Chapter 9 question and answer

Which of the following is not something a company should usually consider in crafting a strategy of social responsibility?

A. Actions to benefit shareholders (such as raising the dividend to boost the stock price)

Which one of the following is false as concerns the merits of why acting in a socially responsible manner is "good business"?

B. Acting in a socially responsible manner nearly always results in higher profits and a higher stock price for shareholders.

A company's strategy needs to be ethical because

B. a strategy that is unethical not only damages the company's reputation but it can also have costly consequences.

According to integrative social contracts theory, the ethical standards a company should try to uphold

B. are governed both by (1) a limited number of universal ethical principles that are widely recognized as putting legitimate ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations and (2) the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values that further prescribe what constitutes ethically permissible behavior and what does not—but universal norms always take precedence over local ethical norms.

Corporate social responsibility as it applies to businesses refers to

E. a company's duty to operate in an honorable manner, provide good working conditions for employees, encourage workforce diversity, be a good steward of the environment, and actively work to better the quality of life in the local communities where it operates and in society at large.

Which one of the following is not a part of the business case for why companies should act in a socially responsible manner?

A. Every business has a moral duty to be a good corporate citizen.

Which one of the following is not one of the major drivers of unethical managerial behavior?

A. Intense competitive pressures

The contention that because different societies and cultures have divergent values and standards of right and wrong it is appropriate to judge behavior as ethical/unethical in the light of local customs and social mores rather than according to a single set of ethical standards

A. defines what is meant by "ethical relativism."

Good corporate citizens

A. go beyond meeting society's expectations for ethical strategies and business behavior by fostering social benefit and balancing the interests of all.

The costs incurred when ethical wrongdoing is done fall into three specific categories and include all except

A. intangible costs such as legal and investigative costs incurred by the company.

According to the school of ethical universalism,

A. universal ethical principles or norms put limits on what actions and behaviors fall inside the boundaries of what is right and which ones fall outside—such universal norms include honesty, trustworthiness, respecting the rights of others, practicing the Golden Rule, and avoiding unnecessary harm to workers or to the users of the company's product or service.

Notions of right and wrong, fair and unfair, moral and immoral, ethical and unethical

B. are present in all societies, organizations, and individuals.

The essence of socially responsible business behavior is

B. balancing strategic actions to benefit shareholders against the duty to be a good corporate citizen.

The major drivers of unethical business behavior include

B. corporate cultures that put the bottom line ahead of ethics, heavy pressures on company managers to meet or beat performance targets, and overzealous or obsessive pursuit of wealth accumulation, power, status, and other selfish interests.

Companies that adopt the principle of ethical relativism in

B. have little moral basis for ethical standards companywide because it has no ethical standards or principles of its own.

The contentions that (1) many of the same standards of what's ethical and what's unethical resonate with peoples of most cultures, societies, and religions and (2) to the extent there is common moral agreement about right and wrong actions, there exist a set of common ethical standards to which organizations and individuals can be held accountable are defining beliefs of

B. the school of ethical universalism.

According to the school of ethical universalism,

D. to the extent there is common moral agreement about right and wrong actions and behaviors across multiple cultures and countries, there exists a set of universal ethical standards to which all societies, all companies, and all individuals can be held accountable.

The school of ethical relativism holds that .

B. when there are country or cross-cultural differences in what is considered ethical or unethical in business situations, it is appropriate for local moral standards to take precedence over what the ethical standards may be elsewhere.

Which of the following is not generally on a company's menu of actions to consider in crafting a strategy of social responsibility?

C. Actions to look out exclusively for the best interests of shareholders

Ethical principles in business

C. are not materially different from ethical principles in general.

Environmental sustainability involves

C. deliberate actions to protect the environment and provide for the longevity of resources, maintain ecological support systems for future generations, and guard against the ultimate endangerment of the planet.

The contention that ethical standards should be governed both by (1) a limited number of universal ethical principles that are widely recognized as putting legitimate ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations and (2) the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values that further prescribe what constitutes ethically permissible behavior and what does not are the basic principles of

C. integrative social contracts theory.

The results of strategies that cannot pass the test of moral scrutiny often are manifested in

C. sizable fines.

Business ethics concerns

C. the application of ethical principles and standards to business activities, behavior, and decisions.

A belief in ethical relativism leads to the conclusion that

C. whether the payment of bribes/kickbacks should be deemed ethical or unethical depends on the moral standards, values, beliefs, convictions, and business norms that prevail in particular cultures, societies, countries, or circumstances.

Integrative social contracts theory maintains that

D. "first-order" universal ethical norms always take precedence over "second-order" local ethical norms.

Ethical principles as they apply to business conduct and business decisions

D. are not materially different from ethical principles in general.

A company's unethical behavior may result in the following except

D. the company will have to deal with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires the company remove the tarnished employees.

Companies committed to environmental sustainability

D. undertake initiatives directed at improving the company's triple bottom line (TBL), which places importance on economic, environmental, and social metrics.

A company's social responsibility strategy is typically comprised of all but which one of the following elements?

E. Actions to keep prices low enough that the company's profits will not be viewed by the general public as obscenely high or exorbitant

Striving to be socially responsible entails touching such bases as

E. All of these

The business case for why companies should act in a socially responsible manner includes such reasons as

E. All of these

Which of the following should be on a company's menu of actions to consider in crafting a strategy of social responsibility?

E. All of these

The consequences of pursuing a strategy that has unethical or shady components include

E. All of these.

Unethical business behavior tends to be driven by such factors as

E. All of these.