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Chapter 4 - Demanding Ethical Behavior and Socially Responsible Behavior

This document discusses demanding ethical behavior and social responsibility. It explains that obeying the law is only the first step in behaving ethically. When faced with an unethical action, one should ask if it is legal, balanced, and okay with oneself. Management sets the ethical standards through either compliance-based ethics codes that emphasize penalties, or integrity-based codes that define values and shared accountability. Corporate social responsibility concerns a business's welfare to society through responsibilities like hiring practices, product safety, and social issues.

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202 views

Chapter 4 - Demanding Ethical Behavior and Socially Responsible Behavior

This document discusses demanding ethical behavior and social responsibility. It explains that obeying the law is only the first step in behaving ethically. When faced with an unethical action, one should ask if it is legal, balanced, and okay with oneself. Management sets the ethical standards through either compliance-based ethics codes that emphasize penalties, or integrity-based codes that define values and shared accountability. Corporate social responsibility concerns a business's welfare to society through responsibilities like hiring practices, product safety, and social issues.

Uploaded by

shaimaaelgamal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 4 – DEMANDING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR AND SOCIALLY

RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR

LEARNING GOALS

1. Explain why obeying the law is only the first step in behaving ethically.
2. Ask the three questions one should answer when faced with a potentially unethical action.
3. Describe management's role in setting ethical standards.
4. Distinguish between compliance-based and integrity-based ethics codes.
5. Define corporate social responsibility and examine corporate responsibility to various stakeholders.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

Listed here are important terms found in this chapter. Choose the correct term for each
definition and write it in the space provided.

Compliance-based ethics codes Corporate social responsibility


Corporate philanthropy Ethics
Corporate policy Integrity-based ethics codes
Corporate responsibility Whistleblowers

1. Ethical standards emphasize preventing unlawful behavior by increasing control and by


penalizing wrongdoers are called _____________________________.

2. The dimension of social responsibility knows as a(n) _____________refers to the position a


firm takes on social and political issues.

3. Standards of moral behavior, or ____________, is behavior that is accepted by society as right


or wrong.

4. In an organization, a(n) _______________________refers to ethical standards that define the


organization's guiding values, create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior,
and stress a shared accountability among employees.

5. ____________________________ is the dimension of social responsibility that includes


charitable donations.

6. A business’s concern for the welfare of a society as a whole is called


__________________________.

7. A dimension of social responsibility known as _____________________ includes everything


from hiring minority workers to making safe products.

8. People who report illegal or unethical behavior are known as _______________________.

1
MULTIPLE CHOICE – Circle the best answer

1. The difference between ethics and legality is that:


a. Legality reflects how people should treat each other, while ethics is more limiting.
b. Ethics refers to ways available to us to protect ourselves from theft, violence, and
fraud.
c. Legality is narrower than ethics and refers to laws written to protect ourselves.
d. Ethics refers to a narrower range of behavior than legality.

2. According to the text, ethical behavior begins with:


a. Corporate leaders.
b. Government leaders.
c. Religious leaders.
d. You and me.

3. Sometimes an obvious choice from an ethical standpoint has personal or professional


drawbacks. An example might be when a supervisor asks you to do something unethical,
and you face negative consequences if you refuse. When you are in such a situation you
are faced with:
a. two lousy choices.
b. an ethical dilemma .
c. deciding the legality of your choice.
d. a social responsibility issue.

4. Which of the following is not included as one of the questions we must ask when faced
with an ethical dilemma?
a. Is it legal?
b. Is it balanced?
c. How will it make me feel about myself?
d. Is it okay if everyone else is doing it?

5. The most basic step in an ethics based management system is asking the question:
a. Is it legal?
b. Who will know?
c. Is it balanced?
d. Has it been done before?

6. Organizational ethics begin


a. at the top levels of management.
b. only with employees.
c. with the unions.
d. with mid level managers.

7. Which of the following is not a part of an integrity-based ethics code?


a. stresses shared accountability
b. emphasizes penalizing of wrong-doers
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c. supports ethically sound behavior
d. defines an organization’s guiding principles
8. Being energy conscious, ensuring that employees have a safe working environment, and
monitoring corporate hiring policies to prevent discrimination is part of:
a. corporate responsibility.
b. corporate philanthropy.
c. corporate policy.
d. corporate legal standards.

9. In terms of social responsibility, many people believe that


a. it does not make good financial sense for companies to be “up front” about potential
product problems.
b. it makes financial and moral sense to invest in companies that plan ahead to create a
better environment.
c. businesses have no responsibility to create jobs.
d. businesses have no responsibility to social causes.

ASSESSMENT CHECK

1. What is the difference between being “ethical” and being “legal”?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. What are three questions to ask yourself when faced with an ethical dilemma?

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________

3. Organizational ethics begin at ______________________________________________

People learn their standards and values from _________________________________

4. Identify the difference between a compliance-based ethics code and an integrity-based


ethics code.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3
___________________________________________________________________________

5. Some companies feel responsible for promoting social justice and believe they have a role
in giving back. What kinds of social contributions have companies made to go beyond
charity?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

TRUE-FALSE

1. _____ Whistleblowers are individuals who report unethical or illegal behavior in an


organization.

2. _____ Ethics and legality are basically the same thing.

3. _____ Solutions to ethical problems are usually easily determined.

4. _____ In an organization, ethics begin at the top.

5. _____ One of the reasons for ethical management is to avoid lawsuits.

6. _____ Compliance-based ethics codes define an organization’s guiding values, create an


environment that supports ethical behavior and stresses shared accountability.

7. _____ It’s not important for employees to be given a specific ethics code. They should be
aware of what constitutes ethical behavior without being told.

8. _____ Corporate social responsibility is the concern businesses have for their profitability.

9. _____ One of the best ways to please customers is to hide product defects from them.

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