Case: Aircraft Brake Scandal

During my courses, I frequently remind students that most corporate executives, accountants, and auditors are honest and ethical. This case provides a stark and powerful example of one such individual. When I discuss a case such as this in my courses, I try to provide other examples of positive role models among corporate executives. Granted, most of these examples do not involve accounting or auditing matters, but, nevertheless, they help to blunt the impression that students may receive from studying my cases that most corporate executives are “crooks.”

Samarin is faced with the ethical dilemma of what to do regarding information in his possession that would allege unethical behavior within the OrangeWerks organization. After an analysis of the case, and evaluation of the identified alternatives, it is recommended that Samarin seek to clarify his concerns and attempt to rectify his ethical reservations regarding the organization. This proactive approach provides him the opportunity to right past wrongs, protect all involved parties and assist to establish a future framework for ethical decision making and communication within the organization.

Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,

Ethical leadership is vital for the success of any business; this case study illustrates that the lack of moral values and a healthy ethically incline corporate culture, can lead to scrupulous behavior from the CEO all the way down the company. Scrushy had a demanding and cunning personality, and it was easy for his to influence others in his business to go along with the fraud. Also, having Stanwick and Stanwick, (2013) an active board of directors does have a positive impact on the performance of the firm. Also, good corporate governance supports the ethical requirements established by the stakeholders. A moral leader must cultivate a real ethically driven organization, which has no tolerance for unethical behavior.

The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.

Ethical is a word used to describe moral principles. While watching the movie Erin Brockovich, I was compelled by the unethical issues that presented themselves. These incidents were created by an decision that proved to be immoral. The movie displays several incidents in which unethical behavior is presented. While reading this paper, several unethical situations will be reviewed. Although Erin Brockovich intentions may have been for the greater good, several of the methods she used to gain information were immoral. She discovers the shocking secrets of Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

This study aims to understand what effect has an ethical framework in accounting. In particular, we examine the influence of ethics on earnings management, financial reporting, and external accounting. Today, the commercial environment reveals the unethical behavior of management and accountants through the manipulation of accounting records to boost the company’s stock price, falsified financial statements to mislead investors, failure of auditors to correct errors and omissions due to client’s pressure and personal material interests.

The case study that was analyzed is, “Unauthorized Disclosure: Hewlett-Packard’s secret Surveillance of Directors and Journalists,” by Anne T. Lawrence, Randal D. Harris, and Sally Baack. The ethical issues presented through the case deal with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). HP is a major international company in the computer and technology market. The company describes itself as a “technology solutions provider to consumers, business and institutions globally.” Their credo is called “HP way”, which focuses on points such as trust and respect for individuals, high level of achievement and contribution, business conduct with uncompromising integrity, objectives through teamwork, and encouragement of flexibility and innovation (Newman). The problems faced by HP’s board of directors were a lack of accountability with HP’s credo. If the “HP way” was followed by them, these ethical issues would be avoided. It also promotes a bad example by the high-level of management of this globally powerful organization.

Brenda Franklin had been serving Allied Tech for the past 8 years. As any other organisations, Brenda used to be a part of the lunch hour conversations with her colleagues. One day when her colleagues were discussing about corruption and politics, something occurred to her. As a result she prepared a list called “Ethically Dubious Conduct” and pasted it on the common notice board. Her colleagues were taken by surprise. Brenda was now anticipating the next lunch where she was expecting her list to be analysed among her colleagues.

It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.

The main primary stakeholder in this ethical decision is the employee. The employee is effected by this decision because they are the one whose job is at stake in the end. The benefits of an employee being terminated are that if they have an issue in their life that is permitting them from performing their best, it may give the employee time to find a solution to the problem. It also may give them a chance to start work with a new employer and get off on a better foot. In the employee’s case, the harms outweigh the benefits. A harm of a person being terminated is that they lose an income. If the employee is terminated they no longer have any money to be supported by. This would cause a great financial harm to the employee. This may also cause a harm to a person’s identity. Some people find their identity in their job. If a person is let go, they may think they didn’t perform right or something is wrong with besides the idea of their non-work issues interfering with their

Martin Marietta took a hands-on approach in creating their Ethics Program, but monitoring 60,000 employees “ethical decisions” took a large workforce. In 1986, a committee including Martin Marietta and several other defense contractors created “A Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII).” Martin Marietta placed their entire company under a voluntary disclosure program, which required all employee misconduct to be reported, monitored, and resolved. To achieve this task, an audit committee was formed which tripled in manpower between 1986 and 1991. George Sammet was placed in charge of the Ethics program by insuring the employee’s complaints, questions, and concerns were heard and dealt with. “Ethic Officers” were placed at all of Martin Marietta’s branches to handle employee related issues. Ethical complaints could be made anonymously or vocally to field “Ethic Officers.” Once complaints were made the ethic officers would report them for investigation through audit, personnel, security, or legal staff. Almost half of the complaints which were reported were personnel related cases including salaries, promotions, and poor supervisory skills. But, with such an elaborate program, employees quickly became aware of possible retaliation for reporting issues. Once the issues were reported, they then needed to be dealt with. This could include verbal or written reprimand, transfer, or possible

In the first section, this report outlines several ethical difficulties that occurred. Subsequently, some of Gap Inc.’s solutions for a better ethical policy are described. To conclude, some recommendations are made, but those are limited because of the quick and good solutions Gap came up with in response to its problems.

Leadership is by all means a special talent that not all people possess. A leader must also have ethics to be effective for the long term in the corporate world. These leaders generally implement ethical programs in order to influence an organizations climate (Yukl, 2010). I will evaluate the importance of ethical leadership and the role it plays into today’s organizations. In addition, I will discuss the repercussions a company may have when its leadership allows and even rewards unethical business practices. Lastly, I will apply my personal leadership perspective. My perspective will include the path-goal theory and ethical practices that I find important to

Every organization also has a profession responsibility to conduct business honestly and ethically. Our readings reported, “Experts estimated that U.S. companies lose about $600 billion a year from unethical and criminal behavior” Kinicki and Kreitner (2009). The organization could avoid having ethical issues by meeting the