How to Reform Corporate Ethics in American Business Today

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the legality and ethicality of the corporate governance activities that occurred in an ethics case presented in the text. The paper will provide relevant details regarding the legality of the activities, the criteria by which Sarbanes-Oxley would apply to this case, the ethicality of the activities, whether or not the activities were equitable to internal and external stakeholders, and the next steps representing best interest of all stakeholders.

3. Has the board established a nomination committee which consists of a majority of independent directors? The board should be structured in such a way that it ensures an appropriate mix of skills and expertise to govern the company and enhance its performance role. The committee should be structured in such a way that a majority of independent directors can enhance the board’s

It finally has been acknowledged that simply taking an ethics class does not provide the same level of experience as providing a more integrated approach to ethics within the learning process of a student within graduate business school. Gaining the ability and competence to understand ethics is only first step to what awaits the new leaders who will be required to live an ethical life but also sustain and encourage a corporate ethical environment from which staff can also make ethical decisions. The recent financial scandals along with the younger generation’s concerns for the environment has elevated and renewed the importance of corporate leadership in providing more transparent and straightforward accounting reports as well as addressing other issues that do not encourage a culture of ethics within their organization. Wrongdoing should be addressed and ethical decisions need to be encouraged and supported instead. CEOs and board members are just beginning to present themselves and their organizations as ethical decision-makers who are responsibly provide good and wise solutions for stakeholders of the company. In the Journal of Business Ethics, “Business Ethics in North America: Trends and Challenges” the authors reviewed and

The requisites in the Code of Ethics represented in the Sarbanes-Oxley Enactment have formed a foundation in the world of business because business administrators and stakeholders are now mandated to abide by the guidelines in the Act but they still need to be improved. When tackling the issue of social responsibility of a corporate it is of utmost significance that transparency be a key contributor, while ethics is considered by most in business as an oxymoron. People that lack moral standards will more often than not look for loo-holes in this relations due to their evil behaviors, however business principles and moral publication should be ensured so that such behaviors are dealt with in line with the law. “There has been a number of scandals reported in relation with accounting fraud and bad corporate governance as this are termed the biggest reasons why businesses are failing as high-profile organizations continue to subside. Investor confidence levels dropping in relation to financial capital markets due to investors incurring losses and correction mechanisms of the market that were in place were inadequate thus forced the enactment of the SOX Act by Congress (Jain,

In the time of the Great Depression back in 1930’s, where a time where four million Americans had fallen into poverty. Then in 2008 the economy experienced a serious economic meltdown crisis and recession, at this time 44 million adults now live below the poverty line officially defined as an income below $10,830 for a single adult or less than $22,050 for a family of four (Shaw, 2013 p.132). The economy today in my opinion, where poverty is still a huge impact due to the cost of living going up but the income is not changing and it appears people are digging themselves into bigger holes.

Our CEO Indra Nooyi implemented the “Performance with Purpose” guideline to help the company and employees make the right decisions. The company has also developed a Code of Conduct that addresses various business ethics issues such as bribery and conflicts of interest. PepsiCo expects the associates to be familiar with the Code of Conduct. The company also created a Chief Compliance Officer position to enforce the Code. In order to maintain our commitment to the communities and assorted stakeholders, the company has high standards for quality. By adhering to processes and ensuring proper governance, PepsiCo attempts to uphold its responsibilities and earn the confidence of stakeholders. To measure its progress and to make certain that it remains focused, PepsiCo has also developed the following six guiding principles that it uses to sustain its commitment. However, my example shows that we face ethical issues or questions even at a company that is established on how to handle unethical behaviors. It is largely at the individual level to act ethically. As we observed in the baby lab video, we are born with the universal moral core as well as the dark side of morality. As we grow older, society trained us to behavior ethically. However, when under pressure, we do regress to our younger selves. When we are faced with pressure and complications, decision making also become extremely difficult. Saying what is the right thing to do is easier than doing the right thing when you are in the situation. In the future, I will weigh in all four methods of ethical reasoning (virtue, interest, rights and duties) during the decision-making process. I believe that having the proper tools and help will guide me in making the right

The owner and the appointed committee will engage in strategic consultations multiple times per week to focus on implementing a new strategy that will revolve around uncovering the answers to three burning questions: What are we passionate about? What drives our economic engine? What are we best in the world at? (GTG, pp. 95-96). This method will create restoration to the damaged areas of the company caused by ownership. This tactic will force company executives to steer the company towards profitability, focus on the area best suited for the company and strive towards becoming the number one company in our market. The committee will be responsible for implemented the plan and assuring the CEO follows through with this exploratory period. Success will be measured by the obvious increase in revenue, but also by monitoring overall customer and employee satisfaction. Customers will be given satisfaction surveys that will focus on personal needs being reached and they will also rank their experience with their purchases. Employees will take various surveys to rate moral prior to and after the plan is in place to determine its effectiveness. When there is documented statistics that customer satisfaction, employee morale and scalable

Business ethics is a major component of organizational success. Companies must strive to act in an ethical way, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is required of them by their stakeholders. Stakeholders have a vested interest in the performance of the organization (Jones, 2012, p. 28), above and beyond the organization’s financial performance. While shareholders expect to receive returns for their financial backing (p. 29) and expect an organization to behave in a way that ensures those returns, other stakeholder such as consumers (p. 30), the government (p. 32) and special interest groups (Weiss, 2014, p. 13), may be more concerned with how an organization operates and whether they follow legislated and/or accepted norms of ethical behavior (p. 50). Should an organization and its leadership cultivate a culture/structure in which unethical behavior flourishes, especially in this age of heavy government oversight, that organization will not last long. This paper sets out to

Their employees are united by the strong values of accountability, respect, teamwork and integrity. They make sure that extraordinary ethical standards, and a steady commitment to safety, invade company’s organization. Some of corporate governance has found lacking as following its area;

Corporate governance explains the official rule and regulative parameters for controlling and overseeing the entity (Cascarino, 2012, pg. 131). Responsibilities following the audit committee include keeping up to date safe guards and flow of communication with the auditors (Dogas, C., 2015). Corporate governance clearly explains the “rules, processes, and laws under which entities are operated, regulated, and controlled and includes such the board of directors and the audit” (Cascarino, 2012, pg. 131). After the effects were felt of the first large fraudulent crime of Enron and WorldCom, “the United States enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) with the plan to widen the duties of auditors, management, audit committees, and boards of directors” (Cascarino, 2012, pg.

Ethics in the Lockheed Martin Corporation didn’t always have the message it has today. As I read through the book, Ethics at Work: Creating Virtue at an American Corporation, specifically chapter two, I came across some very interesting issues this corporation has had to deal with over the past few decades that go back to the 1920’s and earlier. In the following I’ll go over a few points that led to the development of Lockheed Martine’s current ethics program. Ill cover some ethics issues that were overcame on the way to a great ethics program. First let’s talk about the beginnings that started the Lockheed Martin Corporation so you can get an idea of the foundation of the company itself.

Today, business ethics is one of the most important topics in discussion. With recent scandals come to the public of huge corporations, the public has lost its trust of businesses and require ethics be important to companies. Ethics, however, is not based solely on individual employees. In order for companies to comply with ethical standards, teamwork is necessary between the employees and the organization as a whole to create an ethical company culture that guides the actions of all members in an organization.

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

ITC Ltd has worked exremly hard to start several procedures that have led to compliance of the standards of social responsibility. ITC’s dealings within the tobacco industry have contributed to the increase in company revenues and the company has worked towards following the triple bottom line and giving back to society. Most, businesses pay little attention to their social responsibilities and make it part of their overall strategy, instead they concentrate more on financial benefits from the sales of products. Consequently, managing business in a socially responsive manner contributes to the best combination of business success and societal acceptance, trust and loyalty. Giving back to the community in ways that benefits only society such as planting trees to curb pollution and help the environment or using biodegradable materials in packaging can reap financial benefits to a company by building loyalty among the community. The notion of business ethics and corporate social responsibility is becoming a defining concept in all industries worldwide. ITC believes in the Triple Bottom Line philosophy where the performance and perception of a corporation should not be judged only on the basis of its financial statements or revenues, but its environmental and social performance as well. ITC is one of the only companies in the world to be carbon positive, water positive, and conduct solid waste recycling. ITC provides water to areas where water is very

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of external auditing in promoting good corporate governance. The role of auditors has been emphasized after the pass of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a response to the accounting scandal of Enron. Even though auditors are hired and paid by the company, their role is not to represent or act in favor of the company, but to watch and investigate the company’s financials to protect the public from any material misstatements that can affect their decisions. As part of this role, the auditors assess the level of the company’s adherence to its own code of ethics.