Deck 4: Practical Ethical Decision Making

Question 1

From a stakeholder point of view, which of the following must be satisfied for a decision to be considered ethical?

A)The decision should demonstrate virtues reasonably expected.
B)The decision should result in more benefits than costs.
C)The decision should not offend the rights of any other stakeholders.
D)The distribution of benefits and burdens should be fair.
E)All of the above must be satisfied for a decision to be considered ethical.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Frequently, decision makers are subject to unreasonable expectations and unrealistic deadlines; this is an example of:

A)conforming to an unethical corporate culture.
B)focusing only on legalities.
C)conflicts of interests.
D)failure to identify all stakeholder groups.
E)failure to rank stakeholder interests.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Failure to identify all relevant stakeholder groups for a proper stakeholder impact analysis may be the result of:

A)bias.
B)conforming to an unethical corporate culture.
C)conflicts of interests.
D)failure to consider the motivation for the decision.
E)All of the above

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following is not one of the 5 questions in Graham Tucker's original approach to ethical decision making?

A)Is it profitable?
B)Is it right?
C)Is it fair?
D)Is it legal?
E)Does it demonstrate the virtues expected?

Question 5

The following approach does not specifically incorporate a thorough review of the motivation for the decisions involved, or the virtues or character traits expected:

A)The modified 5-question approach
B)The modified moral standards approach
C)The modified Pastin approach
D)All of the above
E)a and b only

Question 6

The following four standards make up the modified moral standards approach.

A)Utilitarian, individual rights, justice, and virtues
B)Utilitarian, individual rights, fairness, and virtues
C)Legal, individual rights, justice, and virtues
D)Utilitarian, moral rights, justice, and virtues
E)Legal, moral rights, justice, and virtues

Question 7

These costs can be measured indirectly by using costs incurred in similar circumstances or mirror-image alternatives.

A)Surrogates
B)Externalities
C)Future impacts
D)Collateral damages
E)Ethical costs

Question 8

The first resource for guidance when a businessperson or a professional accountant faces an ethical problem should be:

A)commonly accepted social norms.
B)corporate and professional codes of conduct.
C)ethical decision-making frameworks.
D)commonly accepted philosophical approaches.
E)All of the above

Question 9

Which of the following is not an example of a common ethical decision-making pitfall?

A)Conforming to an unethical corporate culture
B)Focusing only on legalities
C)Conflict of interest
D)Failure to identify all stakeholder groups
E)None of the above

Question 10

The costs of environmental cleanups absorbed by downstream individuals, companies, or municipalities are referred to as:

A)surrogates.
B)externalities.
C)future impacts.
D)collateral damages.
E)ethical costs.

Question 11

These values are the combinations of a value and the probability of its occurrence.

A)Probable values
B)Common values
C)Present values
D)Expected values
E)Risk-adjusted values

Question 12

What is the most common measure of shareholder well-being?

A)Profit or loss
B)Profit or loss plus externalities
C)Profit or loss plus cost-benefit analysis
D)Profit or loss plus risk-benefit analysis
E)All of the above

Question 13

The modified Pastin approach adds the following concepts to stakeholder impact analysis.

A)Rule ethics
B)End-point ethics
C)Social contract ethics
D)Virtue ethics
E)All of the above

Question 14

A lack of awareness of the following problem results in executives not attributing enough value to the use of an environmental resource.

A)A commons problem
B)An ethics problem
C)A value problem
D)A risk-assessment problem
E)A moral problem

Question 15

Completing steps in the following order provides a sound basis for challenging a proposed decision.

A)Identify facts and stakeholders, rank stakeholders and their interests, and assess the impact of the proposed action.
B)Identify a proper ethical decision framework, rank stakeholders and their interests, and assess the impact of the proposed action.
C)Rank stakeholders and their interests, identify facts and stakeholders, and assess the impact of the proposed action.
D)Identify a proper ethical decision framework, identify facts and stakeholders, and assess the impact of the proposed action.
E)Rank stakeholders and their interests, identify a proper ethical decision framework, and assess the impact of the proposed action.

Question 16

These are character traits that dispose a person to act ethically and thereby make that person a morally good human being.

A)Norms
B)Moral judgments
C)Virtues
D)Values
E)Ethical judgments

Question 17

Which of the following is not a stakeholder right?

A)Life, health, and safety
B)A reasonable return on an investment
C)Freedom of speech
D)Fair treatment before the law
E)All of the above

Question 18

The AACSB Ethics Education Task Force has called for business students to be familiar with the following approaches to ethical decision making.

A)Consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics
B)Consequentialism, deontology, and moral imagination
C)Distributive justice, deontology, and virtue ethics
D)Distributive justice, deontology, and moral imagination
E)Consequentialism, deontology, and distributive justice

Question 19

This approach incorporates the expected future impacts of a decision into the analysis.

A)Virtue ethics
B)Consequentialism
C)Cost-benefit analysis
D)Risk-benefit analysis
E)All of the above

Question 20

If a decision is expected to be unfair to a particular stakeholder group, the decision may be improved by:

A)using stakeholder analysis.
B)using a decision-making approach.
C)increasing the compensation to that stakeholder group.
D)increasing the compensation to all stakeholder groups.
E)All of the above