Chapter 3: The Manager's Changing Work Environment and Ethical Responsibilities: Doing the Right Thing

Which groups are parts of the task environment? (Choose every correct answer.)

Local communities Distributors Government regulators Strategic allies

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Often shortened to SarbOx or SOX, established requirements for proper financial record keeping for public companies and penalties for noncompliance

Justice approach

One of four approaches to solving ethical dilemmas; ethical behavior is guided by respect for impartial standards of fairness and equity

Moral-rights approach

One of four approaches to solving ethical dilemmas; ethical behavior is guided by respect for the fundamental rights of human beings

The passage of the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration and its impact on employers is an example of which force?

Political-legal

Crowdfunding

Raising money for a project or venture by obtaining many small amounts of money from many people ("the crowd")

Government regulators

Regulatory agencies that establish ground rules under which organizations may operate

Triple bottom line

Representing people, planet, and profit (the 3 Ps)-measures an organization's social, environmental, and financial performance

What is the BEST example of a sociocultural force affecting an industry?

Sales of organic fruits and vegetables increase because more people want to eat healthier.

_____ groups try to influence specific issues, some of which may affect your organization.

Special-interest

_____ are the relatively permanent and deeply held underlying beliefs that help determine a person's behavior.

Values

The ten groups that present a company with its daily tasks to handle represent the company's _____ environment.

task

A company's external environment consists of which two environments?

task general

An employee organization that represents hourly workers as opposed to salaried employees is called a(n) ______.

union

How Organizations Can Promote Ethics

1. Creating of a strong ethical climate 2. Screening prospective employees 3. Instituting ethics codes and training programs 4. Rewarding ethical behavior: Protecting whistle-blowers 5. Using a multi-faceted approach

Partnership

A business in which two or more persons combine their assets and skills

Code of ethics

A formal, written set of ethical standards that guide an organization's actions

Ethical dilemma

A situation in which you have to decide whether to pursue a course of action that may benefit you or your organization but that is unethical or even illegal

Social audit

A systematic assessment of a company's performance in implementing socially responsible programs, often based on predefined goals

Ethical climate

A term that refers to employees' perceptions about the extent to which work environments support ethical behavior

Owners

All those who can claim the organization as their legal property

General environment

Also called macroenvironment; in contrast to the task environment, it includes six forces: economic, technological, sociocultural, demographic, political-legal, and international

Whistle-blower

An employee who reports organizational misconduct to the public

Ethical behavior

Behavior that is accepted as "right" as opposed to "wrong" according to those standards

International forces

Changes in the economic, political, legal, and technological global system that may affect an organization

Political-legal forces

Changes in the way politics shape laws and laws shape the opportunities for and threats to an organization

What term is used when benefit to yourself or someone close to you interferes with your ability to make a business decision?

Conflict of interest

Which of these are forces within an organization's general environment? (Choose every correct answer.)

Demographic Sociocultural Technological Economic Political-Legal International

Trade balance

Difference between a country's imports' and exports' monetary value

_____ forces consist of conditions such as unemployment, inflation, interest rates, and economic growth that may affect an organization's performance.

Economic

Task environment

Eleven groups that present you with daily tasks to handle: customers, competitors, suppliers, distributors, strategic allies, employee organizations, local communities, financial institutions, government regulators, special-interest groups, and mass media

Internal stakeholders

Employees, owners, and the board of directors, if any

True or false: Ethical standards do not vary among countries or cultures.

False

True or false: Unlike generations before them, Millennials have little concern for the environment and are more interested in profit over planet.

False

Economic forces

General economic conditions and trends—unemployment, inflation, interest rates, economic growth—that may affect an organization's performance

Board of directors

Group of people elected to oversee the firm's activities and ensure that management acts in the shareholders' best interests

Special-interest groups

Groups whose members try to influence specific issues

Macroenvironment

In contrast to the task environment, it includes six forces: economic, technological, sociocultural, demographic, political-legal, and international

Sociocultural forces

Influences and trends originating in a country's, a society's, or a culture's human relationships and values that may affect an organization

Demographic forces

Influences on an organization arising from changes in the characteristics of a population, such as age gender, or ethnic origin

_____ forces are changes in the economic, political, legal, and technological global system that may affect an organization.

International

Venture capital

Is money provided by investors to start-up firms and small businesses with high risk but perceived long-term growth potential, in return for an ownership stake

Technological forces

New developments in methods for transforming resources into goods or services

Abusive supervision

Occurs when supervisors repeatedly display verbal and nonverbal hostility toward their subordinates

Utilitarian approach

One of four approaches to solving ethical dilemmas; ethical behavior is guided by what will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people

Individual approach

One of four approaches to solving ethical dilemmas; ethical behavior is guided by what will result in the individual's best long-term interests, which ultimately are in everyone's self-interest

Which of these organizations are considered special-interest groups? (Choose every correct answer.)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Mothers Against Drunk Driving

External stakeholders

People or groups in the organization's external environment that are affected by it

Competitors

People or organizations that compete for customers or resources

Distributors

People or organizations that help another organization sell its goods and services to customers

Suppliers

People or organizations that provide supplies—that is, raw materials, services, equipment, labor, or energy—to other organizations

Stakeholders

People whose interests are affected by an organization's activities

Which broad term identifies anyone impacted by a business, including but not limited to stockholders, employees, and customers?

Stakeholders

Ethics

Standards of right and wrong that influence behavior

What is an example of an international force that might affect US organizations?

The economic integration of the European Union

Insider trading

The illegal trading of a company's stock by people using confidential company information

Value system

The pattern of values within an organization

Strategic allies

The relationship of two organizations who join forces to achieve advantages neither can perform as well alone

Customers

Those who pay to use an organization's goods or services

True or false: Local communities can be affected greatly by the entrance or exit of large businesses.

True

Workplace cheating

Unethical behaviors that result in employees receiving benefits or advantages to which they are otherwise not entitled

Sole proprietorship

a business owned and managed by a single individual

What are examples of demographic forces that can affect an industry? (Choose every correct answer.)

a rise in church attendance a decline in population size a decrease in marriage rates

employee ownership

a situation in which employees own the company they work for by virtue of being stockholders

When companies link up with one another in order to realize certain advantages, they are known as strategic _____.

allies

In most for-profit and nonprofit organizations, the _______ hires the chief executive of the organization.

board of directors

Local communities are important organizational stakeholders. In fact, if a community gives a company tax breaks in return for the promise of new jobs and the firm fails to deliver those jobs, the community may be able to institute a _____ and rescind the tax breaks.

clawback

Four restaurants that are all seeking to attract the same customers would be categorized as _______.

competitors

The people or organizations that vie with your company for customers or resources are known as _____.

competitors

Sofia paid for a haircut and some hair-care products at a local salon. In the task environment, Sofia would be classified as a _______.

customer

Those who pay to use an organization's services or to buy their goods are called ______.

customers

Recent trends show that the percentage of the labor force represented by unions has _____.

decreased

Diversity in the US workforce is increasing in terms of race, ethnicity, and age groups. These are all examples of _____ forces.

demographic

A person or an organization that helps another organization sell its goods and services to customers is called a(n) ______.

distributor

Forward-thinking organizations tend to consider ______ as the most important resource a company has.

employees

In modern organizations, _____ are the most important resource.

employees

An organization's internal stakeholders consist of

employees, owners, and the board of directors.

A company's triple bottom line measures which aspects of its performance? (Choose every correct answer.)

environmental social financial

A(n) _____ dilemma is a situation in which you have to decide whether to pursue a course of action that may benefit you or your organization but that is unethical or even illegal.

ethical

Behavior that is accepted as proper according to a society's prevailing values is known as _______ behavior.

ethical

An organization's standards of right and wrong that influence employee behavior are referred to as _______.

ethics

Millennials in the workforce: (Choose every correct answer.)

expect more from the organizations they do business with are concerned about a corporation's ethics, motives, and methods expect more from the organizations they work for want work/life balance

People who are outside an organization but are still affected by the organization are called the ______.

external stakeholders

Banks, savings and loans, and credit unions are all examples of _______ institutions and are stakeholders within the task environment.

financial

The macroenvironment is also known as the _______ environment.

general

Federal agencies that establish ground rules under which organizations operate are called _______.

government regulators

In the __________ approach to solving ethical dilemmas, there is the assumption that people will act ethically in the short run to avoid others harming them in the long run.

individual

The people inside of an organization who have an important stake in how it performs are the organization's _____ stakeholders.

internal

Managers operate in two organizational environments

internal and external - both made up of stakeholders

A distributor is sometimes referred to as a(n)

middleman

The ______ of an organization consist of all those who can claim it as their legal property.

owners

Marta and her sister Ingrid co-own an organic food stand at the local public market. What type of ownership does this represent?

partnership

stockholders

people or entities that own stock in a corporation and therefore are its owners

Changes in the way politics shape laws and laws shape the opportunities for and threats to organizations are called ______ forces.

political-legal

A company's triple bottom line represents which aspects? (Choose every correct answer.)

profit people planet

Suppliers are people or organizations that

provide raw materials, services, equipment, labor, or energy to other organizations.

Crowdfunding is defined as ______.

raising money by collecting many small amounts from many people

What are two functions of the board of directors for a company?

set overall strategic goals for the firm approve salaries of top management

A(n) _____ force represents the influences and trends originating in the human relationships of a society that may affect industries.

sociocultural

If you run a one-person operation with no other investors or employees, your company is a(n):

sole proprietorship

A company's decision to move its operations out of the country will affect its employees, owners, suppliers, distributors, and everyone else who has an interest in the business. All of these groups together make up the company's _____.

stakeholders

Government regulators are considered part of a firm's _____.

stakeholders

If you purchase shares of stock in a company, you are a(n) _____ in that company.

stockholder

Two or more organizations that join forces in order to achieve advantages that neither can perform as well alone are known as _______.

strategic allies

A company or person that provides raw materials, services, equipment, labor, or energy to another organization is called a(n) _____.

supplier

Bio-Med Laboratories recently announced it had produced a new medication that would mitigate arthritis symptoms. This new medication is an example of a(n) _____ force.

technological

New developments in methods for transforming resources into goods or services are called _______ forces.

technological

What are two examples of economic forces within a company's general environment?

the unemployment rate bank interest rates

When managers use financial performance as the best definition of an ethical choice, they are taking a(n) ______ approach to organizational decisions.

utilitarian

Four approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas

1. utilitarian approach 2. individual approach 3. moral-rights approach 4. justice approach

Values

Abstract ideals that guide one's thinking and behavior across all situations; the relatively permanent and deeply held underlying beliefs and attitudes that help determine a person's behavior

Which of these employees is involved in an ethical dilemma?

Jonah is deciding if he should add two hours to his time sheet for travel to a client meeting because his company does not reimburse for travel time.

Which employee is demonstrating ethical behavior?

Jordan did not accept a gift from his salesperson because he could tell it was a bribe to get him to buy products from the company.