COMM 216 CORRECT STUDYS ANSWERS AND
QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔How do you acquire personal virtues ethics? - ✔✔acquired through learning and
practice and become habits over time
✔✔Ethics of Caring? - ✔✔Attention to specific individuals or stakeholders harmed or
disadvantaged and their particular circumstances
- Responsibility for reducing harm or suffering of others
- Solutions designed to respond to needs of particular individuals or stakeholders
✔✔Golden rule orientation? - ✔✔"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
✔✔Advantages of ethics of caring - ✔✔▪ Responsive to immediate suffering or harm
▪ Flexibility, manager can respond quickly to changing circumstances
▪ Precedents are not a concern
✔✔Problems with ethics of caring - ✔✔- Might lose sight of the bigger picture,
unintentionally harm stakeholders you're not focusing on at the moment
▪ Subjective, limits understanding of all the factors involved
✔✔Utilitarian Ethic? - ✔✔Distribution of benefits & harms to all stakeholders with the
view to maximizing benefits
- Managers should make decisions that do "the greatest good for the greatest number"
✔✔Problems with utilitarian ethic? - ✔✔Does not account for what is 'just'
▪ May be unclear what should be maximized & to whom ▪ Cannot accurately measure all
costs and benefits (risk miscalculating them)
▪ May not be able to reasonable distribute costs or benefits fairly
✔✔Universal Rules Ethic? - ✔✔▪ Desire for more consistent outcomes - managers or
corporations behave similarly in morally similar situations
- Ensures that managers or corporations have the same moral obligations in morally
similar situations.
,- For example, the right of privacy
- What individuals believe is right for themselves, they should believe is right for all
others
✔✔Problems with universal rules ethic? - ✔✔▪ Not possible to always work to universal
rules - IOW exceptions exist
▪ No scale between actions that are considered morally right or wrong
✔✔Categorical imperative ethics? - ✔✔rules and morals in society should be fair to
everyone & universally applied
✔✔Individual Rights Ethic - ✔✔Agreed-upon rights for everyone, upheld by everyone,
that become basis for deciding what is right, just, or fair
✔✔Individual Rights Ethic problem? - ✔✔Determining / agreeing upon 'the list' of rights
▪ Rights and/or rights holders can conflict with one another
▪ Rights are not absolute; overemphasis might result in injustice
✔✔Ethic of Justice? - ✔✔Focus on a fair outcome
✔✔Advantages of Ethic of Justice? - ✔✔Looks at dilemmas logically and impartially
▪ All are perceived to have an equal right to equitable treatment
✔✔Problems of ethics of justice? - ✔✔Difficult to decide (outside of the law) who has
the moral authority to reward or punish whom
▪ Ensuring benefits distributed fairly is challenging
▪ Particular stakeholders/interests may be overlooked
▪ Perceived as being impersonal, inflexible, cold and uncaring
✔✔Ethically acceptable fashion? - ✔✔Situation or problem where a person has to
choose between two alternatives, neither of which resolves an issue or problem
✔✔How to handle Ethically acceptable fashion (ethical dilemmas)? - ✔✔Identify the
ethical principles involved
▪ Review or analyze the problem using one of the ethical principles outlined above
▪ Examine the problem from an ethical perspective different from the one(s) used initially
✔✔Challenges with ethics in business: - ✔✔- It is hard to be consistently ethical
- Doing the right thing is not enough
- Unethical behaviour is often socially influenced
Self-perception may fall short
- Four biases of human nature:
- prejudice, favouritism, over claim credit and underplay conflicts of interest
, ✔✔Influences of Individuals? - ✔✔Managers make ethical decisions based on the
morals they had while growing up.
Family & home environment have a major influence
Educational process is also an influence
✔✔Corporate or Organisational Influences? - ✔✔The culture of an organisation has an
influence on how managers behave.
Behaviours of others in a work environment set the tone
Corporations develop mission, vision, and values statements that identify the values.
Codes of conduct and ethics
Better Business Bureau (BBB) : encourages ethics
✔✔Economic Efficiency Influences - ✔✔Some managers assess the moral implications
of a decision but its economic impact.
Managers and corporations can be seen to be selfish and be motivated by personal
gains.
✔✔Government and the Legal System Influences? - ✔✔In order to maintain fair
competition and treatment there needs to be a central authority that has basic rules of
conduct.
In a democratic society, the authority is the government who enacts legislation and
regulations (code of laws).
Legal system makes certain behaviour illegal
Morality goes further than when it is legal vs illegal and laws do not cover everything.
✔✔Societal Influences? - ✔✔The cultural traditions of a country or an ethnic group
influence how managers view society and business practices.
A test of ethical behaviour is if the manager can defend the decision if it becomes
known through the media.
✔✔Egoism? - ✔✔excessive interest in oneself
✔✔Altruists? - ✔✔be sensitive to others to the point where their own interests are
neglected
✔✔Moral Reasoning? - ✔✔A systematic approach to thinking or reasoning through the
implications of a moral problem or issue.
✔✔Approach to moral decisions: - ✔✔1. Define the moral issue or decision
2. Gather all relevant information
3. Identify the stakeholders involved
4. Develop possible alternative solutions
5. Consider the applicable value judgements, moral standards, and ethical principles
6. Identify the distribution of harms and benefits to the stakeholders by each alternative
with each ethical principle used
QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔How do you acquire personal virtues ethics? - ✔✔acquired through learning and
practice and become habits over time
✔✔Ethics of Caring? - ✔✔Attention to specific individuals or stakeholders harmed or
disadvantaged and their particular circumstances
- Responsibility for reducing harm or suffering of others
- Solutions designed to respond to needs of particular individuals or stakeholders
✔✔Golden rule orientation? - ✔✔"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
✔✔Advantages of ethics of caring - ✔✔▪ Responsive to immediate suffering or harm
▪ Flexibility, manager can respond quickly to changing circumstances
▪ Precedents are not a concern
✔✔Problems with ethics of caring - ✔✔- Might lose sight of the bigger picture,
unintentionally harm stakeholders you're not focusing on at the moment
▪ Subjective, limits understanding of all the factors involved
✔✔Utilitarian Ethic? - ✔✔Distribution of benefits & harms to all stakeholders with the
view to maximizing benefits
- Managers should make decisions that do "the greatest good for the greatest number"
✔✔Problems with utilitarian ethic? - ✔✔Does not account for what is 'just'
▪ May be unclear what should be maximized & to whom ▪ Cannot accurately measure all
costs and benefits (risk miscalculating them)
▪ May not be able to reasonable distribute costs or benefits fairly
✔✔Universal Rules Ethic? - ✔✔▪ Desire for more consistent outcomes - managers or
corporations behave similarly in morally similar situations
- Ensures that managers or corporations have the same moral obligations in morally
similar situations.
,- For example, the right of privacy
- What individuals believe is right for themselves, they should believe is right for all
others
✔✔Problems with universal rules ethic? - ✔✔▪ Not possible to always work to universal
rules - IOW exceptions exist
▪ No scale between actions that are considered morally right or wrong
✔✔Categorical imperative ethics? - ✔✔rules and morals in society should be fair to
everyone & universally applied
✔✔Individual Rights Ethic - ✔✔Agreed-upon rights for everyone, upheld by everyone,
that become basis for deciding what is right, just, or fair
✔✔Individual Rights Ethic problem? - ✔✔Determining / agreeing upon 'the list' of rights
▪ Rights and/or rights holders can conflict with one another
▪ Rights are not absolute; overemphasis might result in injustice
✔✔Ethic of Justice? - ✔✔Focus on a fair outcome
✔✔Advantages of Ethic of Justice? - ✔✔Looks at dilemmas logically and impartially
▪ All are perceived to have an equal right to equitable treatment
✔✔Problems of ethics of justice? - ✔✔Difficult to decide (outside of the law) who has
the moral authority to reward or punish whom
▪ Ensuring benefits distributed fairly is challenging
▪ Particular stakeholders/interests may be overlooked
▪ Perceived as being impersonal, inflexible, cold and uncaring
✔✔Ethically acceptable fashion? - ✔✔Situation or problem where a person has to
choose between two alternatives, neither of which resolves an issue or problem
✔✔How to handle Ethically acceptable fashion (ethical dilemmas)? - ✔✔Identify the
ethical principles involved
▪ Review or analyze the problem using one of the ethical principles outlined above
▪ Examine the problem from an ethical perspective different from the one(s) used initially
✔✔Challenges with ethics in business: - ✔✔- It is hard to be consistently ethical
- Doing the right thing is not enough
- Unethical behaviour is often socially influenced
Self-perception may fall short
- Four biases of human nature:
- prejudice, favouritism, over claim credit and underplay conflicts of interest
, ✔✔Influences of Individuals? - ✔✔Managers make ethical decisions based on the
morals they had while growing up.
Family & home environment have a major influence
Educational process is also an influence
✔✔Corporate or Organisational Influences? - ✔✔The culture of an organisation has an
influence on how managers behave.
Behaviours of others in a work environment set the tone
Corporations develop mission, vision, and values statements that identify the values.
Codes of conduct and ethics
Better Business Bureau (BBB) : encourages ethics
✔✔Economic Efficiency Influences - ✔✔Some managers assess the moral implications
of a decision but its economic impact.
Managers and corporations can be seen to be selfish and be motivated by personal
gains.
✔✔Government and the Legal System Influences? - ✔✔In order to maintain fair
competition and treatment there needs to be a central authority that has basic rules of
conduct.
In a democratic society, the authority is the government who enacts legislation and
regulations (code of laws).
Legal system makes certain behaviour illegal
Morality goes further than when it is legal vs illegal and laws do not cover everything.
✔✔Societal Influences? - ✔✔The cultural traditions of a country or an ethnic group
influence how managers view society and business practices.
A test of ethical behaviour is if the manager can defend the decision if it becomes
known through the media.
✔✔Egoism? - ✔✔excessive interest in oneself
✔✔Altruists? - ✔✔be sensitive to others to the point where their own interests are
neglected
✔✔Moral Reasoning? - ✔✔A systematic approach to thinking or reasoning through the
implications of a moral problem or issue.
✔✔Approach to moral decisions: - ✔✔1. Define the moral issue or decision
2. Gather all relevant information
3. Identify the stakeholders involved
4. Develop possible alternative solutions
5. Consider the applicable value judgements, moral standards, and ethical principles
6. Identify the distribution of harms and benefits to the stakeholders by each alternative
with each ethical principle used
