Case Analysis : Wells Fargo

Knowledge is considered as one of the most important and competitive resource for sustenance of the organisation (Zack, 1999). It can be compared to the strategic resource that can be used and applied in various frames of the organisation. Experienced managers in the organisations believe that company can receive strategic advantage through knowledge and not the strategies or actions implemented by competitors. Knowledge can be regarded as a strong approach that opens numerous ways of success. It is that weapon that help organisation to evaluate solutions in financial and other professional difficulties.

Wells Fargo is one of the well-recognized banks in the United States with over 8,000 banks. Last year Wells Fargo paid millions of dollars in fines for opening around 1.5 million bank accounts and applied for around 560,000 credit cards without customers’ consent. Due to this unethical and illegal event, numerous stakeholders were affected. In the article, The Wal-Mart Effect and Business, Ethics, and Society by R. Edward Friedman, Friedman states that stakeholder is anyone who can be affected by the business or can affect the business (Friedman 38). A great deal stakeholders were affected by the Wells Fargo crisis including Board of Directors, stockholders, employees, and the customers. Each stakeholder has different interests,

The term “ethics” is defined as moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior. When speaking of business ethics, one is referring to the study, and examination of moral as well as social responsibility relating to business practices, also including its application to the four functions of management as well as the decision-making process in business (Batesman, pg.167). This internal factor can easily influence the how an organization goes about accomplishing the four functions of management. Wal-Mart, like most businesses believe they uphold ethical standards in their business practice. According to Wal-Mart’s statement of ethics, leading with integrity in a workplace is key to running a business (Wal-Mart Ethics pg.10). Leading with integrity, and expecting teammates to work with integrity is one of their main focuses- Wal-Mart’s original founder Sam Walton said,” that it has always been an ethically led company” (Wal-Mart Ethics pg.4). They follow their three basic beliefs: respect for individuals, service to the customers, and striving for excellence (Wal-Mart Ethics pg.5). Although organizations may have their code of ethics, they still come across the occasional ethical problem in the company. Wal-Mart for example, had an issue with an employee named, Chalace Epley Lowery. Lowery believed that another

In the year eighteen fifty-two, two men by the names of Henry Wells and William Fargo chose to establish a monetary administrations organization that we particularly know today to be Wells Fargo (Wells Fargo, 2017), which actually is quite significant. Before establishing the organization, Mr. Wells and Mr. Fargo chose to ground their organization in five standards which generally turned into their five very essential esteems. Their first standard being "individuals as an aggressive esteem" which implies an association with a colleague will literally prompt a definitely superior association with the clients, or so they particularly thought. Second "morals" Wells Fargo prides its self on being a straightforward organization and

The article,”To Disclose or Not to Disclose? Wells Fargo Woes Shine Light on a Knotty Problem

According to Emily Glazer of the Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo’s Sales Practice Scandal is a result of their corporate culture. The upper level executives could be getting nothing as their bonuses this year as the board continues to decide. This is because those men and women are responsible for the actions of those who they employ/supervise Making money has been the firm’s primary goal for many years and the higher up’s all the way down to the lower managers are responsible for creating this type of environment. According to the Wall Street Journal “One manager…in an email peppered with exclamation points and capital letters…urged her employees to ignore the bosses and get sales up at any cost, says someone who saw the email.” This is a perfect example of terrible managing. Throwing ethics and good conduct out the window just so that a few of the staff get bonuses at the year’s end is just wrong. In class, we constantly discuss the ethics involved in business and recently we’ve spent a lot of time on corporate culture. Shockingly enough, in last year’s annual report the company

Even as the scandal broke, Wells Fargo continued to state that they were committed to putting their customers first (Merle, 2016). This was much the same rhetoric as their list of declared ethics statements, such as “be accountable for, and proud of, our conduct and our decisions”, and “comply with the letter and the spirit of the law” (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, L. 2013). In this case, they did neither. If the upper management does not consistently and continually exhibit the leadership insisting on ethical behavior, employees run amok. Another direct conflict with their stated value of “acknowledge and apologize for our mistakes, and learn from our errors so we don’t make them again” was the way in which they accepted responsibility for the fraud, but did not actually admit illegal behavior (CNN Wire, 2016). However, they did reevaluate the decentralized system.

As with much of Enron, their outward appearance did not match what was really going on inside the company. Enron ended up cultivating their own demise for bankruptcy by how they ran their company. This corrupt corporate culture was a place whose employees threw ethical responsibility to the wind if it meant financial gain. At Enron, the employees were motivated by a very “cut-throat” culture. If an employee didn’t perform well enough, they would simply be replaced by someone who could. “The company’s culture had profound effects on the ethics of its employees” (Sims, pg.243). Like a parent to their children, when the executives of a company pursue unethical financial means, it sets a certain tone for their employees and even the market of the company. As mentioned before, Enron had a very “cut-throat” attitude in regards to their employees. This also became one Enron’s main ethical falling points. According to the class text, “employees were rated every six months, with those ranked in the bottom 20 percent forced to leave” (Ferrell, 2017, pg. 287). This system which pits employees against each other rather than having them work together will create a workplace of dishonesty and a recipe of disaster for the company. This coupled with the objective of financial growth, creates a very dim opportunity for any ethical culture. “The entire cultural framework of Enron not only allowed unethical behavior to flourish,

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

There was a dismissal of 5,300 employees and $185 million in fines against Wells Fargo (Stewart, 2017). The bank’s pressure-cooker sales environment made a toxic sales culture. Wells Fargo held unrealistic sale quotas to its employees and held policies that drove employees to participate in illegal behaviors to meet unreachable goals. Employees opened millions of unauthorized credit cards and deposit accounts, fees and other charges were racked up, money was transferred from customers’ accounts without their knowledge and their permission, they also created phony email addresses to enroll customers in online banking services, all to hit sale targets and receive bonuses. Employees who called attention to the abusive, fraudulent behaviors were ignored and wrongfully terminated and retaliated

It’s not very uncommon to see headlines of money hunger CEO’s or even a small group of decision making conducting unethical behaviors in their best interests. Generally, those conducting the unethical behaviors have the opportunity to gain from their actions. In the Wells Fargo scandal, this is not the case. This scandal was not acted out at the top, but yet through the front line employees. This scandal was also unusual due to the amount of

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

Business Industry has witnessed the outcomes of bad moral decisions taken by business leaders. Enron’s story is only one example of corporate scandals and cases of bad moral decisions, which has not only shaken the public trust in corporations, but also affected the bank accounts of investors and employees. Before the bankruptcy of Enron; it was included in one of the fortune 500 companies after its fraudulent accounting case the share went down to $1 (Enron scandal, 2010; PBS, 2002; Godwin, 2006; Godwin, 2008).

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

The overwhelming facts point to a shady underworld of self-dealing and opportunistic exploitation of the poor and working class, which was until recently, well hidden from the commoner. The executives of WorldCom and Enron provide real world examples of unethical business practices, where the desire to make money for their shareholders transcended into an addiction to greed and self-dealing that were displayed by their, “excessive pay, perks, and golden parachutes”(Carson 392) at the expense of all stakeholders. All is not lost, there are corporations that pride themselves in their sound business model and commitment to ethical business practices. Such companies as Eaton Corporation, and Weyerhaeuser, who according to Ethisphere.com, a business ethics watchdog, are among the “2010 World`s most ethical companies.” (Ethisphere)