Business Ethics Ch4.

Ethics are primarily based on religious beliefs.

False

Ethical ideas are present in all societies, all organizations, and all individual persons.

True

If all people relied on ethical relativism, there would be no universal ethical standards on which people around the globe could agree.

True

Business must develop its own definition of what is right and wrong, apart from ethics.

False

Being ethical includes developing a sense of trust, which promotes positive alliances among business partners.

True

Business cannot expect to be profitable while adhering to ethical principles of conduct.

False

The U.S. Corporate Sentencing Guidelines provide a strong incentive for businesses to promote their ethics at work.

True

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that firms maintain good financial practices, apart from high ethical standards, in how they conduct and monitor business operations.

False

Employees would rather work for companies who promote their personal values.

True

An ethical egoist acts for the benefit of others and sacrifices self-interest.

False

Only in the last few years have scholars found a positive relationship between an organization’s economic performance and attention to spiritual values.

False

Managers in the same company are likely to be at the same stages of moral reasoning at any given time.

False

For managers who reason at stages 2 and 3, their personal rewards, recognition from others, or compliance with the company’s rules become their main ethical compass.

True

According to utilitarian reasoning, an action is ethically preferred when its benefits outweigh its costs.

True

Business managers should use all four methods of ethical reasoning – virtues, utility, rights and justice – to better understand ethical issues at work.

True

A conception of right and wrong is:

The definition of ethics.

People’s ethical beliefs come from:

Their religious background, family, and education.

People everywhere depend on ethical systems to tell them whether their actions are:

Right or wrong

Businesses are expected to be ethical in their relationships with:

All of the Above: – Stockholders. – Customers. – Competitors

Why should business be ethical?

All of the Above: – Most people want to act in ways that are consistent with their own sense of right and wrong. – Ethical behavior protects business firms from abuse by unethical employees and competitors. – Society’s stakeholders expect it from businesses.

Business executives are finding that a trusting, ethical relationship with a business partner is:

Often essential in conducting business.

Under the U.S. Corporate Sentencing Guidelines, if a firm has developed a strong ethics program, corporate executives found guilty of criminal activity may have their sentence:

Reduced.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, corporations are required to:

Have executives vouch for the accuracy of a firm’s financial reports.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act:

Requires executives to pay back bonuses based on earnings that are later proved fraudulent.

In a 2010 study of 400 companies, what percentage of firms said the benefits of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act outweighed its costs?

70%

A bottom-line mentality in business is reflected in which statement?

"We have to beat the others at all costs."

A purchasing agent directing her company’s orders to a firm which she received a valuable gift, is an example of:

Conflict of interest.

Cross-cultural contradictions arise due to:

Differences between home and host countries’ ethical standards.

Which of the following examples best illustrate an ethics issue based on cross-cultural contradictions?

Legally marketing a pesticide abroad that has been banned in the U.S.

As business becomes increasingly global:

Cross-cultural contradictions will increase.

According to a 2009 opinion poll, Americans hold a dim view of:

Wall Street executives.

Scholars found that spirituality:

Positively affects employee and organizational performance.

As an additional employee benefit to promote spirituality, companies have begun to provide employees with the services of:

Chaplains.

Which statement characterizes the moral reasoning typically found in a child?

"I’ll let you play with my toy if I play with yours."

Mature adults typically base their ethical reasoning on broad principles and relationships such as:

Both A&B – Human rights and constitutional guarantees of human dignity. – Universal principles of justice.

All of the following values are present in most ethical decisions except:

Be respectful.

Business managers need a set of ethical guidelines to help them:

Identify and analyze the nature of ethical problem.

Aristotle argued:

Moral virtue is a mean between two virtues.

When the benefits of an action outweigh its costs, the action is considered ethically preferred according to:

Utilitarian reasoning.

Utilitarian reasoning primarily considers:

The end results of an action.

The main drawback to utilitarian reasoning is that:

It is difficulty to accurately measure both costs and benefits.

At the core of rights reasoning is the belief that:

Respecting others is the essence of human rights.

Which of the following is not true about justice reasoning?

The reasoner is interested in the net value of benefits.

A just or fair ethical decision occurs when:

Benefits and burdens are distributed equally.

The reason(s) behind the uncertainty of an ethical or unethical decision is (are) that different people and groups:

All of the Above: – May honestly and genuinely use different sources of information. – May rank various rights in different ways. – May not share the same meaning of justice.