Business Ethics Chapter 10 MCQs

1 Select the statement that emphasizes the startling contrast between gains made by women in professional careers and women in business careers:

A) Women in general hold less than 5 percent of all senior-level positions in major corporations.

B) Between 1973 and 1993, the percentage of women lawyers and judges increased from 5.8 to 22.7 percent.

C) White men comprise 65 percent of managerial positions in industry while women hold 25 percent of them.

D) Forty percent of native-born working women fill positions classified as "administrative support" and "service" while only 16 percent of male worker fill such jobs.

2 Choose the statements that correctly reflect the likely utilitarian view of preferential treatment in hiring:

A) Managerial discretion should be given great latitude in hiring decisions.

B) Hiring decisions should be based on the ability of the candidate to perform the job efficiently and skillfully.

C) Property rights should prevail in hiring decisions.

D) Consequences like the goodwill of long-term employees whose families are given preference in hiring must be considered.

E) Answers A and B are correct.

F) Answers B and D are correct.

3 Identify the situation that does not show how disparate treatment can result from what appears to be normal and equal consideration of candidates for a position:

A) Women have lower salary expectations than men. An employer without bias against women might select a qualified woman for a position just to save money.

B) A woman who has been hired at a lower salary than a male colleague because her salary expectations were lower may receive an equal percentage of merit pay over time but applied to a smaller base salary than the male's.

C) Even if this same woman has received equal opportunity for promotions as the male colleague, she may still never close the gap between her salary level and the male's salary level.

D) All of the above.

E) None of the above.

4 Choose the action that exemplifies affirmative action, i.e., taking extra steps that move beyond passive nondiscrimination:

A) Advertising in media that appeal to women or minorities.

B) Providing door locks on women's bathrooms and showers but not on men's.

C) Deliberately recruiting qualified women and minority candidates.

D) Providing special support through the human resources office for women or people of color who are hired.

E) All of the above.

F) None of the above.

5 Select the preferential treatment policy that is likely to raise the least serious ethical challenge:

A) Giving preference to otherwise qualified but previously disadvantaged candidates.

B) Identifying members of previously disadvantaged groups in the pool of qualified candidates and giving them preference in the hiring decision.

C) Identifying members of previously disadvantaged groups in the pool of candidates who are less qualified than white males and giving them preference in the hiring decision.

D) Hiring members of disadvantaged groups with only minimal consideration given to qualifications.

6 Identify the arguments that have not been used to support or refute the ethical legitimacy of preferential hiring policies:

A) These policies violate the rights of white males.

B) These policies are obligatory means for compensating people for harms they have suffered.

C) Such policies should be rejected because they may create more discrimination as a backlash against gender or racial preferences.

D) Preferential hiring is a means of providing more role models for young women and people of color.

E) All of the above.

F) None of the above.

7 Select the statement or situation that would likely not challenge the merit argument that the most qualified candidate for a position has earned or deserves it, and the denial of this desert is unjust:

A) Candidates for a job do not necessarily have a legitimate expectation that hiring decisions will always be based solely on qualifications.

B) The son or daughter of a high-level executive in a publicly traded company receives preferential hiring treatment.

C) The candidate from one's own alma mater receives preferential hiring treatment.

D) The public advertising for a position expressly states its qualifications.

8 Choose the statement that does not support the claim that justice requires preferential hiring and promotion to compensate people for the harms they have suffered:

A) Preferential treatment equalizes the situation of unfair discrimination after the fact and returns it to the point that it would have been had discrimination not occurred.

B) Young white males will lose their undeserved competitive advantage if society simply adopts equal opportunity policies.

C) Compensation is not being paid by young white males but by private business or society. These white males are only being denied the competitive advantage they previously enjoyed-something they did not deserve.

D) The only means to compensate for overall discrimination (e.g., in pay treatment) is to grant individual women preferential consideration in hiring and promotion.

9 Select the statements that correctly reflect the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines defining sexual harassment:

A) Submission to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical content of a sexual nature is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment.

B) Submission or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting that individual.

C) Such conduct has the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance.

D) Such conduct creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment for an individual

E) All of the above.

F) None of the above.

10 Identify the reason for not believing that it would be correct to shift from the reasonable "man" or reasonable "person" standard to the reasonable "women" standard for identifying conduct that unreasonably interferes with work:

A) The shift from reasonable man to reasonable "person" should alert us to the possibility that "person" is simply a disguised version of "man."

B) This shift can reinforce the unacceptable sexual and paternalistic stereotype of women as more sensitive, fragile, and delicate than men and that, therefore, women need extra protection from the rough and tough workplace.

C) Unless, as one judge has ruled, the outlook of the reasonable women is adopted, defendants and courts are permitted to sustain ingrained notions of reasonable behavior as fashioned by male offenders.

D) The reasonable "person" standard can have the effect of simply maintaining the status quo in a workplace that remains very male oriented.