Manager's Hot Seat: Ethics: Let's Make a Fourth-Quarter Deal

Today's successful managers operate in a challenging environment. Stakeholders are various groups of people who may benefit or be harmed by the way managers make decisions that affect them. Stakeholders include customers, competitors, allies, and the media in the task environment as well as economic, sociocultural, and demographic forces in the general environment that managers have to deal with. In addition, managers need to be aware of what constitutes ethics, values, the four approaches to ethical dilemmas, and how organizations promote ethics.

What is ethics? When do we cross the line between right and wrong and who determines when that line is crossed? Ethics can be defined as generally accepted standards of right and wrong that influence behavior. Ethical behavior is behavior that is accepted as "right" as opposed to "wrong" according to those standards. In order to be successful in today's challenging environment, managers need to be skilled at handling groups both inside and outside of the organization. In order to satisfy these groups, some managers have been tempted to compromise their values and ethics. In the wake of business scandals such as Enron and WorldCom, these breaches of ethical behavior have led to devastating effects for many involved. There are four approaches to deciding ethical dilemmas: the utilitarian approach, the individual approach, the moral-rights approach, and the justice approach.

1. Prior to investing in the company, the shareholders from Best Tell must agree on the terms of the contract. As the shareholders are affected by the organization's activities, they are considered __________ stakeholders in the organization's environment.

a. external

b. internal

c. neutral

d. absolute

e. medium

2. Although the manager, Jason, is enthusiastic about accepting the Best Tell investment, he is concerned about the legitimacy of signing off on the deal without shareholder approval. This concern represents a(n):

a. justice approach

b. individual approach

c. ethical dilemma

d. public outrage

e. moral-rights approach

3. The female employee refers to needing her job and securing her colleagues' bonuses by securing the Best Tell deal. This focus on money and security represents the ______ forces in the general environment.

a. mass media

b. economic

c. sociocultural

d. task

e. technological

4. By pressing the manager, Jason, to agree to the deal without shareholder approval, the female employee is asking the manager to compromise his ________.

a. utilitarianism

b. values

c. individualism

d. stakeholder policy

e. demographic forces

5. As the female employee wants to keep her job as she just bought a new house, she is concerned with her best long-term interests, which she believes is ultimately in everyone's best interests. This focus represents the _______ approach to deciding ethical dilemmas.

a. utilitarianism

b. frequency

c. moral

d. individual

e. justice