Exam 2: Business Ethics

As a result of regulations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the stock exchanges, the boards of directors of the great majority of publicly held corporations consist primarily of outside directors, and these corporations have audit committees of outside directors.

Utilitarian notions underlie cost-benefit analysis.

The type of moral equality espoused by John Rawls is:

The definition of business ethics includes which of the following points?

Under a Kantian approach to ethics, a person should not lie to colleagues unless that person supports the right of all colleagues to lie to one another.

Neal is young, likable, optimistic and generous son of a prominent public official.He has a master's degree in business and is the business partner of Ken and Bill in an oil drilling and exploration business.Neal also serves as a director on the board of the Bonanza Savings and Loan Association.While serving on the Bonanza Board, Neal votes to approve major loans to Ken and Bill without disclosing to the other directors that he is a business partner of Ken and Bill.Neal also personally arranges for a $900,000 line of credit from Bonanza for an oil drilling venture in which he is a partner with Ken.The drilling venture is unsuccessful and Ken and Bill both default on their loans to Bonanza, which then causes the S & L to become insolvent.Federal banking officials seize Bonanza and liquidate its assets to pay creditors and depositors.Because Bonanza is federally insured, tax money is also used to pay off depositors whose deposits are insured under federal programs.Bonanza shareholders lose their investment money.Was Neal's conduct as a director of Bonanza ethical? Analyze his conduct in light of the following ethical theories: a.Intuitionism and the "Television Test." b.Milton Friedman's ideas on corporate governance. c.Deontological theories. d.Rule utilitarianism. e.Ethical relativism.

Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, said the capitalistic system was composed of six institutions, which include all but which of the following?

If a Middle Eastern culture and the American culture differ as to the morality of a particular action, under ethical relativism:

Philosophers have found that the most effective way to develop dependable and universal methods for making ethical judgments is to fashion a priori guidelines.

To a __________ , whether telling a lie in a given instance would produce greater pleasure than telling the truth is less important than deciding if a general practice of lying would maximize society's pleasure.

A leading proponent of the utilitarian approach to ethics was the eighteenth century philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Discuss the arguments for and against businesses' involvement in socially responsible activities.

Discuss which of the social theories listed below you most agree with and why.Discuss your reasons for disagreeing with the others. a.Distributive justice b.Social egalitarianism c.Libertarianism

Deontological theories assess good and evil in terms of the consequences of actions.

From a Kantian perspective, for an action to be moral, it must be possible for it to be made into a universal law and it must be respectful of the autonomy and rationality of all human beings.

Under which ethical system would it be ethical to compel a few citizens to undergo painful or fatal medical tests in order to develop cures for the rest of the world?

Kant's philosophy rejects the idea that the end justifies the means..

Ethical issues in business settings include corporate governance, whistle-blowing, shareholder voting, and management's duties to shareholders.

A person who believes in the situational ethics theory would agree that precise guidelines for business behavior must be developed and adhered to by business professionals.

Which of the following is a common criticism of deontological ethical theories?