Ethics
Ethics in Business
BUS670: Legal Environment
Instructor: Leah Westerman
November 25, 2013
Introduction
Ethics means different things to different people, but basically it is all about being wrong and right. In business making ethical decisions should always be considered first, as well as the law. Culture is important within any company. It involves your perception of attitudes, values, and standards of conduct within a business. Ethical situations arise every day in business. Enron was a company that not only suffered from a lack of an ethical climate, but lacked ethical managers as well. In a business ethics in the workplace is important because it creates a secure work environment. Ethics are followed in everyday life situations outside of work so it is normal to conduct rules within the workplace too. Enron suffered numerous of ways from the lack of being ethical in a business. Being ethical not only helps the business aspect, but your image as a whole. Many would ask is it possible to run a business without being ethical, but Enron shows a perfect example of how it all will all come crashing down if proper ethics is not used.
Topic 1
A description of a business situation that presents a legal and ethical issue.
-Enron Company ethical meltdown came from financial accounting abuse by their executives and auditors. They were being unethical by hiding profitable information on paper and actually they were losing money. By being unethical as management employees saw firsthand what their leaders were doing. Managers are suppose to lead by example and if employee know or see them doing wrong than they believe it is ok to be unethical.
Topic 2
A description of at least two ethical theories under which the situation will be analyzed.
-Integrity was not a trait frequently used by many of the executive leaders within the culture at Enron. This lack of integrity was a serious problem within the organizational structure and
BUS670: Legal Environment
Instructor: Leah Westerman
November 25, 2013
Introduction
Ethics means different things to different people, but basically it is all about being wrong and right. In business making ethical decisions should always be considered first, as well as the law. Culture is important within any company. It involves your perception of attitudes, values, and standards of conduct within a business. Ethical situations arise every day in business. Enron was a company that not only suffered from a lack of an ethical climate, but lacked ethical managers as well. In a business ethics in the workplace is important because it creates a secure work environment. Ethics are followed in everyday life situations outside of work so it is normal to conduct rules within the workplace too. Enron suffered numerous of ways from the lack of being ethical in a business. Being ethical not only helps the business aspect, but your image as a whole. Many would ask is it possible to run a business without being ethical, but Enron shows a perfect example of how it all will all come crashing down if proper ethics is not used.
Topic 1
A description of a business situation that presents a legal and ethical issue.
-Enron Company ethical meltdown came from financial accounting abuse by their executives and auditors. They were being unethical by hiding profitable information on paper and actually they were losing money. By being unethical as management employees saw firsthand what their leaders were doing. Managers are suppose to lead by example and if employee know or see them doing wrong than they believe it is ok to be unethical.
Topic 2
A description of at least two ethical theories under which the situation will be analyzed.
-Integrity was not a trait frequently used by many of the executive leaders within the culture at Enron. This lack of integrity was a serious problem within the organizational structure and
References: . Free, C., Macintosh, N., and M. Stein. (2007). Management controls: the organizational fraud triangle of leadership, culture, and control in Enron. Gini, Al, (2004) Business, ethics, and leadership in a post Enron era. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. Retrieved November 25, 2013 from http://find.galegroup.com/itx Leeds, R. (2003). Breach of trust: leadership in a market economy. Harvard International Review Mekay, E. (2003). Enron used U.s government to bully developing nations. Inter Press Service. Retrieved on November 25, 2013 from http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2003