The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) is now known as the biggest corporate corruption scandal in Australia’s history as it attempted to undercut agreements endorsed by the UN’s Oil-for-Food program by compensating the Saddam Hussein rule in Iraq through illicit payments, which infringed the programme’s intent. These bribes began while the AWB was still under government control; with illegal activity continuing after the organisation was privatised in 1999. Australia’s trade reputation was tarnished as a result of the publicised scandal on October 7, 2005. Presently, white-collar crime costs the Australian Government upwards of $8.5 billion per year; which accounts for around 40% of the total cost of crime in Australia businesses (Sanyal and Samanta
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Innovation, risk taking, attention to detail, stability, aggressiveness, team orientation, people orientation and outcome orientation are all factors that may or may not effect the internal aspects of the company. In this case AWB showed a high level of risk taking in their decision to go against international agreements and laws, a high level of outcome orientation by making sure they went out of their way to make a sale, and a high degree of aggressiveness in their behavior. People orientation was at a significantly low level that which led to finances going into the hands of an obnoxious dictator, and the fact they were caught performing illicit activities also suggests there was a low level of attention to detail. When AWB attempted to recover their stakeholder’s trust, their Chairman, made new promises to rebuild a positive, right and ethical company that stakeholders could feel safe and comfortable doing business. The promise also includes his resignation as chairman and a completely new board of directors. A survey was conducted, 95% of people say honesty and integrity are extremely important or very important in being a good leader (Denton, D.K. 2010). A new leadership within the company will ensure they are promoting ethical internal business practices …show more content…
Focusing on the too much attention to the financial aspects rather than the positive ethical business transaction it should be conducting is a reflection of their insignificant view of ethics. While they may have been avoiding the penalties imposed on Iraq, any illicit negative effects of their decision were not important and they were getting an excellent price for their member 's grain. Social contracts theory would have influenced AWB in positive manner therefore accepting the unlawfulness of their actions and refuse to pay the bribes. The Wheat Marketing Act 1989 was set up to control the export of wheat from Australia. Following on, in 1990 to prepare for any future regulatory changes the company had to under go strategic planning to consider it’s future direction, prospects and challenges (Botterill, L.C. 2007). Initiating an ethical module to their performance evaluation method would inform them of its significance to the company as well as creating an incentive to encourage ethical business
Innovation, risk taking, attention to detail, stability, aggressiveness, team orientation, people orientation and outcome orientation are all factors that may or may not effect the internal aspects of the company. In this case AWB showed a high level of risk taking in their decision to go against international agreements and laws, a high level of outcome orientation by making sure they went out of their way to make a sale, and a high degree of aggressiveness in their behavior. People orientation was at a significantly low level that which led to finances going into the hands of an obnoxious dictator, and the fact they were caught performing illicit activities also suggests there was a low level of attention to detail. When AWB attempted to recover their stakeholder’s trust, their Chairman, made new promises to rebuild a positive, right and ethical company that stakeholders could feel safe and comfortable doing business. The promise also includes his resignation as chairman and a completely new board of directors. A survey was conducted, 95% of people say honesty and integrity are extremely important or very important in being a good leader (Denton, D.K. 2010). A new leadership within the company will ensure they are promoting ethical internal business practices …show more content…
Focusing on the too much attention to the financial aspects rather than the positive ethical business transaction it should be conducting is a reflection of their insignificant view of ethics. While they may have been avoiding the penalties imposed on Iraq, any illicit negative effects of their decision were not important and they were getting an excellent price for their member 's grain. Social contracts theory would have influenced AWB in positive manner therefore accepting the unlawfulness of their actions and refuse to pay the bribes. The Wheat Marketing Act 1989 was set up to control the export of wheat from Australia. Following on, in 1990 to prepare for any future regulatory changes the company had to under go strategic planning to consider it’s future direction, prospects and challenges (Botterill, L.C. 2007). Initiating an ethical module to their performance evaluation method would inform them of its significance to the company as well as creating an incentive to encourage ethical business