Exam 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility

The moral principles and beliefs about what is the right or appropriate way to behave are known as _____.

When faced with an ethical dilemma as a manager, Sam tries to reflect back on his upbringing to decide between right and wrong. Sam is reflecting on _____.

_____ have the right to expect a good return or reward by investing their human capital to improve a company's performance.

Stockholders seek to maximize the return on their investment and therefore show interest in the ethical practices of a company.

Discuss the relationship between ethics and laws.

_____ are thoughts and feelings that tell people what is right or wrong.

Decisions that managers take to protect the rights of some stakeholders often hurt the rights of others.

Laws and regulations lead to the development of ethical beliefs.

When tobacco companies sought to hide evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, they were exhibiting a(n) _____ approach to social responsibility.

Suppose you are an accountant for a large publicly traded company. You have discovered an error in the financial records that makes the company look more profitable. Explain how the practical rule discussed in the text would be applied to this situation.

Employees are stakeholders of a company.

Web sites like Napster demonstrate that the pursuit of self-interest can lead to a collective disaster when one or more people start to profit from being unethical because this encourages other people to act in the same way. This exemplifies a situation known as the _____.

When making business decisions, managers must consider the claims of stockholders exclusively.

Define ethical dilemma, moral scruples and ethics. Provide an example of an ethical dilemma.

An accommodative approach acknowledges the need to support social responsibility.

The approach to social responsibility most likely to be taken by a typical large U.S. company is the _____ approach.

WorldCom gave managers stock options and bonuses even when the company performance was declining, and managers sold their stock in advance of other stockholders. This illustrates the _____ approach.

Companies that go out of their way to learn about the needs of different stakeholders and use organizational resources to promote their interests are using the _____ approach.

Which of the following approaches to social responsibility is characterized by low levels of socially responsible behavior?

The managers of Lehman Brothers, whose bankruptcy helped propel the 2008-2009 financial crisis, used loopholes in U.K. law to hide billions of dollars of worthless assets in its balance sheet to disguise its poor financial condition. Which of the following approaches to social responsibility is illustrated from this example?