Management Ethics and Strategic Planning

Essay by mike2680University, Bachelor'sA+, March 2007

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All over the world everyone knows about the Enron debacle. Management's lack of character led to unprecedented levels of deceit and greed. The toppling of the one-time energy giant Enron was a consequence of management's unethical practices. The ultimate goal of management and its' employees is profit for the organization. In every company there is a potential for situations that can occur. A person's cultural background has much to do with dilemmas that can arise in corporate America.

Conflicts may arise in some businesses due to the interest of its' shareholders, stakeholders and members of the community. Shareholders are generally interested in their earnings and dividends, while members of the community are concerned with how many jobs a business can provide as well as environmental issues in the businesses location.

Ethics purpose is to bring freedom. One writer stated: "the purpose of ethics is to bring into purely quantitative models of business the elements of a fair playing field (pg.

1)." Corporations lose millions of dollars annually for the simple fact that paper, paper clips, pens and other seemingly insignificant company items are being stolen or misappropriated by their employees. Not only does taking things that do not belong to a person impact the company but saying things that are not true by management and employees are hurtful to the organization. Conflicts of interest whether engaged in or influenced is also wrong. Moreover, hiding or telling secrets, committing, perpetrating and permitting acts of abuse are also derogatory and most harmful for any business. The taking advantage of situations and the condoning of unethical actions are also considered destructive for corporate America. Therefore, if managers would create an ethical environment their organizations would thrive and the necessity for regulations would not be needed. One author said: "Ethics are not...