responsibility, conflicts of interest, and corporate accountability.

Question 33

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

Question 34

Businesses' record of social responsibility today is much better than in past decades.

Question 35

Before the 1930s, the average work week prescribed by law was forty hours; however, workers were dissatisfied because there was no minimum wage.

Question 36

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 gives those who report corporate misconduct sweeping new legal protection.

Question 37

During the 1980s, very few organizations created and implemented ethics codes.

Question 38

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

Question 39

The economic model of social responsibility emphasizes the effect of business decisions on society.

Question 40

All companies practice social responsibility in the same manner.

Question 41

One major reason for improving product safety is the consumer's demand for safe products.

Question 42

The Food and Drug Administration's ability to force businesses making or selling defective products to recall them is most closely related to consumers' right to choose.

Question 43

Two additional rights added in the last decade are the right to consumer education and the right to courteous service.

Question 44

Recently, consumers and the government have been losing an increasing number of product liability lawsuits against sellers of defective products.

Question 45

The right to choose means that consumers must have a choice of products offered by different manufacturers and sellers.

Question 46

Increasing numbers of managers have adopted the socioeconomic model of social responsibility.

Question 47

Consumer advocates, such as Ralph Nader, take it upon themselves to protect the rights of consumers.

Question 48

Manufacturers are not required by law to inform consumers about the potential dangers of using their products.

Question 49

The right to service entitles consumers to convenience, courtesy, and responsiveness from manufacturers and sellers of consumer products.

Question 50

There are many more socially responsible businesses today than there were ten years ago.

Question 51

An affirmative action program is designed to ensure that minority employees are represented in about the same proportion as their representation within the community.

Question 52

Major advances in consumerism have come through federal legislation.

Question 53

The socioeconomic model of social responsibility emphasizes the effect of business decisions on society.

Question 54

President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that consumers are entitled to safety, to be informed, to choose, and to be heard.

Question 55

The lesser the competition, the greater the choice available to consumers.

Question 56

Much consumer-oriented legislation has grown out of the statement of six rights, which became known as the consumer bill of rights.

Question 57

Consumerism consists of all activities undertaken to protect the rights of consumers.

Question 58

The right to consumer education entitles people to be fully informed about their rights as consumers.

Question 59

Increasingly, consumer education is becoming a part of high school and college curricula and adult-education programs.

Question 60

In support of their position, proponents of the socioeconomic model argue that businesses should be allowed to ignore social issues.

Question 61

The fundamental issues concerning land pollution are how to restore already contaminated land and how to prevent further contamination.

Question 62

The hard-core unemployed are made up of mentally ill individuals and those with prior criminal convictions.

Question 63

A successful program for training hard-core unemployed people is the National Alliance of Business.

Question 64

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

Question 65

The $1.6 billion Superfund created in 1980 is to be used to develop successful ways of storing land pollutants.

Question 66

To achieve affirmative action goals and to remedy past discrimination, hiring quotas are required.

Question 67

A key step in developing and implementing a social responsibility program is the environmental audit.

Question 68

Once they are made aware of the pollution problem, most firms respond rather than waiting to be cited by the EPA.

Question 69

A firm's social responsibility program will be ineffective if it has less than the total commitment of the company's top business officials.

Question 70

The director of a company's social responsibility program should be a consumer advocate who can express the social issues facing the firm to the organization's management.

Question 71

Of the three factors mentioned as contributors to air pollution, only the combination of weather and geography cannot be changed.

Question 72

People exposed to loud noises for a long time can suffer permanent hearing loss.

Question 73

Improved water quality is not only necessary, it is attainable at no cost.

Question 74

The EPA was created by the government to develop new and improved ways to clean and improve the environment.

Question 75

Air and water quality may be improving, but land pollution is still a serious problem in many areas.

Question 76

An effective program for social responsibility takes time, money, and organization.

Question 77

Fortunately, the acid-rain problem has been solved in recent years.

Question 78

The planning stage of a social responsibility program can involve outside consultants to help develop it.

Question 79

Negotiated settlements for cleaning up hazardous wastes became known as sweetheart deals because the EPA helped only those companies friendly to them.

Question 80

Affirmative action plans encompass all areas of human resources management, including recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, and pay.