ZAMBIAN OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STUDIES

2018 SEMESTER TWO FINAL EXAMINATION

COURSE: ETHICS FOR MANAGERS

COURSE CODE: BMEM 5103

EXAMINER: CHOTO SIAME (Ms.)

Duration: THREE (3) HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Answer any THREE (3) questions PLUS QUESTION 6 (COMPULSORY). Total number of
questions to be answered is four. Each question is worth 25 marks.

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO.

 1. Fully define business ethics and discuss, with examples, the benefits of managing
ethics in the workplace.

2. What does good business today really mean, and what do ethics have to do, if
anything, with good business?

3. Critically evaluate the meaning of an ethical dilemma, and give an example of a

dilemma that a manager may face in the course of his/her work.

4. The field of ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of

right and wrong behavior. Managers must make ethical decisions even when it is
impossible to know all the impending consequences of that decision. Time pressures
and the stress of limited resources may require a decision even when there is no
clear “right” answer to the problem.

a) Critically evaluate how ethics training for HR officers and line managers can play
a critical role in resolving ethical issues in organisations.
b) What are some current ethical issues in the business news? Identify one
company that seems to be handling an issue in an ethical and socially
responsible manner and one that appears to be unethical or socially
irresponsible.

5. a) As a manager, fully discuss the ethics compliance programmes that you would put
in place to ensure/encourage an ethical organisational climate.
b) Are compliance programmes enough to create/maintain an ethical organisation?
Discuss.
c) Discuss what culture, if anything, has to do with organisational ethics.

6. Read the following case and answer the questions that follow. (COMPULSORY)
A secretary who has worked for your corporation for fifteen years is involved in a
car accident in which she permanently loses the use of her right hand. Thus, she can
no longer effectively type, file, or perform many of the other functions that she
previously had performed and that are included in her job description.

Your corporation has a very tight budget and does not have sufficient funds to pay
for an additional secretary without reallocating budget items. The injured secretary
has been very loyal to your corporation, and you have been very satisfied with her
work and dedication. She wants to stay at her job.

Moreover, she does not believe that she could find other employment at this time.
Should your corporation fire her, lay her off with compensation, or find a way to
retain her?

QUESTIONS:
In resolving this dilemma, apply:
1. Utilitarianism
2. The Rights Model
3. Your own personal opinion

END OF EXAM