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Chapter Twenty:
Ethics Systems: Utilitarianism
True/False Questions:
1) The content of corporate social responsibility is provided by ethics..
2) A single ethics framework encompasses all the moral intuitions of people.
3) Unilateralism is one of the ethical systems used.
4) Ethics and its application in management constitute a broad and deep subject.
5) The principal consequentialist ethics system is utilitarianism.
6) Ethics and its application in management constitute a narrow subject.
7) Ethics has several managerial roles.
8) One of the managerial functions provided by studying ethics is that it presents and
analyzes different principles for evaluating managerial alternatives and
formulating policies.
9) Ethics, as a systematic approach to moral judgments based on reason, is based on
moral standards that are dependent on the declarations of governments and its
other authoritative bodies and agencies.
10) Moral philosophers have proposed an array of ethics systems without arriving at
consensus on a single system..
11) The focus of ethics is on issues and concerns that involve direct mutual
advantage, such as insider trading.
12) Business ethics is the application of ethics principles to issues that happen in the
conduct of business.
13) Business ethics is a separate discipline.
14) Ethics is principled reasoning while casuistry is an approach to moral practice that
seeks to balance competing considerations by making exceptions to principles in
specific cases.
15) In the appropriate method for applying ethics, one first generates decision
alternatives.
16) The concern of moral philosophy is with inducing moral principles and standards
from axioms or self-evident principles.
17) Utilitarianism is an ethical system whereby the social benefits of the selected
alternatives exceed their social costs.
18) Utilitarianism focuses on the number of people who are better or worse off
because of an action, that is, the greatest good for the greatest number.
19) Utilitarianism principles basically coincide with self-interest.
20) A role of government is to provide institutions that align private and societal well-
being.
21) Because utilitarianism combines the preferences of individuals, it does not take
into account unselfish preferences.
22) Utilitarianism also takes into account altruistic preferences.
23) Utilitarianism may be applied in two forms: act utilitarianism and role
utilitarianism.
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24) Act utilitarianism focuses on a general rule of behavior to be followed by all
individuals in all similar situations.
25) In a specific situation where deceiving rather than dealing with a person honestly
would bring benefits that exceed costs, act utilitarianism would dictate that you
not be dishonest.
26) Rule utilitarianism encourages an individual to think beyond the specific situation
and entertain a more general set of situations with similar characteristics.
27) The “rule utilitarianism” centers on the evaluation of the consequences of a
particular action in a particular situation.
28) Rights may be classified as intrinsic or instrumental.
29) Utilitarianism is a consequentialalist system.
30) One criticism of utilitarianism is that it does not give enough attention to intrinsic
rights and liberties.
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Multiple Choice Questions:
31) The content of corporate social responsibility is provided by:
a) law.
b) rules.
c) values.
d) ethics
32) Which of the following is NOT an ethics system?
a) Commensalism
b) Utilitarianism
c) Rights
d) Justice.
33) The principal consequentialist ethics system is:
a) commensalism.
b) rights.
c) justice.
d) utilitarianism
34) Ethics has a number of applied roles in management. Which of the following are
among those roles?
a) Basis of decision making
b) Basis for policy making
c) Basis for evaluating moral claims
d) All of the above are correct
35) Ethics is a systematic approach to moral reasoning based on all but which one of
the following?
a) Reason
b) Emotion
c) Analysis
d) Reflection
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36) Which of the following statements is the most accurate concerning business
ethics?
a) Business ethics is the same as personal ethics
b) Business ethics is a separate discipline
c) Business ethics is not a separate discipline
d) Business ethics is an oxymoron
37) In terms of ethics and private interests, which of the following is most true?
a) Ethical behavior is always rewarding
b) Ethical behavior does not always make an individual or business better off
c) Ethical behavior is its own best reward
d) Ethical behavior is universal
38) Ethics involves an inquiry into whether a proposition has ___ _____.
a) International roots
b) Moral status
c) Moral history
d) Historical perspective
39) In principle, what is ethics independent of in making decisions such as to provide
delivery service in a high crime area?
a) Racial analysis
b) Ethical principles
c) Politics
d) Personal values
40) What is defined by the following: an approach to moral practice that seeks to
balance competing considerations by making exceptions to principles in particular
cases?
a) Utilitarianism
b) Kantianism
c) Balanced reasoning
d) Casuistry
41) The first step in the methodology of appropriately applied ethics is what?
a) Managerial decision-making
b) Evaluate alternatives
c) Make decision
d) Identify decision alternatives
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42) What is moral philosophy concerned with?
a) Deducing moral standards and principles from axioms
b) Deducing moral universal ideas from situations
c) Inducing moral standards from principles of action
d) Inducing moral ideas from standards
43) What does political philosophy focus on?
a) Traditional politics
b) Business politics
c) Societal politics
d) Institutional politics
44) Utilitarianism is best understood as a special form of what moral philosophy?
a) Consequentialist
b) Subsequentialist
c) Universalism
d) Revisionist
45) In a consequentialist system, an alternative is moral under what conditions?
a) Everyone is better off with the alternative
b) If it produces a better outcome than the alternatives
c) If it is a good idea for society
d) If the organization likes the alternative best
46) What is nearly the direct opposite of utilitarianism?
a) The common good
b) The organizational best interest
c) National interest
d) Self-interest
47) Utilitarianism, as a system of ethics, is based on which of the following
premise(s)?
a) It is equivalent of serving one’s self-interest
b) It focuses on the number of people who benefit, and who would be worse off
by taking a certain action
c) It advocates the greatest good for the greatest number
d) Consequences are to be evaluated in terms of the aggregated preferences of
individuals.
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48) “Act utilitarianism” centers on which of the following?
a) General rules of behavior
b) Evaluation of consequences for general acts
c) Evaluation of consequences of a particular action
in a particular situation
d) Acts that are mutually advantageous to society
49) utilitarianism focuses on a general rule of behavior to be followed by all
individuals in all similar situations.
a) Aristotelian
b) Batch
c) Method
d) Rule
50) _______ utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of a particular action in a
particular situation and prescribes the action that yields the greatest aggregate
well-being for everyone affected by that action.
a) Act
b) Method
c) Platonic
d) Millian
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Essay and Review Questions:
1) Explain in some detail to a student who has never studied ethics or philosophy
what ethics is and is not. What is an appropriate methodology of ethical analysis?
Differentiate ethics from other areas. such as values. Give some specific
examples.
2) Discuss the ethical principles guiding American business in the 21st century. What
are the problems? How might the information provided in this chapter assist
managers and shareholders who want to rebuild or revitalize ethics in business?
What should and/or can be the role of government in providing ethical guidance
to business?
3) Utilitarianism has a relatively long history that goes back to Jeremy Bentham and
John Stuart Mill. Explain the concept, its premises and assumptions, its two
forms and applications. What are the basic criticisms of this concept? Give
relevant examples.
4) On an ethical issue such as abortion, war, racism, or the death penalty, apply a
cost/benefit analysis. Be specific in your analysis.
5) After reviewing all the ethical systems and classifications, what is your ethical
system? What are its specific premises and assumptions? What are some
applications to specific managerial issues or situations that you may encounter in
your career as a manager? What are some of the problems with your
conceptualization?
6) Explain and analyze why utilitarianism is not as it is often described: the greatest
good for the greatest number.
7) You are new in your job as the Human Resource director of a medium sized
company. You have inherited the job from someone who held it for 30-plus years
and was not trained in human resources. On the first day of the job, you have a
steady stream of people with complaints about sexual harassment, unequal pay
issues, racial slurs, gender discrimination and a host of other issues. Discuss and
analyze the practical application of ethics to such matters.
8) Write a new guide to ethical behavior in the 21st century for individuals,
businesses and society.
9) What are the primary ethical issues in the case of Pricing the Norplant System?
How would the utilitarians look at the issue and why? Which perspective would
you take and why? Use specific examples.
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10) You are a staff assistant in a large corporation’s human resources management
department. You have been given the assignment to research using the Norplant
system as being potentially covered under the company’s health insurance policy.
Explore the ethical issues involved and make recommendations to management.