Is a problem situation or opportunity that requires an individual or group to choose among actions?

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Ethical issues typically arise because of conflicts among individuals' personal moral philosophies and values, the values and culture of the organizations in which they work, and those of the society in which they live.

Characteristics of the job, the culture, and the organization of the society in which one does business can also create ethical issues.

The first step towards understanding business ethics is to develop ethical-issue awareness.

This business-as-war mentality may foster the idea that honesty is unnecessary in business. In addition, an intensely competitive environment creates the potential for companies to engage in questionable conduct.

Lying can be segmented into (1) causing damage or harm; (2) a “white lie,” which doesn't cause damage but can be called an excuse or something told to benefit someone else; and (3) statements that are obviously meant to engage or entertain with no malice.

Refers to truthfulness or trustworthiness

Fairness is the quality of being just, equitable, and impartial. Fairness clearly overlaps with other commonly used terms such as justice, equity, equality, and morality.

What are three fundamental elements that seem to motivate people to be fair?

~Equality ~Reciprocity ~Optimization

Is about how wealth or income is distributed between employees within a company, a country, or across the globe.

Is an interchange of giving and receiving in social relationships.

Is the tradeoff between equity and efficiency.

Is one of the most important and often-cited terms regarding virtue, and it refers to being whole, sound, and in an unimpaired condition. In an organization, it means uncompromising adherence to ethical values.

An ethical issue is a problem, situation, or opportunity that requires an individual, group, or organization to choose among several actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong, ethical or unethical.

An ethical dilemma is a problem, situation, or opportunity that requires an individual, group, or organization to choose among several wrong or unethical actions.

Abusive or intimidating behavior is the most common ethical problem for employees.

Commission lying is creating a perception or belief by words that intentionally deceive the receiver of the message.

Commission lying also entails intentionally creating “noise” within the communication that knowingly confuses or deceives the receiver.

Noise can be defined as technical explanations that the communicator knows the receiver does not understand. It can be the intentional use of communication forms that make it difficult for the receiver to actually hear the true message. Using legal terms or relating to unfamiliar processes and systems to explain what was done in a work situation facilitate this type of lie.

Omission lying is intentionally not informing the channel member of any differences, problems, safety warnings, or negative issues relating to the product, service, or company that significantly affects awareness, intention, or behavior.

A conflict of interest exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group.

Bribery is the practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage.

Meaning that the person who promises or gives the bribe commits the offense.

Is an offense committed by the official who receives the bribe.

Small facilitation payments made to obtain or retain business or other improper advantages do not constitute bribery payments.

Corporate intelligence is the collection and analysis of information on markets, technologies, customers, and competitors, as well as on socioeconomic and external political trends.

What are the three distinct type of intelligence models?

~Passive monitoring system for early warning ~Tactical field support ~Support dedicated to top-management strategy

Hacking is considered one of the top three methods for obtaining trade secrets.

System hacking assumes that the attacker already has access to a low-level, privileged-user account.

Remote hacking involves attempting to penetrate remotely a system across the Internet. A remote hacker usually begins with no special privileges and tries to obtain higher level or administrative access.

Physical hacking requires that the CI agent enter a facility personally.

Social engineering is the tricking of individuals into revealing their passwords or other valuable corporate information.

What are 2 possible tactics of social engineering?

~Casual conversations with relatives of company executives ~S ending e-mail claiming to be a system administrator that asks for passwords under the guise of “important system administration work.”

Someone simply looks over an employee's shoulder while he or she types in a password.

Someone finds out personal things about a person and uses that information to guess their password.

Tactic used when an identity thief goes through your trash for discarded items that reveal personal information that can be used for fraudulent purposes.

The use of a digital recording device to monitor and record a fax line to gain information.

Discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, public assistance status, disability, age, national origin, or veteran status are illegal in the United States.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act specifically outlaws hiring practices that discriminate against people between the ages of 49 and 69, as well as those that require employees to retire before the age of 70.

Affirmative Action Programs

Involve efforts to recruit, hire, train, and promote qualified individuals from groups that have traditionally been discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, or other characteristics.

Environmental issues are defined as problems with the planet's systems (air, water, soil, etc.) that have developed as a result of human interference or mistreatment of the planet.

In general, fraud is any purposeful communication that deceives, manipulates, or conceals facts in order to create a false impression.

Usually involves a corporation's financial reports in which companies provide important information on which investors and others base decisions that may involve millions of dollars. If the documents contain inaccurate information, whether intentionally or not, then lawsuits and criminal penalties may result.

The process of creating, distributing, promoting, and pricing products—is another business area that generates potential ethical issues. False or misleading marketing communications can destroy customers' trust in a company.

False or deceptive advertising is a key issue in marketing communications.

What are the 3 categories that courts place false or misleading advertisements into?

~Puffery ~Implied Falsity ~Literal Falsity

Exaggerated advertising, blustering, and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely and is not actionable under the Lanham Act.

Means that the message has a tendency to mislead, confuse, or deceive the public.

2 Subcategories:   ~Establishment Claims   ~Non-establishment Claims

The advertisement cites a study or test that establishes the claim.

The advertisement makes a claim that cannot be substantiated or proven.

Changing a customer's phone service without authorization

Consumers attempt to deceive businesses for their own gain.

What are 3 types of consumer fraud?

~Collusion ~Duplicity ~Guile

Involves an employee who assists the consumer in fraud.

May involve a consumer staging an accident in a grocery store and then seeking damages against the store for its lack of attention to safety.

Associated with a person who is crafty or understands right/wrong behavior but uses tricks to obtain an unfair advantage.

What are the 2 types of insider trading?

The buying or selling of stocks by insiders who possess material that is still not public.

Involves legally buying and selling stock in an insider's own company, but not all the time.

Intellectual-property rights involve the legal protection of intellectual properties such as music, books, and movies.

What are the 2 dimensions to consumer privacy?

~Consumer awareness of information collected ~A growing lack of consumer control over how companies use the personal information that they collect.

What are the 3 challenges in determining an ethical issue in business?

~Something can become unethical because of changing societal values. ~Absence of specific policies that outline certain activities as being unethical. ~Failure to pay attention to stakeholder concerns about an event, activity or the results of a business decision.

Is a problem or opportunity that requires an individual or group to choose among actions that are evaluated as ethical or unethical?

Is a problem situation or opportunity requiring an individual group or organization to choose among?

What is the problem situation requiring individual group or Organisation to choose among several actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong?

What is a problem situation or opportunity that requires an individual group or organization to choose among several wrong or unethical actions at work place?