Yahoo CEO
Yahoo, which had a string of three CEOs in three years, was on the verge of taking that count to four. The latest to rock was Scott Thompson, a newly appointed CEO, over the false claims in his resume about the computer science degree, which he never received from the Stonehill College. The news did spread like fire in the Silicon Valley and why it shouldn’t since Yahoo is one of the respected companies in the area. The news was reported in different formats of media and there were mixed reactions emerging from different sectors. Daniel Loeb, a New York hedge fund manager and who owns a 5.8 per cent stake in Yahoo, came out in open to share his view against the company and Scott Thompson. However, Dan Lyons at The Daily Beast supported Thompson. Yahoo was quick to call the mistake an “inadvertent error” but after increasing pressure the board hired an outside counsel for the investigation (Pepitone J, 2012). Thompson, later on sent a memo to the employees apologizing for the scandal (Goldman D, & Pepitone J, 2012)
Was it appropriate for a giant like Yahoo to call the mistake an “inadvertent error”? I believe No. If you produce a zero error on your balance sheets, and in the internet services you provide to your customers then this reasoning would simply be a blunder. CEO’s actions were ethically irresponsible because he was breaching the trust of board of directors who had hired him, in this case, without verifying his credentials on resume. Also, socially irresponsible because there are investors, people who trust CEO and any such incident on his part does send a bad signal to them. There are two things to debate upon – Should Yahoo have fired Scott Thompson the moment they found out that he lied on his resume? & Was it ethical on the part of Scott Thompson, considering the position he was in, to falsely claim the degree he never received? I would particularly like to be aggressive on each of the two questions.
Yes, Yahoo should have immediately fired Scott
Was it appropriate for a giant like Yahoo to call the mistake an “inadvertent error”? I believe No. If you produce a zero error on your balance sheets, and in the internet services you provide to your customers then this reasoning would simply be a blunder. CEO’s actions were ethically irresponsible because he was breaching the trust of board of directors who had hired him, in this case, without verifying his credentials on resume. Also, socially irresponsible because there are investors, people who trust CEO and any such incident on his part does send a bad signal to them. There are two things to debate upon – Should Yahoo have fired Scott Thompson the moment they found out that he lied on his resume? & Was it ethical on the part of Scott Thompson, considering the position he was in, to falsely claim the degree he never received? I would particularly like to be aggressive on each of the two questions.
Yes, Yahoo should have immediately fired Scott
References: - Brooks, Chad (15 May 2012). "Yahoo CEO Not Alone: 7 Execs Busted for Resume Lies". BusinessNewsDaily Contributor. Retrieved 2013-09-09 (other CEO examples) Goldman, David & Pepitone, Julianne (08 May 2012). “Yahoo CEO: 'I want to apologize ' for resume 'error ' ” CNNMoneyTech Retrieved 2013-09-10 (memo thing) Liedtke, Micheal. “Yahoo Confirms Fabricated Info on New CEO’s Resume”. In Powers, Richards, Ethics – RSM1160HF (pp. 175-177). CSPI Coursepack.ca Moldoveanu, Mihnea. “Managerial models and Methods for Moral Reasoning: Foundations for Business Ethics”. In Powers, Richards, Ethics – RSM1160HF (pp. 1-26). CSPI Coursepack.ca Pepitone, Julianne. “Should yahoo’s CEO be fired for Lying?” In Powers, Richards, Ethics – RSM1160HF (pp. 171-173). CSPI Coursepack.ca