Essay Quiz


1		Ronald Duska argues that the only responsibility employees have to employers is to uphold their end of the contract. Beyond that, they have no responsibility to make sacrifices for the company's owners. Suppose that a company finds itself in dire financial straits, such that it may well face bankruptcy unless it can reduce its operating expenses significantly. If the company asks its employees for "give-backs," reductions in salaries and benefits, would it be disloyal for the employees to refuse? Is this an instance where sacrifice is the ethically right thing for the employees to do?



2		Suppose that the director of a large public institution transfers a substantial amount of its endowment assets to a few close friends who are fund managers. No public disclosure is made of these transfers. An employee of the institution immediately alerts the institution's auditors to this transaction and is summarily fired, presumably on the director's orders. (1) Use Richard DeGeorge's criteria to determine whether this act of whistleblowing was justified. (2) Do you think the director was justified in having the whistleblower fired?



3		George is spending a weekend visiting his brother Al who is the CEO of a large corporation. George happens to pass by Al's study and overhears his brother tell the party on the other end of a phone conversation that Al's firm is planning a takeover of another corporation, a significantly large financial deal. George immediately phones his broker and tells him to buy a large block of shares in the company that Al's firm is going to take over. Do you think George is legally guilty of insider trading? Morally? Is there a difference?

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