1. Public interest in business ethics is at an all-time high.
a. True
b. False
2. Before Enron, many thought business ethics was a problem with the top of the pyramid.
a. True
b. False
3. The ethics scandal that has come to define modern business ethics is the Enron debacle.
a. True
b. False
4. Over half of Americans say that business executives have high or very high ethics.
a. True
b. False
5. A recent NBES survey indicated that ethical misconduct at work was up slightly.
a. True
b. False
6. A December 2015 Gallop poll revealed that only 17% of the public thought that business executives had high or very
high ethics.
a. True
b. False
7. The public’s opinion of business ethics may be reported at two levels – a high level and a low level.
a. True
b. False
8. The public’s view of business ethics has always been very high until the recent scandals.
a. True
b. False
9. Descriptive ethics is concerned with studying and describing the morality of a particular group of people.
a. True
b. False
10. Normative ethics depends on whether “everyone is doing it” to justify moral decisions and actions.
a. True
b. False
11. The major questions related to the conventional approach to business ethics are “Whose norms do we use?” and “What
norms are prevailing?”
a. True
b. False
12. The best reason to base one’s ethics on societal norms is that the norms do not conflict; thus they provide clear
guidance to “right” and “wrong.”
a. True
b. False
13. Ethical behavior is generally considered to be on a higher plane than legal behavior.
a. True
b. False
14. In making ethical judgments, it is usually easier to reach consensus on individual practical cases than it is to agree on
broad principles.
a. True
b. False
15. In business decisions ethics, the environment and the law are not factors.
a. True
b. False
16. Immoral management implies that decision makers know right from wrong, but choose to do wrong.
a. True
b. False
17. Moral management stresses profitability over other stakeholder concerns.
a. True
b. False
18. Virtually all companies that exhibit moral management have had that outlook since they were founded.
a. True
b. False
19. Researchers have found that many business people go through life thinking that they are objective.
a. True
b. False
20. Amoral management relies primarily on a compliance strategy that focuses on obedience to the law.
a. True
b. False
21. In Kohlberg’s preconventional level of moral development, the individual’s primary concern is for others.
a. True
b. False
22. The postconventional level of moral development is the most common level for adults over 50 years of age.
a. True
b. False
23. Culture is that broad synthesis of societal norms and values emanating from everyday living.
a. True
b. False
24. Moral identification and ordering refers to the ability to discern the ambiguity of moral factors.
a. True
b. False
25. The Enron Era brought about a broad range of legal and ethic charges that included all the following except
a. securities fraud
b. conspiracy to inflate profits
c. corrupt corporate cultures
d. building company assets
26. The Wall Street financial scandals involved all the following except
a. recklessness about risk
b. ethical lending
c. subprime lending calculations
d. greed
27. At the macro level, big business is being questioned for its:
a. ethical challenges
b. legitimacy
c. individual activities
d. managerial relationships
28. An NBES Survey concluded that ethical misconduct
a. whistle-blowing had decreased.
b. In pressure to cut corners had increased.
c. at work was down slightly
d. was observed more on the job.
29. There is no doubt that the media are
a. ignoring ethical violations in their own industry.
b. reporting ethical problems more frequently and fervently.
c. defending the right of business to be conducted amorally.
d. reporting breaches of ethics in politics more than they are reporting business ethics violations.
30. Public opinion polls regarding business ethics are
a. clearly tied to reactions to the latest scandals reported by the media.
b. reflective of actual business ethics currently in practice.
c. unrelated to actual business ethics practices.
d. difficult to assess because the media keeps ethics scandals in the public eye.
31. The magnitude of the current ethics problem is seen to be caused by
a. rising social expectations.
b. small increases, declines, and stability in actual business ethics.
c. both rising social expectations and small increases, declines, and stability in actual business ethics.
d. Ethics is not currently a problem.
32. One of the functions of corporate governance is
a. oversight of senior managers.
b. capital budgeting.
c. incorporating ethics into the strategic planning process.
d. monitoring executive bonuses.
33. The discipline that deals with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation is
a. morality.
b. deontology.
c. ethics.
d. moral philosophy.
34. A doctrine or system regarding one’s personal compass regarding right or wrong is called
a. ethics.
b. deontology.
c. morality.
d. moral philosophy.
35. Business ethics is
a. a special branch of ethics unto itself.
b. concerned with moral issues that occur only in business.
c. concerned with right and wrong behavior within a business context.
d. a subset of business practice.
36.
a. fairness.
b. justice.
c. standards.
d. equality.
37. The area of ethics that is concerned with supplying and justifying a coherent moral system of thinking and judging is
called
a. normative ethics.
b. descriptive ethics.
c. business ethics.
d. virtue ethics.
38. Which of the following is not one of the major approaches to thinking about business ethics?
a. conventional approach
b. rights and duties approach
c. principles approach
d. ethical tests approach
39. The focus of descriptive ethics is on
a. determining what should be done in a given situation.
b. justifying a moral system of thinking and judging.
c. learning what is occurring in the realm of moral behaviors and practices.
d. learning how to justify one’s chosen actions.
40. The approach to business ethics in which we compare a decision or practice to prevailing norms of acceptability is the
a. virtue approach.
b. principles approach.
c. conventional approach.
d. ethical tests approach.
41. The minimum standard of ethical behavior can be thought of as
a. following the Golden Rule.
b. adhering to the law.
c. living according to religious principles.
d. avoiding punishment.
42. Which of the following is not an element of making ethical judgments?
a. observation of the decision or action
b. comparison of the decision or action to prevailing norms of acceptability
c. recognition that value judgments are made regarding the decision or action and the prevailing norms of
acceptability
d. awareness of the moral implications of a situation
43. The most serious danger of using the conventional approach to business ethics is
a. reliance on normative ethics without regard to descriptive ethics.
b. lapsing into ethical relativism.
c. lack of innovation in ethical judgments.
d. stunting one’s moral development.
44. Central variables that must be considered and balanced against each other to make wise and sensible decisions include
all of the following except
a. ethical responsibility.
b. likability.
c. legal responsibility.
d. economic responsibility.
45. Characteristics of intentionally amoral managers include all of the following except
a. They think ethics and business don’t mix.
b. They think business and ethics are separate spheres.
c. They have an obsession with fairness.
d. They are dying out.
46. The normative question of ethics is
a. what is?
b. what ought to be?
c. how do we get from what is to what ought to be?
d. what is our motivation?