Critique the Moral Aspects of Leadership
Introduction
This paper is about the lack of moral and ethical leadership of Tyco International’s former highest-paid chief executive officer (CEO) Dennis Kozlowski (Kaplan, 2009). Tyco International is a business leader in Global Fire Safety and Security Solutions. Tyco’s United States headquarters is in Princeton, New Jersey and the Corporate Headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. According to Kaplan (2009), Dennis Kozlowski reigned over a decade as an ambitious CEO who had earned the nickname “Deal-a-Day” Dennis based on his notorious business decisions including aggressive and speedy acquisitions. Kozlowski was a leader determined to make Tyco the greatest company and succeeded well in transforming it from a $1.5 billion manufacturer into an industrial corporation worth more than $100 billion (Kaplan, 2009).
Ethical issues
In June 2002, Kozlowski was accused by the Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau, of evading $1 million in sales tax on the purchase of rare artwork (Timeline of the Tyco International scandal, 2005). This investigation opened a can of worms indicting Kozlowski and Tyco’s former chief financial officer (CFO) Mark H. Swartz of looting millions of dollars from the company, misconstruing financial records and doctoring business records (Brickey, 2008). In September 2002, Kozlowski and Swartz were accused of stealing more than $170 million dollars from Tyco and swindling $430 million in the sale
A. Belnick, Dennis Kozlowski, and Mark Swartz. They were charged with falsifying business records in order to conceal their questionable tactics in regards to getting loans without obtaining anyone’s approval. The earnings per share was affected negatively by the fraudulent record keeping, and the president of the Fire and Security division, Jerry Boggess, was an accomplice and fired as a result . After avoiding a million dollar tax bill for the purchase of artwork worth $14 million, Dennis Kozlowski was indicted for tax evasion by the DA of New York. Richard Scalzo was responsible for auditing the financials of Tyco. He participated in improper conduct because he did not implement the proper measures within his audit duties as it pertains
Enron’s ride is quite a phenomenon: from a regional gas pipeline trader to the largest energy trader in the world, and then back down the hill into bankruptcy and disgrace. As a matter of fact, it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (world-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that were raised from the documentation Enron: The Smartest Guys
Collins illustrates a persuasive profile of what it takes to be the leader of not a good but a great organization in the modern day. He also demonstrates the development of successful organizations as a consequence of ethical behavior rather than despite
According to Johnson (2012) leaders are powerful role models, and policies will have a little effect if leaders do not follow the rules they set. In Enron case, corruption and ethical misconduct were deeply embedded in their business culture where profitability was more important than ethics. In this paper, I will address the factors that had led to the development of the culture of profit before principle at Enron. Also, I will create my personal code of ethics that will guide me in my professional and personal decision making and doing the right thing when faced with ethical challenges.
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.”
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
It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.
The major conspiracy was uncovered by Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, who was investigating Kozlowski for income tax evasion for some fine art work that he had purchased. As Morgenthau kept digging into the record keeping of Tyco and Kozlowski, it was determined that there were other situations that had occurred, such as a 10 million dollar loan that was totally forgiven by Tyco, and all interest was billed to the corporation. It became apparent on January
A Comedy for the Rich, a Tragedy for the Poor Plutarch, an ancient Greek philosopher, once said: “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” In many autocratic societies, where governments are often corrupt from the immense power that they hold, its citizens are the one’s who feel the wrath of this persecution. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins depicts a dystopian society which takes place in Panem, a country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 12 surrounding districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, the Capitol hosts its annual Hunger Games, where children from each district are randomly selected to be part of the bloodbath, in which they battle until only one survivor remains.
The job at Tyndall is still tentative, the HR department at Fort Sam Houston sent me an email Tues. indicating they would rescind the job offer if I wasn't able to provide a definitive date for my fingerprinting and pre-employment physical by close of business. At that point, I decided to let the job go because there were too many short deadlines with my current work commitment, especially for a guarantee of only 20 hours/week. I sent them an email to that effect and then the CPT in charge of the Eglin and Tyndall called me on Friday. It seems like they don't have other applicants and she was trying to convince me to proceed. I can't really make a trip to Tampa until week after next and I am not sure if they will wait that long. The CPT also
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.”
This research paper will explore the fraud at Tyco and focus primarily on accounting and auditing issues related to the fraud. One thing worth noting about this case is that fraudulent financial reporting was not at the core of the fraud, which was the case with majority other big frauds at the time, such as Enron and Waste Management. On the contrary, fraud consisted of misappropriation of assets, and fraudulent financial reporting came as a consequence of trying to hide misappropriation of assets and the use of corporate money for personal benefit.
Cendant Corporation, one of the world’s largest hotel and real estate franchises was known as the largest accounting fraud before Enron. Cendant Corporation was created in 1997 when Hospitality Franchise Systems (HFS), Inc. merged with Comp-U-Card international (CUC). Chairman Walter Forbes and Vice-chairman Kirk Shelton were the perpetrators to a decade long accounting and securities fraud. The day after Cendant exposed evidence of accounting irregularities the corporations stock and convertible bonds lost nearly $14 Billion (Morgenson, 2004). This paper will address the issues that went wrong with Cendant and how the crimes fit into to Friedrichs’ typologies.
“It is important for leaders to tell a compelling and morally rich story, but ethical leaders must also embody and live the story. This is a difficult task in today’s business environment where everyone lives in a fishbowl—on public display. So many political leaders fail to embody the high-minded stories they tell at election time, and more recently, business leaders have become the focus of similar criticism through the revelations of numerous scandals and bad behaviours. CEOs in today’s corporations are really ethical role models for all of society.”
In my analysis of Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com I investigate if his leadership exemplifies the qualities of effective and ethical conscious leadership. I also examine an alternative perspective into the ethics and dynamics of how Jeff interacts with his employees. In order to be an effective leader it is imperative to develop a distinct leadership philosophy statement. Establishing this personal leadership philosophy will serve as a guide and reminder to consistently live out these principles. To improve leadership, it is essential to evaluate other leaders and equally important to reflect on one’s personal leadership and philosophy.