Chapter 8-10 ethics

False positives

A problem with polygraph tests, in that they have historically generated a disturbing # of inaccurate results, in which they will wrongly identify as liars people who are telling the truth.

corporate campaign

A relatively new pressure tactic by organized labor, in which unions enlist the cooperation of a company's creditors to pressure the company to unionize or comply with union demands.

Grease Paymemts

A type of corruption in which additional payments are sometimes considered necessary to ensure that the recipients carry out their normal job duties. These are not prohibited by the FCPA when paid to employees of foreign gov't who have primarily clerical or ministerial responsibilities. However, the act makes no distinction between such sanctioned bribery & extortion.

Job satisfaction

A worker's positive feeling related to being important, recognized, or of service; it may depend on such intrinsic factors as a sense of accomplishment, responsibility, recognition, self-development, or self-expression.

employment at will

Describes the status of every employment in the U.S., indicating that either side is free to terminate it at any time w/o advance notice or reason, unless there is an explicit contractual provision to the contrary. However, the law prohibits terminating workers due to union membership or activities; based on race, creed, nationality, sex, or age; or in the case of some public sector workers who are constitutionally protected & can only be fired "for cause."

Proprietary Data

Internally generated data or documents that contain technical or other types of info controlled by a firm to safeguard its competitive edge.

1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

Is a U.S federal law known primarily for 2 of its main provisions, 1 that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 & another concerning bribery of foreign officials.

bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQs)

Job specifications, very narrow in scope, to which the civil rights law does not apply. There have been none created for race or color, & only very few (related to modesty or authenticity) for gender.

43,000 workers each year are killed on the job.

Killed on the job.

Economic Esplonage Act

Law against the theft of trade secrets, usually involving confidential company procedures or product formulas, passed in 1996 (& upheld by most states as a federal crime).

Living Wage

The amount of money, often several dollars more per hour than the "minimum wage," that a full-time employee needs to afford the necessities of life, support a family, & live above the poverty line. This higher limit has been enacted in many cities, counties, & about 12 states.

Insider Trading

Abusing one's official position through the buying or selling of stocks (or other financial securities) on the basis of privileged or otherwise internal info that has not yet been made public & is likely to affect the price of the stock.

Civil Activities

Actions taken outside the work environment on the part of employees, including contribution to charities, volunteer work, etc., as encouraged by their employers.

Self-interest

Actions that best satisfy one's own interests & desires; for many employees, protecting themselves or safeguarding their jobs forms this primary factor in deciding whether to put 3rd-party interests above those of the firm. Concern with self-interest in cases that pit loyalty to the company against other obligations is altogether understandable & even warranted.

Sympathetics Strike

Cessation of work when workers who have no particular grievance of their own, & who may or may not have the same employer, decide to strike in support of others.

Sexual Favoritism

Discrimination by a superior when that superior is engaged in sexual relations not with those discriminated against, but with 1 or more other employees.

Layoff

Dismissal in the form of the temporary unemployment experienced by hourly employees; implies that they are "subject to recall."

Termination

Dismissal of employees as a result of their poor performance or failure to fill company expectations.

Firing

For-cause dismissal; the release of an employee usually resulting from employee theft, gross insubordination, or the release of proprietary info.

Two screening process' unfairly excludes certain applicants are:

Race & woman who want to have children.

Position Elimination

The permanent end of a job as a result of workforce reduction, plant closing, or departmental consolidation.

Right-to-work states

Today, 22 states, mostly in the South & West, have open-shop laws on their books, thus prohibiting the joining of unions as a necessary condition for employment.

1 of the chief concerns of nepotism is the disregard of managerial responsibilities to the organization & of fairness to other employees.

True

Due process requires specific & systematic means for workers to appeal discharge disciplinary decisions.

True

Wagner Act of 1935

U.S. federal law that protects the rights of most workers in the private sector to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, & to take part in strikes & other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands.

Job Specifications

A list that describes the qualifications an employee needs for a specific position, such as skills, background, education, & work experience.

Taft-Hartley Act

Amendment of the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1947 by a newly elected Republican Congress, which outlawed the closed shop (the requirement that a person must be a union member before being hired).

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

An act passed in 1980 that prohibited most private employers from using lie detectors in "preemployment testing," acknowledging moral concerns & statistical limitations of polygraph tests. It does not affect private security firms, drug companies, certain government contractors, & selected others.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

An agency of the U.S. Department of Labor created in 1970 to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, & deaths by issuing & enforcing rules (called standards) for workplace safety & health.

Wellness Program

Company sponsored "paternalistic" programs aimed at helping employees live longer & improve their health & productivity. Such programs teach employees about nutrition, exercise, stress, & heart disease, encouraging them to quit smoking, eat more healthfully, moderate their drinking, & exercise after work hours, often in a company gym through a company-sponsored sports team.

Employees have no obligations to people with whom they have no business relations.

False

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation of 1964 (later amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972) that prohibits all forms of discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. Title VII, the most important section of the act, prohibits discrimination in employment.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

Legislation passed in 1977 making it illegal for U.S. companies to engage in bribery overseas. While bribery is generally illegal in the U.S., this law was passed after the discovery that nearly 400 U.S. companies (including Exxon, Gulf Oil, & United Brands) had made paid off foreign officials for business favors.

Pink-collar occupations

Lower-paying jobs that tend to employ women (such as librarians, nurses, elementary school teachers, salesclerks, secretaries, bank tellers, & waitresses); those positions that generally pay less than traditionally male occupations (such as electrician, plumber, auto mechanic, shipping clerk, & truck driver).

Day Care

The care for young children while parents are at work. In regard to business, some companies have made attempts to provide on-site child care & assistance to working mothers & fathers.

Free Choice

The consent part is as significant as the informed part of informed consent.

Seniority

The longevity on a job or with a firm; frequently, job transfers or promotions are made strictly on the basis of seniority, but problems can occur with this promotion method, since the seniority of one individual doesn't necessarily mean competence, loyalty, or superior skills over another.

Privacy is widely acknowledged today to be fundamental right.

True

Sexual Harassment

Within the workplace, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, & other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

Trade secrets

"Any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of info" used in one's business that "provides an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it," according to the standard legal definition. Unlike patents & copyrights, they do not have to be declared or registered in any way, but they also do not have the same protection as patented or copyrighted info.

U.S. vs. O'Hagen

A 1997 Supreme Court ruling that endorsed the misappropriation theory of insider trading, thereby upholding one of the SEC's main legal weapons against insider trading. It ruled that people who trade on confidential info but are not traditional company insiders are still guilty of insider trading if they have "misappropriated" sensitive info.

Hostile-work-environment harassment

A broad & pervasive type of sexual harassment. Behaviors, words, or visual images of a sexual nature that are distressing to workers (almost always, but not exclusively, women) & that interfere with their ability to perform on the job, even when they are not attempts to pressure workers for sexual favors. (See sexual harassment.)

Direct Strike

A cessation of work by employees w/the same industrial grievance. It occurs when an organized body of workers withholds its labor to force the employer to comply w/ its demands, causing economic hardship on the employer & often inconvenience for consumers. It is one of labor's most potent tools in its dealings w/ management.

Quid-no-quo harassment

A form of sexual harassment that occurs when a supervisor makes an employee's employment opportunities conditional on the employee's entering into a sexual relationship with, or granting sexual favors to, the supervisor.

Job Screening

A hiring process that ensures a pool of competent candidates & guarantees that everyone is dealt w/ fairly; it begins with a job description & a job specification. When handled improperly, it undermines effective recruitment & invites injustices into the hiring process.

Right to refuse dangerous work

A legal right or workers, acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court, to decline undertaking activities that they consider unsafe. In general, workers are expected to behave reasonably & take the least disruptive course of action that is open to them; however, the definition of "dangerous work" has been open to debate.

Polygraph Tests

A machine that records changes in the physiological processes (including heart rate, blood pressure, & respiration rates) in response to disturbing or stimulating questions, often used in lie detection; meant to identify dishonest applicants or employees, it is often criticized as leading to inaccurate results or invading privacy.

Situational interview

A new & increasingly popular scenario in which job candidates have to engage in role playing in a mock office scenario. Proponents claim that it predicts future job performance more accurately than a standard interview, résumé analysis, personality assessments, or pen-&-paper tests.

National Labor Relations Act in 1935

Aka Wagner Act, the legislation passed in 1935 that significantly advanced the cause of unionism. This act prohibited employers from interfering w/ employees trying to organize unions, from attempting to gain control over labor unions, from treating union workers differently from nonunion workers, & from refusing to bargain w/ union representatives.

Company Loyalty

An important value that may include employees' sacrifices for the organization above & beyond their job descriptions. It is a 2-way street, however, & most employees believe it is up to the company to earn & retain their loyalty. Although some deny that employees owe loyalty to the company, most people find company loyalty a coherent & legitimate principle.

Conflict of Interest

Arises when employees at any level have special or private interests that is substantial enough to interfere w/ their job duties.

Civil disobedience

As a primary tactic of nonviolent resistance, the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands, & commands of a gov't, or of an occupying power, w/o resorting to physical violence (ex: advocated in the 1960s struggle for civil rights). Participants feel that the duty to obey the law is overridden by other moral obligations. In relation to business ethics, it is compared to whistle-blowing, the employee obligation or desire to report the apparent illegal or unethical activities of their employers.

Prudential reasons

Based on the word "prudence," refers in business ethics to considerations of self-interest, reasons that are opposed to "moral" considerations of the interests of others & the demands of morality. If prudential concerns outweigh moral ones, then employees may do what is in their own best interest. If moral reasons override prudential ones, then workers should honor their obligations to others. Some theorists believe that prudential concerns at times do outweigh moral ones.

Notifications of employee monitoring constitutes consent on the part of the employee to be monitored?

False

OSHA requires safeguards whether or not they are "feasible"

False

The Supreme Court has rejected the idea that inside trading involves "misappropriating" confidential info.

False

Business gifts & Entertainment

Familiar parts (or perks) of the business world, given to clients & business associates, including meals, tickets, hotel stays, etc. as well as goods & services; both categories can raise conflict-of-interest problems & even border on bribery. The parameters are more strictly regulated for federal & state jobs, but less defined in the business world.

Informed Consent

Implies deliberation & free choice. Workers must understand what they are agreeing to, including its full ramifications, & must voluntarily choose it.

Open-shop law

Laws that prohibit union contracts requiring all employees on a job site to either join the union or pay the equivalent of union dues, once hired. 22 so-called "right-to-work states," mostly in the South & West, have these laws on their books.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Legislation passed in 2002 that marked an important advance in assistance to employees who blow the whistle; provided new legal protection for employees who reported possible securities fraud, making it unlawful for companies to "discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against" such employees.

Which of the following is a true statement about the info gained from polygraph tests?

Not only should the organization have job-related grounds for using the polygraph, but these must be compelling enough to justify violating the individual's privacy & psychic freedom.

OECD Anti-Bribery Convention

Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development Anti-Bribery Convention, a formal treaty of 1997 that outlawed bribing public officials in foreign business transactions & set up reviewing & monitoring mechanisms. 37 countries, including all the world's industrialized nations, have passed domestic legislation implementing the OECD standards.

Used property, Personality tests serve 2 purposes in the work place. Which of the following is 1 of those purposes?

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

Musculoskeletal Disorders

Physical ailments such as aching backs, crippled fingers, sore wrists, & other problems suffered by millions of workers across the country, & caused or aggravated by their jobs.

Job Description

Procedures & policies that lead to adverse decisions regarding an employee or a job applicant based on his or her membership in a certain group; by legal definition, it occurs when (1) an employment decision in some way harms or disadvantages an employee or a job applicant; (2) the decision is based on the person's membership in a certain group, rather than on individual merit; & (3) the decision rests on prejudice, false stereotypes, or the assumption that the group in question is in some way inferior & thus does not deserve equal treatment.

Affirmative action program

Programs that take the race or sex of employees or candidates into account, designed to correct imbalances in employment that exist directly as a result of past discrimination, either on the part of the company itself or the public in general. These much-debated programs reflect the justice system's recognition that job discrimination can exist even in the absence of conscious intent to discriminate.

Bribe

Remuneration (money, gifts, entertainment, or preferential treatment) for the performance of an act that is inconsistent with the work contract or the nature of the work one has been hired to perform; often the exchange of money for violating job responsibilities or for failing to report irregularities. (See kickback.)

Deliberation

Requires not only the availability of facts but also a full understanding of them.

Brown vs. Board of Education

The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that helped launch the civil rights movement, holding that racially segregated schooling is unconstitutional; it conclusively overturned the older legal doctrine that "separate but equal" facilities were legally permissible. In this way the Court found that the very idea of separating the races inherently led to unequal treatment.

Bakke vs. Regents of the University of California

The 1978 U.S. Supreme Court's 1st major ruling on affirmative action. It involved a 5-to-4 decision that rejected explicit racial criteria such as setting rigid quotas & excluding nonpreferred groups from competition.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The 1994 act, effective for all firms with 15 or more employees, that protects the rights of people w/ disabilities to obtain gainful employment. It bans employers from discriminating against applicants or current workers w/ disabilities, & prohibits screening them out in hiring, promoting, or other workplace decision-making based on their physical or medical conditions only.

Just Cause

The 1st principle related to fair worker discipline & discharge, which requires that reasons for discipline or discharge deal directly w/ job performance. To create an atmosphere of fairness in which rules & standards are equally applied, both principles must operate.

Due Process

The 2nd principle related to fair worker discipline & discharge; refers to the fairness of the procedures an organization uses to impose sanctions on employees.

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), formed in 1955 when the AFL & the CIO merged; the national trade union center & the largest federation of unions in the U.S..

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The agency of the U.S. gov't that enforces the federal employment discrimination laws, including guidelines for affirmative action, standards for balanced representation within the workplace of races & genders, & definitions of sexual harassment.

Off-the-job conduct

The behaviors & actions of workers while not on the job. Refers to the general proposition that a firm has a legitimate interest only in employee behavior that significantly influences work performance. Organizations may be invading privacy when they interfere with employees' off-the-job conduct, monitor their social or community life, pressure them participate in wellness programs, or expect them to contribute to charities or do volunteer work.

Test Reliability

The determination as to whether test results from workplace assessments are replicable (ex: whether a subject's scores will remain relatively consistent from test to test, so that a test taker won't score high one day & low the next). However, even when tests are reliable, they can be unfair.

Test Validity

The determination as to whether test scores from workplace assessments correlate w/ performance in some other activity, (ex: whether the test measures the skill or ability it is intended to measure). However, even when tests are valid, they can be unfair.

Comparable Worth

The doctrine that holds women & men should be paid on the same scale not only for doing the same or equivalent jobs, but also for doing different jobs involving equal skill, effort, & responsibility.

Disparate Impact

The effect of a workplace rule or practice that, although not discriminatory on its face, excludes or adversely affects too many people of a particular sex, race, religion, or other protected category.

Informed consent

The implication of deliberation & free choice on the part of workers who are asked to take part in some activity (such as testing) or provide some personal info (such as medical history). It indicates that workers must understand what they are agreeing to, including its full ramifications, & must voluntarily choose it.

whistle blowing

The informing of the public by an employee (past or present) regarding the potentially illegal or immoral actions of an employer or an organization; often involves reporting of procedures or policies that are harmful, violate human rights, or pose hazards to workers or the public.

Monitoring of employees

The numerous methods, often via high-tech equipment, used to track what employees do at work or to gather personal info about them, often w/o their informed consent. It includes personality & polygraph tests, tracking of computers & phones, surveillance through videotapes, cameras, recordings, etc. It may be necessary, but it can also be abused & can violate privacy.

Which of these is a valid reason for not hiring a potential employee?

The person has a lack of experience.

Job Stress

The physical & emotional responses to the demands of a job or a work environment; often the feeling of being overwhelmed, overtired, or unbalanced.

Inbreeding

The practice of promoting exclusively from within the firm. In theory, when managers are seeking to fill positions, they should look for the most competent individuals, whether inside or outside the firm.

Nepotism

The practice of showing favoritism to relatives & close friends.

In determining the morality of giving & receiving gifts in a business situation, which of the following factors is MOST relevant?

The purpose of the gift.

Secondary Boycott

The refusal of consumers to patronize a company being struck, in their support of striking union members.

Primary Boycott

The refusal of union members & their supporters to buy products from a company being struck.

Privacy

The right or ability of individuals or groups to seclude themselves or info about themselves from public knowledge or public access. While widely acknowledged to be a fundamental right, corporate behavior & policies often threaten it, especially through the release of personal info about employees or monitoring of employees.

Conflicts of interest

The situation that arises when employees at any level have special or private interests that are substantial enough to interfere w/ their job duties (ex: when their personal interests lead them, or might reasonably be expected to lead them, to make decisions or to act in ways that are detrimental to their employer's interests).

Personality Tests

The standardized assessments often used by companies to determine whether prospective employees are emotionally mature, get along well with others, & have a good work ethic, & whether they would fit in with the organization.

Hawthorne Effect

The theory that giving recognition & attention to workers, beyond improving work conditions, tends to increase worker productivity while also heightening their feelings of personal identity & control.

Kickback

The type of bribery that involves % payments to people who are able to influence or control a source of income.

Abuse of official position

The use of one's employment situation for personal gain, often raising moral concerns & ethical questions due to the likelihood that one is violating one's obligations to the firm or organization. Ex. range from misusing expense accounts to billing the company for unnecessary travel, from using subordinates for non-organization-related work to abusing a position to enhance one's own financial leverage & holdings.

Management styles

The ways in which executives & supervisors conduct themselves on the job & interact w/ employees, including their attitudes, words, & actions; has been found to enhance or diminish the satisfaction of the work environment more than any other facet of employer-employee relations.

Employees have certain general duties to their employers, & b/c of the specific business, professional, or organizational responsibilities they have assumed, they may have other more precise role-based obligations.

True

The express purpose of a boycott is the same as a strike—to hurt the employer & strengthen the union's bargaining position.

True

card check

Under the National Labor Relations Act, there are 2 ways for workers to form a union. 1 is for a majority of the workers at a company to demonstrate their desire for a union by signing up to join it. This is called card check. Alternatively, if 30% or more of the workers sign a petition requesting union representation, then an election is organized & employees vote by secret ballot whether to have a union. However, employers can refuse to recognize a union chosen by majority signup & can demand an election instead. Recently, Congress has considered legislation that would force employers to recognize unions formed by card check.

Disparate Treatment

Unlawful differentiated treatment of an employee by an employer based on sex, race, religion, color, or national origin. Such treatment is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Assumption of Risk

Voluntary acceptance of a dangerous/hazardous situation, which presupposes informed consent. Employees have a right to refuse dangerous work, though in some circumstances or in certain occupations, an injured worker can reasonably be said to have voluntarily assumed the risk involved in the job situation.

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

as painlessly as possible.

The hiring process needs to include screening, testing, &

interviewing.