Q&A Hero

Q: A businessperson would be faced with a defining moment in terms of ethics when he or she A) has a chance to cheat on the expense account. B) has to choose between two or more morally sound choices. C) receives recognition for outstanding ethical behavior. D) has to report on the unethical behavior of a coworker.

Q: Engaging in unethical behavior to help the company, such as adding a few extra dollars beyond the actual price to credit card bills, A) is still classified as unethical behavior. B) helps the company so it is not unethical. C) is classified as a defining moment. D) is classified as misusing company resources.

Q: Wasting company time is an example of a practice that A) is unethical primarily in a company that cares about high productivity. B) is unethical primarily in a company that does not care about high productivity. C) may not be unethical but is illegal. D) may not be illegal but is unethical.

Q: It is considered ethical to divulge confidential information when A) the person providing the information is unethical. B) you know that a coworker is looking for a job. C) the company does not have an ethical code prohibiting such behavior. D) the welfare of others is at stake.

Q: Human resources director Priscilla is dating Larry who works for another company. Priscilla faces a conflict of interest on the job when A) Larry wants to take her for lunch on a Friday. B) Larry asks her advice about his retirement plan at his company. C) she screens the rsum of Larry's son who applies for a job with her company. D) she plans to quit if she and Larry decide to get married.

Q: Anna, a supervisor, places herself in a conflict of interest when she A) asks her boss for a raise even though her performance has been mediocre. B) recommends the same salary increase for everyone in the department. C) attempts to sell vitamins and food supplements to her subordinates. D) attempts to sell vitamins and food supplements to poor people in her neighborhood.

Q: Sexual harassment is considered to be an ethical issue because A) the federal government outlaws sexual harassment. B) it is usually only practiced against young women. C) all acts of sexual harassment flunk an ethics test. D) it involves both managers and workers.

Q: Karl, a small business owner, practices cronyism when he gives a job to an unqualified friend who A) helps shovel his driveway. B) has strong potential to learn the job in question quickly. C) has worked for a competitor. D) is in desperate need of a job.

Q: In a fair workplace, the most important factor for evaluating people is A) whether they are liked by the right people. B) demographic factors like sex, race, or age. C) how well the person is liked by his or her supervisor. D) qualifications and job performance.

Q: How should the practice of unauthorized copying of software be classified? A) illegal and unethical B) legal but unethical C) immoral but not unethical D) legal and illegal

Q: A survey of ethical problems found that when employees report ethical problems A) they frequently receive praise from top-level management. B) about one in five are retaliated against. C) are frequently subject to criminal charges. D) they are typically fired immediately.

Q: Bud is the credit manager at a motorcycle dealer, and the dealership is behind sales quota so far this year. This afternoon, a customer applied for a $20,000 loan to purchase the motorcycle he has chosen. Bud engages in motivated blindness when he A) approves the credit application because he likes the way the customer dresses. B) approves the credit application because it is filled out carefully. C) turns down the credit applicant because he is driving a competitive brand motorcycle. D) overlooks the fact that the applicant is facing a home foreclosure.

Q: A person who morally disengages thinks in such a way as to avoid being moral A) without feeling distress. B) while feeling terribly guilty. C) while looking out for the good of the other person. D) with work associates who have high work engagement.

Q: Restaurant manager Sue has a utilitarian predisposition, so she doesn't mind serving customers food that fell on the floor so long as A) the food was costly. B) no customer gets sick. C) the issue is not covered in the company code of conduct. D) she can blame the problem on somebody else.

Q: With respect to ethics, moral intensity refers to how A) strongly one feels about an issue. B) far a person deviates from an ethical code. C) deeply others might be affected by one's actions. D) well a person's moral code is developed.

Q: According to the upward ethical leadership approach the worker first blows the whistle on an unethical boss, then follows up by advising the boss that he or she is engaging in unethical behavior.

Q: A person who exerts upward ethical leadership will often upset the boss.

Q: A professional code of conduct provides guidelines to members of that profession on how to be unethical without violating the law.

Q: Helping sustain the physical environment is considered to be part of having good ethical skills.

Q: One perspective on workplace ethics is that people who have close ties to each other are less likely to behave unethically toward each other.

Q: Making an ethical decision usually boils down to accepting or rejecting the alternative at hand.

Q: The symbolic consequences of a decision refer to the message sent by a particular decision, such as the lesson communicated when a company fires people in November mainly to avoid paying them a year-end bonus.

Q: A key part of an ethical screening test is to estimate how much money you are likely to lose by behaving ethically.

Q: Bart, a human resources specialist, sees the big picture when he thinks, "If I recommend that we hire this under-qualified candidate for a key position just because she is a friend, will I be contributing to making the company weaker?"

Q: An employee is considered to be virtuous so long as he or she engages in behavior that fits the employee's value system, such as stealing company money to donate it to a food bank.

Q: With respect to ethics, a manager faces a defining moment when he or she must fire an employee for committing an illegal act such as stealing money from the company.

Q: A study showed that employees were more likely to engage in unethical behavior to help their employer when they both identify with the employer and expect to be rewarded for the unethical behavior.

Q: A rule of thumb for the ethical use of corporate resources is that an employee has the right to use any resource as long as it is not an object or money.

Q: An ethical guideline for dealing with confidential information is not to pass it along unless the welfare of others is at stake.

Q: When dealing with an upset customer who is making an unreasonable demand, a recommended technique is to keep arguing until the customer quiets down.

Q: A study conducted at a medical billing operation found that the most effective way of dealing with customer complaints was to attempt to change the caller's emotional response rather than deal directly with the problem.

Q: A study conducted at a medical billing operation found that an effective way for agents to deal with customer complaints was to modify problems that were leading to negative emotion for the customers.

Q: The experience of an extended-stay hotel found that providing amenities such as mints on the pillow and free Internet connections were much more important than having contact workers interact with guests.

Q: Forming a bond with a customer implies that the sales representative builds an emotional relationship with the customer.

Q: The executive team at McDonald's Restaurants has decided that customers should expect to sometimes be treated rudely because many store associates earn close to the minimum wage.

Q: Because most customers multitask themselves, it is acceptable behavior for the customer-contact worker to talk to an associate while serving the customer.

Q: A widespread example of using information technology to enhance customer service is the use of apps for mobile devices that enable consumers to deposit a check.

Q: A major contribution information technology makes to customer service is the ability to individualize service for customers.

Q: An empowered employee has the authority to make a quick decision as to whether the company or the customer is right about a customer problem.

Q: The cycle of service chart lists the dates on which the company is available to provide you with customer service.

Q: A moment of truth in customer service would occur when you walk into a computer store and ask for assistance in purchasing software that would enable you to create your own Webpage.

Q: Having in-depth product knowledge is no longer important for sales representatives because customers can be told which Web site to visit to solve their problems.

Q: A recommended approach to solving a customer problem is to ask the customer what problem he or she hopes to solve with the product.

Q: The basic approach of a customer-centric sales process is to get around customer concerns and complaints by presenting them loads of information.

Q: A challenge in delivering high levels of customer satisfaction is that many customers may not be able to express their needs clearly.

Q: A study with hair stylists and their managers in Taiwan supported the widely-held belief that good customer service was associated with customer return visits.

Q: Research evidence suggests that a leader who is charismatic and visionary influences employees to be customer oriented.

Q: Customer service workers who receive emotional support from coworkers tend to provide better customer service.

Q: The company expectations in terms of what constitutes good customer service are often not clearly stated.

Q: Employees who exhibit high organizational citizenship behavior typically provide poor customer service because they are so preoccupied with their jobs.

Q: People with low self-esteem are more likely to experience high job satisfaction.

Q: Employees who can satisfy customers contribute heavily to profits.

Q: The founder of a technology consulting firm cited in the human relations text contends that most client issues with consultants deal with hard skills.

Q: Jennifer works for Macy's in Chicago. Because Jennifer buys some of her clothing at the store, she is classified as an internal customer.

Q: Rob wants to explore the problem of the slow-starting forklift truck further, so he accompanies Karen to the section of the construction site where the forklift is in use. The operator is Brian, who looks at Karen and says, "Wow. I'm glad the company sent a pretty girl to fix this problem." Karen grits her teeth because she feels that Brian is sexist, and might be committing environmental sexual harassment. However, Karen does not want to lose the account. It would be best for Karen to say to Brian,A) "You're a pretty cute boy yourself. But I need you to act more professionally before I can work on the forklift problem."B) "Yes, I am the woman sent by my company to work on your problem. The company also sent me to work on the problem because of my product knowledge, not my looks."C) "I don't think I would be comfortable working with you on this problem. I suggest you go to our Web site, www.modernconstructionequip.com, to get help with your problem.D) "I like your joke Brian. The slow-starting problem could be that you're not paying careful enough attention when you start the forklift."

Q: Karen is an outside sales representative for a distributor of heavy construction equipment such as forklift trucks, cranes, and bulldozers. Her company distributes products for both domestic and foreign companies. Although her company has been enjoying a 34 percent increase in sales this year, management wants her to increase her orders to help make up for three mediocre years the company has experienced. At the same time several of Karen's customers have complained that a line of imported small bulldozers have been difficult to start.Karen's first field visit today is with Bedford Construction that has a contract to demolish an old office building located in the commercial district. She visits them at the downtown site, and engages in conversation with project manager Rob. Although Rob does not have the authority to make an equipment purchase at the site, he has the authority to make recommendations to the company owners. After about one minute of small talk about the weather and the traffic, Rob says, "Talking about the weather. It's a good thing it's not too cold today. If it were cold, that latest bulldozer we bought from you might not start." To deal with this comment, it would be best for Karen to say to Rob,A) "We have sold dozens of these forklifts in cold regions. So far, no problems."B) "We sold you a forklift, not a Mercedes or a Cadillac."C) "I am sorry that the forklift has some problems starting in cold weather. Let's work on the problem together."D) "I need evidence that you really have a problem."

Q: A realistic customer retention policy centers on the idea thatA) some customers are so unreasonable they are not worth keeping.B) the customer is always right.C) a customer retention rate of about 50 percent is realistic.D) a company should strive to retain all their customers.

Q: In terms of dealing with customer problems, a study in a medical billing operation found that the most effective technique was to A) focus more on the problem than the customer's emotion. B) focus more on the customer's emotion than the problem. C) immediately offer a refund rather than attempting to deal with an unhappy customer. D) ask the customer for sympathy and compassion.

Q: Lauren, a customer service technician at the Jaguar dealer, listens to a customer rant about hearing wind vibrations in his Jaguar when he drives over 100 miles per hour on the highway. Lauren can show emotional leadership by, A) informing the customer that he behaves like a lunatic on the highway. B) ranting even louder about the customer being a danger to society. C) laughing at the customer and ask him to imitate the sound of the wind vibration. D) remaining calm until the customer quiets down, and then begin to look at the problem.

Q: A plausible way of building relationships with a large number of customers is to A) place TV ads explaining how much the customers are valued. B) place welcoming ads on billboards near highways. C) interact with customers through blogs and social networking sites. D) make robot calls to their cell phones.

Q: According to the macaron (referring to a French, sandwich-like pastry) technique of selling a luxury product, the sales representative A) mentions the high price in between other benefits. B) distracts the customer by giving him or her a pastry. C) mentions the price first, and then gets on to the benefits. D) mentions the price after having described the romantic benefits.

Q: The best-accepted axiom about keeping customers happy is to A) keep prices lower than the competition. B) get involved in relationship selling. C) stay informed about what the competition is doing. D) maintain high-quality service.

Q: A study about employee smiling conducted with college students found that when the employee smiles, customers are likely to perceive that the A) employee was trying to compensate for poor service. B) service was of low quality. C) service was of high quality. D) price was much lower than reality.

Q: Erik, a seller of luxurious home furnishings, has a strong customer service orientation. As a result, he is likely to A) provide good service only for customers he likes. B) form bonds with his customers. C) seek low-priced alternatives to his company's furniture. D) become bored with ordinary customer requests.

Q: To bond with a customer is to A) form an emotional relationship. B) establish a tight legal agreement. C) enter into frequent negotiations about price. D) accept liability for service problems.

Q: Rudeness toward customers is sometimes a form of hostility because rudeness A) often stems from anger. B) is usually triggered by anger from customers. C) usually takes the form of teasing the customer. D) is displayed primarily by sales associates with a personality disorder.

Q: Which of the following problems is said to be the major reason for lost business? A) poor product knowledge B) rude treatment of customers C) poor product quality D) over-attentive customer-contact workers

Q: A major role played by information technology in improving customer service is to A) present customers with a long menu of options when they ask for help. B) sell customer lists to other companies. C) provide uniform services. D) individualize service.

Q: Empowerment often improves customer service because A) customer service workers have the authority to refer problems to higher management. B) managers have more time to work with customers. C) employees have the authority to resolve customer problems. D) more employees work in customer service positions.

Q: Lauren, a customer service technician at a Jaguar dealer knows she is empowered when she has the authority to A) tell a dissatisfied customer to go online to learn how to operate the Jaguar's navigation system. B) please wait in the customer lounge for an hour. C) explain more clearly the problem with his or her Jaguar. D) grant $500 in service coupons to a dissatisfied customer.

Q: The cycle of service chart lists a series of A) highs and lows in providing customer service. B) moments of truth experienced by a customer. C) service problems encountered by a customer. D) times at which a product should be serviced.

Q: In terms of solving customer problems, in-depth product knowledge by sales representatives is A) generally less important than the representative smiling. B) a major contributor resolving the problems. C) mostly important at the retail level. D) mostly important in selling industrial products.

Q: The emphasis in effective selling is to A) get customers to accept the same solution to their problems. B) minimize the size of the order. C) maximize the size of the order. D) solve customer problems.

Q: The way to add value for customers is to A) reduce the price of goods. B) provide training for using the product or service. C) offer a discount for future purchases. D) satisfy their needs.

Q: A study conducted in Taiwan with hair stylists and store managers found that charismatic and visionary leaders A) had no impact on employee service. B) enhanced employee service for the most low-performing hair stylists. C) enhanced employee service. D) detracted from employee service because the leaders were self-centered.

Q: According to research studies, a leader is likely to positively influence the customer service behavior of employees when the leader A) is charismatic and good at setting visions. B) imposes strict control over employee behavior. C) is so grouchy and angry that he or she is a good model of behavior to avoid. D) complains a lot about poor customer service.

Q: A study found that when customer service workers receive emotional support from coworkers, they A) have the courage to be rude to customers. B) provide better service to customers. C) have a lower customer-service orientation. D) lower their organizational citizenship behavior.

Q: In terms of dealing with a customer problem, a worker with tendencies toward service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, is likely to A) go beyond ordinary expectations to solve the problem. B) carefully follow company procedures in resolving the problem. C) ask a coworker to take responsibility for the problem. D) convince the customer that the problem is not serious.

Q: Pierre, an assistant hotel manager at an upscale hotel, decides to provide a "wow" experience to a newlywed couple staying at the hotel. Which one of the following actions by Pierre would most likely deliver the "wow" experience to the couple? A) Place a surcharge of $150 for having stayed in the honeymoon suite. B) Send the couple a tweet, asking them how they have enjoyed married life so far. C) Off the couple a five percent discount providing this is the first marriage for each of them. D) Deliver the couple a framed photo of the two of them kissing while checking into the hotel.

Q: The most important reason that dissatisfied customers are so significant is that they A) usually ask for a refund. B) tend to not become a repeat customer. C) tell many other people about their dissatisfaction. D) fill consumer satisfaction surveys with exaggerated, negative comments.