THE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (IU) VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HCMC

MID-TERM EXAMINATION
Date: ......................................
Duration: 90 minutes
Student ID: ..................................
Name:................................................
SUBJECT: BUSINESS ETHICS
Dean of School of Business Administration
Signature:

Lecturer
Signature:

Full name: Nguyen Quynh Mai, PhD

Full name: Luu Trong Tuan

GENERAL INSTRUCTION(S)
1 This is an opened book examination
2. No talking during the exam
3. No cellphones used during the exam
4. No dictionaries allowed.
GOOD LUCK!
SECTION 1: For each question, choose the best answer. (50 points)
1. Who among the following decides the remuneration of a CEO in an organization?
A. Shareholders
B. Board of directors
C. Chairman
D. Government
2. For some, the goal of living an ethical life is expressed by The Golden Rule:
A. the pursuit of a value is a good way to reach another value.
B. treat others as you would like to be treated.
C. live your life according to a commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal.
D. the ends justify the means.
3. Which of the following is NOT a functional component of the marketing process?
A. Sales
B. Customer service
C. Public relations
D. Advertising
4. Utilitarianism suggests that it is ethical to make decisions based on
A. What is best for most people
B. Common decency
C. Moral virtues
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D. Commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal

5. Organizational culture represents the sum of
A. the policies and procedures that are established for the organization as a whole.
B. all the written policies and procedures from each of the functional departments in the
organization
C. all the written policies and procedures from each of the functional departments in the
organization in addition to the policies and procedures that are established for the
organization as a whole.
D. all the policies and procedures from each of the functional departments in the
organization in addition to the policies and procedures that are established for the
organization as a whole.
6. A code of ethics is defined as a companys written standards of ethical behavior that are
designed to
A. limit managers and employees actions.
B. guide the appointment of corporate ethics officers.
C. guide managers and employees in making the decisions and choices they face every day.
D. guide managers in establishing standards of ethical conduct in their firms daily
operations.
7. What type of value do objects, activities, or whatever, have if they are valued for the sake of
something else?
A. Moral compass
B. Intrinsic value
C. Instrumental value
D. A code of behavior
8. Which of the following does HRs involvement in the employee contract NOT embrace?
A. The documentation of periodic performance reviews.
B. The creation of the job description for the position.
C. The documentation of disciplinary behavior and remedial training, if needed.
D. The modification of the companys strategic plan after the departure of an employee.
9. Which of the following denotes the first stage of the six stages in Lawrence Kohlbergs three
levels of moral development?
A. Preconventional.
B. Obedience and punishment orientation.
C. Individualism, instrumentalism, and exchange.
D. Universal ethical principle orientation.
10. Which of the following aspects of an organization helps in building an ethical organization?
i. The organization's values
ii. The organization's mission
iii. Its policies
iv. Responsibility towards environment
A. Only i
B. ii and iii
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C. i, ii and iii
D. All the above
11. A value chain is composed of
A. the line functions such as human resource management (HRM), finance, information
systems (IS or IT), and management.
B. the key functional inputs that an organization provides in the manufacturing process.
C. the key functional inputs that an organization provides in the transformation of raw
materials into a delivered product or service.
D. resourcespersonnel, dollars, and technology.
12. The limitation of virtuous ethics is that
A. if all you focus on is doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, no one is
accountable for the actions that are taken to achieve that outcome.
B. the virtues you hope to achieve are a direct reflection of the values of the society in which
you live.
C. societies can place different emphasis on different virtues.
D. if all you focus is abiding by a universal principle, no one is accountable for the
consequences of the actions taken to abide by those principles.
13. All of the following are the dramatic changes that have taken place in the business
environment over the last four decades EXCEPT:
A. Codes of ethics have matured from performance measurement documents into cosmetic
public relations documents.
B. Corporate ethics has moved from the domain of legal and human resource departments
into the organizational mainstream with the appointment of clearly mandated corporate
ethics officers.
C. The issue of corporate social responsibility has been advanced from an abstract debate to
a core performance assessment issue with clearly established legal liabilities.
D. The increased presence of an employee voice to the extent that individual employees
now feel more comfortable speaking out against actions of their employer that they feel
to be irresponsible or unethical.
14. Which of the following shows stakeholders of an organization and their respective interests
in the ethical operation of that organization?
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Federal government
Employees
Customers
Managers
Stockholders

A.
B.
C.
D.

a. Fair exchangea product or service of

acceptable value and quality for the money
spent
b. Growth in the value of company stock
c. Dividend income
d. Operation in compliance with all relevant
legislation
e. Stable employment at a fair rate of pay

1d, 2c, 3b, 4e, 5c

1d, 2c, 3a, 4c, 5b
1d, 2e, 3a, 4e, 5b
1c, 2e, 3d, 4b, 5c
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15. Which of the following examples illustrates the problem with universal ethics?
A. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) will be used in researching a cure for Parkinsons disease.
B. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party launched a national genocide against Jews and
defective people.
C. Christian societies value wisdom, courage, and justice.
D. Greek society at the time of Aristotle valued wisdom, courage, and justice. By contrast,
Christian societies value faith, hope, and charity.
16. The three principles in resolving an ethical dilemma are
A. rules-based decision, ends-based decision, and rule of thumb
B. ends-based decision, rule of thumb, and the Golden Rule.
C. compliance-based ethics codes, ends-based decision, and rules-based decision.
D. ends-based decision, rules-based decision, and the Golden Rule.
17. Organizational culture can be defined as
A. the values, beliefs, and norms that are shared by all of the stakeholders of that
organization.
B. the values, beliefs, and norms that are shared by all of the shareholders of that
organization.
C. the values, beliefs, and norms that are shared by all of the employees of that organization.
D. the values, beliefs, and norms that are shared by all of the managers of that organization.
18. Consider the following ethical transgression:
Your company has hired a new regional vice president. As the HR specialist for her region,
you are asked to process her payroll and benefits paperwork. Your boss instructs you to
waive the standard one-year waiting period for benefits entitlement and enroll the new VP in
the retirement and employee bonus plan immediately. When you raise the concern that this is
illegal, your boss informs you that this new VP is a close friend of the company president and
advises you that, in the interests of your job security, you should just do it and dont ask
questions!
In this scenario, accountability for the transgression would ultimately end with
A.
B.
C.
D.

your boss
the company president
the HR department
the new regional vice president

19. When faced with the requirement to select a model of how we ought to live our lives, many
people choose the idea of ethical relativism,
A. where a value is a good thing in itself and is pursued for its own sake, whether any thing
good comes from that pursuit or not.
B. where the virtues you hope to achieve arent a direct reflection of the values of the
society in which you live.
C. where their ethical principles are defined by the traditions of their society, their personal
opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment.
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D. where there is no obvious right or wrong decision, but rather a right or right
answer.
20. Which of the following statements best explains the difference between ethics and morality?
A. Ethics refers to standards of behavior whereas morality refers to system of beliefs
B. Ethics refer to system of beliefs whereas morality refers to standards of behavior
C. Morality refers to the interrelated beliefs than an single opinion as considered in ethics
D. Morality encompasses the system of beliefs
21. Which of the following shows stakeholders of an organization and how they could be
negatively impacted by unethical corporate behavior?
i.
ii.
iii.

Community
CEOs
Suppliers/vendor
partners
Employees
Stockholders

iv.
v.
A.
B.
C.
D.

a.
b.
c.
d.

Cancellation of dividends
Loss of employment
Unemployment of local residents
Delayed payment for delivered goods and
services
e. False and misleading financial information on
which to base investment decisions

1e, 2a, 3d, 4c, 5e

1e, 2b, 3e, 4c, 5a
1c, 2a, 3e, 4b, 5a
1c, 2b, 3d, 4b, 5e

22. The key functions within a value chain are identified as

A. research and development (R&D), manufacturing, marketing, human resources (HR), and
finance.
B. customer service, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and research and development
(R&D).
C. research and development (R&D), advertising, sales, customer service, and information
systems (IS or IT).
D. customer service, sales, information technology, management, and research and
development (R&D).
23. Wondering whether you tell the truth or remain loyal to the person or organization that is
asking you not to reveal that truth refers to which type of ethical conflict?
A. Truth versus mercy
B. Justice versus commitment
C. Truth versus loyalty
D. Justice versus loyalty
24. Which of the following is the first step in the three-step process for solving an ethical
problem?
A. Make a decision.
B. Consider all of the options from a different perspective, without thinking about the
consequences.
C. Analyze the actions.
D. Analyze the consequences.
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25. You're the development assistant for a small nonprofit health education organization, and
part of your job requires you to oversee the printing of various documents. Typically, you
write the documents, collaborate with a graphic designer to lay them out, and then work with
an outside printer to get the documents printed in large quantities.
Your latest brochure, GHB: A Growing Public Health Concern, is about to come back
from the printer. When they arrive, you spot an error in a small headline on the third page.
It's supposed to read GHB: An Emerging Public Health Crisis, but instead it says GHB:
An Emerging Pubic Health Crisis.
What a difference a letter makes!
What should you do?
A. Call the mistake to your supervisor's attention, even though it's relatively minor in the
grand scheme of things and probably won't have any impact on the overall message the
brochure is trying to communicate.
B. In the interest of saving your organization money and time, you let the mistake go
unnoticed and work extra hard to distribute all copies of the brochure as quickly as
possible so you can get the document reprinted.
C. Go to your organization's graphic artist, who probably should have caught the mistake
during production, and ask what went wrong and why. Then, be prepared to tell your
supervisor about the graphic artist's mistake if the supervisor should ask about it.
D. Tell your supervisor about the graphic artist's mistake and refuse to distribute copies of
the brochure.
SECTION 2: ESSAYS (each essay in 250 words at least)
(1) You work in a medium-sized international elementary school. At your annual performance
review, you were asked about your goals and objectives for the coming year and you stated that
you would like to earn a green-colored TOEIC (Test of English for International
Communication) certificate. You didnt get much of a pay raise (yet another cost-cutting
initiative!), but your boss told you that there was money in the training budget for the TOEIC
courseyoure attending the training next week. However, after receiving the poor pay raise, you
had polished your resume and applied for some other positions. You have received an attractive
job offer from a large international elementary school for more money, and, in the last interview,
your potential new boss commented that it was a shame you didnt have your TOEIC certificate
with the score of 650 or higher since that would qualify you for a higher pay grade. They dont
have the training budget to put you through the TOEIC training for at least one year. You tell the
interviewer that you will complete the TOEIC training prior to starting the new position in order
to qualify for the higher pay grade. You choose not to qualify that statement with any additional
information on who will be paying for the training. You successfully gain the TOEIC
certification with the score of 675 and then give your five days notice. You leave your pupils
you have taught, taken care of, and been loved by for approximately three months, and start with
your new school at the higher pay grade. Is that ethical? (25 points)
(2) Do cheaters prosper? (25 points)

In a book entitled Cheaters Always Prosper: 50 Ways to Beat the System without Being Caught,
James Brazil (a pen name), a college student from the University of California, Santa Barbara,
has provided fifty ways to obtain a free lunch. One suggestion is to place shards of glass in
your dessert at a fancy restaurant and then raise hell. The manager or owner will then come
running with certificates for free meals and probably waive your bill.
Another suggestion is, rather than spend $400 on new tires for your car, rent a car for a day for
$35 and switch the rental car tires with your tires. So long as your car tires are not bald, the rental
car company employees will not notice, and you will have your new tires for a mere $35.
1. Are these suggestions ethical?
2. Was publishing the book with the suggestions ethical?
3. Do any of these suggestions cost anyone any money?