Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Exercises

1. (AACSB) Analysis

   Each December, Time magazine devotes its cover to the person who has made the biggest impact on the world that year. Time's 2002 pick was not one person, but three: Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom), Coleen Rowley (the FBI), and Sherron Watkins (Enron). All three were whistle-blowers. We detailed Cynthia Cooper's courage in exposing fraud at WorldCom in this chapter, but the stories of the other two whistle-blowers are equally worthwhile.
   

   • What wrongdoing did the whistle-blower expose?
   • What happened to her when she blew the whistle? Did she experience retaliation?
   • Did she do the right thing? Would you have blown the whistle? Why or why not?

2. (AACSB) Analysis

   You own a tax-preparation company with ten employees who prepare tax returns. In walking around the office, you notice that several of your employees spend a lot of time making personal use of their computers, checking personal e-mails, or shopping online. After doing an Internet search on employer computer monitoring, respond to these questions: Is it unethical for your employees to use their work computers for personal activities? Is it ethical for you to monitor computer usage? Do you have a legal right to do it? If you decide to monitor computer usage in the future, what rules would you make, and how would you enforce them?