STUDY QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON 3/18/02

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Be able to apply the various ethical systems: natural law ethics (human nature ethics), deontology, utilitarianism (consequentialism), and virtue ethics to cases on the exam..
2. Be able to apply the various ethical principles, namely, autonomy, beneficence, and justice in case analyses.
3. Be able to define what a right is, the difference between moral and legal rights and how these two kinds of rights surface in cases on the exam.
4. Be able to identify the values that underlie particular rights claims, e.g., the value underlying a right to be respected.
5. State Aristotle's definition of virtue and explain its various parts.
6. Is there a sense in which one's personal virtues will, or ought to, affect the development of one's professional virtues in business practices?
7. Identify and explain the significance of three of the three most important virtues that managers should practice.
8. Identify and explain the significance of three of the three most important virtues that employees should practice.
9. Explain Olick's notion of "integrity."
10. How does Kant think that lying affects society? In what way does lying treat someone as a means to another's end?
11. How does lying make an individual vulnerable?
12. In Kant's view, how can lying be an affront to an individual as well as to all humanity?
13. Is bluffing the same as lying? In what way can it be said that bluffing creates an "impression" without actually lying?
14. What does it mean to have an autonomous desire?
15. How does advertising subvert the possibility of autonomous desires? How could advertising support autonomous desires?
16. What does it mean to be vulnerable?
17. Identify and explain in detail three areas in which business practices promote or take advantage of an individual's vulnerability. In the three areas that you have identified, how could corporations reduce the vulnerability of individuals?
18. Identify and explain the basic features of sexual harassment.
19. In what way does the notion of "personal dignity" underlie concerns about sexual harassment?
20. Explain the reasonable person standard of making judgments and apply it to the issue of sexual harassment.
21. Is the reasonable person (woman) standard an effective standard for judging what counts as sexual harassment?
22. What strategies should a company utilize to (1) prevent sexual harassment and (2) to deal with it when it occurs?
23. Identify and explain the significance of three strong points in UD's policy on sexual harassment.
24. Identify and explain the significance of three weak points in UD's policy on sexual harassment.
25. What advantages are there for a company to have a diversity-promoting program in its hiring practices?
26. What ethical problems has affirmative action attempted to address?
27. What problems has affirmative action generated?
28. How do Beauchamp and Wasserstom justify affirmative action programs?
29. OMIT THIS QUESTION.
30. OMIT THIS QUESTION.
31. What does it mean to work in a free market economy?
32. How does "employment at will" function in a free market economy. Do you think this theory renders employees vulnerable?
33. Do employees have any moral rights in the workplace?
34. In what way can it be said that employees have only contractual rights in the workplace.
35. Explain the four types of responsibility that Heath identifies.
36. What types of responsibilities do employees have?

ARTICLES FOR REVIEW

EIB = Ethical Issues in Business (Donaldson and Werhane)
ER = ERESERVE
RW = Readings Webpage
WUC = Wake up Calls (Newton and Schmidt)

Ulrich, "Ethical Systems in Business Ethics." RW.
Newton and Schmidt, "The Discipline of Ethics." WUC, 3-19.
Facione, "Rights and Duties." ER.
Ulrich, "Ethical Principles in Business Ethics." RW.
Heath, "Character and Commerce," (ERESERVE).
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, (ERESERVE).
Heath, "Integrity, Loyalty, and Whistleblowing," (ERESERVE)
Olick, "Integrity," (ERESERVE)
Heath, "Honesty and Integrity in Business: Honesty," (ERESERVE)
Kant, "Ethical Duties Towards Others: 'Truthfulness.'" EIB, 27-32.
Carr, "Is Business Bluffing Ethical?" EIB, 33-39.
Crisp, "Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire." EIB, 448-456.
Brenkert, "Marketing to Inner-City Blacks: PowerMaster and Moral Responsibility." EIB, 466-477.
Heath, "Responsibility, Action, and the Conduct of Business: Individual Responsibility," (ERESERVE)
Dodds et al. "Sexual Harassment." (EIB, 360-372)
University of Dayton, "Policy on Sexual Harassment," (ERESERVE).
Werhane et al. "Employment at Will and Due Process," EIB, 304-314.
Epstein. "In Defense of the Contract at Will," EIB, 314-322.
Kanter, "Employability Security," EIB, 323-324.
Machan, "Human Rights, Workers' Rights, and the 'Right' to Occupational Safety." (ERESERVE).
Daniels, Norman. "Does OSHA Protect Too Much?" (ERESERVE)
Heath, "Justice," (ERESERVE)
Beauchamp. "The Justification of Reverse Discrimination." (ERESERVE).
Wasserstrom. "A Defense of Programs of Preferential Treatment." (ERESERVE).

CASES FOR ANALYSIS

Run, Inc. EIB, 63-81.
Tobacco's Last Stand, WUC, 153-172.
The Ford Pinto. WUC, 47-59.
The Case of Rena Weeks. (WUC, 119-131)
Living and Working in Bahrain. (EIB, 325-336)

REQUIRED CASE (This case will be reprinted on the examination.)

    The Department of Aztec Studies at Southwestern University is prodominantly male. Of the 20 faculty members, 4 are female. The department has attempted to hire females for 12 years whenever a position opens. They have been unsuccessful for the most part. When they offer a position to a woman, the woman generally turns them down because she gets a better offer elsewhere. So in the past 12 years they have only been successful in increasing the number of women on the faculty from 3 to the current four.
    Now the administration of the university is putting great pressure on the department to increase the number of female faculty members. One position is open in the next year, two in the following year, and another in the year after that. The administration is demanding that minimally three women must be hired into the four opening positions. The department has taken an affirmative action stance over the years and realizes that it need not hire the most qualified candidate but it demands that the person they hire is reasonably qualified for the tasks required of the position and has some area of excellence to build the department for the future.
    In putting together the advertisements for the positions, the department is in a quandry. Some have suggested that a search that is open to both males and females is necessary (keeping in mind their affirmative action stance). Some have suggested that the advertisement include both males and females but that males will be summarily disregarded and that male applications will not even be considered. Others hve suggested that the advertisements for the positions should read "female applicants only." The department is going to meet at the end of the current term and decide what approach they will take.