Are Top Managers Responsible When Corruption Is Afoot?
I want to start by pointing out an example of corruption. In November 2006 it was discovered that Siemens the German giant of electrical engineering and electronics is corrupted. Nearly 36.000 documents were found of Siemens bribing officials in countries like Italy, Greece, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. Several managers were caught up in the corruption. There even was word of people saying that CEO Klaus Kleinfield approved of the bribery, this was never proven. The ethical behaviour of the managers was doubted. Was the corruption justified and in best interested of the company and are the managers responsible for it?
In my view the corruption isn’t justified. I understand that a little bribery can help the company forward, but it has to be in proportion. In this case payments over 420 million had been suspicious. In my opinion this money could be spend better. The advantages they gained of the bribery can be achieved in other ways too. And that money could be spend on investments or innovations for example. The question if the managers are responsible for the corruption is difficult. I think that employees get their assignments of the management, they decide on important things. So in a way it is their responsibility, but then again it is also their responsibility to stimulate the company to get better and be better. There is a pressure on the management to perform well and come with good results. Given that it is only logical that when a good opportunity comes up a good and loyal manager will do anything to take it. Een if a little bribery is needed. But I don’t think that the manager take decisions like that on his own. When I look at the numbers of the bribery in the Siemens company I doubt it strongly that the CEO didn’t know about it. That amount of money must be noticed by the head of the company. I think this kind of corruption is almost a business strategy. It is easy to get what you want by only paying up an official.
In ethical terms it isn’t
In my view the corruption isn’t justified. I understand that a little bribery can help the company forward, but it has to be in proportion. In this case payments over 420 million had been suspicious. In my opinion this money could be spend better. The advantages they gained of the bribery can be achieved in other ways too. And that money could be spend on investments or innovations for example. The question if the managers are responsible for the corruption is difficult. I think that employees get their assignments of the management, they decide on important things. So in a way it is their responsibility, but then again it is also their responsibility to stimulate the company to get better and be better. There is a pressure on the management to perform well and come with good results. Given that it is only logical that when a good opportunity comes up a good and loyal manager will do anything to take it. Een if a little bribery is needed. But I don’t think that the manager take decisions like that on his own. When I look at the numbers of the bribery in the Siemens company I doubt it strongly that the CEO didn’t know about it. That amount of money must be noticed by the head of the company. I think this kind of corruption is almost a business strategy. It is easy to get what you want by only paying up an official.
In ethical terms it isn’t