MGMT 3560 Homework Assignment No. 1 - After reading Bill Sells' article in the Harvard Business

MGMT 3560 Homework Assignment No. 1

Homework Assignment No. 1

Instructions: Before you answer the questions below, read the article by Bill Sells that is also posted in "Course Materials."

1. After reading Bill Sells' article in the Harvard Business Review, when do you believe corporate managers should be convicted of crimes for their business-related actions?

2. Do either of you know anybody who suffers from an asbestos-related disease?  If so, please explain under what circumstances the person(s) was (were) exposed to asbestos.

3. Look up the definitions of murder and manslaughter.  Is it possible that a corporate plant manager, or higher up, could be charged with these crimes if he/they knew about the severe health dangers (toxins) inside the plant but covered up such dangers from the plant workers, who, years later, died as a result of the long-term/progressive effects of the toxic exposure?  Why/why not?

4. Can a company itself ever be criminally liable?

5. One of Bill Sells' points is that for the corporate manager, it is often very difficult to distinguish between an immoral/unethical act and a criminal act.  Do you agree?  Why/why not?

6. Based on your review of his article, how do you think Bill Sell felt (Mr. Sells died a few years ago) about his experiences as a Johns-Manville plant manager?  Did he feel guilty, remorseful, mad, sad, angry, etc.?  Please explain.

7. What duty, if any, does a company have to its employees regarding safety conditions at the work site?

8. In the last few years, top executives at some of the country's biggest companies (R.J. Reynolds, WorldCom, Adelphia, Time Warner, Arthur Andersen, Bristol Meyers, Global Crossing, Marsh, AIG insurance Cos.) have been investigated for a variety of criminal acts.  Do you think most of these folks receive the same type of justice as a poor person?  Why/why not?

9. Can the same act be both a crime and a tort?  If so, please provide an example.  If it is not possible, please explain.

10. Please describe/define the term "white collar crime."  Give a few examples.

11. If (a) you work for an employer who asks you to help "cook the books," and (b) you comply with her request, could you face tort liability, criminal liability, or both?  Why/why not? Also, if you had a license to practice accounting or law, could you lose your license if you followed her instruction? Why/why not?


12. Identify the costs for businesses associated with unethical behaviors.

a. Legal costs
b. Theft costs
c. Recruitment and turnover costs
d. Monitoring costs
e. All of the above

13. Who theorized that individuals are born with a soul- consisting of mind, emotions and desires- that forms an individual’s inner essence?

a. Socrates
b. Plato
c. Warren Buffet
d. Mark Zuckerberg
e. (a) and (b)

14. The famous “Heinz Dilemma” concerned:

a. Whether the company that produces Heinz Ketchup should have laid off 2500 of its most senior employees during the height of the Great Recession (October, 2008).
b. The stages of cognitive development.
c. The stage of moral development.
d. The moral dimensions of human nature at birth.
e. (a) and (d)

15. Please identify a reason employees often do not speak up when they observe unethical conduct.

a. Fear others will view them as a “rat,” “fink,” “ratfink,” “troublemaker,” “sh_ _disturber,” etc.
b. Fear of damaging his/her relationship with the person committing the unethical act.
c. Fear of retaliation from the individual committing the unethical act.
d. The belief that management – even if informed about the ethical transgression – would not respond adequately, and, thus, nobody would gain anything by him/her speaking up.
e. All of the above.

16. The term stakeholder is synonymous with shareholder:

a. True
b. False

17. The individual who formulated the Heinz Dilemma:

a. Jean Piaget
b. Lawrence Kohlberg
c. Teresa Heinz
d. Joseph Heinz
e. Andrew Carnegie

18. In the Fall Quarter 2015, a MGMT 3560 student told me that - during her job interview-her current employer spent most of the interview discussing the company’s emphasis on ethical conduct. Clearly, the interviewers wanted to indicate during the interview that their company was ethical.

What percent of surveyed Americans believe it is “critical” or “important” to work for an ethical company?
a. 10%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 75%
e. Over 90%

19. Please identify the most difficult ethical choice from the menu below.

a. Truth vs. Loyalty
b. Individual vs. Community
c. Short term vs. Long term
d. Right vs. Wrong
e. (a) – (c)

20. Sadly, employees often behave unethically to be a “team player.” This type of behavior is especially prevalent in employees with:

a. Low self-esteem
b. A weak sense of moral identity
c. No/insufficient moral courage
d. Low tolerance for conflict with other
e. All of the above

21. Cognitive dissonance occurs when:

a. A person is compelled to take action (because of his/her moral beliefs).
b. A person holds inconsistent or contradicting attitudes and beliefs, which creates an unpleasant state of mind.
c. A person is born with inherited sin
d. A person is born “good”.
e. (c) and (d)

22. _________________ is the set of principles a person uses to determine whether an action is good or bad.

a. Action sequence
b. Morality
c. Ethics
d. Integrity
e. Human nature

23. Based on studies, when do individuals begin to lie?

a. Soon after they can speak.
b. Approximately, ages 5-7 years old.
c. Approximately, ages 4-5 years old.
d. Approximately, ages 6-8 years old.

24. Again, based on studies, what percentage of adult Americans – regularly – lie?

a. 20%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 75%
e. Over 90%

25. Please identify a type of ethical dilemma based on competing values.

a. Short term vs. Mercy
b. Individual vs. Truth
c. Loyalty vs. Community
d. Justice vs. Mercy
e. Community vs. Loyalty

26. Why does a good person behave unethically?

a. He/she may not have intended to generate the unethical outcome which resulted from his/her conduct.
b. He/she may have chosen one set of values over a competing set of values.
c. He/she may have justified his/her unethical behavior based on a reason he/she considered more important.
d. He/she may have chosen to remain silent in the face of unethical behavior by others (he/she may even have opted not to prevent the unethical behavior from continuing) for certain compelling reasons, such as fear of retaliation.
e. All of the above

27. Kohlberg believed that most adults were – as respects moral development – at the _____ level.

a. Conventional
b. Post-conventional
c. Pre-conventional
d. Unconventional
e. B and d.

28. In Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, there are _____ levels, each consisting of ____ stages.

a. Two, three
b. Two, two
c. Three, two
d. Four, three
e. Four, two
   
   
29. Adam Smith believed in which of the following:

a. Freedom and liberty are essential values.
b. The great majority of free people naturally are selfish.
c. The great majority of free people will elect to enter product and labor markets where there is the greatest need and opportunity.
d. All of the above.
e. A and c.

30. As respects resume misrepresentations, researchers have discovered that those applying for the highest-level job openings very rarely provide misinformation.

a. True.
b. False

31. What president issued Federal Sentencing Guidelines with the intention of encouraging, though not requiring, managers to implement ethical best practices.

a. Bill Clinton
b. George H.W. Bush
c. George W. Bush
d. Barack Obama
e. Jimmy Carter

32. It is illegal to ask an ex-employer: “would you hire this person again?”

a. True
b. False

33. The FBI is disallowed (by law) from conducting background checks for private businesses.

a. True
b. False

34. Prof. Collins discusses how each decision and action is subject to ethical analysis. An “action sequence” is comprised of ow many parts :

a. One
b. Two
c. Three
d. Four

35. There is a federal statute which regulates the use of polygraph tests in hiring.

a. True
b. False

36. John Stuart Mill was Karl Marx’s co-author.

a. True
b. False

37. The terms minimum wage and living wage are synonymous.

a. True
b. False

38. Adam Smith was, among other things, _______ philosopher.

a. American
b. English
c. Irish
d. Scottish
e. None of the above

39. Our country's founding fathers adopted Adam Smith's basic guidelines of capitalism.

a. True
b. False

40. Corporations can never be guilty of crimes, but the people who work for corporations may be - and frequently are- found guilty of crimes related to their corporate activities.

a. True
b. False