Description

Academic Integrity: Do not use any outside sources for the exam. Only use the class texts and videos
and the material presented at lecture. If I detect you have violated this rule, you will lose points. If I
detect you are plagiarizing other material, you will fail the exam with a 0. Exams will be checked for
plagiarism and other forms of cheating by SafeAssign and your instructor. Flagrant cheating and/or
plagiarism can result in an automatic F for the course.
BlackBoard technical requirements: You must save your work as a standard word processing file
such as the docx format. BlackBoard has problems with cloud files and MacOS files.
Length: 3 pages (Each answer is to be 1 page.)
Format: 12 point font, single spaced, MLA format for citations (Since most of this is in your own
words, I do not expect any citations.)
Grading: Besides the quality of your answer, you will also be graded on the organization of your ideas,
your grammar, the clarity of your writing, the relevance of your writing to the assignment, and
following instructions. I encourage you to seek guidance in your writing.
The Learning Center is available for tutoring in clarifying your writing and cleaning up any grammar
issues. Their webpage ( http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/centers/learning.php ) states:
Students who wish to work with a writing tutor (Monday through Friday) may call 718.951.5821 or
stop by the center (1300 Boylan Hall) to make a one-hour appointment. No appointment is necessary to
see a writing tutor on Saturdays and Sundays; writing tutoring on weekends takes place on a first-come,
first-served basis.
There is also a philosophy tutor available to assist you. Like the Learning Center, the philosophy tutor
will not assist with the content of your answer, but will help you with grammar, stream-lining and
clarifying your thoughts, and general writing guidance. This semester, the philosophy tutor is Matt. His
email is robertmatthewslay@gmail.com. For Matt’s weekly scheduled hours, please consult with his
posted information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y_6ezDwn5HVJsnuDGw2T_OUYV8LfJhms/view
There are also many online resources to help you improve your writing. I believe the editing process is
where we gain the most in the writing process. I also believe that no matter the level of your English
writing skills, we can all keep improving. If you use the services of the Learning Center, the philosophy
tutor, or an on-line site, at the end your exam, please document how it helped your writing, as well as
the source, and I will add 10 points to your grade for extra credit.
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Instructions: Choose three questions. Each question is worth 33 points.
For more extra credit, choose a fourth question (label it as your “extra credit question”) and earn up to
15 points.
1. Most businesses require employees to work in groups. Group-work can increase productivity and
harness a greater diversity of experience and expertise to solve business problems. What is one obstacle
to group-work that we studied in class? Write up a detailed example of this obstacle occurring. What is
a method for avoiding this obstacle and how does this method work? You are asked by your boss to
help write a Code of Ethics for the company. Propose a one-sentence principle that embodies this
method for avoiding the obstacle.
2. Your business is moving to a new location for more space and cheaper rent. The rent is cheaper
because the building is older. After signing a ten-year lease, you learn some things about the building. It
turns out the paint in the space is lead paint, which when ingested is a health hazard. Though sealed, the
insulation in the ceiling uses asbestos, which when inhaled is also a health hazard. Additionally, the
building has a high humidity and during certain times of the year, there is a potential for toxic molds to
form. The space does not violate any legal codes. Many older buildings are grandfathered, which
means the newer building codes do not apply to them. Put yourself in the position of the business
owner. You have just committed to that 10-year lease and cannot break the contract. Your employees
know nothing about the new building. What is the moral thing to do? When answering this question,
write from the perspective of deontology and Kantian Formalism. In your answer, include an
explanation of this ethical theory.
3. You are an accountant working at Enron. You have been asked to hide some of the expenses on a
failing investment in a foreign energy venture in order accentuate revenues and make it appear that
profits are high. You are promised a very generous yearly bonus if you don’t make any trouble and do
what you are asked to do. You are also reminded that the best employees are the most loyal employees
and that this accounting manipulation will give the company more time to recoup losses. Explain why
you shouldn’t do this using Virtue Ethics. Include in your answer an explanation of this ethical theory.
4. The moral bedrock of any business is a detailed code of ethics. A comprehensive code of ethics will
include a vision or goal the employees and management strive towards, a list of rules that govern what
sort of actions are not permitted by employees and management, and a list of values that employees,
management, and the company itself aim to live and express. Explain how each of these aspects of a
comprehensive code of ethics comes from a different ethical theory that we have studied. Next, give
one example of Enron’s business culture and how it may have influenced employees to make poor
moral choices. Finally, explain why Foucault, in “Chapter 3 – Organizational Culture” [Business Ethics
and Continental Philosophy] argues that merely following a company’s code of ethics and assimilating
to the business culture is, in a fundamental sense, not ethical.
5. Choose one of our textbook’s professional moral virtues: integrity, justice, responsibility,
reasonableness, honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty. Write about what it is, how it can be realized in
business, why it is important in business, and two different skills that realize that virtue. To realize
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something is to make something real. In Virtue ethics version 3, our textbook teaches that instead of
thinking in terms of virtues, we can think in terms of skills that practice that virtue.
6. In the Ford Pinto case study, we learned that the utilitarian ethical test was used to determine the
morally right course of action. This was controversial. First, what was the problem with the Ford Pinto?
Second, what is utilitarianism and how is utilitarianism different than ethical egoism? Recall that an
ethical egoist decides what is the best course of action by how something effects that person alone.
Explain how Ford used the cost-benefit test to decide a course of action? What was the biggest point of
contention in the use of that test? What are the other two main ethical tests? Explain what would have
been the results of those tests if Ford had also used them in determining the morally right course of
action

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