Chapter 3

Which of the following statements is true of Kantianism?

It assumes that motives are important when judging moral action.

Moral Dilemmas Face by Organizations: Privacy

- A person's right to determine the type and extent of information that is disclosed about him or her - Requires managers to strike a balance between respecting privacy and learning about their subordinates

Moral Dilemmas Face by Organizations: Environmental

- Increasing pollution and depletion of natural resources - Managers face the question of how much they should conserve

Which of the following arguments also support Friedman's position? Check all that apply.

- People should be allowed to choose their charities for themselves. When organizations donate money to charity, the bottom line suffers. - People who put money into an organization deserve the maximum possible return on their investment.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A business's obligation to pursue policies, decisions, and actions that align with the objectives and values of society - Higher CSR activity causes lower financial performance in the future - Should be viewed as an investment that will lead to: 1. improved efficiency 2. innovation 3. long-term financial success

4 step process to implementing CSR

1. identify points of intersection between company and society 2. select social issues to address 3. create a corporate social agenda (incorporate w strategy) 4. create a social dimension to the value proposition

Economic Responsibilities

A business's duty to make a profit and increase shareholder value

Ethical Responsibilities

A business's duty to meet the expectations of society beyond its economic and legal responsibilities

Legal Responsibilities

A business's duty to pursue its economic responsibilities within the boundaries of the law

Fiduciary

A person who is entrusted with property, information, or power to act on behalf of a beneficiary

Procedural Justice

A subset of justice claiming that rules should be clearly stated, consistently obeyed, and impartially enforced

Distributive Justice

A subset of justice that deals with the distribution of wealth and prosperity among members of a society

Which of the following best supports Milton Friedman's claim that the only social responsibility of business is to increase its profits?

Among the 50 companies that shut down operations last year in the United States, 35 had invested heavily in CSR.

Virtue Ethics

An ethical philosophy claiming that morality's primary function is to develop virtuous character

Kantianism

An ethical philosophy claiming that motives and universal rules are important aspects in judging what is right or wrong

Justice

An ethical philosophy that provides the framework for society to judge what is morally right or wrong, fair or unfair, and establishes ways to evaluate or punish those who behave in morally wrong ways

Most whistle-blowers:

Are punished for pointing out problems Whistle-blowers often are punished for pointing out problems. They can lose pay, benefits, and even their jobs. However, they often say that they would whistle-blow on wrongdoing again, simply from the satisfaction they get by bringing malpractice to light and eliminating it.

Conflicts of interest

Conflicts that occur when employees or managers engage in activities on behalf of the company, and have a personal interest in the outcome of those activities

Ralph's reaction to this scenario is as follows: "That's not a good decision. She'll probably wind up needing one, if not several, of her friends to cover for her. How do you think that's going to make them feel?" Which of Kohlberg's levels of development does this response represent?

Conventional

Strategic CSR

Corporate social responsibility activities that are directly related to their business activities so that they can combine social welfare with financial welfare - Must be planned specifically to support core business activities - Supervised carefully to create value for the community and the firm - Evaluated regularly to ensure that CSR activities benefit society while also benefitting the business

Which of the following is the last step in the four-step process to implementing CSR?

Create a social dimension to the value proposition.

Trade Secret

Information used in conducting business that is not commonly known by others. It provides a strategic advantage over competitors

Which of the following is a shortcoming of utilitarianism?

It leads to a tyranny of the majority and a failure to respect minorities.

Which of the following best describes corporate social responsiveness?

It refers to how businesses should respond when society pressures them to do more.

Imagine you decide that since some other managers are asking job applicants for access to their social media accounts, it is not unethical for you to do so. Which of the following rationales most closely matches yours in this situation?

Other people are already doing it, so what difference does it make if I do it, too?

Conventional Morality

Stage 1: interpersonal relationships - focused on living up to social expectations and rules; there is an emphasis on conforming,being "nice," and considering how choices influence relationships. Stage 2: maintaining social order - people begin to consider society as a whole and focus on maintaining order by following rules, doing duty, and respecting authority

Preconventional Morality

Stage 1: obedience and punishment - usually common in children, who see rules as fixed or absolute. obeying rules means avoiding punishment Stage 2: individualism and exchange - children account for individual points of view and hedge actions based on how they serve individual needs.

Postconventional Morality

Stage 1: social contracts and individual rights - people begin to account for differing values, opinions, and beliefs of others. laws are important for maintaining society but members should agree on these standards. Stage 2: universal principles - based on universal principles and abstract reasoning, people follow these principles of justice even when they conflict w laws and rules

Utilitarianism

The ethical philosophy claiming that behaviors are considered moral if they produce the greatest good, or utility, for the greatest number of people

Corporate Social Responsiveness

The practice of businesses responding to pressure from society to engage in socially responsible ways

While-blowing

The release of information by a member of an organization that is evidence of illegal or immoral conduct to executives in a company or regulating agencies outside a company

Morality

The standards that people use to judge what is right or wrong, good or evil

Ethics

The study of moral standards and their effect on behavior and conduct

Strategic CSR refers to corporate social responsibility activities that

are directly related to the business objectives of a company.

Conformation to social expectations and consideration of interpersonal relationships tend to influence

conventional morality

Cadmia, a small island nation, recently revised its income-tax law. The new law sought to increase taxes on wealthy corporations and citizens with higher incomes. Surprisingly, everyone responded positively to the tax revision as they believed that it will decrease inequality in the nation. In this scenario, the people of Cadmia have demonstrated support for

distributive justice

Maintaining the bottom line is part of your company's ___________ Incorrect , the first and most important part of maintaining corporate social responsibility.

economic responsibilities

Ayesha, who manages a coffee shop, faces an ______________ dilemma when deciding whether to incur additional expense by providing customers with recycling and composting options for their waste.

environmental

I've built a social media platform that millions of people want to use, and I'm very proud of that. In fact, many entrepreneurs look at me as a role model. I also value and respect every Facebook user. Because I care about people and want them to enjoy my company's service, my decisions are ethical.

justice

If Joe were to believe that society is the best judge of right and wrong behavior and that society should determine how cocoa farmers should be treated, he would be following beliefs found in ____________ systems.

justice

____________ is the idea that moral behaviors must be based on standards of equity, fairness, and impartiality to preserve order in society.

justice

One of the most important concepts in ____________ is the idea that laws must be administered the same way for everyone, without bias, to result in fair outcomes.

procedural justice

Which of the following subsets of justice claims that rules should be clearly stated, consistently obeyed, and informally enforced?

procedural justice

When Joe first realizes that implementing fair trade and organically grown practices in cocoa production could help Theo Chocolates as well as helping Mayan farmers, he is involved in which part of the process for developing a corporate social responsibility strategy?

select social issues to address

A _____ is information used in conducting business that is not commonly known by others and often provides a strategic advantage for a company over its competitors.

trade secret

I understand that some people who use Facebook would like more privacy, but my company makes money by selling users' information. If the ability to profit from personal information were taken away, how would the company and all our stakeholders be compensated for the service we provide?

utilitarianism

You say that there are people who are angry about Facebook's privacy policies. But have you considered that far more people benefit from those practices than are harmed by them? There are millions of people in the world who want to see ads for things they care about, not irrelevant ads. We have to do what is right for the majority of people, not just for a small group.

utilitarianism

The release of evidence of illegal or immoral conduct by a member of an organization to executives in the company or regulating agencies outside the company is known as

whistle-blowing.