Chapter 4 – Study Guide
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Directions: Read complete each of the questions/prompts below. This should be used as a tool to study for the Chapter
4 Test (Wednesday, 11/5). Other studying tools should include: your textbook, lecture notes, and activity worksheets.
Chapter Objectives:
 Define what is meant by the social responsibility of business.
 Describe the impact of business on society.
 Define ethics and business ethics.
 Describe why ethical behavior is good for business.
 List the steps for dealing with an ethical dilemma.
1. Explain how ethics could be viewed differently in other countries.
2. __________________________ are moral principles by which people conduct themselves
______________________, ___________________________, or ____________________________.
3. Describe the role/responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
4. For each of the following types of social responsibility, define the term in your own words and give
one specific example.
a. Responsibility to Creditors/Owners
b. Responsibility to Society
c. Responsibility to Customers
d. Responsibility to Employees
5. _____________________________ are rules based on moral principles about how businesses and
employees ought to conduct themselves.
a. How do businesses make up for problems caused by unethical behaviors, such as theft in
their stores?
1
6. List two SPECIFIC ways a business can act ethically toward its employees.
7. In business, people follow rules as well as a _________________________, which is a set of guidelines for
maintaining ethics in the work place.
8. Explain what happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911 and how this tragedy
changed the way factories operate.
9. A ________________________ is a shop or factory in which workers are employed for long hours at low
wages and under unhealthy conditions.
10. Define conflict of interest and create your own example of a potential conflict of interest situation.
11. Explain how Wal-Mart could potentially enter into an unethical situation when searching for a
new location for its stores and/or actually building one of its new stores.
12. Describe the role/responsibility of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
13. Starbucks is a great example of a business that is steps to be socially responsible. List how
Starbucks is being responsible to each of the groups below.
Customers
Employees
Society
Creditors/Owners
2
14. If a business violates its code of ethics, the consequences may include (give 2)….
15. According to the textbook, explain how treating employees unethically can backfire.
16. There are three important questions to ask yourself when faced with an ethical dilemma. List each
question below:
a.
b.
c.
17. Using the ethical decision-making process will enable you to bake a more informed ethical choice.
List the steps of this thought process.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
18. Define social responsibility and explain why this concept is being adopted by more businesses
now than ever before.
19. Many people enjoy going to concerts at outdoor event venues. How could a business demonstrate
social responsibility by participating in or sponsoring an event like this?
20. Describe the role/responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
21. Give an example of an unethical decision that is not illegal.
22. Today, what could be considered the biggest social issue businesses must face?
3
23. In the 1990s, what could be defined as the biggest social issue businesses had to face?
a. What is the name of the act that goes along with and monitors this social issue?
24. In 2-3 sentences (and in your own words), summarize Chapter 4.1 Business Ethics.
25. In 2-3 sentences (and in your own words), summarize Chapter 4.2 Social Responsibility.
4