Business Ethics are a set of moral principles that are established by corporations for rules and regulations. Ethics is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with a moral duty and obligations. Such as employee theft and fraud, dishonesty like Bernard Ebbers a chief executive for World com and the Enron Corporation scandal, Ethics are moral duties that many people use every day, ethics are the rules or standards principal of conduct how people live life and make decisions. According to Business Ethics Definition, business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. …show more content…
Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide a basic framework that industries may choose to follow in order to gain civic approval. Understanding ethics is observing what you accept as true and then think about how you would alter those beliefs when tested. Ethics aids us in establishing between what is right and what is wrong.
Many times people are tested every day and struggle with the moral duty with what is right and what is wrong. For example Many Americans are married with children and know that entering the sanctity of marriage, understanding that no man or woman shall come between them. However, many marriages end on the bases of adultery between one or the other. Knowing and understanding as young adults that committing adultery is wrong. Many Americans still continue to cheat on their spouse. Knowing the moral value of marriage, but still risk breaking the value of marriage. During this moral dilemma of adultery, many wrong doings have been violated, such as dishonesty that comes with adultery and the moral commitment that was taken for granted. Other ethic principles are violated when one or the other commits adultery. Trust issues will arise if a person has been caught committing destructive ethical act. Violation from using household money to commit adultery for outings, hotel stay, buying gifts. Along with other financial necessity to commit adultery. Quality time spent away from family while committing adultery is also an ethical violation in the sanctity of marriage. Even abuse of alcohol could be a factor in …show more content…
committing the ethical violation of adultery. Alcohol can also impair people’s ability from establishing between what is right and what is wrong. When committing adultery theft, fraud ,dishonesty ,substance abuse and absenteeism. Would all play a part in the ethical violation of adultery. The code of business ethics is a combination of ethics and business. Business Ethics are a set of moral principles, that are established by corporations for rules and regulations. Such as employee theft and fraud. Fraud and theft have a lot in common. Both are criminal acts, and both are forcibly taking something from others without asking permission. However; businesses have come up with ethical values to maintain structure and integrity of the corporation. Theft means to take someone else’s property, either secretively or by force. In business, theft is to take or keep more than what is due such as salary, fines or payments or taking excessive benefits. Fraud occurs in the workplace when deceit or scam by one or more employees causes or ,may cause the employer or employee to lose property, money, or a valuable security or any service. This generally happens when employees steal merchandise or products from the company. Another example of theft is when two or more employee steal time while on the clock, typically its’ when one employee punches another employee time card in early before work. This also could happen when another employee punches another employee time card at the end of each work day. To accumulate extra over time in pay or even covering up when one employees that has been tardy to many times. Performing a 15 minute time fraud each day, your employees are stealing more than a week's pay from the company each year. Stealing time or merchandise could cost the company millions of dollars over a period of years. This type of stealing also causes the rise of prices for consumers, not only does the company suffers, consumer suffers as well. Stealing time from work could also be a result in low productivity as taking care of personal business on company time .Is also an example of theft and fraud. Which is a direct violation of company policies, which could in up in employee termination for both employees. Ethics aids us in establishing between what is right and what is wrong. Punching in someone’s else time card may seems like a small offence, however; it’s a massive from of fraud and theft.as well as both parties being dishonest. Companies’ written policy states what typically will happen if someone is caught committing time fraud. First time is a verbal warning, second time is a written warning and three days off from work without pay, third time is termination. Punching someone else's time card is also cause for termination for both parties involved in time fraud. In 2001 Bernard Ebbers a chief executive for World com, and co- founder of world com which is a long distance telecommunications company, was convicted of fraud. Bernard Ebbers entered merger negotiations with Sprint. The merger was eventually investigated by the World com’s internal audit department. Bernard Ebbers had hundreds of millions dollars in World com stock, he also invested in other business. When World Com stock prices dropped, Ebbers had to pay more than $400 million in margin calls. Margin calls occur when your account value depresses to a value calculated by the broker's certain mathematical formula. Bernard Ebbers persuaded the board to lend him the money so that he would not have to sell his share of stocks. He also started a campaign to raise the stock prices by creating deceitful accounting entries. The fraud was initially discovered by World com’s internal audit department, and the audit committee was informed. And the Department of justice was than notified resulting Securities and Exchange Commission, investigation resulted in the company’s filing bankruptcy in 2002. The conviction of Bernard Ebbers on fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents charges.
Ebbers was sentenced to 25-year in federal prison in 2006. Bernard Ebbers clearly violated the rule of business ethics, of fraud and dishonesty for filing false documents. Fraud occurs in the workplace with deceit and scam. Ebbers caused world Com to lose property, money, valuable job security and services .As well ethical values to maintain structure and integrity of the corporation were violated. World Com internal audit department had an ethical obligation to turn over the deceitful accounting entries made by Bernard to the Department of justice as well as Securities and Exchange Commission or commonly called SEC. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission job is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and help investment founding. SEC provides reliable ethical information for clear rules and honest selling. In 2001 Enron Corporation was part of the world’s most well-known scandal in the United States Enron was an energy base company that was based out of Houston Texas. Enron was the seventh largest energy company in America. The company shares were worth $90.75
at its highest in August 2000 and dropped to its lowest $0.67 in January 2002 executives sold their company stock prior to the company's collapse. Lower-level associates were prohibited from selling their stock due to 401k restrictions and many subsequently lost their life savings. Enron high-status executives stole hundreds of millions from stockholders investments and other people pensions for retirement. Author Anderson is one of many whom participated in the violation of business code of ethics. There are three main reasons Enron Empire violated the code of ethics, all seems to around Accounting auditors violated the business code of ethics. By the use of accounting loopholes, and inferior financial reporting, the accounting team was able to hide billions of dollars in debt from failed deals and projects. Enron the seventh largest energy company in America paid the top 140 executives $680 million dollars in 2001 Author Anderson actions ultimately led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation. In conclusion Business Ethics is, business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide a basic frame work that industries may choose to follow in order to gain civic approval. Business ethics are often violated by people like Bernard Ebbers and Intuition’s like Enron. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission job is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and help investment founding. SEC provides reliable ethical information for clear rules and honest selling. Bernard Ebbers persuaded the board to lend him the money so that he would not have to sell his share of stocks. He also started a campaign to raise the stock prices by creating deceitful accounting entries. their are three main reasons Enron Empire violated the code of ethics, all about Accounting auditors violating the business code of ethics. By the use of accounting loopholes, and inferior financial reporting, and the executive accounting firm being able to hide billions of dollars in debt from failed deals and projects. Enron the seventh largest energy company in America paid the top 140 executives $680 million dollars in 2001for a failed business. Author Anderson actions ultimately led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation. Many subsequently lost their life savings behind a crude violation of ethics, caused by greed for money.
The Enron Corporation was founded in 1985 out of Houston Texas and was one of the world 's major electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies that employed over 20,000 employees. This paper will address some of the ethical issues that plagued Enron and eventually led to its fall.
Enron deliberately created artificial shortages in California for electricity, two days in a row, causing the price to skyrocket. Enron is a natural gas and electricity plant/business that buys and sells energy. The most influential historical event that has happened during the 21ST century is The Enron Scandal because the loss sustained by investors exceeded $70 billion and only a small amount of the lost money was returned.
Enron was the world 's biggest and richest company in the late nineteen-nineties. It 's net value reached 70 billion dollars over the course of a decade and crashed and burned in a single year of savage media coverage and brutal criminal investigations. It 's important to understand how individual arrogance, the corporate recklessness, and U.S. greed collaboratively cost the biggest economic scandal of its kind. Enron was founded in nineteen eighty-five by Kenneth Lay as a natural gas company in the Pacific Northwest. Around that time the energy markets of the US were being deregulated, that is transitioning from government control to free-market. Lay hired visionary Jeffrey Skilling. Under his leadership, the company moved to Houston, Texas
Ethics is the standard that are set by a person or organizations based from their beliefs, the values they hold, moral rules they have that helps them make the right or wrong decision, how to act when confronted with a moral dilemma. Setting an ethical standard and a set of rules is critical to having healthy employees, customers, and ultimately a healthy organization.
Ethics is a social, religious, or civil code of behavior considered appropriate, especially that of a specific group, profession, or individual. Business ethics is the analyzation of moral and social accountability in reference to procedures and the making of decisions in a company (Merriam, 2015). While every individual has their own value system in regards to ethics, there is a type
By definition, ethics refers to "a set of principles of right conduct." It is also defined as "the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession," (www.thefreedictionary.com) and in business may be considered the standards governing the conduct of people in the business environment. Business ethics is the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world. It relies on values as a way of guiding behaviour in business.
moral duty and obligations. Such as employee theft and fraud, dishonesty and loafing on the job,
Enron’s ride as a company was truly a ride of broken dreams. From being one of the top regional gas pipeline traders, to the nation 's 7th largest corporation, to the world’s largest energy trader; and in a matter of 24 days they fell down into a hole of bankruptcy and dishonor. What took Enron 16-years to grow from $10 billion of assets to $65 billion was all gone in a matter of days. While Enron’s story is one of numbers and transactions it is also a story of human tragedy, a story of major misconduct within a top corporation. As shown in the documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Enron became one of the worlds most acclaimed business ethics case of the century. The documentary explored the good, the bad, and the terrible of a company that was once #1.
In July 1985, the Texas based energy firm Enron Corporation was founded by Kenneth Lay by the merge of Houston Natural Gas and Inter-North. Enron primarily focused on the energy markets, due to electrical power markets becoming deregulated Enron expanded into trading electricity and other energy goods. With Enron growing, the company began moving into new markets. In 1999, Enron launched Enron Online, its website for trading goods. The rapid awareness and use of the business website made it the prime business site in the world with a substantial amount of transactions arising from Enron Online. The growth of Enron was extensive and in 2000, the firm was ranked the 7th largest energy firm in the world with year ending accounts 31 December 2000 showing a profit of $979 million and share prices soaring from $40 to $90 in one year.
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which means an ethical person is one who has a character. Ethics is a norm that translates ideals and values into everyday practice. Ethics is not a manual with answers on how to act. It is only a search for the right kind of morality. It is also the standards that define what right conduct is and what is wrong conduct. Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions and between virtuous and non-virtuous characteristics of people. Ethics is also a branch of philosophy that involves questions about morality. Thus, ethics is about making choices which signifies how people act in order to make the right choice and predict good
Enron was an American energy, commodities, and services company that was based out of Houston, Texas. Enron was created by the joining of two natural gas companies, InterNorth Inc . of Omaha, Nebraska and Houston Natural Gas. Enron had a rapid rise to become one of the biggest corporations in the United States at the time and also became one of the biggest business collapses in United States history. I will talk about how Enron came into existence and how it ultimately failed.
The Enron Corporation was an American energy company that provided natural gas, electricity, and communications to its customers both wholesale and retail globally and in the northwestern United States (Ferrell, et al, 2013). Top executives, prestigious law firms, trusted accounting firms, the largest banks in the finance industry, the board of directors, and other high powered people, all played a part in the biggest most popular scandal that shook the faith of the American people in big business and the stock market with the demise of one of the top Fortune 500 companies that made billions of dollars through illegal and unethical gains (Ferrell, et al, 2013). Many shareholders, employees, and investors lost their entire life savings, investments,
[1] Ethics is defined as “the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
One of the most important types of ethics these days is business ethics. This form of ethics is what we say the world of business could depend on. With the increasing amount of non-integrity people and liars out there in the business world, embezzlers in companies and people who does not have moral principles in business environment will eventually bring the world to its lowest point where war could probably start. Ethics in business is a very important way to reduce the negative sides that are increasing in the business world.
According to Treviño & Nelson, ethics are “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or organization” (as cited by University of Phoenix, 2012). Ethics are essential in the determination of what is right and wrong in a given situation (University of Phoenix, 2012). When we are born, we do not have any values, morals, or ethical systems in place, as these are learned and developed over time. Today, we are going to take a closer look at my personal ethics and the underlying ethical system that most closely applies to my life. We will also examine the effects that my ethics have on my performance within the organization. Finally, we will discuss why it is important to have ethics that are integrated within an organization.