Yuri A. Batten
Module 2 Case 2: HP Pretexting Scandal
ETH501
TUI University
Dr. Bonnie Adams
Who is ever responsible for the wrong-doings of a corporation? Is it the person who actually commits the crime or the company that hired the person who committed the crime? In today’s world of finger pointing and blame shifting, anyone’s guess is as good as mine. Should Patricia Dunn, former chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard (HP), have been forced to resign? In my mind the answer is yes, without a doubt. This paper will present a background of the company, a brief synopsis of the situation, and explain in utilitarianism and deontology, why she should have been forced to resign for two reasons. First, she hired a law firm to
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One would hope that it could be done legally, but in most instances people hire an outside firm like this to do their bidding. If a company that is investigating something wants information, they will do whatever it takes to obtain that information and hope they don’t get caught, or in this case just outsource it to another private investigator to continue to shift the blame and create a bigger paper trial. The chairwoman of HP did have access to confidential information through Hewlett-Packards human resource department. This information could have “found” its way into the “unknowing” hands of the investigators. However, this is the exact information needed to perform pretexting. Patricia Dunn was the chairwoman of HP and she, representing HP hired the lawyers, who hired the investigators, who hired other investigators that committed the crimes. (http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/417). Utilitarianism would suggest that her actions were ethically justified because the moral value of hiring someone to stop the leaks, no matter what are justified by the overall utility to the company, its employees, investors, and its share holders because the leaks would stop and the company can prosper. However deontology would suggest that her actions were ethically wrong because the intentions behind her actions were to violate
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.”
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the
Many pivotal managerial principles and practices are exemplified in the Case Study, Outrage at Eastern. In this particular story a manager, Charles Jackson, is faced with many difficult decisions regarding problems concerning one of his workers at Eastern Plating. One of Jackson’s workers named Marty Reid is accused of molestation of his stepdaughter. His allegations are made public in a recent writing in the “Evening Beacon”, the daily paper of the 10,000 town’s population. Reid also has his wife going against him as well, which automatically makes him guilty to the majority of the town. When Jackson reads the paper he immediately understands what he might be faced with in the next upcoming days of
In the past, many corporate executive have committed various forms scandals in their organizations. Such fraudulent arts are unethical and immoral behavior. This led the US government to form legislation in order to control fraudulent activities; mostly performed by senior officers in the organization. In view of this, this paper will address the following: historical summary on SOX enactment, the key ethical components of SOX, social responsibility implications regarding mandatory publication of corporate ethics, whether the criticisms of SOX implication presents an unfair burden on smaller organizations and suggestions on the improvement of SOX legislation.
Sexual harassment and falsified data could happen in any company. It’s amazing how some situations are validated by those that initiate them. It’s not impossible for innocent actions to cause an ethical issue. Knowledge is power. However, falsifying data is plainly wrong. There is no way to justify this action. The best way to cut the existence of ethical issues is training and everyone striving to do what is right. Learning how to make ethical choices will only deepen our knowledge of ourselves and enrich our everyday
The original assignment in this module dealt primarily with employers trying to find wrongdoing by employees. We now turn to the question of employee rights and employer obligations. Using at least two (2) of the foundational ethical theories studied in Module 2, you should answer the following questions. With each answer, you should discuss the issues and set forth and defend a clear position.
A corporation is an artificial person established by the law. It nurses the same rights as humans contrariwise; they are not equally responsible for their actions. A corporation cannot face the same charges a human would: if illegal actions took place. Bakan illustrates the traits of a corporation to closely resemble the traits of a psychopathic individual human being. These traits are, but not limited to: “1) unconcern for others, 2) incapable of maintaining relationships, 3) disregard for others safety/health, 4) repeated lying, 5) incapable of experiencing guilt, and 6) failure to conform to social norms.” Therefore, executive’s means for earning high returns for shareholders can be seen as a trait of a psychopath. Yet, the corporation’s attributes are not based on the qualities of the executives outside of their careers. As Bakan would say, “the people who run corporations are, for the most part, good people, moral people.”
According to the documentation, those Enron people who faced ethical issues used different prescriptive reasoning approach to resolve their dilemma. Take Andrew Fastow as an example, he might not start all the fraudulent financial activities in the first place; however, he decided to do so in order to please the boss, when Ken Lay wanted to see neat financial disclosures. It seemed that Fastow
The ethical issues presented in HP were actions from the board members. They ignored the values and beliefs of the company. It resulted in disrespect amongst coworkers and even HP consumers. It broke the trust within the board of HP. Trust is imperative to a business and part of the “HP way,” the core value of the company. It is a tremendous fault for a company in a global level such as HP. During the investigation, other ethical issues evolved in an attempt to solve the
Prepared for HU 432 007 Ethics for Managers & Engineers Professor Paul Hudec and submitted 5/4/2016
A corporation is an artificial person established by the law. It nurses the same rights as humans contrariwise; they are not equally responsible for their actions. A corporation cannot face the same charges a human would, if illegal actions took place. Bakan illustrates the traits of a corporation to closely resemble the traits of a psychopathic individual human being. These traits are, but not limited to: “1) unconcern for others, 2) incapable of maintaining relationships, 3) disregard for others safety/health, 4) repeated lying, 5) incapable of experiencing guilt, and 6) failure to conform to social norms.” Therefore, executive’s means for earning high returns for shareholders can be seen as a trait of a psychopath. Yet, the corporation’s attributes are not based on the qualities of the executives outside of their careers. As Bakan would say, “the people who run corporations are, for the most part, good people, moral people.”
Today, employees can be considered as the greatest strength of the company. They are the ones who help build the reputation of the company, it is their job to ensure the success of the business, which is why it is very important to keep them satisfied. A recent statistic shows that an American worker has an average of eight jobs in his career (Rudman, 2003). This stat shows how difficult it is to retain a core strength of a company. In this essay, an analysis of a case study is made. The case includes at first, a discussion between Chip Brownlee and Arch carter, the CEO and lead director of Galvatrens respectively. During this conversation, they discussed a lawsuit that a former employee sent to the company for being wrongfully relieved of his duty. Also in the case study after investigation the board of Galvatrens and their CEO made a meeting in order to tackle the problems and know what really happened. In this essay, it will explain the main ethical dilemmas in the case study, and according to these dilemmas a comparison will be made between utilitarian, libertarian, deontological and virtue ethics perspectives. Finally, as a form of an ethical point of view will be used to be the best solution to solve the dilemma of the recommendation.
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).
The company faced issues related to the methods it used in investigating the unauthorized disclosure of nonpublic information to the press by the members of its board of directors. Apparently, Hewlett Packard hired some investigators in the case. The investigator used various techniques such as pre-texting- calling the telephone company and pose as someone else with an aim of obtaining that person’s information or records. The company and the board chairman, Patricia Dunn, were defending the company’s investigations about the director and the journalist. They cited that there were aggressive efforts to note the core source of leaks that were fully justified by the investigators