In a recent case involving the Wells Fargo company, the judge ordered the company to pay a penalty worth $5.4 million to a manager who had been fired from the company in 2010 for reporting his suspicion on fraudulent behavior to seniors on the ethics hotline. The decision that the employee should resume back into his position in the company was also included in the verdict reached by the judge. The supposed $ 5.4 million was meant to be the compensatory fees for all the damages that he had been caused as well as to cater the legal fees. According to the reports from OSHA, the fired manager had received positive reviews for his job performance but was unsuspectingly dismissed after he had reported the cases of blackmail and wire fraud by some …show more content…
Wells Fargo’ decision making could also be an ethical issue. It is because the management failed to seek a fair solution that could help in solving its current internal problems by addressing all the fraudulent activities that were being reported. Instead, they opted to sack all the employees who reported the matter without even taking action to investigate the case and evaluate the possible actions that could be deployed to reflect fairness in the outcome of the decision. Basically, the ethical decision making in business entails ensuring that the company can protect the rights of their employees and customers. Sacking of the manager was, therefore, an illustration of the breach of the ethics as his right was violated.
In the utilitarian approach of ethics, individuals are expected to uphold actions that are expected to override evil. The employees failed to uphold the utilitarian approach of ethics by failing to comply with the company’s demands and rationally attain its expectations. Instead of engaging in vibrant marketing and sales promotions to register more customers for the company, they resorted to opening numerous fake accounts to meet their expected targets. The given action was an illustration of lack of commitment and dedication to the company. In fact, their actions depicted more evil than the anticipated
The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.
Many companies have ethical decisions that need to be and sometimes those decisions can affect many individuals or just a few. Making ethical decisions may be placed solely on one person’s shoulders or it may be a decision that multiple individuals must be involved in. There are several ethical issues in the Richardson Drilling case that should be considered. For instance, bribery, purchasing substandard parts with lack of disclosure that causes injuries, and revealing sensitive information. One potential ethical concern that could arise has to do with ongoing health insurance and the employer’s responsibility.
Consequently, Wells and Fargo did what was best for business, they would not hire a person because you endorse or support. However, these two men ethical standards for hiring were for the needed to keep the company moving forward to be successful. Therefore, everyone that worked for Wells Fargo had a responsibility to uphold and follow the policies that were set up by the company, no matter what levels or title you hail in the company. However, when dealing with other peoples’ money their ethics in the place where there is truthward people work for you. Some of these people worked in accounting make sure the book was right. By ensuring that all transactions are properly documented because back then there were no computers, you would have to keep up with a paper trail. By ethical standers, the organization’s is well established, their moral conduct to the customers and the business. Furthermore, Wells Fargo ethical morals were to implement people that have the ability excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Outstanding negotiating, conflict management, and decision-making skills and ability to interact with all levels of
The movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” presented a series of ethical dilemmas that surround a group of salesmen working for a real estate company. The value of business ethics was clearly undermined and ignored in the movie as the salesmen find alternatives to keep their jobs. The movie is very effective in illustrating how unethical business practices can easily exist in the business world. Most of the time, unethical business practices remain strong in the business world because of the culture that exists within companies. In this film, the sudden demands from management forced employees to become irrational and commit unethical business practices. In fear of losing their jobs, employees were pressured to increase sales despite possible ethical
The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.
Wells Fargo was established in 1852 by Henry Wells and Williams Fargo who joined a group of other investors to form a transportation and banking company. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, which encouraged a huge demand for its cross country shipping and by 1852 Wells Fargo shipped its first consignment of gold. Wells Fargo also established merger deals with Pony expresses which made them one of the pioneers of pony transportation. This company later expanded to a company that offered not just pony and gold transportation services, but also offered banking services by purchasing gold and selling paper bank drafts as good as gold. In 1905, the banking branch of the company merged with the Nevada National Bank and established its new headquarters in San Francisco. ("Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company", 2016).
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.
In California, eight Wells Fargo employees were convicted of committing fraud facing a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, also each employee is charged with at least one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries another two years in prison (https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/eight-people-charged-bank-fraud-scheme-allegedly-used-information-stolen-wells-fargo). In the wake of the scandal, over 5,300 employees were fired over the course of five years for their involvements in the creation of the fake accounts. Some of the initial whistleblowers of the scandal faced retaliation by being terminated for speaking out against the orders to open fake accounts. CNN Money correspondent Matt Egan spoke with Bill Bado, a former employee of Wells Fargo, who has not been able to security another banking securities job since his termination for calling the Ethics Hotline to report the fraudulent activities.
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
The reason why Well Fargo Bank is an ethical quandary would be how they have gotten a fine for 185 Million dollars and have fired over 5,300 which were employee and manager.
Today’s business world presents numerous ethical issues. In today’s world above board/moral ethics in organizations do not often materialize intuitively. Organization must strive to provide employees with a clear understanding of the overall company vision. This will aid employees in practicing the code of ethics, policies and procedures in the workplace. Companies must be unwavering in continuously delivering the uppermost ethics of provision in which customers, applicants and employees are entitled to under fair business practices. One major core value is to uphold responsible and fair business practices.
Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,
In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important
In the modern world, two things are most sought after: goodness and prosperity. However, given the innate nature of mankind, and his compulsions towards greed and selfishness, complete morality is impossible. This idea has roots in the definitions and ideals found in utilitarianism, a term that will be defined later, and has led many to call business ethics an oxymoron. “In the US generally, the ethical road that is paved with good corporate intentions and constructive programs includes some bumps,” (McClenahen 60). Although bumps may exist, many companies are striving for excellence in this area as statistics show ethics are related to customer loyalty 's. These businesses have found that improvements can be found through understanding and action. Business leaders can increase morals by understand utilitarianism, leadership, correct forms of communication, and how these affect customers.