CEA Global Ethics & Cultural Considerations 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A multinational's operations in a country with systemic corruption put employees at risk of extortion. The most ethical first step is to:
- Pay the extortion demand to protect employees
- Document the situation and escalate through legal and compliance channels (Correct answer)
- Transfer all local employees to headquarters immediately
- Publicly disclose the corruption to media
Correct answer: Document the situation and escalate through legal and compliance channels
Documenting and escalating through proper channels allows for informed decision-making without normalizing corrupt practices.
Question 2: High-context cultures tend to rely more on:
- Explicit written contracts and direct communication
- Implicit understanding, relationships, and context in communication (Correct answer)
- Standardized codes of conduct applied uniformly
- Formal dispute resolution procedures
Correct answer: Implicit understanding, relationships, and context in communication
High-context cultures (e.g., Japan, Arab countries) emphasize implicit communication, relationships, and shared context over explicit rules.
Question 3: According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions, a society with high 'uncertainty avoidance' is likely to:
- Welcome ambiguous ethics policies and flexible guidelines
- Prefer clear, detailed rules and structured ethical frameworks (Correct answer)
- Rely solely on individual judgment for ethical decisions
- Discourage formal codes of conduct
Correct answer: Prefer clear, detailed rules and structured ethical frameworks
High uncertainty avoidance cultures prefer clear rules, structured processes, and formalized ethical standards to reduce ambiguity.
Question 4: When operating across cultures with differing views on privacy, an ethical company should:
- Apply only the minimum privacy standard required by local law in each country
- Apply the highest privacy standard across all operations globally (Correct answer)
- Let local employees decide which privacy rules to follow
- Disclose data practices only when regulators request it
Correct answer: Apply the highest privacy standard across all operations globally
Applying the highest standard globally ensures consistent protection of individuals regardless of local legal minimums.
Question 5: The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention primarily obligates signatory countries to:
- Criminalize bribery of domestic officials only
- Criminalize bribery of foreign public officials by their own companies (Correct answer)
- Create a global anti-bribery enforcement agency
- Impose trade sanctions on non-compliant nations
Correct answer: Criminalize bribery of foreign public officials by their own companies
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention requires signatories to criminalize the bribery of foreign public officials by businesses based in those countries.
Question 6: Ethical universalism in global business holds that:
- Each culture defines its own complete ethical system with no external standards
- Certain core ethical principles apply to all people regardless of cultural background (Correct answer)
- Only international law can determine ethical standards
- Ethics should be negotiated between trading partners case by case
Correct answer: Certain core ethical principles apply to all people regardless of cultural background
Ethical universalism asserts that some fundamental moral principles transcend culture and apply to all human beings.
Question 7: A company's global code of ethics is most effective when it:
- Mirrors the laws of the company's home country exactly
- Is developed with input from diverse cultural stakeholders and reflects core universal values (Correct answer)
- Is written solely by the legal department to ensure compliance
- Changes annually based on the most recent international surveys
Correct answer: Is developed with input from diverse cultural stakeholders and reflects core universal values
Inclusive development with diverse stakeholder input increases relevance, buy-in, and applicability across cultural contexts.
CEA Global Ethics & Cultural Considerations 3
A multinational's operations in a country with systemic corruption put employees at risk of extortion.
The most ethical first step is to: