This article is about a more recent ethical dilemma that has come to light. On Jan. 21st the SEC three New York investment firms for false representation. The CFO and a few other members of top management were moving money around within the company to create an account with $8.5 million in it that was not used for approved purpose by the firm, they also attracted investors with false positive returns and hiding fraudulent loans. My question that I have from this article is that unethical behavior has been a hot topic in the news since Enron and more and more people have been caught and prosecuted for unethical behavior so why are these executives still engaging in this behavior?
Scott
http://www.businessinsider.com/ny-investment-firms-slammed-for-false-representation-2011-1
With power and money comes temptation. I agree that everyone should have learned from the unethical situation at Enron, but there will always be these kinds of people. Greed and intelligence play a huge role in this. I always thought it was odd that several of the people committing these kinds of unethical acts are the people that have plenty of money as it is. And money isn't all they have, they are all very intelligent. However, how can people like those at Enron, with several degrees among them, see it as okay to practice such unethical behavior? With the publicity the Enron scandal received though, came many new business ethics eduaction programs at several colleges. There are new requirements for business students and many have thickened their ethics chapters or created entire ethics classes to stand alone. Hopefully classes like these can spread more knowledge about how to practice ethics, and the consequences of what can happen when you don't.
ReplyDelete-Sammy Wilson
I think that Sammy is right, with power and money comes temptation. It doesnt matter who the person is once they start to make money, they get the itch to make more and more and some people just get out of control. It amazes me that most of the people that are getting in trouble with things like this are the ones who like Sammy said have plenty of money already. What more could they need, besides a course on what business etiquette is. I dont think they see that such unethical behavior as being okay. I think that they are convinced that they will not get cought and do everyhing in their power to not be caught. I also hope that the ethics clases help spred the knowledge to people on how they should act, but I am afraid that they wont. I do not think that the people worry about what the concequences may be or they just dont really care. They think they are not going to get caught and I think that it will continue to happen because alot of business people that are in these situations do not get caught, or they get away with steeling for so long that they just dont care anymore.
ReplyDelete-Kayla Samolinski
I agree with Sammy when she said that greed and intelligence play a major role. I think that instead of using their intelligence to make money in unethical ways they should invest their intelligence solely for the good of the company. I really do think that the ethics classes offered will make a difference in future CEO's and leaders. They may not be able to change everyone's ethical values but they will definitely impact the majority of future business leaders. Just taking part of this blog makes me realize how many unethical leaders there are. I now look forward to hearing about leaders that are successful and ethical. It seems that all was ever hear about it yet another CEO taking part in unethical ethical behavior or scandal.
ReplyDeleteLiz Ramirez
I agree with what Liz is saying that these executives should use their talents and intelligence for the good of the company. I think that a major reason that these executives use their talents for personal gain because they do not have enough of an investment in the company and this cause them to care more about their gains than the company's. In an effort to help prevent unethical behavior I think that executives should not receive bonuses based on information that they can control and should have more investments in the company such as stocks.
ReplyDeleteScott Ferrebee
Dr. Sheep's feedback for your team:
ReplyDeleteOverall, you are off to a fair start in your blog. However, your team can make some important improvements. Although you have found some interesting articles on this topic, your blog could improve by rising more clearly to the level of “analysis,” as we discussed in class. For example, one of your posts links an article about NY investment firms as an ethical dilemma. However, the analysis in your own comments about this article needs to go much beyond “unethical behavior has been a hot topic in the news.” Specifically, you might benefit greatly by reading the chapter on Leadership Ethics (Chapter 15), since the main topic of your blog is about poor leadership practices that may also sometimes be unethical.
A couple of your posts do little except provide an article link and a few brief comments about it. Your other posts at least attempt to make some brief comments and attempt to apply some terms from the course. Thus, it may be beneficial for you to re-read the details of the assignment file and the grading criteria for the blog—both team and individual. If you do not understand something about these criteria or the quality of analysis that your post should include, then you should come and see me in my office. I will be happy to explain it further, as I have also done in class.
It may also help to keep in mind what I have tried to emphasize several times—that simply mentioning a word that comes from somewhere in the textbook is not the same as applying that concept (in the context of its theory). It should be applied in an accurately-defined way to explain the insights it provides in understanding leadership issues that may be raised by the article. This gives more plausibility to any points and conclusions that you make. I hope this is helpful toward posting your next blogs.