CEA Professional Conduct & Organizational Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An employee discovers her manager is falsifying expense reports. What is the most ethically appropriate first step?
- Report it anonymously to an ethics hotline (Correct answer)
- Confront the manager directly in a group meeting
- Ignore it to avoid conflict
- Share the information with coworkers
Correct answer: Report it anonymously to an ethics hotline
Using an ethics hotline is typically the safest and most appropriate first step, protecting the reporter while ensuring the issue is investigated.
Question 2: Which principle best describes an organization's duty to be transparent about its decision-making processes?
- Confidentiality
- Accountability
- Transparency (Correct answer)
- Beneficence
Correct answer: Transparency
Transparency requires organizations to be open about their decisions and processes so stakeholders can understand and evaluate them.
Question 3: A sales representative is pressured by his supervisor to misrepresent a product's capabilities to close a deal. This situation BEST illustrates:
- Role conflict
- Ethical fading
- Authority bias leading to unethical behavior (Correct answer)
- Groupthink
Correct answer: Authority bias leading to unethical behavior
Authority bias can cause employees to comply with unethical directives from supervisors, overriding their own moral judgment.
Question 4: Which of the following BEST describes a 'tone at the top' in organizational ethics?
- The ethical standards set by frontline employees
- Senior leadership modeling and enforcing ethical behavior (Correct answer)
- The formal code of conduct document
- External regulatory requirements
Correct answer: Senior leadership modeling and enforcing ethical behavior
Tone at the top refers to senior leadership demonstrating ethical behavior, which strongly influences the entire organization's culture.
Question 5: An HR professional learns confidential information about an employee during a disciplinary meeting and later shares it with colleagues. This is a violation of:
- Non-compete agreements
- Confidentiality obligations (Correct answer)
- Fiduciary duty
- Antitrust law
Correct answer: Confidentiality obligations
HR professionals have a duty to maintain confidentiality of sensitive employee information learned in their professional capacity.
Question 6: Which organizational structure is MOST likely to foster ethical behavior?
- Highly hierarchical with limited communication channels
- Flat structure with open communication and ethics reporting mechanisms (Correct answer)
- Siloed departments with minimal cross-functional interaction
- One where only senior management reviews ethical concerns
Correct answer: Flat structure with open communication and ethics reporting mechanisms
Open communication, flat structures, and accessible ethics reporting mechanisms create environments where ethical concerns can be raised and addressed.
Question 7: A consultant working with a client firm learns during the engagement that the client is engaged in legal but potentially harmful practices. What should the consultant do?
- Immediately terminate the contract
- Ignore the issue since it is legal
- Raise the concern through appropriate channels and consider whether continued engagement is appropriate (Correct answer)
- Publicly disclose the practices to regulators
Correct answer: Raise the concern through appropriate channels and consider whether continued engagement is appropriate
Ethical professionals consider both legal compliance and broader harm, raising concerns through proper channels before deciding on further action.
CEA Professional Conduct & Organizational Ethics 2
An employee discovers her manager is falsifying expense reports.
What is the most ethically appropriate first step?