Ethics Case Study Eth501
Unethical Behavior or Not!
Introduction:
Organizations are all comprised of what makes them who they are; the people. People are all comprised of different make-ups and people are what make businesses what they are which brings me to the point of this discussion; Unethical behavior within organizations. Unethical behavior within organizations has been occurring for centuries and it is what led to their ultimate demise. Unethical behavior is the beginning of the end in some companies and in some of those it results in the ruin of what started out to be a good thing. Some of these companies started out as small prosperous businesses that later grew into large dominate organizations for example; Enron, and of course WorldCom. These businesses began with good intentions and ended up internally combusting. All of it was due to the result of GREED. Greed is a disease, and has plagued several organizational leaders over time and caused them to go against their good ethics and morals. There are many opinions as to why people commit the acts that they do but the bottom line is that money will sometimes bring out the evil in the best of people and Leaders of Corporate America are not immune.
Background:
The beginning phases of WorldCom began in 1983 with a plan to create a long distance telephone carrier service named (Long Distance Discount Service) Mr. Ebbers was one of the major investor’s and later became the CEO. Like most businesses this one was no different and grew over the years and changed the name of the company to WorldCom.
WorldCom grew into a worldwide known company. WorldCom became the second-largest long-distance telephone company in America (Daniels 2005). At first it seemed as though WorldCom was going to become the world’s most renowned company for the telecommunication community. However, it became known as one of the largest bankruptcy filings in U.S. history. This all happened because of one brave young lady named Nancy
Introduction:
Organizations are all comprised of what makes them who they are; the people. People are all comprised of different make-ups and people are what make businesses what they are which brings me to the point of this discussion; Unethical behavior within organizations. Unethical behavior within organizations has been occurring for centuries and it is what led to their ultimate demise. Unethical behavior is the beginning of the end in some companies and in some of those it results in the ruin of what started out to be a good thing. Some of these companies started out as small prosperous businesses that later grew into large dominate organizations for example; Enron, and of course WorldCom. These businesses began with good intentions and ended up internally combusting. All of it was due to the result of GREED. Greed is a disease, and has plagued several organizational leaders over time and caused them to go against their good ethics and morals. There are many opinions as to why people commit the acts that they do but the bottom line is that money will sometimes bring out the evil in the best of people and Leaders of Corporate America are not immune.
Background:
The beginning phases of WorldCom began in 1983 with a plan to create a long distance telephone carrier service named (Long Distance Discount Service) Mr. Ebbers was one of the major investor’s and later became the CEO. Like most businesses this one was no different and grew over the years and changed the name of the company to WorldCom.
WorldCom grew into a worldwide known company. WorldCom became the second-largest long-distance telephone company in America (Daniels 2005). At first it seemed as though WorldCom was going to become the world’s most renowned company for the telecommunication community. However, it became known as one of the largest bankruptcy filings in U.S. history. This all happened because of one brave young lady named Nancy
References: http://www.allwords.com/word-deontology.html retrieved 13 October 2012 M M Scharff. (2005). WorldCom: A Failure of Moral and Ethical Values. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 10(3), 35-47. Retrieved 13 October 2012, from ProQuest http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/rights.html retrieved 13 October 2012 Nuig (2005). Kantian Ethics (Deontology). Business Ethics, Retrieved from http://ww2.it.nuigalway.ie/staff/h_melvin/prof_skill/L3_handout.pdf