Questions and Answers of Managing Business Ethics

Some corporations and other organizations have designed ethical decisionmaking tests that incorporate some of the principles and systems described in this chapter. For example, Carl Skooglund, former
The last question leads us to a useful exercise. If you had to write your own epitaph, what would it say? How would you like to be remembered? What kind of life do you hope to lead? lop5
Albert Schweitzer (the philosopher and mission doctor) said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” What
What do you think of the proposed Hippocratic oath for managers?25
What limitations, if any, can you think of to the prescriptions provided in this chapter? Can you think of reasons why they might not work? lop5
If you were to design an ethical fitness program for yourself, what would you include? lop5
Steven F. Goldstone, chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco (one of the four biggest U.S. cigarette manufacturers), said in a 1998 magazine interview, “I have no moral view of this business . . . I viewed
Evaluate yourself in terms of cognitive moral development, locus of control, ethical decision-making style, moral disengagement, and Machiavellianism.What does this evaluation tell you about your own
Can you think of times when you have used morally disengaged thinking? 25
Identify a situation in which you have used script processing in a work or other life situation. lop5
Do you believe that scripts can override an individual’s value system? pg56
Answer the question posed in Gioia’s “Reflections”: Is a person behaving unethically if the situation was not even construed in ethical terms—if there was no ethical awareness? pg36
Who should make the decision about taking risks with others’ lives in designing products? pg20
Given that all automobiles are unsafe to some degree, where do you draw the line on product safety? How safe is safe enough—and who decides? pg69
You live in a city where real estate prices are skyrocketing. Home prices and rental prices are expected to go up for the foreseeable future. You decide to borrow money and buy an apartment building.
Ira Koslowsky, a star employee, was on the fast track at Grandiose Private Equity, Inc. On his own he had borrowed money, creating a stake for himself of about $1 million in LUBICATe, an
It’s hard to be a start-up. To get funding from major venture capitalists with deep pockets requires having a good story. NOTHAM Foods’s story had two parts that the company’s charismatic
The year is 2025, and nearly 20% of all vehicles on the road are autonomously driven (selfdriving). The government has established strict guidelines for the algorithms that run these vehicles. In the
You are directly responsible for boosting Secure’s sales. You are on a short leash as management has little patience with employees who don’t produce. The Secure Motor Corporation is widely
Dearborn and Dyehardt (D&D) has just put Forzosein on the market, a new compound that may be able to save the lives of people who suffer from cancer. D&D charges hundreds of times what it cost the
A war is raging, and your job is to deliver battlefield trucks and fighter jet parts to the military on a tight schedule. The government had been extremely dissatisfied with late delivery by a prior
With a focus on innovation, Pegasus is a company committed to “technology leadership in the new millennium.” Its systems and products are selling well in markets throughout the world. The CEO
You are on the management team of a rapidly growing apparel company that had $780 million in sales last year and is projecting an additional $150 million in sales this year. You have been invited to
ACI is a leading supplier of components for the telecommunications industry. It sells components to companies like Alcatel, Northern Telecom, and Ericsson, who put the components into the equipment
Since the time that companies began to hire full-time diversity managers, they often have tried to make their organizations more hospitable to people of allsexes. Atlantic Information Systems Inc. is
Darlington Foods is an integrated wholesaler and retailer of high-quality food products. It provides gourmet foods to supermarket chains and specialty stores in the United States and Europe under the
The two classes of sexual harassment defined under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines are (1) requests by a supervisor for sexual favors in return for job benefits and (2) a
The High Value (HV) chain of discount appliance stores, started in 1988 with the merger of three smaller chains, achieved sales in excess of $28 billion under the respected leadership of its CEO,
You have just received your MBA and for the past year and a half, you have worked as a financial accountant for a company that is conducting talks about a proposed merger with another firm. A
After a yearlong search, you finally have a job in the industry of your choice. The industry is highstatus and dynamic, with excellent growth potential. Landing a job in this industry makes you the
You have worked together with three other stock brokers in the same company for the past 12 years. The four of you are the best of friends, with strong personal ties going back 30 years; you grew up
You work for Brighten Enterprises, a Fortune 500 company with annual sales of more than $23 billion. Your company has been on the cutting edge in new product innovation. It has grown rapidly and has
You are a marketing professional who is offered a promotion that would place you as the leader of a team developing a new recreational vehicle. This vehicle has a rough ride and few amenities but can
Arete Corporation manufactures and sells industrial cleaning products. It has factories, warehouses, and sales teams spread throughout the United States. Arete once had a sterling reputation for
Mayo Elton is the chief ethics officer at Hawthorne Manufacturing. He has established a code of conduct that prohibits stealing supplies and equipment from the factory floor and also imposes strict
CEO Marina Delatorre was in trouble with the Board of Directors for her reluctance to move quickly in reengineering Phantom Savings and Loan. The company’s stock was selling far below its true
Pithos Internet Company is known for its innovative software products. The secret to Pithos’s success is in large part its ability to create a climate in which its smart and ambitious employees are
Imagine again that you are the plant manager in the unionizing your factory case. Your factory is located in a declining industrial city where jobs are hard to come by. The state in which the plant
You are a plant manager at a manufacturing company. Relationship between your management team and factory workers is generally harmonious. You and the other managers have worked your way up through
You work at the front desk of a hotel in a small town near the border between the United States and Mexico. When you check in guests, you ask them to show identification and provide the make, model,
USMNC (a fictionalized company) is a major U.S. corporation in the metalworking industry. A chemical release at the company’s facility in the Philippines has resulted in 36 deaths, approximately
USMNC has just purchased Latin America Metallurgy Company (LAMC) from a competitor. LAMC is located near Managua, Nicaragua. There has been rapid growth in worldwide demand for the sheet metal and
You own a restaurant in a mid-sized, fairly well-to-do town. Your restaurant is located near many other restaurants in a part of town that has a lot of foot traffic and visitors day and night. You
You run a die casting facility that produces metal tools used in industry. (Dies are essentially molds that are filled with superhot molten metal to make metal products.) Competition is fierce in
Multinational oil company ExxonMobil faced many challenges related to climate change. Climate change is taking place because of the greenhouse effect. When solar radiation passes through the
Starting in the 1990s, the U.S. electric utility sector underwent a process of consolidation. Utility companies merged, acquired other utilities, and moved from their home bases in one state across
You are a new supply chain manager for a large multinational food products company. Your company insists that all of the fruit and nut products it sells are organic. The cashews your company sells
You work for a company that develops wind energy projects. You are proud to work in the industry because you believe that it contributes to solving the problems of air pollution and climate change.
You are a regional manager for a global company that sells soaps and other personal hygiene products. You have recently read about the base of the pyramid approach to business and are intrigued by
Your office furniture company has decided that it wants to make its furniture according to “circular economy” principles. This means that when customers are done using the furniture, they can
You work in procurement for a large candy manufacturer. One of your main responsibilities is to locate cocoa plantations in Africa that can provide you cocoa at a reasonable price. (Cocoa is the main
Can you think of something that is legal but unethical, or something that is ethical, but illegal?
Identify reasons why an organization would be interested in being ethical, and classify those reasons in terms of whether they represent moral motivation or economic motivation.
Do you believe that employees are more attracted and committed to ethical organizations? Are you? Why or why not? Make a list of the companies you would prefer to work for and the reasons why. Are
Is senior management committed to ethics? How do you know? What could they do differently or better?
Does the organization evaluate its ethics initiatives? How? If not, why not?
Before reading this chapter, did you think of ethics as "just a fad?" Why or why not? What do you think now? Why?
Have you been cynical about business and its leaders? Why or why not? (See the following cynicism exercise.) How does cynicism affect you, as a business student or as a manager?
Think about the television programs and films you've seen recently in which business was portrayed in some way. How were business and business people portrayed? Is there anything business could or
If you had to choose just one of the philosophical approaches discussed in this chapter to guide your decision making, which would you choose? Why?Or, if you had to rank them from most to least
If you were to design an ethical fitness program for yourself, what would you include? Think about the short and the long term.
Can you think of a time when you have used morally disengaged thinking?
Identify a situation in which you have used script processing in a work or other life situation.
Answer the question posed in Gioia’s Reflections: Is a person behaving unethically if the situation was not even construed in ethical terms – if there was no moral awareness?
Is sexual harassment as important an issue for men as it is for women?
Do you think that “paying” whistle-blowers encourages people to look for ethical misdeeds or to “game up” ethical misdeeds? Do you think people should be willing to report unethical
Does your organization address ethical issues in a formal, systematic way? If so, is it a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all approach, or has the organization customized an ethical culture to match its
Use glassdoor.com to read what employees are saying about a company of interest to you. What can you glean, if anything, about the ethical culture? What questions should you ask about the ethical
Think about the impact of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Would organizations have tried to drive ethical behavior among employees without government encouragement?
After reading about how a number of large companies try to encourage ethical behavior, what stands out? What approach is most unique? Which one do you think is most effective? Which one would make
What are the advantages of having an ethics office or officer report to a company's chief executive officer, the legal department, human resources, audit, or directly to the board of directors? What
Think about all of the communication opportunities provided by social media. How could an organization use social media like Facebook, Twitter, and the like to promote ethical behavior and
Which of the following exist in the organization? Mission or values statement, policy manual, code of conduct, ethics training (who conducts it), hotline? Are they consistent and credible?
Are leaders at all levels held accountable for their ethical conduct? If so, how? If not, why not? What would you recommend?
Would you characterize the ethics efforts in this organization as taking a values, compliance, or combination approach? Is it effective? Recommend improvements.
How would you raise an ethical concern in this organization? List all of the resources available to you. Which ones would you be likely to use? Why or why not?
Have you ever been in a situation, especially a work situation, where the norms supported a particular behavior, ethical or unethical, where you felt pressured to go along? Explain.
Have you ever been in a situation where the rewards explicitly or implicitly supported unethical conduct? Explain.
Can you think of situations in which unethical behavior was dealt with appropriately (punished justly) or inappropriately? What were the reactions of others in the organization?
Have you ever felt obligated to do something you felt was wrong because a person in a position of authority told you to do it?
Think about how you might design work to maximize workers' taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
What specific action could a manager take to try to move employees up the employee engagement continuum – for example, from not engaged to actively engaged?
Should high performers be allowed to work by rules that are different from those that apply to other workers? Why or why not?
Imagine that you're the manager of a facility where 200 layoffs are scheduled. Design an action plan for how the layoffs would occur. How would you handle those who are being laid off and the
Are there ways in which managers can avoid harassment issues among employees who report to them? What would your strategy be?
Imagine that someone who reports to you is on a prescription medication that makes his breath smell like alcohol. How would you handle this situation?
Imagine that one of your employees complained that a coworker was harassing him or her. Also, imagine that you suspect the motives of the person who is complaining to you. How would you handle the
As a manager, how would you respond when a worker’s performance has declined and you suspect a problem at home is the cause?How might you respond if you think an alcohol or drug problem is the
List ways you can communicate your standards to your employees and to your peers. As an employee, how can you communicate your ethical standards to your manager?
Talk with someone from another culture. Ask for information that would be helpful to you if you had to do business in their culture. What did you learn that you didn't know before? How might you
You’re an account executive with a multinational financial firm, and one of your biggest accounts is that of a shipping magnate in Greece. Several months after you’ve arranged very complex
Do you think corporate social responsibility is important? Why or why not?
If you were running your own company, how would you communicate your CSR strategy with employees, with external stakeholders, and why?
Do you trust energy giants like Exxon to play it straight when it comes to subjects that affect it, such as global warming?
Assume the role of corporate decision maker in a decision about whether to do business in a particular foreign country in the developing world. What information would you gather and how would you go
What are the costs and benefits of developing a transcultural corporate ethic? Whose responsibility should it be to develop such an ethic - governments, corporations, intergovernmental organizations,
Choose a multinational company. Study its website and, in particular, its emphasis on business ethics and social responsibility (or lack thereof). What did you find? Can you relate it to what
Some of the steps in the 8-step model might suggest very different courses of action for resolving your dilemma. How would you choose among these distinct courses of action? Why?
Think about a situation where your values have been in conflict. How have you resolved those conflicts? Now that you have studied the ethical decision-making frameworks in this chapter, what should
The last question leads us to a useful exercise. If you had to write your own epitaph, what would it say? How would you like to be remembered? What kind of life do you hope to lead? What kind of a

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