Managerial Ethics Exam #4

There are two types of harassment

"quid pro quo" and "hostile work environment"

What is the most plausible argument FOR affirmative action?

It's necessary to break the cycle that keeps minorities and women locked into low-paying, low-prestige jobs

What is a valid reason for not hiring a potential employee?

Lack of experience

Advocates of "comparable worth"

believe women and men should be paid on the same scale for doing equivalent jobs and different jobs involving equivalent skill, effort, and responsibility

According to the traditional law of agency

employees are under a legal obligation to act loyally and in good faith and to carry out lawful instructions

Conflicts of interest

employees have a personal connection that might affect their obligation to the company

Conflicts of interest occur when

employees have special or private interests that are substantial enough to interfere with their job duties

workplace safety

employers aren't morally responsible for workplace accidents caused by coworkers negligence

Since Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1994,

employers must make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled workers

They key moral ideal in promotions is

fairness

Polygraph tests

fast way to verify info provided by applicants, allows employers to identify dishonest employees, the info they are seeking must be clearly related to the job

Reason for firing

for-cause dismissal, still should provide warning, severance pay

Arguments against unionization in the workplace

forcing workers to join unions infringes on autonomy and right of association- union workers receive discriminatory and unlawful favoritism

Arguments for unionization in the workplace

gives unions a voice in important matters, make employees more dependent on their workers, negotiations regarding wages

Legit influence to invade employees privacy

has legit interest in employee conduct off the job only if it affects work performance

Personality tests

help business match individuals to appropriate jobs, intrusive, may not effectively screen the major characteristics required for the job

obligations employees have to the firm

loyalty, comply with job description, honesty

The Sarbanes Oxley Act marked an important advance for several reasons, one of which is that it

makes it illegal for executives to retaliate against employees who report possible violations of federal law

Comparable worth

men and women should be paid on the same scale

Argument for affirmative actions

needed to permit fairer competition, necessary to break the cycle that keeps minorities and women in low-paying jobs

Criteria for analyzing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases

position of person paying the bribe, country of foreign official that received the bribe, bribe amount, type of transaction, level of conspirator, length of inprisionment, imprisonment location, amount of the fine, amount of special assessment

Unions employ two kinds of boycotts to enforce their demands. These two kinds are

primary and secondary

Sarbanes Oxley Act

protects those who report possible securities fraud

Reason for termination

result of poor performance

Pros of promotions based on seniority

rewarding long and faithful service, increases productivity

What are the 3 steps to the hiring process?

screening, testing, interviewing

reason for layoff

temporary unemployment

Today most large corporations not only accept the necessity of affirmative action but also find that ____ benefits when they make themselves more diverse

the bottom line

Insider trading is

the buying or selling of stocks by business "insiders" on the basis of information that hasn't been made public and is likely to affect the price of stock

Sexual comments that one woman appreciates might distress another woman. The courts decide when such behavior is inappropriate by seeing if the behavior would be offensive to

the hypothetical "reasonable person"

Theory X

workers dislike work and try to avoid it

Douglas McGregor rejects Theory X, which holds that

workers essentially dislike work and will do everything they can to avoid it

reason for position elimination

workforce reduction

Wager Act

1935, prohibited employees from interfering with workers trying to start unions, attempting to gain control over unions, treating union workers differently from others

What is the correct statement concerning OSHA?

Critics call OSHA a "toothless tiger"

What do affirmative action programs involve?

Firms are expected to survey current female and minority employment by department and job classification

Used properly, personality tests serve two purposes in the work place. What is one of those purposes?

Personality tests help screen applicants for jobs by indicating areas of adequacy and inadequacy

Theory Y

assume employees like work and view it as something natural and potentially enjoyable

A fact about job satisfaction is

a lack of job satisfaction can create mental health problems

Which statement is true about the hiring and employment process?

according to common law, unless there is an explicit contractual provision to the contrary, every employment is employment "at will"

Cons of promotions based on seniority

affects ambition

Cons of promotions based on qualification

affects morale and productivity

What is the most plausible argument AGAINST affirmative action?

affirmative action violates the principle of equality

Affirmative action

any program designed to ensure that minorities, women, etc are adequately represented

Employers have the right to fire an employee who performs inadequately, but should do so

as painlessly as possible

a trade secret

can be almost any info not generally known if it's valuable to its possessor and treated confidentially

According to common-law, to legally terminate an employee, and employer

can have any reason or no reason

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

dictates stiff fines and prison for corporate officials engaging in bribery overseas

Whistleblowing

employee informing the public about illegal or immoral behavior of an employer or organization

Employers rights to invade employees privacy

if it effects workplace and company, shouldn't find out every detail, but background checks are normal

Conflicts of interest may exist when employees have financial investments

in suppliers, customers, or distributors with whom their organizations do business

Pros of promotions based on qualification

incentive to work hard, dedication to the company

labor unions purpose

increased the security and standard of living of workers and contributed to social stability and economic growth

When it comes to obtaining information about employees, a key concept is

informed consent

Drug testing

informed consent? are the tests reliable? is it pertinent to the job?

Argument against affirmative actions

injures white men and violates their rights, violates the principle of equality, nondiscrimination alone will achieve our social goals

Job satisfaction factors

interesting work, good pay, opportunities, job security