Deck 1: Introducing Straight Talk About Managing Business Ethics: Where Were Going and Why

Question 1

John and Jessica recently went to a local bank for borrowing money to purchase a home. If the bank offers them a 100-percent financing and are not required to provide proof of employment or income, it would classify as the _____ from the 2000s era in the United States.

A) "liar loan"
B) mortgage-backed security
C) rating agency calamity
D) LIBOR scandal

Answer 1

A

Question 2

According to the authors, most people are guided by a strict internal moral compass and will not be swayed by organization factors.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Federal laws define what is ethical. Therefore, all unethical behavior is considered unlawful.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to research, one's ethics are fully formed and unchangeable by the time one is old enough to enter college or a job.

Question 5

According to the authors, all of these are factors that laid the groundwork for the disaster in the United States in 2008 EXCEPT:

A) borrowing was expensive
B) real estate became the investment of choice
C) mortgage originators peddled "Liar Loans"
D) banks securitized the poison and spread it around

Question 6

When employees come to an organization, they have already developed into "good" or "bad" apples. Therefore, there is little a manager can do to impact an employee's ethical behavior.

Question 7

In the early 2000s, borrowers no longer needed to provide proof of employment or income. These were popularly called "no doc" or "liar loans" because banks weren't bothering to verify the "truth" of what borrowers were claiming on their mortgage applications. This was one of the factors that laid the groundwork for the disaster in the United States.

Question 8

The implosion of the financial markets in 2008 was largely the result of:

A) illegal behavior
B) the Federal government intervention
C) government regulation
D) unethical activities in that they ultimately produced great harm

Question 9

Good character is the main factor determining whether an individual acts ethically within an organization.

Question 10

By ignoring the topic of ethical behavior, an organization may actually be encouraging unethical behavior through benign neglect.

Question 11

It is unethical for managers to "control" employees' ethical behavior through direct management and the organization's formal and informal cultural systems.

Question 12

Which of the following legislation was passed by the U.S. Congress to rein in the most egregious practices in the financial industry?

A) The Credit‐Default Swaps Legislation
B) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
C) The 2008 Rehabilitation Act
D) The Dodd‐Frank Financial Regulation Legislation

Question 13

A new group of economists, called behavioral economists, have found that people are not only less rational than classical economists assumed, but are more moral.

Question 14

Discarding the few "bad apples" will usually solve all of the ethical problems within an organization.

Question 15

Which of these is Adam Smith's first book?

A) Wealth of Nations
B) The Theory of Moral Sentiments
C) The Corporation
D) The Moral Dimension

Question 16

For individuals, values can be defined as "one's core beliefs about what is important, what is valued, and how one should behave across a wide variety of situations."

Question 17

The activities that brought down the U.S. economy and others around the world, in 2008, were unethical in that they ultimately produced great harm and were contrary to a number of ethical principles such as responsibility, transparency, and fairness.

Question 18

Both characteristics of the environment and the individual contribute to unethical behavior.

Question 19

In 2010, the U.S. Congress abolished the Dodd‐Frank Financial Regulation Legislation-an attempt to revive the economy through stabilizing the financial industry.

Question 20

The interest in business ethics is just a fad that has only recently been created by popular scandals (i.e., Enron, WorldCom, etc.) reported in the news.

Question 21

According to the authors, ethical behavior is defined as:

A) a set of moral principles or values that guide an individual
B) rules of behavior set by the Federal government
C) principles, norms, and standards agreed upon by society
D) none of these

Question 22

Parties who are affected by the business and its actions and who have an interest in what the business does and how it performs are called _______.

A) stakeholders
B) large customers
C) community committees
D) government parties

Question 23

_________ students may need more ethics training because research has found that they rank lower in moral reasoning than other students.

A) Philosophy
B) Political science
C) Business
D) Medicine

Question 24

The Ethics Resource Center's 2011 National Business Ethics Survey found that only _____ percent of employees of for-profit enterprises report feeling pressured to compromise their ethical standards.

A) 3
B) 9
C) 15
D) 21

Question 25

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that workplace theft costs U.S. businesses $40 billion each year, and ______ are thought to be responsible for much of it.

A) employees
B) customers
C) community members
D) government agencies

Question 26

According to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, only _____ percent of consumers trust institutions in general.

A) 12
B) 33
C) 49
D) 72

Question 27

Susan is describing to her teammates her core beliefs about what is important and how she would behave across a wide variety of situations. Susan is defining her ____.

A) culture
B) values
C) ethics
D) social responsibility

Question 28

In a survey of millennial employees in the UK, more than 60 percent wanted to work for a company that ______.

A) offers honest company communications
B) offers good pay
C) gives respectful treatment to animals
D) makes a positive impact

Question 29

Given that you are a business student, research finds that you might need ethics training _____ than students in political science, law, and medicine.

A) less
B) more
C) no different
D) completely different

Question 30

Which of the following statements is true?

A) "Bad apples" are just a few individuals who spoil it for the rest of us.
B) Employees' good behavior can be spoiled by a "bad barrel."
C) Ethics cannot be taught because individuals come into an organization already as a "bad apple."
D) "Bad barrels" are caused by "bad apples" in an organization.

Question 31

Your roommate tells you that she just refuses to buy products from a company that has bad reputation and she does not trust. According to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, your roommate is among the _____ percent of consumers who refuse to purchase products from a company they mistrusted.

A) 91
B) 77
C) 49
D) 33

Question 32

In this book, the authors focus on _____________ factors because ____________:

A) individual; these factors are the main determinant of unethical behavior
B) organization; these factors can be directly controlled by managers
C) individual; a few "bad apples" spoil it for the rest of us
D) organization; these factors are particularly important in unambiguous situations

Question 33

Definition of ethics-"the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group"-focuses on _______.

A) organization
B) society
C) business
D) conduct