MGMT 5073: Ethical Leadership in Organizations

Literature on corporate social performance suggests three reasons that corporations should care about social responsibility: pragmatic, economic, and regulatory. These are mutually exclusive and they do not overlap.

False. Pragmatic, ethical and strategic. They are not exclusive and they do overlap.

The pragmatic approach is more proactive and affirmative than the strategic approach because it asks companies to identify and acknowledge company activities that can do harm and encourages firms to scrutinize their practices and address potential harms by focusing on their own value-chain activities.

False. This is the strategic approach.

When communicating a code of conduct: Focus on values that should guide decision making. Provide the same code of conduct to all departments regardless of its length. Refrain from changing the code of conduct regularly. Fewer employees will read the code if it is short.

Focus on values that should guide decision making.

Groupthink occurs when: A group is working together in a cohesive, flowing manner for peak performance. Group members conform to the group's decision and are unwilling to express disagreement. Group members know each other so well that they are able to anticipate each other's ideas. A group cannot make a decision because members are unwilling to compromise. Both "a" and "c."

Group members conform to the group's decision and are unwilling to express disagreement.

Continuous performance evaluation is categorized under which of the four drivers of employee engagement? Line of sight Involvement Information sharing Rewards and recognition

Rewards and recognition

The Tailhook scandal is an example of: Management focusing too much on the ends rather than the means. The ethical Pygmalion effect. Social learning theory. Employees ignoring management's clear message. All of the above.

Social learning theory.

You are a manager forced to lay-off certain employees. What is the primary objective that should guide your treatment of these individuals? To make the process as quick and painless to the company as possible. To ensure the grapevine is passing truthful information. To ensure layoff survivors understand why they were not chosen. To keep the matter a secret for as long as possible. To allow the terminated employee to maintain personal dignity.

To allow the terminated employee to maintain personal dignity.

According to a survey of executives, most respondents would rather lie to employees about performance than confront them about performance problems.

True

According to ethics and compliance officers, a respected and trusted insider who knows the company's culture and people is a preferable choice for a firm's ethics or compliance officer.

True

According to the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines, responsibility to oversee legal compliance standards can be divided among legal counsel, internal auditors, or human resource professionals.

True

Discipline is important to ensure worker productivity, set standards of acceptable behaviors, and meet the requirements of the U. S. Sentencing Guidelines.

True

For the public, the top three factors in corporate reputation are: transparent and honest practices, trustworthiness, and high-quality products and services.

True

Framing business decisions in ethical terms goes a long way toward increasing moral awareness, communicating your standards, and emphasizing the importance of ethical behavior.

True

If your manager asks you to betray your ethical standards, you should respond politely but firmly that you will not compromise your standards.

True

In ethical decision-making and particularly in cases dealing with product safety, firms are best served when they consider the long-term consequences of a decision.

True

Norms often arise to support behaviors that are implicitly rewarded.

True

One of a manager's most important responsibilities is to bring good people into the organization.

True

People are much more likely to act ethically if they perceive themselves as personally responsible for the outcomes of their decisions and actions.

True

Research has shown that the best way to encourage ethical behavior is to create an organizational culture that is built to enhance employee engagement.

True

Researchers have found that employees may be less likely to report ethical problems to management if they are intently focused on achieving a task.

True

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is credited with improving internal financial control systems in public companies even if the cost of doing so is thought to be exorbitant by small firms.

True

The strategic reason for having CSR play a prominent role in a firm advanced by Harvard Professor Michael Porter argues that in evaluating the firm's CSR, executives should begin by scrutinizing the social impacts of the company's value chain.

True

To make it easy to terminate a subordinate, ensure that you are being fair, that you deliver the news in a way that is aligned with your organization's values, and allow the employee to maintain his personal dignity.

True

Work roles can support either ethical or unethical behavior.

True

Workers expect managers to discipline fairly, and they are morally outraged when management doesn't do its job.

True

The __________ experiment demonstrated how normal students accepted and acted on their randomly assigned role of prisoner or guard. Milgram Manville Philadelphia Zimbardo My Lai

Zimbardo

The due care theory involves at least the elements set out below. a. products and services meet all government regulations and specifications. b. products should be inspected regularly for quality. c. manufacturers should institute a system to recall products that prove dangerous after distribution d. ability to return the product if dissatisfied for any reason. a, b, & c a & d all of the above

a, b, & c

An increase in the number of calls on the "ethics action line" is a sign that there are more reportable problems in the company now.

False

Despite Johnson & Johnson's best efforts to respond to its customers by pulling Tylenol off shelves, the product has never regained its market share.

False

Honest feedback is a two edge sword. Telling employees truthfully how they are performing alienates the strong performers and has a negative effect on the organization's culture.

False

If punishment occurs in private, few employees will know that unethical behavior was admonished; thus, managers should ensure that employees who behave unethically are punished publicly so that others learn from the process.

False

The Zimbardo experiment provides insight into ___________ just as the Milgram experiment provides insight into ____________. My Lai massacre; Abu Ghraib prison scandal Watergate scandal; My Lai massacre Abu Ghraib prison scandal; My Lai massacre My Lai massacre; Watergate scandal

Abu Ghraib prison scandal; My Lai massacre

At Delivering One Dish at a Time, Inc. three employees Amanda, Corey, and Brittany can be described as having the following characteristics: passionate and enthusiastic, feel profoundly connected to the company, and eagerly go the "extra mile." These employees fit into which of these groups? Actively engaged employees Actively disengaged employees Not engaged employees Partially engaged employees

Actively engaged employees

As a manager of ABC Corporation, you are in a tough situation. You must send an employee to work with your new client in Europe and Sam is clearly the most qualified candidate. However, ABC Corporation is located in an area where several people of Sam's race have been violently attacked. You must choose to send Sam or Tonya. What should you do? Automatically send Tonya to Europe without telling Sam he was considered. Automatically send Sam to Europe because he is clearly the most qualified. Assign Sam to a new task and send the Tonya to Europe. Ask Sam if he wants to go to Europe and discuss the situation. Flip a coin.

Ask Sam if he wants to go to Europe and discuss the situation.

Those who survive company layoffs are extremely grateful, and therefore they rarely exhibit negative behaviors (such as decreased productivity or low morale).

False

Under the 2004 sentencing guidelines, the __________ are expected to oversee the compliance and ethics program while __________ is/are charged with ensuring its effectiveness within the company. Board of directors; the CEO The CEO; general managers Board of directors; top management The company's ethics officer; top management None of the above

Board of directors; top management

United States v. Booker, judges are required to follow strictly the U. S. Sentencing Guidelines.

False

When an employee brings up an ethical concern at work, the manager is obliged to take the issues completely off the employee's hands.

False

According to management experts, "Management by walking around" is passé in the Internet age where managers can easily communicate with employees using technology.

False

_____________ is a term frequently used to describe ethics initiatives that begin at the top of the organization and work their way down, level by level. Surveying Globalizing Auditing Cascading Collaborating

Cascading

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) consists of which four kinds of responsibilities: Economic, ethical, societal, and altruistic Economic, legal, ethical, and altruistic Fiscal, legal, societal, and philanthropic Economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic

Economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic

In this example of a conflict of interest, ________ conducted a series of off-the-books partnerships that were used to hide the organization's debt and inflate its stock price. The partnerships were managed by the company's executives who stood to profit the most from the transactions. Merrill Lynch Citicorp Enron Adelphia Apple Computers

Enron

The idea that consumers have the right to safety, right to be heard, right to choose, and right to be informed came from ____________ in ________. Theodore Roosevelt; 1930. The Food and Drug Act; 1906. John F. Kennedy; 1962. George W. Bush; 2004.

John F. Kennedy; 1962.

In a classic example of failing to protect its employees, ___________ knew asbestos caused cancer as early as 1930. However, the company lied to its employees and used several tactics to cover-up the product's effects. Manville Corporation Johnson & Johnson A.H. Robbins Baskin and Robins McWane, Inc.

Manville Corporation

Group norms can cause an "everyone is doing it" mentality. This means: People are more likely to recognize issues as "ethical issues." Many individuals will go along with unethical behavior because of a strong need for peer acceptance. Managers cannot blame individual employees for unethical behavior. Employees are actively disengaged in groups.

Many individuals will go along with unethical behavior because of a strong need for peer acceptance.

Federal law prohibits discrimination against individuals with specific characteristics. Which of the following characteristics is not on that list (i.e. not protected under Federal law)? Religion Gender Pregnancy Mental ability

Mental ability

The ___________ experiment demonstrated the power of legitimate authority. Subjects were unwilling to question the experimenter's authority for fear of personal embarrassment or upsetting the status quo. Milgram Manville Zimbardo My Lai

Milgram

The late economist __________ said that management should "make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of society, both those embodied in the law and those embodied in ethical custom." Adam Smith John Maynard Keynes Milton Friedman Phillip Zimbardo

Milton Friedman

Which of the following is false? A mission statement describes "how we do business." Mission statements should be short and memorable. Mission statements should be written by outsiders who are unbiased. For some companies, mission statements are a mainstay of the corporate culture.

Mission statements should be written by outsiders who are unbiased.

Your friend, Sam, has been selected to create a new ethics training program at work. What advice should you give Sam? Provide separate training depending on the needs of different groups of employees. Ensure that all employees receive the same training content. Focus on new employees only; the other employees already know this stuff. Bring in outside consultants to conduct the training. To not bother. Ethics cannot be effectively taught.

Provide separate training depending on the needs of different groups of employees.