Ethics Final Review
A(n) _________ is a situation in which there is no obvious right or wrong answer.
Ethical dilemma
The field of ______ is the study of how people try to live their lives according to a standard of right or wrong behavior.
Ethics
A whistle-blower is an individual who discovers corporate misconduct and chooses not to do anything about it.
False
An organization's code of ethics does not pertain to the everyday functioning of its managers and employees.
False
In order to make ethical behavior sustainable, an organization requires commitment solely from the top management.
False
Over the last five decades, corporate ethics has shifted from the organizational mainstream into the domain of legal and human resource departments.
False
The concept of universal ethics argues that there are certain principles that should apply to a select few ethical judgments.
False
The _____ is a government agency established to prevent banks from failing and otherwise threatening the stability of the U.S. economy.
Financial Stability Oversight Council
The _____ refers to legislation introduced to control bribery and other less obvious forms of payment to overseas officials and politicians by American publicly traded companies.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
_______ can be said to have intrinsic value.
Heath
The quality by which the pursuit of one value is a good way to reach another value is known as ________.
Instrumental Value
Which of the following is true of the concept of global ethics?
The correct answer is: It is a highly complex subject.
What is the UN Global Compact?
The correct answer is: It is a voluntary corporate initiative that addresses the main concerns of globalization.
In what way does the UN Global Compact differ from the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises?
The correct answer is: Unlike the UN Global Compact, the OECD guidelines uses a more governmental approach for the same issues.
The difference between reactive and proactive policies is that:
The correct answer is: reactive policies are driven by events and/or a fear of future events, whereas proactive policies are driven by a clear sense of what is construed as ethical for the organization.
A well-written code of ethics:
The correct answer is: states policies for behavior in specific situations.
Which of the following is an effect of merging the roles of the chief executive officer and the chairperson of the board?
The independence of the board is compromised
Which of the following is true of whistle-blowers?
They are often criticized and considered troublemakers.
Ethical behavior should be the same both inside and outside a business situation.
True
Ethical relativism is the view that the traditions of one's society, one's personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment define one's ethical principles.
True
Human resource management supports each of the key functional areas in a value chain.
True
The advocates of ethical business conduct argue that HR should be at the center of any corporate code of ethics.
True
The belief that an activity is safe because it will never be found out or publicized is one of the commonly held rationalizations, identified by Saul Gellerman, which can lead to unethical behavior.
True
The problem with Òethics for the greater goodÓ is the idea that the ends justify the means.
True
The process of ethical reasoning involves looking at the available information and then drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to our own ethical standards.
True
________ refers to a set of personal principles formalized into a code of behavior.
Value System
________ refers to a concept of living your life according to a commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal.
Virtue ethics
In which of the following situations would a multinational company, when doing business in a less-developed nation, be faced with ethical relativism when making a decision?
When local customs come into conflict with the company's policies.
In internal whistle-blowing, an employee who discovers corporate misconduct brings it to the attention of:
a manger or supervisor
The _____ keeps track of company financial transactions by documenting money coming in and money going out and balances the accounts at the end of the period.
accounting function
Cyberliability:
applies the legal concept of liability to the world of computers.
It is argued that the actions of whistle-blowers are not always motivated by their integrity, but by money or by their egos.
True
One of the flaws in the board of directors of Enron was that many of the directors were affiliated with organizations that benefited directly from Enron's operations.
True
Organizations can prevent the embarrassment and potential financial ruin caused by whistle-blowing by creating an internal system that gives whistle-blowers the option of being heard, thus resolving the issue in private.
True
The CRAFTED principles of governance, offered by the European business school INSEAD, recommend creating a culture and climate of consistency in an organization.
True
Policies that result when organizations are driven by events and/or a fear of future events are called _____.
reactive policies
The _____ to corporate management refers to the perspective that a corporation has an obligation to society over and above the expectations of its shareholders.
social contract approach
_____ is ethical behavior that persists long after the latest public scandal or the latest management buzzword.
sustainable ethics
The formula used to calculate the total fine sentenced by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO) is:
the base fine multiplied by the culpability score.
_____ is a legal concept that means a party may be held responsible for injury or damage even when he or she was not actively involved in an incident.
vicarious liability
The _____ to corporate social responsibility assumes that there are no external consequences to the actions of the corporation and its managers.
instrumental approach
Which of the following statements is true of a value chain?
it is composed of the key functional inputs
Which of the following arguments made by the advocates of ethical business conduct about the human resource department is true?
it should not be the sole creator of the code
Which of the following is a disadvantage of technological advances in a workplace?
loss of privacy
Which of the following statements is true of marketing?
marketeers see themselves as providing products
One of the responsibilities of the audit committee of a company is to
monitor the company's accounting policies and procedures
Business ethics can be approached from two different perspectives. The _____ perspective evaluates the degree to which the observed customs, attitudes, and rules can be considered ethical.
normative
Some of the employees, including top managers and board of directors, of Warburges Inc. have been in the news lately for accepting bribes and using corporate resources for personal expenses. Which of the following did the firm fail to demonstrate?
organizational integrity
The board of directors of a company:
oversees the governance of the organization
_____ is the application of standards of moral behavior to business situations.
Business Ethics
_____ is one of the newest and increasingly questionable practices in the world of CSR.
Carbon neutral operations
The _____ refers to the legislation that was promoted as the "fix" for the extreme mismanagement of risk in the financial sector that led to a global financial crisis in 2008-2010.
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Which of the following is true of the King I report?
It considered corporations' impact on the larger community
Which of the following is true of a whistle-blower hotline?
It is a telephone line that employees use to anonymously alert a company of suspected misconduct.
Which of the following is true of thick consent?
It is given when employees have realistic job alternatives.
According to Adam Moore, which of the following is true of thin consent?
It is given when the employee has no other choice.
Which of the following is true of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
It offered protection to both federal and corporate employees.
Which of the following is true of the "comply or else" approach to corporate governance?
It set stiff financial penalties for companies that refused to abide by its operational standards
Which of the following is true of managers in an organization with good corporate governance?
Managers should fulfill a fiduciary responsibility to the owners
Which of the following is true of stakeholders?
Not every stakeholder is relevant in every business situation
Which of the following is true of the technology used to monitor employees at the workplace?
Packet-sniffing software can intercept and archive all communications on a network.
The _____ is a legislative response to the corporate accounting scandals of the early 2000s that cover the financial management of businesses.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Which of the following is one of the key pieces of U.S. legislation designed to discourage, if not prevent, illegal conduct within businesses?
The U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations
Which of the following principles should a company follow for effective corporate governance?
The board of directors and the CEO should work together when evaluating risk-versus-reward scenarios
_____ is one of the four key areas of concern upon which the UN Global Compact focuses.
The correct answer is: Anticorruption
How can an organization move its ethical commitment to a global scale successfully?
The correct answer is: By creating an ethical standard that respects the local customs of the other countries.
_____ is a philosophical position in which ethical principles are defined by the traditions of society, personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment.
The correct answer is: Ethical relativism
Which of the following is true of globalization?
The correct answer is: It impacts the commercial, economic, social, and political environment.
Which of the following is true of the three principles for resolving an ethical dilemma?
They don't offer a perfect solution for every situation
Which of the following is true of technological advances over the last two decades?
They have increased employees' accessibility.
Which of the following is a major risk whistle-blowers face by speaking out about an organization's misconduct?
They risk losing their career and financial stability.
A value chain is composed of the key functional inputs that an organization provides in the transformation of raw materials into a delivered product or service.
True
Corporate governance is the system by which businesses are directed and controlled
True
_____ refers to the actions of an organization that are targeted toward achieving a social benefit over and above maximizing profits for its shareholders and meeting all its legal obligations.
corporate coincidence
One of the primary responsibilities of an organization's _____ is to ensure compliance with the company's internal code of ethics.
corporate governance committee
The _____ is a fine that is set high enough to match all the organization's assets and effectively puts the organization out of business.
death penalty
The policy of _____ is the premise of corporate social responsibility where doing what's best for the customers translates into what's best for the company in the long run.
doing well by doing good
Which of the following is the first stage in making ethical behavior sustainable for a company?
establishing code of ethics
Edmund has been appointed as the executive in-charge of the code of conduct for Elmer Enterprises. He enforces the code of conduct among employees and oversees the investigations of wrong doings in the organization. He also provides additional guidance and support to employees. Edmund is a(n) _____.
ethics officer
In _____ whistle-blowing, an employee who discovers corporate misconduct brings it to the attention of law enforcement agencies and/or the media.
external
Altruistic CSR represents a type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in which organizations pursue a clearly defined sense of social conscience in managing their financial responsibilities to shareholders, their legal responsibilities, and their ethical responsibilities to do the right thing for all their stakeholders.
false
Given that R&D teams do not interact directly with customers, the potential for ethical dilemmas is nonexistent.
false
Globalization represents a new stage of capitalist development, this time with public institutions in place to protect society by balancing private corporate interests against broader public interests.
false
Telecommuting does not allow employees any degree of flexibility in terms of the location from which they work.
false
Tracking the history of internal whistle-blowing is easier than tracking the history of external whistle-blowing.
false
According to Joseph F. Keefe, which of the following is a major trend behind the corporate social responsibility phenomenon?
globalization
The code of ethics is intended to:
guide mangers and employers into making sound decisions
Bribes are those payments which:
induce officials to act in violation of their lawful duty.
_____ in business means that stakeholders have visibility deep into the processes and information of an organization.
transparency
Which of the following approaches considers a company's social, economic, and environmental impact rather than focusing solely on its financial impact?
triple bottom line
For organizations, international markets represent new customers as well as sources of cheaper materials and cheap labor.
true
From an employer's perspective, monitoring an employee's computer activity at the workplace is necessary to map their productivity.
true
If there are no clear local ethical standards, companies should revert to their own domestic ethical policies rather than work in the absence of any standards.
true
Some of the illegal financial functions include underreporting income, overvaluing assets, and taking questionable deductions.
true
Strategic CSR runs the greatest risk of being perceived as self-serving behavior on the part of the organization.
true
Technological advances over the last two decades have made it possible for some employers to read the personal e-mails that employees send from their workstations.
true
The Volcker Rule proposed that there should be a key restriction in the legislation to limit the ability of banks to trade on their own accounts.
true
The obligation that an auditing firm has to a paying client while owing an objective, third-party assessment of that client's financial stability to stakeholders and potential investors represents a potentially significant conflict of interest.
true
There is no perfect model for a code of ethics.
true
Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, facilitation payments are payments that are acceptable (legal), provided they expedite or secure the performance of a routine governmental action.
true
