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Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Social Responsibility Essay

Decent Essays
Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Chapter discussed Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Social Responsibility. While watching CNBC on television, I viewed a documentary on the energy company Enron. Their practices and ethics, or lack thereof are an excellent example of the topics contained in this chapter. Their disregard for ethical behavior and social responsibility, ultimately led to the demise of the company and also caused several members of the company in management positions to be brought to justice in the court systems. Enron was a energy company that was seemingly very profitable, ethical, and successful, as was reflected in their stock price. However, there was a great deal of information withheld from
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Another OB principle relevant to this situation is the Fair Process Effect. Employees want a voice and to be included in decision making. However, Enron’s lower level workers weren’t accurately informed about their practices. The traders that worked for Enron weren’t explicitly told about the company’s unethical practices, but over the course of time they became more aware of the things that Enron was doing. However, traders were making a great deal of money from the success of Enron and it’s increasing stock price. During the time of the rolling blackouts in California, there were also wildfires burning. The fires decreased the level of electricity that was allowed to be produced and distributed. Enron used this to their advantage, and greatly increased the cost of electricity to consumers. The traders knew this and profited greatly. So although they were informed of the unethical practices that were going on, their greed made them take advantage of the situation and profit as much as they could. The traders also participated in the unethical practices by asking electric companies to limit their production and output, and even shut down their plants for specified time periods. In essence, they were completely manipulating the costs and prices of electricity to the consumer and profiting greatly in the process. Finally, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which audits companies to ensure that there is ethical behavior in
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