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Factors of Ethical Collapse

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Many successful businesses operated under a set of normative standards, expected behaviors and guidelines that are generally accepted by society (Jennings, 2009). That is, businesses operated under ethical principles that “consist of standards and norms for behaviors that are beyond laws and legal rights” (Jennings, 2009). These ethical principles are reflected in an organization application of trust, integrity, fairness and responsibility. Research groups have identified overarching ethical principles as the application of honesty, fairness, objectivity, and responsibility. A company's use of ethical principles demonstrates solid corporate governance and management (Verschoor, 2011). However, when these principles are deliberately …show more content…

One of the first signs of an ethical collapse is when the organization’s culture is one of intimidation and the employees feel pressure to perform which was the HealthSouth’s corporate culture. Employees felt pressured to meet unrealistic expectations and were intimidated into fabricating numbers if the goals were not met. For instance, when the company was not meeting the numbers and analysts’ expectations, executives were required to figure it out, even if the goal was just short a dollar (Jennings, 2009). In fact, Mr. Scrushy believed that if you shine a light on someone that is not meeting the expected goal, then that individual will feel obligated to improve the numbers (Jennings, 2009). The company’s culture was filtrated with fear of dismissal, threats of critics with reprisals, and incentives for loyal subordinates (Jennings, 2009). Essentially, the Healthsouth “employees felt pressure to make the numbers do what they felt their superiors wanted them to do” (Jennings, 2004). This type of culture influences employees to behave unethically and with fear of consequences. As a result, some employees will knowingly behave unethically as a means

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