Chapter 1 and 2 business law

Does ethical behavior maximize profitability?

Although there is no guarantee that ethical behavior pays the the short or long run, there is evidence the the ethical company is more likely to win financially

Contemporary law's principle of collective responsibility, such as all partners being personally responsible for the debts of the partnership, had its roots in the

Anglo-Saxon method of ensuring public order through tithing

Which of the following would be an example of a civil lawsuit?

Gretta hit Rita in a bar during happy hour. Rita is now suing for her injuries.

Dahlia is in the process of developing her set of Life Principles. She asks you for your advice. Which of the following statements will you tell Dahlia is important for her to follow when developing her Life Principles?

Her Life Principles should be based on her own values.

How does the unethical behavior in an organization affect its workforce?

It creates a workforce that is cynical and resentful

Which person held the belief that the circumstances into which we are born play an important role in our personal outcome?

John Rawls

When Shoes International went out of business after some serious and unethical accounting errors, its accounting company also closed its doors. 123Jump, a French company, was concerned that the unethical behaviors that occurred were an American problem, so it canceled its business with another American accounting company and used a French one inside. Who was harmed by Shoes International's unethical behavior?

Shoes International, the accounting industry and the United States

Tony raped Jane n the parking lot of Joe's Brew Pub. The District Attorney's office prosecuted Tony on rape charges. Subsequently, Jane filed a lawsuit against Tony for money damages. Classify each legal action

The District Attorney's case was a criminal case; Jane's lawsuit was a civil case

Wich of the following played a role in the creation of the U.S. government by solving the problem of federalism?

The Iroquois Native Americans

What is ethics?

The study of how people should behave

Why do many major corporations actively encourage ethical behavior?

Unethical behavior can quickly destroy a business

Curtis filed a lawsuit against Ulhoff for failure to repay $1,000 according to the terms of a promissory note. The trial ended before it began, with the trial judge granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of Curtis. Ulhoff has appealed, and the Supreme Court of Iowa has remanded the case. This means

We don't know who wins yet because the case is being returned to the trial court for addition steps.

Which of the following is NOT a stakeholder

a business competitor.

Hasbro, Inc., the trademark owner of "Candy Land," sought a court injunction to stop Internet Entertainment Group, LTD from using the domain name, "candyland.com." Internet Entertainment Group had established a sexually explicit site at the domain name. This injuction would have to be issued by

a judge

Your co-worker, Bill, comes into the office and tells you that he is going to play "hooky" and go golfing believing that the boss will think he is out calling on clients. When your boss come in, he asks you where Bill is and you reply " I saw him in the office earlier this morning, but I haven't seen him lately." What would Kant call this misleading statement

a palter

The Minnesota legislature passed a law requiring that employers allow each employee adequate time within each four consecutive hours of work to utilize the nearest convenient restroom. This law is

a statute

President Nixon issued wage-price controls in an effort to stabilize the economy. This use of executive power was

a valid use of power based on Article II of the Constitution

The government itself prosecutes the wrongdoer in a case involving behavior so threatening that society outlaws it altogether. This kind of case involves

criminal law.

What are the two types of moral relativism noted in your text?

cultural and individual

John Johnson is a customer of company ABC. As such, John is a(n)

customer and stakeholder

Theo believes that everyone must develop his or her own ethical rules. So whereas he believes that gay marriage should be legal, he understand that other people might feel differently. Theo would be considered to be a(n) ----- relativist

individual

`The federal judicial branch of the U.S. government

interprets statutes

According to Michael Porter, a company should not undertake a corporate social responsibility project unless

it is profitable for the company in its own right

The doctrine of precedent requires

judges to base rulings on previous cases

Common law refers to

law made when judges decide cases and then follow those decisions in later cases

Henry David Thoreau felt that was unjust and therefore refused to pay his taxes when the United states declared war on Mexico. If Henry David Thoreau's neighbor agreed that war was unjust but paid his taxes because the law required him to pay the tax, the neighbor would be applying the jurisprudence theory of

legal positivism

The doctrine of stare decisis

makes the law more predictable

What word is best associated with deontological ethics?

obligation

When evaluating the right decision, deontological ethics bases its value on the

reason for doing something

In 1992, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in a case entitled Goodman v. Wenco Foods, Inc., that wen a substance in food causes injury to a consumer of the food, it is not a bar to recovery against the seller that the substance was natural to the food. If, in a 2008 case involving a consumer's injury caused by a fish bone in a bowl of fish chowder, the court followed the decision in Goodman v. Wenco Foods, Inc., the court's action in the second case is an example of

stare decisis

Treaties with foreign nations can only be made by ---- and ratified by ----.

the President; The Senate by a two-thirds vote

According to Immanuel Kant, the truth should be told, no matter the outcome. This is the idea behind what he called

the categorical imperative

John Rawls' suggestion that society should reward behavior that provides the most benefit to the community a a whole is referred to as

the difference principle

The three branches of government in the United States are

the executive, legislative. and judicial

Haley is an accountant for a large hospital network. She knows that she could easily "skim" money from the organization to keep for herself and chances are she would not get caught. However, she keeps thinking about what wold happen to her and her family if her actions went viral and appeared all over the Internet or in her local newspaper. What ethics test is Haley considering?

the front page test

John Stuart Mill believed that a correct decision was one that maximizes overall happiness and minimizes overall pain, thereby producing the greatest net benefit. This is the principle behind

utilitarian ethics.

The United States Supreme Court has the power to

void laws passed by congress

If the title of an appellate court case appears as Jones v. Smith,

you cannot determine which party is the plaintiff, because when a defendant loses a trial and files an appeal, some courts (but not all) reverse the names of the parties

Jamal was recently hired as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. He notices that all the other sales reps "pad" their expense accounts by claiming meals with clients that never took place and then pocket the extra money. Jamal figures that since everyone else is cheating one their expense accounts, he might as well do the same. What ethics trap is Jamal falling into?

Conformity

A recent study found that more creative people tend to be less ethical. Why is this so?

Creative people are better at rationalizing their bad behavior.

Which of the following statements best exemplifies how society as a whole benefits from ethical behavior?

Ethical behavior builds trust which is important in all of our relationships.

Which school of jurisprudence is based on the philosophy that what matters in snot what is written as law, but who enforces the law and by what process?

Legal realism

Which person argued that a corporate manager's primary responsibility is to the shareholders of the organization and that mangers should make the company as profitable as possible while also complying with the law?

Milton Friedman

------ is the belief that some acts are always right or always wrong, whereas -------- is the belief that a devision may be right even if it is not in keeping wit our own ethical standards.

Moral universalism; moral relativism

Henry David Thoreau felt that war was unjust and therefore refused to pay his taxes when the United States declared war on Mexico. Thoreau felt that there was a higher law than the law of the land. Which theory of jurisprudence was he applying?

Natural law

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration promulgated rule requiring warehouse employees to wear hardhats whin in the vicinity of an operating forklift. The purpose of the hardhats is to protect employees from danger of falling objects. This rule is

administrative law

Congress enacted legislation in 1933 to regulate the securities industry and prohibit various forms of fraud with securities. The securities Exchange Act of 1934 was passed a year later. This law created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an independent regulatory entity whose function is to administer the two laws. The SEC has generated rules and regulations to administer these acts. These rules and regulations are

administrative laws

When the Food and Drug Administration prohibits a certain drug from being marketed in the United Staes, this is

an agency regulation.

The President of the United States

can veto Congressional legislation

Your text outlines three practices to help one avoid ethical traps: slow down, remember your Life Principles, and

do not trust your first instinct.