Ethics

_____ _ _____ may explain why many business ethics issues are resolved simply by following the directives of a superior.

Obedience to authority

_____ stakeholders are those whose continued association is absolutely necessary for a firm's survival.

Primary

_____ utilitarians determine behavior on the basis of rules designed to promote the greatest utility rather than by examining particular situations.

Rule

The _____-Oxley Act stiffened penalties for corporate _____ and established and accounting oversight board.

Sarbanes; fraud

_____ stakeholders do not typically engage in transactions with a company and are not essential to its survival. The stakeholder interaction model suggests there are reciprocal relationships between a firm and a host of stakeholders.

Seconday

_____ _____ - including peers, managers, coworkers, and subordinates- who influence the work group have more daily impact on an employee's decisions than any other factor in the decision-making framework.

Significant others

_____ is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as well as the mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies.

Sustainability

_____, or consequentialist, philosophies stipulate that acts are morally right or acceptable if they produce some desired result such as the realization of self-interest or _____.

Teleological; utility

_____ is concerned with maximizing total utility, or proving the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people.

Utilitarianism

_____-_____ crime occurs when an educated individual who is in a position of power, trust, respectability, and responsibility commits an illegal act in relation to his or her employment, and who abuses the trust and authority normally associated with the position for personal and/or organizational gains.

White-collar

_____-_____ crime is not heavily researched because this type of behavior does not normally come to mind when people think of crime; the offender (or _____) is in a position of trust and respectability; criminology and criminal justice systems look at white-collar crime differently than average crimes; and many researchers have not moved past the definitional issues.

White-collar; organization

Stakeholders are influenced by and have the ability to _____ businesses. Stakeholders provide both tangible and intangible resources that are critical to a firm's long term success, and their relative ability to withdraw these resources gives them power. Stakeholder's define significant _____ _____ in business,

affect; ethical issues

The ethical culture of an organization indicates whether it has an ethical _____.

conscience

The term _____ _____ is used to communicate the extent businesses strategically meet the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities placed on them by their stakeholders.

corporate citizenship

Corporate _____ and structures operate through the ability of individual relationships among the organization's members to influence those members' ethical decisions.

cultures

In addition, decisions in business are most often made _____ in work groups and committees, or in conversations and discussions with coworkers.

jointly

Business ethics comprises organizational principles, values and norms that may originate from individuals, organizational statements, or from the _____ _____ that primarily guide individual and group behavior in business.

legal system

The current trend is away from _____ _____ ethical initiatives in organizations and toward cultural initiatives that make ethics a part of core _____ values.

legally based; organizational

Corporate culture involves _____ that prescribes a wide range of behavior for the organization's members.

norms

The degree to which a firm understands and addresses stakeholders demands is expressed as a stakeholder _____ and includes three sets of activities: 1) the generation of data about its stakeholder groups and the assessment of the firm's _____ on these groups, 2) the _____ of this information throughout the company, and 3) the _____ of every level of the business to this intelligence.

orientation; effects; distribution; responsivesness

Individuals' personal moral _____ and decision-making experience may not be sufficient to guide them in the business world.

philosophies

Moral _____ refers to the set of principles or rules people use to decide what is right or wrong. These principles or rules provide guidelines for resolving conflicts and for optimizing the mutual benefit of people living in groups

philosophy

Individual factors such as religion, moral intensity, and a person's _____ affiliations can influence an employee's decision making process.

professional

Consumer _____ often occurs in the form of laws passed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices.

protection

According to the _____ perspective, definitions of ethical behavior derive subjectively from the experience of individuals and groups.

relativist

The _____ observes behavior within a relevant group and attempts to determine what consensus group members reach on the issue in question.

relativist

Research and anecdotes demonstrate building an ethical _____ among employees, customers, and the general public provides benefits that include increased _____ in daily operations , greater employee _____, increased investor willingness to entrust funds, improved customer trust and satisfaction, and better financial performance.

reputation; efficiency; commitment

Investors, employees, customers, special interest groups, the legal system, and the community often determine whether a specific action is _____ _ _____, ethical or unethical.

right or wrong

It reflects the ethical _____ of the individual or work group that triggers the ethical decision-making process.

sensitivity

Business ethics, issues, and conflicts revolve around relationships. Customers, investors, and _____, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and many others who have a stake or claim in an aspect of a company's products, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as _____.

shareholders; stakeholders

Issues in social responsibility include social issues, consumer protection issues, _____, and corporate governance. Social issues are associated with the common good and include such issues as childhood obesity and internet privacy.

sustainability

New development in ____ seem to e increasing the opportunity to commit white-collar crime with less risk.

technology

The _____-_____ century ushered in a new set of ethics ____, suggesting many companies had not embraced the public's desire for higher _____ _____.

twenty-first; scandals; ethical standards

Studying business ethics is important for many reasons. Recent incidents of _____ _____ in business underscore the widespread need for a better understanding of the factors that contribute to ethical and unethical _____.

unethical activity; decisions

In making ethical decisions, _____ often conduct cost-benefit analyses that consider the cost and benefits to all affected parties.

utilitarians

Organizational factors such as an organization's _____ often have greater influence on an individual's decisions than that person's own values.

values

A corporate culture is a set of _____, _____, goals, norms, and ways of solving problems that members (employees) of an organization share.

values; beliefs

The ethical component of a corporate culture relates to the _____, _____, and established and enforced patterns of conduct employees use to identify and respond to ethical issues.

values; beliefs

_____ deontologists hold that actions are the proper basis to judge morality or ethicalness and that rules serve only as guidelines.

Act

_____ utilitarians examine the action itself rather than the rules governing the action, to determine if it results in the greatest _____.

Act; utility

_____, or non-consequentialist , philosophies focus on the rights of individuals and the intentions behind an individual's particular behavior rather than its consequences.

Deontological

In general, _____ regard the nature of moral philosophies as permanent and stable and believe compliance with these principles define ethical behavior. _____ believe individuals have certain absolute rights that must be respected.

Deontologists; deontologists

_____ can be further divided into hedonism and enlightened egoism.

Egoism

_____ defines right or acceptable behavior in terms of the consequences for the individual. In an ethical decision-making situation, the _____ chooses the alternative that contributes the most to his or her own self-interest.

Egoism; egoist

_____ _____ can be viewed as the character of decision-making process employees use to determine whether their responses to ethical issues are right or wrong.

Ethical culture

The Dodd-_____ Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was later passed to reform the _____ system.

Frank; financial

These factors are interrelated and influence business ethics evaluations and intentions that result in ethical or unethical _____.

behavior

The reputation of a company has a major effect on its relationship with employees, investors, customers, and many other parties, and thus has the potential to affect its _____ _____.

bottom line

Businesspeople are guided by moral philosophies as they formulate _____ _____ and resolve specific ethical issues, even if they may not realize it.

business strategies

Rule _____ believe conformity to general moral principles determines ethical behavior.

deontologists

Other factors in our ethical decision-making framework influence this sensitivity, and therefore different individuals often perceive ethical issues _____.

differently

The term _____ _____ describes the component of corporate culture that captures the rules and principles an organization defined as appropriate conduct.

ethical culture

Studying business ethics helps you begin to identify _____ _____ and recognize the approaches available to resolve them.

ethical issues

From a social responsibility perspective, business ethics embodies standards, norms, and _____ that reflect the concerns of major _____ including consumers, employees, shareholders,suppliers, competitors, and the community.

expectations; stakeholders

Only if firms include ethical concerns in _____ values and incorporate ethics into business strategies can social responsibility as a value be embedded in daily decision making.

foundational

Individual factors such as _____, education, _____, age and locus of control affect the ethical decision-making process, with some factors being more important than others.

gender; nationality

Ethical issue _____ is the perceived relevance or importance of an ethical issue to an individual or work group.

intensity

The key components of the ethical decision-making framework include ethical issue _____, individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity.

intensity

The first step in ethical decision-making is to recognize an ethical _____ requires an individual or work group to choose among several _____ that will ultimately be evaluated as ethical or unethical by various stakeholders.

issue; actions