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Business law and ethics case study
Legal and ethical issues in businesses
Business ethics and law
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Are businesses in corporate America making it harder for the American public to trust them with all the recent scandals going on? Corruptions are everywhere and especially in businesses, but are these legal or are they ethical problems corporate America has? Bruce Frohnen, Leo Clarke, and Jeffrey L. Seglin believe it may just be a little bit of both. Frohnen and Clarke represent their belief that the scandals in corporate America are ethical problems. On the other hand, Jeffrey L. Seglin argues that the problems in American businesses are a combination of ethical and legal problems. The ideas of ethical problems in corporate America are illustrated differently in both Frohnen and Clarke’s essay and Seglin’s essay.
In Bruce Frohnen and Leo Clarke’s essay, "Scandal in Corporate America: An Ethical, Not a Legal, Problem" they discuss their views of American businesses and the little honesty that these businesses have. They claim how important honesty is within businesses and how it will help our public’s well-being and corporate America. They view American business officials to be greedy and many of their jobs just consist of helping businesses find their way around the laws. Frohnen and Clarke then conclude their essay with suggestions on how to change business ethics with education and simply being honest (113-119).
Then, in Jeffrey L. Seglin’s essay, “Just Because It’s Legal, Is It Right?” he reveals his perspective on corporate America. Seglin argues that different sides give way to different views of the law. Then, he goes on to emphasize that laws are just pardon from having to think and do your job right. Seglin then brings up the idea of situational ethics and how it is just used to cover up for people and bl...
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...fferent view points on the people in America. Even though it may look like no matter what there will always be problems with ethics and legality in corporate America, Frohnen, Clarke, and Seglin claimed it could be changed through their solutions they had stated. They suggest that we just need to be aware of our actions. Honesty is another key solution to dissolving corruption in our corporate America. Frohnen and Clarke agreed and disagreed with Seglin on many aspects of business.
Works Cited
Frohnen, Bruce and Clarke, Leo. “Scandal in Corporate America:
An Ethical, Not a Legal, Problem.” Ethics in the 21st Century. Ed. Mary Alice Trent. Pearson Education, 2005. 113-119.
Seglin, Jeffrey L. “Just Because It’s Legal, is it Right?”
Ethics in the 21st Century. Ed. Mary Alice Trent. Pearson Education, 2005. 120-128.
Nye, Howard. PHIL 250 B1, Winter Term 2014 Lecture Notes – Ethics. University of Alberta.
Many organizations have been destroyed or heavily damaged financially and took a hit in terms of reputation, for example, Enron. The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word called Ethos, meaning “The character or values particular to a specific person, people, culture or movement” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2007, p. 295). Ethics has always played and will continue to play a huge role within the corporate world. Ethics is one of the important topics that are debated at lengths without reaching a conclusion, since there isn’t a right or wrong answer. It’s basically depends on how each individual perceives a particular situation. Over the past few years we have seen very poor unethical business practices by companies like Enron, which has affected many stakeholders. Poor unethical practices affect the society in many ways; employees lose their job, investors lose their money, and the country’s economy gets affected. This leads to people start losing confidence in the economy and the organizations that are being run by the so-called “educated” top executives that had one goal in their minds, personal gain. When Enron entered the scene in the mid-1980s, it was little more than a stodgy energy distribution system. Ten years later, it was a multi-billion dollar corporation, considered the poster child of the “new economy” for its willingness to use technology and the Internet in managing energy. Fifteen years later, the company is filing for bankruptcy on the heels of a massive financial collapse, likely the largest in corporate America’s history. As this paper is being written, the scope of Enron collapse is still being researched, poked and prodded. It will take years to determine what, exactly; the impact of the demise of this energy giant will be both on the industry and the
Ethics: The Big Questions , edit ed by James P. Sterba, 259 -275. Malden, Massachusets: Blackwel Publishers Ltd, 1998.
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
The movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” presented a series of ethical dilemmas that surround a group of salesmen working for a real estate company. The value of business ethics was clearly undermined and ignored in the movie as the salesmen find alternatives to keep their jobs. The movie is very effective in illustrating how unethical business practices can easily exist in the business world. Most of the time, unethical business practices remain strong in the business world because of the culture that exists within companies. In this film, the sudden demands from management forced employees to become irrational and commit unethical business practices. In fear of losing their jobs, employees were pressured to increase sales despite possible ethical ramifications. From the film, it is right to conclude that a business transaction should only be executed after all legal and ethical ramifications have been considered; and also if it will be determined legal and ethical to society.
Enron was the model for rapid growth in the 1990’s but part of the culture and ethics of Enron was disturbing. Falsified documents, cutthroat competitiveness among employees and accounting schemes that hid the truth of the company’s indebtedness were just a few examples of the lack of business ethics within the organization. Perhaps a more virtuous management team could have saved Enron from collapse.
"BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Subjectivism." BBC - Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Barry, Vincent, Olen, Jeffrey, & Van Camp, Julie C. Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011.
As the turn of the 21st Century evolved, it appeared as if Adelphia Communications Corporation was on a direct path of success; unbeknownst to their investors and the public, they were in reality on a direct path of destruction instead. Unfortunately, Adelphia is not the first major company in the history of the United States’ business world to lose the trust of the American public, but it is certainly one of the most notable ones to do so. As the events surrounding the Adelphia scandal unfolded in full view of the public eye, a multitude of media outlets were there to broadcast the destruction and distrust to the masses leaving many wondering if the term “business ethics” was actually nothing more than just an oxymoron. Throughout this paper, we will discuss the events surrounding the rise and fall of the Adelphia Communications Corporation and identify two of the ethical problems associated with the scandal while applying them to the deontological framework and Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative.
The term “ethical business” is seen, by many people, as an oxymoron. This is because a business’s main objective is to make as much money as possible. Making the most money possible, however, can often lead to unethical actions. Companies like Enron, WorldCom, and Satyam have been the posterchildren for how corporations’ greed lead to unethical practices. In recent times however, companies have been accused of being unethical based on, not how they manage their finances, but on how they treat the society that they operate in. People have started to realize that the damage companies have been doing to the world around them is more impactful and far worse than any financial fraud that these companies might be engaging in. Events like the BP oil
Enron Corporation was based in Houston, Texas and participated in the wholesale exchange of American energy and commodities (ex. electricity and natural gas). Enron found itself in the middle of a very public accounting fraud scandal in the early 2000s. The corruption of Enron’s CFO and top executives bring to question their ethics and ethical culture of the company. Additionally, examining Enron ethics, their organization culture, will help to determine how their criminal acts could have been prevented.
Mayhew, Robert. The Journal of Ethics , Vol. 1, No. 4 (1997) , pp. 325-340
Albert Carr argues that business is a game and that business ethics differs from private life ethics that individuals practice. Carr explains that practices such as bluffing and not telling the whole truth are morally acceptable in business context. Carr claims that one cannot apply a single standard of ethics universally as situations differ from one to another. My response to such claim is that I refuse to accept that businesses cannot be strictly ethical.
Corporate fraud, greed, corruption, what company comes to mind when you hear those words? Enron! In this paper, we will take a look into the corporate facts and history as well as, stakeholder relationships, organizational trust issues, ethical leadership and ethical culture at Enron. As well as where improvements could have been made to improve organizational trust and ethical culture before Enron’s collapse.
Jennings, M. (2009). Business ethics: Case studies and selected readings (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.