Possible Exam Questions for the Second Business Ethics Exam -- Exam will be in class on December 9

Note: I may transform several questions from this list into multiple choice questions. Otherwise several will be presented as short essay questions.  (Short = half a page or a page)  You will be able to consult your textbooks but not any notes or handouts or other papers.

  1. Explain and illustrate the concept of “moral hazard.”
  2. Explain and illustrate the concept of “external cost” (also called “externality’).
  3. Explain and illustrate the concept of “informational asymmetry” or “knowledge gap”.
  4. What does it mean to say that moral hazard, externalities, and informational asymmetries create “market failure”?  How is this relevant to business ethics?
  5. Pick one of the cases discussed in Chapter 5 of Moral Mazes and discuss whether the manager involved should have ‘blown the whistle’ according to Richard DeGeorge's criteria.  Do you think these criteria give the right answer in this case?
  6. Do you think that it is fair to require employers to make workplaces as safe as is technologically feasible?  If not, what would be a more reasonable standard?  Explain your reasoning.
  7. Most would agree that it is wrong to conceal workplace hazards from employees (for example, to expose them to toxic chemicals without their knowledge and consent).  But some (like Machan) would say that disclosure is all that is morally required of an employer.  As long as the workers know what the dangers are, then it is up to them to decide whether they are willing to take the risks involved.  The employer has no responsibility to achieve any particular level of safety or take steps to ensure that employees are protecting themselves against those risks.  What do you think about this?
  8. Do you think that there is anything wrong with U.S.-based multinationals using so-called sweatshop labor abroad (or purchasing from subcontractors who operate such facilities)?   Explain -- include some discussion/rebuttal of the arguments for the opposing view.
  9. Let’s assume that, in a democratic society, business managers have an obligation to obey the law.  Do they have an ethical obligation to do more than that in order to avoid damaging the environment or to promote a sustainable way of life?  Explain -- include some discussion/rebuttal of the arguments for the opposing view.
  10. In the video we saw in class, Ray Anderson argues that the transformation of his company, Interface, shows that any and every business can become sustainable.  What does 'sustainability' mean in this context?  What advantages does he claim Interface has gotten from its efforts to become sustainable? Is Anderson right to say that every business could and should be sustainable?
  11. Machan argues that business people do have an obligation to be honest, but that this does not mean that they should provide all the information that might be helpful to their customers.  Carr suggests that even basic honesty is not always required. (Several of the examples he discusses under the heading of 'bluffing' involve outright lies and other sorts of deception.)  Allhoff doesn't entirely agree with Carr, but he does claim that it is OK for buyers and sellers to try to mislead one another about their 'reservation price' in a negotiation.  How would you draw the line between acceptable 'bluffing' and unacceptable 'dishonesty'?
  12. In Moral Mazes (especially in Chapters 6 and 7) Robert Jackall describes patterns of communication that could be considered pervasively dishonest.  Or, as Albert Carr suggests, they could just be considered ‘the way the game is played’.  What are some of the patterns he describes?  What do you think about the ethical acceptability of these ways of communicating?
  13. Arrington defends what he calls 'puffery', while Crisp and Waite criticize what seems to be the same thing under the labels of 'persuasive advertising' and 'associative advertising'.  Who is right?
  14. Lynn Sharp Paine argues that it is unethical for advertisers to target children.  What are her reasons?  Is she right?
  15. At the end of Moral Mazes, Jackall suggests that people who master the corporate game (who attain the ‘adeptness at inconsistency’, ‘dexterity with symbols’ and the moral flexibility that are required) pay a price – what might be called a psychic or a spiritual price.  Explain what he thinks that price is.  What do you think about this?