Business Ethics and the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Essay

ANS: Ethics means the idea of society about what is right or wrong. Ethical values are not moral values they can vary from place to place depending on the society. This might also bring conflicts of interest between two parties. However in whole world we follow a standard and right ethical business culture to reduce such conflicts.

When turning away from a quality to a profit focus only created far more problems. “Toyota, once the world’s most profitable automaker, suffered its first losses in its past two fiscal years; the turning away from a quality to a profit focus only created far more problems.” (O’Brien, 2010)

On April 20, 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico, there was a blowout of the Macondo well which is owned by British Petroleum also known as BP. When the blowout took place it got immediate media attention because aspects of the event were known over the world. Within events transpiring it was discovered how limited the resources and reaction to the disaster was going to be. This paper will detail aspects of the event from symptoms of the problem, the root cause, important unresolved issues, roles of the organization’s key players and stakeholders, and explain the focus of specific ethical systems. Also discussed in this paper are relevant strategies and alternatives, the effect of globalization

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.

Ethics, as defined in the dictionary, are moral principles that help govern a persons behaviour or the conducting of an activity. Ethics must be taken into consideration when forming a decision towards major and minor issues in our society.

Every year in the United States there are many business’s that shut down due to unethical practice. There are many people who run a small business or even a multimillion business that don’t know exactly what ethics are. Ethics are rules which I will go into detail later. There are many reasons why we should follow those rules, how it effects the reputation of the company, what are the outcomes of ethical actions, and what are the outcomes of unethical actions.

This article begins by exploring the notion of society’s trust in the corporation despite the many scandals that have come to light in recent years. Examples of huge scandals of the 1990s that were sensationalised in the media include Enron’s accounting fraud, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, and Bre-X’s falsified mining operations.

Ethics refer to the values that guide a person, organization or society - - the difference between right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, honesty and dishonesty.

“In the early part of this decade ethical scandals erupted though corporate America. Corporate Leaders from major companies such as Enron were caught up in scandal’s ranging from fraud, conspiracy, grand larceny to obstruction of justice” (Cross, 2011, p. 76). At the time, the Enron scandal was considered to be one of the most notorious and compelling business ethics cases in modern generations. It’s was a textbook version of what can go wrong in an organization that lacks a true culture of ethical standards. Investors and the media once considered Enron to be the company of the future, but as its demise suggests, it was in reality not a particularly modern business organization, especially in its approach to ethics.

Enron, a once thriving Houston-based energy titan, is now reduced to a cautionary adage among Americans to what massive failure corporate greed could lead to. At its core however Enron’s ethical and moral behavior was sound and seemed to be aligned with industry competitors. In an opening statement to the Enron Code of Ethics issued in July 2000, Lay wrote: “As officers and employees of Enron Corp., its subsidiaries, and its affiliated companies, we are responsible

Ethics, defined by Merriam Webster, are rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad. These rules illustrate your character and should govern the decisions you make in all aspects of life. Two huge areas where ethics play a role are in business and in our community. Ethics are significant in business and our community because it determines your company and community’s reputation, attracts loyal customers, and boosts your business’s profit and your community’s economy.

By definition ethics is described as the branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions 1.This system of moral principles shapes us as individuals and societies.

This essay relates ethical behavior in high-profile events, as well as examining various regulatory and sustainability market approaches to business environmental responsibilities. The paper focuses on two major occurrences; the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the BP oil spill tragedy.

Enron’s bankruptcy begins in November 2001 establish the found of an extraordinary wave of corporate scandals. The collapse of Enron is due to the unethical practices of its executives members. So many people would be asked question such as why do the top leaders CEO has failure to show moral behavior in business ethics. Hence, it is important to study ethics to improve look on top leaders in business. Therefore, it is important to define the various ethics which can be applied in this essay. First, deontology theory emphasize the important of duty to be followed regardless the cause of the action. Second, virtue ethics emphasize the importance of acquiring good character through self-cultivation and education. Utilitarianism highlight we

Ethics is something that is very important to have especially in the business world. Ethics is the unwritten laws or rules defined by human nature; ethics is something people encounter as a child learning the differences between right and wrong. In 2001, Enron was the fifth largest company on the Fortune 500. Enron was also the market leader in energy production, distribution, and trading. However, Enron's unethical accounting practices have left the company in joint chapter 11 bankruptcy. This bankruptcy has caused many problems among many individuals. Enron's employees and retirees are suffering because of the bankruptcy. Wall Street and investors have taken a major downturn do to the company's unethical practices. Enron's competitors