Midterm Overview- Business Ethics

The degree to which a firm understands and addresses stakeholder demands can be referred to as

A stakeholder orientation

Stakeholders' power over businesses stems from their

Ability to withdraw or withhold resources.

Which of the following has been identified by the Ethics Resource Center as being on of the leading forms of observed misconduct in organizations?

Abusive behavior

Ethical culture is defined as

Acceptable behavior as defined by the company and industry.

This is a leading self-regulatory body that provides directions for managing customer disputes and reviews advertising cases.

Better Business Bureau

________is the offering of something of value in order to gain an illicit advantage.

Bribery

_____ is associated with a hostile workplace where someone considered a target is threatened, harassed, belittled, or verbally abused.

Bullying

Cause related marketing can affect consumer_______, if consumers are sympathetic to the cause and the brand and cause are seen as a good fit.

Buying patterns

________law defines the rights and duties of individuals and organizations (including businesses)

Civil

A secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose is known as

Collusion

Public health and safety and support of local organizations are issues most relevant to which stakeholder group?

Community

Which of the following is a major ethical concern among corporate boards of directors?

Compensation

By prohibiting accounting firms from providing both auditing and consulting services to the same corporate clients without permission, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is attempting to eliminate

Conflicts of interest

Prior to the financial meltdown, bond ratings agencies were accused of having______ because they were paid by the organization that they rated. The organizations would shop around for the agency that gave them the best rating.

Conflicts of interest.

The ________ is an independent agency within the Federal Reserve System that "regulate(s) the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the Federal consumer financial laws."

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The __________was established after the latest financial crisis, in response to a situation that caused many consumers to lose their homes.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

A stakeholder orientation can be viewed as a(n)

Continuum

________________are central to an organization and provide directions for action.

Core values

Which of the following is NOT a side-effect of being the victim of workplace bullying?

Corporate Intelligence

________is an organizational factor that gives a company specific characteristics. Overtime, stakeholders begin to see the company as like a living organism with a mind and will of its own.

Corporate culture.

The _________was called "a sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system...on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression."

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

An ethical organizational culture creates an environment in which to structure behavior that is then evaluated by stakeholders. They key elements of an organizational culture include all of the following except

Employee compensation

A major purpose of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act is to

Encourage employees to report misconduct.

Values are

Enduring beliefs and ideals that are socially enforced.

Employees' perceptions of their firm as having an ethical climate leads to

Enhanced outcomes.

Minimizing the use of energy and reducing emissions and waste are issues of importance to which stakeholder?

Environmental groups

Companies that _______ will most likely be found in violation of pro-competitive legislation.

Establish monopolies.

People who believe in ____________go with the flow because they feel the events in their lives are uncontrollable.

External locus of control

An employee can only successfully accuse a co-worker of sexual harassment if it seriously affected his or her psychological well-being or caused injury.

False

Cause-related marketing is the synergistic and mutually beneficial use of an organization's core competencies and resources to deal with key stakeholders so as to bring about organizational and societal.

False

Ethics and social responsibility can be used interchangeably.

False

Governments regulators are a secondary stakeholder.

False

Sarbanes-Oxley is considered to be the most sweeping financial overhaul of the regulatory system since the Great Depression.

False

The final step in implementing a stakeholder perspective is identifying stakeholders.

False

The primary method for resolving conflicts and serious business disputes is through the use of self-regulation.

False

The three fundamental elements that motivate people to be fair are honesty, integrity, and equality.

False

Morals are enduring beliefs and ideals that are socially enforced.

False.

Passed by Congress in 1991, the ________created incentives for organizations to develop and implement ethical compliance programs.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations.

The ______ focus(es) on firms taking action to prevent and detect business misconduct in cooperation with government regulation.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations.

_______ is defined as any purposeful communication that deceives, manipulates, or conceals facts in order to create a false impression.

Fraud.

________have been found to decrease unethical practices and increase positive work behavior.

Good personal values

__________is associated with a person who is crafty or understands right/wrong behavior but uses tricks to obtain an unfair advantage.

Guile

________is the first sign that an unethical decision has occurred.

Guilt

Which of the following would NOT be considered a negative reinforcement of employee behavior?

Ignoring the behavior

What is the last step in the ethical decision-making process?

Individuals' intentions and what action they are going to take.

________________ is/are important in establishing a foundation for normative values.

Institutions

Concerns involving copyright infringement on books, movies and music, and other illegally produced goods relate to which type of ethical issue?

Intellectual property rights.

Board members being linked to more than one company is an example of

Interlocking directorate

Affirmative action programs

Involve the recruitment, hiring, promotion, and training of qualified individuals.

Why do critics argue that high compensation for boards of directors is a bad thing?

It could cause conflicts of interest between the directors and the organization.

What happens when society deems a particular business action as wrong or unethical?

Legislation usually follows.

Investors are concerned about business ethics because they know that misconduct can

Lower stock value and prices.

Externally imposed boundaries of conduct, such as laws, rules, regulations, and other requirements are known as

Mandated boundaries

Shareholders provide resources to an organization that are critical to long term success. Which of the following does the book suggest that suppliers offer?

Material resources and/or intangible knowledge

The purpose of a stakeholder orientation is to

Maximize positive outcomes that meet stakeholders needs.

Which of the following is true regarding abusive or intimidating behavior?

Not everyone agrees on what constitutes abusive behavior.

_____________involves subordinates simply following the directives of a superior without question. It demonstrates the influence that significant others can exert in the workplace.

Obedience to authority

What will happen to a firm found to be in violation if the company had proactively tried to prevent misconduct from occurring?

Penalties or fines may be reduced.

Abusive or intimidating behavior is the most common ethical problem for employees. Which of the following is NOT related to this concept?

Performance probation.

A stakeholder group that is absolutely necessary for a firm's survival is defined as

Primary

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.

Which of the following is the first step in the ethical decision making process?

Recognizing that an ethical issue exists.

Which represented a far-reaching change to organizational control and accounting systems, making securities fraud a criminal offense?

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

_______institutions include religion, education, and individuals such as the family unit.

Social

The ethical decision making process is business includes ALL of the following EXCEPT

Society's view of the decision.

Principles are

Specific and pervasive boundaries for behavior that are universal and absolute.

Which of the following is NOT considered a significant other group in the workplace?

Spouses

Those who have a claim in some aspect of a firm's products, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as

Stakeholders

Which of the following industries tends to generate a high level of trust from consumers and stakeholders?

Technology

The ________regulates tobacco, dietary supplements, vaccines, veterinary drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, products that give off radiation, and biological products.

The Food and Drug Administration

____________is the idea that because people live in a community, social rules should benefit the community.

The common good.

Which of the following groups is NOT a group that receives special legal protections?

The highly educated

Accountants must abide by a strict code of ethics that defines their responsibilities to

Their clients and the public interest.

Why is the public more tolerant of consumer misconduct than business misconduct?

There are big differences in wealth and success between businesses and consumers.

Which of the following statements is true about business ethics?

There is no conflict between profits and business ethics.

When unethical acts are discovered in a firm, in most instances

There was knowing cooperation or complicity from within the company.

For people who begin the value shift that leads to unethical decisions, which of the following is NOT a usual justification to reduce and eliminate guilt?

This is in keeping with my personal morals and the code of conduct, so it is okay.

Developing ethical issue awareness is the first step toward understanding business ethics.

True

Every organization has the potential for unethical behavior, even if it is not a business.

True

Examples of consumer fraud include shoplifting, collusion, guile, and duplicity.

True

In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the federal sentencing guidelines were not mandatory but should serve only as recommendations judges should use their decisions.

True

Omission lying is intentionally not informing others of any differences, problems, safety warnings, or negative issues relating to the product or company that significantly affect awareness.

True

Social responsibility rest on a stakeholder orientation

True

The board of directors' fiduciary duty to a company means they have assumed a position of trust and confidence that entails certain responsibilities.

True

Many consumers are willing to pay more money for socially responsible products.

True.

____ is essential in building long-term relationships between businesses and consumers.

Trust.

A company can be sued for discrimination if it

Uses age as a hiring or firing criterion.

Organizations that have ethic programs based on a _____ orientation are found to make a greater contribution than those based simply on compliance, or obeying laws and regulations.

Values

Donation of computer equipment to schools by Toshiba would be associated with ___________ responsibilities.

Voluntary

How do violations of the law usually start?

When businesspeople stretch the limits of ethical standards.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act specifically outlaws hiring practices that discriminate against people

Who are 40 and over

Values have all the following characteristics EXCEPT

Widely accepted

More than a compliance program, business ethics is becoming

a management issue to achieve competitive advantage.

Conflicts of interest exist when employees must choose whether to

advance their own personal interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group.

An employee sorts through a competing business's trash to see if there are any documents that could reveal secret information. This is a misuse of

an ethical issue

Corporate social responsibility is

an organization's obligation to maximize its positive effects and minimize its negative effects on stakeholders.

Laws and regulations change over time; however, in the United States the thrust of most business legislation can be summed up as

any practice is permitted that does not substantially reduce competition and harm consumers of society.

Business ethics is a part of decision making

at all levels of work and management

The ________ can be defined as a set of values, norms, and artifacts, including ways to solving problems shared by members of an organization.

corporate culture

Most organizations with strong ethical climates usually focus on the core value of placing________ interest first.

customers

Familiarizing employees with company values and training them to recognize common ethical scenarios helps them generate

ethical awareness

A(n)__________ requires an individual to choose among several actions that have negative outcomes.

ethical dilemma

Anti-competitive strategies that focus on weakening or destroying a competitor have spurred antitrust legislation and include all of the following EXCEPT

free samples

Employees who believe they control the events in their lives by their own effort and skill have a(n)

internal locus of control

The relationship between business ethics and age

is complex, although experience helps older employees make ethical decisions.

Some, especially those in business, complain that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and similar legislation

is excessively complex and financially burdensome.

Employees who view their organizational culture as ethical are more likely to

make personal sacrifices for the organization.

Following the ethical directives of a superior relates to

obedience to authority

According to the ethical decision-making framework, the absence of punishment provides a(n)_________ for unethical behavior.

opportunity

Multiple elements work on individuals to affect their behavior. While an individual may intend to do the right thing _________can alter this intent.

organizational or social forces.

When a restaurant claims that it sells the world's best cup of coffee, it could be accused of

puffery

An ethical issue is a problem, situation, or opportunity

requiring an individual, group, or organization to choose among several actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong, ethical or unethical.

Studies have shown that ________within the organization have more impact on a worker's decisions on a daily basis than any other factor.

significant others

Which of the following is NOT an individual factor that affects business ethics?

significant others

The __________________desires to find a solution to a social problem rather than to simply earn profits.

social entrepreneur