Unit 6: Ethical Decision-Making and Accountability - Practice Quiz

1 How many broad levels are included in Kohlberg's theory of moral development?

2 At which level of Kohlberg's model are moral decisions mainly based on rewards and punishments?

3 Which level of Kohlberg's model emphasizes social approval, laws, and maintaining social order?

4 Which is the first stage in Piaget's cognitive development model?

5 During which Piagetian stage does abstract and hypothetical thinking typically develop?

6 What is whistle-blowing?

7 Who is commonly called a whistle-blower?

8 What does corporate accountability primarily require?

9 Which organizational measure most directly encourages employees to report misconduct?

10 What is retaliation against a whistle-blower?

11 What is the main purpose of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013?

12 Which committee must generally be constituted by an employer with ten or more employees under the Act?

13 Who should ordinarily serve as the Presiding Officer of the Internal Committee?

14 Which body handles certain complaints when a workplace has fewer than ten employees?

15 Which of the following may constitute sexual harassment under the Act?

16 What is an ethical dilemma?

17 What is usually the first step in ethical decision-making?

18 Which ethical approach focuses mainly on the consequences of an action?

19 Which ethical approach emphasizes fairness and equal treatment?

20 Why should decision-makers identify stakeholders when resolving an ethical dilemma?

21 An employee follows a company rule mainly because violating it could result in dismissal. According to Kohlberg, which stage best explains this reasoning?

22 A manager rejects a profitable but deceptive advertisement because honesty should be respected even when existing regulations permit the advertisement. Which level of Kohlberg's model is most evident?

23 A trainee can compare several hypothetical solutions to a workplace dilemma and predict the consequences of each. Which Piagetian stage most directly supports this ability?

24 Which statement best describes the relationship between Piaget's and Kohlberg's models?

25 An accountant refuses to manipulate a report because doing so would undermine the legal and institutional order on which business depends. Which Kohlberg stage is illustrated?

26 An engineer discovers a product defect that could seriously harm customers. Management ignores documented internal warnings. Which action most strongly supports ethical external whistle-blowing?

27 A company wants employees to report misconduct internally before problems escalate. Which measure is most likely to make its whistle-blowing system credible?

28 After an employee reports accounting fraud, the company transfers the employee to an inferior role without a business justification. This action is best classified as:

29 A board receives a credible whistle-blower complaint against the chief financial officer. What is the most appropriate accountability response?

30 Which situation most clearly distinguishes responsible whistle-blowing from an ordinary personal grievance?

31 A private company in India has 25 employees. What mechanism must the employer constitute under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013?

32 A woman works in an establishment with seven employees and alleges sexual harassment by a colleague. Where should she ordinarily submit her complaint under the Act?

33 During conciliation under the Act, an employer proposes that the complainant accept money as the basis of settlement. Which statement is correct?

34 A complaint is submitted four months after the most recent incident because the complainant was medically unable to file earlier. What may the appropriate committee do?

35 A manager circulates the complainant's identity and details of an ongoing inquiry to uninvolved employees. Which principle under the Act is most directly violated?

36 A company compares two safety policies by estimating how much overall benefit and harm each would produce for employees, customers, and shareholders. Which ethical approach is it applying?

37 A supervisor refuses to monitor employees' private messages even though monitoring could increase productivity, arguing that privacy must be respected. Which approach best fits this decision?

38 A procurement manager facing a conflict of interest first identifies all affected parties before evaluating available actions. What is the main purpose of this step?

39 A manager asks, "Would I consider this decision fair if I did not know whether I would be an employee, customer, or shareholder?" Which ethical test is being used?

40 Two proposed actions are legal and profitable, but one would be embarrassing to explain publicly to customers and employees. Which practical ethical test most directly highlights this concern?

41 A student refuses to cheat because she believes that rules are necessary for maintaining social order, even though cheating would improve her personal result and no one would discover it. Which interpretation best fits Kohlberg's framework?

42 Two children receive identical punishments for different actions. One child judges the punishment by the amount of damage caused, while the other considers the actor's intention. Which conclusion is most consistent with Piaget's theory?

43 A manager argues that an unjust company policy should be challenged because it violates human dignity, even though it is formally authorized and widely accepted. In Kohlberg's model, this reasoning most clearly indicates:

44 An employee understands that a supplier's seemingly contradictory claims may both be valid under different conditions and revises her judgment after considering evidence from multiple perspectives. Which Piagetian capability is most relevant?

45 A firm introduces an ethics workshop but finds that employees at different moral-development levels respond differently to the same case. Which training design best reflects both Kohlberg's and Piaget's insights?

46 An engineer discovers that a company is concealing a material product-safety defect. She first reports it through the designated compliance channel, preserves relevant evidence, and escalates externally only after receiving no meaningful response and believing serious public harm is imminent. This is best characterized as:

47 A corporation publicly announces an ethics hotline but disciplines employees who report concerns to it, while rewarding managers for meeting targets regardless of misconduct. Which accountability failure is most fundamental?

48 A whistle-blower releases confidential customer data along with evidence of accounting fraud, although the data is not needed to establish the fraud. Which assessment is most defensible?

49 After a regulatory fine, a company replaces the responsible executive but leaves sales targets, reporting systems, and bonus structures unchanged. Why is this response inadequate from an accountability perspective?

50 An audit committee receives credible allegations against the chief executive, but the investigation is assigned to a team whose performance evaluations depend on that executive. What is the principal governance defect?

51 Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, an employee in an organization with fewer than ten workers wants to file a complaint against a non-employer colleague. Which forum is generally appropriate?

52 A woman submits a complaint five months after an alleged incident and explains that she delayed reporting because of trauma and fear of retaliation. Which statement best reflects the Act's approach?

53 During a complaint process, the employer proposes that the complainant receive a payment if she withdraws the complaint. Under the Act, which position is correct?

54 An Internal Committee member shares the complainant's identity and inquiry details in a staff messaging group, claiming that transparency will deter future misconduct. What is the best legal-ethical assessment?

55 A company forms an Internal Committee with three senior male managers and one external lawyer, arguing that seniority and legal expertise are sufficient. Which requirement has most clearly been overlooked?

56 A procurement officer can award a contract to a low-cost supplier with poor labor practices or to a compliant supplier whose price may force layoffs. Which process best addresses the dilemma?

57 A hospital administrator must allocate a scarce treatment between a patient with a high probability of recovery and a patient who has waited longer. Which question best distinguishes a moral dilemma from a simple preference?

58 A manager's preferred decision benefits the largest number of employees but violates a promise made to a smaller group. Which analysis is most accurate?

59 A company can legally use customer location data for a new service, but customers reasonably believed the data would be used only for security. Which ethical decision-making principle is most directly implicated?

60 A decision-maker discovers that every available option causes some harm. Which response is most consistent with principled ethical resolution?