Ethics Test 1

Fiduciary responsibility

According to both the broader and narrow views of corporate responsibility, the managers of a corporation have a(n) ________ to look after the interests of shareholders.

True

According to libertarianism, liberty is the prime value, and justice consists in permitting each to live as he or she pleases, free from the interference of others

Corporations lack the necessary expertise for addressing society's well-being and they inevitably impose their own materialistic values on the rest of society

According to the business-cannot-handle it argumentAccording to the business-cannot-handle it argument

if businesses are permitted to seek self-interest, their activities will inevitably yield the greatest good for society as a whole.

According to the invisible-hand argument:

Promotes social well-being or happiness

According to utilitarianism, a just economic distribution

the basic structure of society

For Nozick, social justice is primarily focused on transactions between individuals. What does Rawls believe is the proper focus of social justice?

A cooperative venture among its members

For Rawls, justice must be associated with fairness and the moral equality of persons. His conception of justice is thoroughly social, and he conceives of society as a:

rights

For a utilitarian, ________ are certain moral rules, the observance of which is of the utmost importance for the long-run, overall maximization of happiness

Any organization whose objective is to provide goods and services for profit

For our purposes, the word "business" means:

True

For philosophers, the important question is not how we come to have the particular moral principles we have, but whether we can justify them

True

For utilitarian's, justice is an independent moral standard distinct from their general principle

They spring from a recognition of duty and a choice to discharge it

Good Samaritan Laws are designed to give legal protection to those who provide emergency aid to others out of a purely humanitarian impulse. For Kant, such acts of good will only have moral worth if

False

If you do the right thing only because you think it will pay off, then you are truly motivated by moral concerns

True

In his Principles of Political Economy, John Stuart Mill argued for the desirability of breaking down the sharp and hostile division between the producers or workers, on the one hand, and the capitalists or owners, on the other hand.

According to your authors, this is an example of both the phenomenon called bystander apathy and the concept of diffusion of responsibility.

In the 1960s, Kitty Genovese, a young woman, was stabbed to death. Even though this occurred at 3:00 AM, 38 of her neighbors heard what was going on, came to their windows and remained there for 30 or more minutes while she was brutalized, and failed to intervene or call the police. Based on these facts, which of the following statements is true?

Loyalty

In the Six Pillars of Character Model, ____________________ is defined as a special moral responsibility to promote and protect the interests of certain people, organizations, etc.

Integrity

In the Six Pillars of Character Model, ____________________ is defined as consistency between our stated values and behavior; demonstrating the courage to do the right thing regardless of the costs (a.k.a. moral courage)

Its consequences bring more total good than those of any other alternative course of action

In the example given in the text, Frank Furillo's decision to put the criminal at the mercy of an unforgiving public would be deemed morally acceptable according to the standard of act utilitarianism, which maintains that an action is morally acceptable if:

Mix their labor with the natural world

John Locke maintained that property is a moral right because individuals are entitled to the product of their labor when they

Narrow view

Milton Friedman is skeptical of corporate activities that he believes are disguised as socially responsible acts. For him, the only responsibility of business is to maximize profits. His view of corporate responsibility is described as the:

Like civil servants

Milton Friedman, a proponent of the narrow view of social responsibility, argued that if executives "impose taxes on stockholders and spend the proceeds on social purposes", they are acting

True

Moral standards concern behavior that can be of serious consequence to human welfare.

True

Most people don't distinguish between a person's "morals" and his or her "ethics."

Consequentialist and non-consequentialist

Normative theories can be divided into two broad categories of

People are entitled to their holdings as long as they have acquired them fairly

Nozick's entitlement theory maintains that:

All actions are in fact self-motivated

Psychological egoism asserts that truly unselfish acts are impossible because

Behind the veil of ignorance

Rawls supposes that when we imagine people choosing the basic principles of justice in the original position, we should suppose that they do not know their personal fortunes, talents or characteristics. In this sense, the principles are chosen

social contract theory

Rawls's strategy for seeking justice is to determine the fundamental principles that would govern society if we were to meet in what he calls the original position. His theory is a modern variant of

False

Rules of etiquette are always moral rules

True

"Limited liability" means that members of a corporation are financially liable for corporate debts only up to the extent of their investments

False

The paradox of hedonism (or the paradox of selfishness) is that people who are exclusively concerned with their own interests tend to have happier and more satisfying lives than those who are concerned about other people.

Generally, less happy than those whose desires extend beyond themselves

The paradox of hedonism maintains that people who are exclusively concerned with their own interests are

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon that sometimes occurs when, within a group, no single individual feels responsible for what happens, is:

True

The phrase "the declining marginal utility of money" means that successive additions to one's income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare than did earlier additions

Whether one considers the consequences only for oneself or for everyone affected

The primary feature that distinguishes egoism from utilitarianism is:

declining marginal utility of money

The principle of ________ states that successive additions to one's income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare than earlier additions

Moral standard through factual judgments to a moral judgement

The process of moral reasoning or argument moves from a:

The adequacy of the reasons that support or justify them

The soundness of moral standards depends on:

Corporate internal decision (CID) structure

The structure used by corporations to accomplish specific goals is called the

Maxim

The subjective principle of action is called the

what you have legitimately acquired is yours to do what you will

The term "property rights" according to Libertarians refers to the principle that:

The less advantaged members of society

Under Rawls's principles of justice, people would agree on two basic governing principles: there would be a guarantee of fundamental liberties to each person, and inequities would only be allowed if they benefit

A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, from someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding

Under the entitlement theory put forth by Nozick, one can only acquire property justly if it is acquired in accordance with a principle of justice or if:

True

Utilitarian's are likely to be sympathetic to the argument that steps should be taken to reduce the great disparities of income that characterize our society.

corporate culture

W. Brooke Tunstall, an assistant vice president of AT&T, describes ________ as "a general constellation of beliefs, mores, customs, value systems and behavioral norms, and ways of doing business that are unique to each corporation, that set a pattern for corporate activities and actions, and that describe the implicit and emergent patterns of behavior and emotions characterizing life in the organization."

It defined the free speech right of corporations for the first time

What did the U.S. Supreme Court decision, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, accomplish?

The utilitarian standard

When a conflict exists between principles of justice, John Stuart Mill maintained that the ultimate court of appeal should be:

Factual question

With regard to making a distinction between moral and non-moral categories of questions, your ability to download music from the Web is

Libertarianism

________ is the view that liberty is the prime value and justice consists in permitting each person to live as he or she pleases

True

According to W. D. Ross, we have immediate intuitive knowledge of the basic prima facie moral obligations/principles

Unconditional

A categorical command is binding on everyone regardless of his or her specific goals, desires, or consequences and is therefore:

Determines that basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong by applying the utilitarian standard to moral codes as a whole

A rule utilitarian:

False

A supererogatory act is an act that would be good not to do to, but doing it is not absolutely wrong

Supererogatory

A(n) ________ action is one which it would be good to do, but not immoral not to do

Prima facie

A(n) ________ obligation is one which can be overridden by a more important obligation.

False

According to Adam Smith, if business is left to pursue its self-interest, the good of society will be compromised and harmed

True

According to John Stuart Mill, to say that I have a right to something is to say that I have a valid claim on society to protect me in the possession of that thing, either by force of law or through education and opinion

False

According to Kenneth Arrow, trust and confidence are highly overrated in business

True

According to Melvin Anshen, the case for a broad view of corporate responsibility can be defended on the basis of there always being a kind of social contract existing between business and society.

a violation of rights

According to Mill, injustice differs from other types of wrongful behavior because it involves ________ of some identifiable person

an agent serving the interests of his/her principal (the stockholders)

According to Milton Friedman, "The whole justification for permitting corporate executives to be selected by shareholders is that the executive is ________."

True

According to Milton Friedman, business has no social responsibilities other than to maximize profits.

invisible hand of the marketplace

Adam Smith and Alexander Hamilton believed that businesspeople should be encouraged to explore their own avenue of enterprise. By doing so, their activities would aim toward a socially beneficial direction because of the

False

Adam Smith made the point that individual pursuit of self-interest (egoistic conduct), even when subject to rules and constraints, always undermines the utilitarian goal of producing the most good for all.

Social responsibility arises from their social power

Advocates of the broader view of corporate social responsibility maintain that businesses have an obligation to society because

Ethical Relativism

Albert Carr suggests that, in business, it is sometimes morally permissible to misstate or conceal facts in negotiations and employment applications. Carr's defense of business "bluffing" is an example of:

False

All moral rights are legal rights

invalid

An argument whose premises do not entail its conclusion is:

True

An organization is a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose.

Evaluating the factual claims and challenging the moral standard

Assuming that a moral argument is logically valid, one should evaluate the premises as well. This process typically includes:

True

Assuming that corporations should institutionalize ethical conduct, they should welcome the outside opinions of society as a whole, local communities, customers, suppliers, employees, managers, and stockholders

This is both a valid and sound argument

Based on the following argument, which of the following statements is true?Argument:If a person is a mother, the person is a female.Fran is a mother.Therefore, Fran is a female

This is an invalid argument only

Based on the following argument, which of the following statements is true?Argument:If a person is a mother, the person is a female.Fran is a two-year-old.Therefore, Fran is a mother.

True

Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context.

True

By "maxim," Immanuel Kant meant the subjective principle of an action, the principle that people in effect formulate in determining their conduct

True

Companies should look at a code of ethics as more than just window dressing with more than just a vagueness that is so general it lacks substance

True

Corporate internal decision (CID) structures amount to established procedures for accomplishing specific goals

Legal agents

Corporations have some of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens, including the ability to enter contracts, own property, sue and be sued. In this respect, they are

The proper distribution of social benefits and burdens, particularly economic benefits and burdens

Distributive justice is primarily concerned with

False

Egoists only do what they feel like doing

The public interest may be best served by some private expense

Eminent domain, the right which government reserves to appropriate private property for public use, is morally justified under the utilitarian principle that:

The most morally responsible companies are consistently among the most profitable companies.

Ethical behavior in the business world is often assumed to come at the expense of economic efficiency. On the contrary, the authors claim that:

True

Externalities are the unintended negative (or in some cases positive) consequences that an economic transaction between two parties can have on some third party

True

John Rawls's second principle of justice states that insofar as inequalities are permitted, that is, insofar as it is compatible with justice for some jobs or positions to bring greater rewards than others, these positions must be open to all.

True

Justice is frequently held to require that our treatment of people reflect their fundamental moral equality

The categorical imperative

Kant's belief that we should always act in such as a way as to will the maxim of our action to become a universal law is:

Formulating appropriate laws is a difficult task, made more problematic due to the effect of corporate lobbying

Law professor Christopher Stone has argued that the "let-government-do-it" argument is implausible due to limits to what the law can accomplish. Which of the following is one of Stone's points regarding the law's limitations?

One is entitled to whatever he receives in a free market

Libertarians believe that

This commitment reflects the priority of liberty over other values

Libertarians tend to support the free market. What reason best explains this support?

True

Libertarians would find it immoral and unjust to coerce people to give food or money to the starving

state of nature

Locke writes, "In the beginning ... men had a right to appropriate, by their labor, each one of himself, as much of the things of nature, as he could use." What did he call this time prior to the formation of government?

the Divine Command Theory

Many theologians reject the view that something is wrong only if God commands that it is wrong. This view is called:

False

Organizational norms always and inevitably lead to groupthink

True

Our conscience evolved as we internalized the moral instructions of the parents or other authority figures who raised us as children

Consequentialists

Philosophers who argue that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results are called

Externalities

Some philosophers and economists maintain that until corporations identify and assess the cost of possible deleterious side effects of their business activity, the cost of their products will not reflect their true social cost. Those unintended consequences are

the corporation can show rationality and respect for persons and hence it makes sense to speak of corporate moral responsibility

The CID structure, like an individual person, collects data about the impact of its actions. It monitors work conditions, employee efficiency and productivity, and environmental impacts. Consequently, some argue that:

Moral agents

The Continental Oil Company (Conoco) booklet that referred to the company as a living corporation, and the Colonial Pipeline apology published in several newspapers, are both statements that support the view of corporations as

True

The United States leads the world in executive pay.

Adam smith

The argument that the greater good of society would be served if business is allowed to pursue its self-interest was put forth by:

If relativism is correct, then there is no such thing as ethical progress

The authors suggest that ethical relativism has certain unsatisfactory implications. Which of the following are included in this category?

False

The business-cannot-handle-it argument is an argument in favor of a broad view of corporate responsibility

True

The connection between rights and duties is that, generally speaking, if you have a right to do something, then someone else has a correlative duty to act in a certain way

ethical relativism

The doctrine that maintains that right and wrong are only a function of what a particular society considers to be right and wrong, is called:

Towns, university and ecclesiastical orders

The first corporations were

False

The invisible-hand argument against broadening corporate responsibility says that business's appetite for profit should be controlled by the hand of the government

suggesting instead that the strong hand of government, through a system of laws and incentives, can and should bring corporations to heel

The let-government-do-it argument rejects the broader view of corporate responsibility

common law

The massive body of judge-made legal principles that accumulated over the years is collectively referred to as:

considered beliefs

The moral beliefs that we hold after we have made a conscientious effort to think coolly, clearly, rationally, and impartially about moral issues are described as:

Utilitarianism

The moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions is

True

The view that associate's morality with self-interest is egoism

True

When a utilitarian like Jeremy Bentham advocates "the greatest happiness for the greatest number," we must consider unhappiness or pain as well as happiness

Bystander apathy

When we find ourselves in an emergency situation and let others around us dictate our response, such behavior is described as:

Morality serves to restrain our purely self-interested desires, so egoism could not really be moral principle

Which of the following is a common criticism of egoism?

When deciding which action will produce the greatest happiness, we must consider unhappiness as well

Which of the following is a feature of utilitarianism?

The members of the corporation are financially liable for the debts of the organization only up to the extent of their investments

Which of the following is a feature that distinguishes corporations from partnerships?

An action may be legal and morally wrong or illegal and morally right

Which of the following is the correct relation between legal and moral standards?

etiquette

Which of the following standards concern special codes of social behavior or courtesy?