Conflicts of interest may not always be clear-cut, so if you have a question, you should consult with a member of management or the Compliance Officer. Any employee, officer or director who becomes aware of a conflict or potential conflict should bring it to the attention of a supervisor, corporate officer or the Compliance Officer (Durect, 2012, p
Human Resources Business Ethics The article What can psychology tell us about business ethics (Messick, 2009), was very interesting
In the most fundamental terms, business ethics comes down to knowing the difference between right and wrong and deciding to do what is right. "The phrase business ethics can be used to describe the actions of individuals within an organization, as well as the organization as a whole" (White, 2012)
However, these standards for accountability need to be daily part of a given corporation's internal existence, along with the day-to-day part of external entities when monitoring a given corporation. The wreckage of scandals like Enron and the Madoff Ponzi scheme have made everyone wonder not only where all the ethics officers were, along with whether or not all corporate compliance and ethics programs were just window dressing (Boehme, 2009)
For the widow of one client, money was supposedly invested in Treasury bonds and other low-yield assets the first 11 months of 2003, leaving an account value of $860,000 at the end of November. But to reach a guaranteed rate of return, prosecutors allege, Konigsberg and the Madoff employee fabricated four options transactions, nearly doubling the account value in December" (Davidson, 2013)
The scrutiny needs to occur with extreme caution and a staunch risk factor. External entities and bodies of regulation must become better acquainted with the common red flags of ethical collapse as well: pressure to keep the numbers up, along with doing good deeds to atone for misdeeds among others (Jennings, 2006)
The next time a CEO tells you that her company believes in the 3BL and produces a 3BL annual report for shareholders and other stakeholders, ask her what the social bottom line was last year and how much it increased or decreased from the preceding year. She won't have an answer because the question itself is absurd" (MacDonald & Norman, 2007)
"The SEC is responsible for overseeing registered broker-dealers, transfer agents, clearing agencies, investment companies and investment advisers, yet there is not a consistent risk approach used in all of these examinations. For example, in 2003, after widespread unlawful trading practices surfaced in the mutual fund industry, the SEC took steps to take a more risk-based approach" (Williams, 2009)
These are the libertarian tropes, as espoused by the authors. (Boaz, 1997) But ultimately, the view of business of the authors is just as idealistic in its view of the ability of the market to right itself of excesses, such as child labor in the developing world, as the world view of those government regulators whom they would critique
In fact, they believe that in the ideal business environment, other than protecting property, the government should not regulate business at all, and rather internal ethical systems should govern the organization, ideally in a Friedman-like utilitarian fashion, taking into consideration the fate of stakeholders only so much as need be, for the organization to evolve and survive. (Macham & Chesher, 11-14) Rather than regulate child labor abroad, and advertising directed towards children at home, consumers can always take their dollars elsewhere, and refuse to patronize such companies
Business Ethics and Communication During Emergencies Communications Directed at Different Audience Members and Stakeholders Anytime a serious incident threatens the lives of employees, the organization must carefully consider how to communicate information to various audiences and stakeholders (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2010)
The organization has an ethical responsibility to absolutely minimize the chances that disclosure of information could cause harm to family members by virtue of its means of release or its timing. In some circumstances, the organization could even face potential civil liability in connection with statutes that recognize civil causes of tort action for negligent infliction of emotional distress (Halbert & Ingulli, 2009)
. ] that successful businesses are by their very nature corrupt is itself corrupting to students in business-ethics classes" (Berlau & Spun, 2002)
For example, only one Enron employee, Sherron Watkins, warned chief Kenneth Lay the company was overstating its' worth and faced disaster, but she was not listened to, and the unethical practices continued. Even after Enron, the pervading notion in America seems to be that "greed is good is now 'essentially operating in the mainstream of North American society'" (Hunkin, 2002)
Business Ethics -- Robert Nardelli Business Ethics: Robert Nardelli and Home Depot Robert Nardelli became CEO of The Home Depot in 2000, despite the fact that he had no retail experience (Grow, 2008)
Nardelli's leadership style was not deeply interested in trait theory, or in studying people's personalities in the company (Grow, 2008). Instead, he came in with behavioral theory in mind, and was only interested in what was observed outwardly (Lublin, Zimmerman, & Terhune, 2007)
Naturally, that upset The Home Depot's investors, who were not making any money and who saw a manager who could improve the bottom line but was not capable of doing anything else. There were also mounting concerns about his actual style of management, since he was considered by to blunt, autocratic, and highly critical (Mui, 2007)
During his time as CEO of The Home Depot, he overhauled the entire company and greatly changed the entrepreneurial culture on which it had been built (Grow, 2008). At the time he took over, management was decentralized -- and he changed that by consolidating division executives and eliminating many of them (Weber, 2007)
First and foremost, ethics officers are a major part of any corporation's security force. Essentially, "an ethics officer is the first line of defense for the firm as it relates to company security" (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2013, p 243)
Maybe they like it that way. Maybe they don't have a choice." (Alford, 52)