The story of Enron is probably the most notable, epic failure in the history of corporate bankruptcies. It took the company ten years to grow from $10 billion in assets to over $65 billion in assets, yet took a mere twenty-four days for them to go bankrupt. While many books, articles, and documentaries blame the Enron’s demise on its leaders, the company’s culture, accounting practices, or deregulations from the government, the employees are also to blame. Consequently, the employees’ overidentification with Enron corporation led employees to turn a blind eye to the company’s unethical practices and greed until it was ultimately too late to save.
Enron traders were known as being extremely aggressive and would do anything and everything, …show more content…
The Performance Review Committee (PRC) would have associates evaluate their peers, in a public forum, on a 1-5 scale. Approximately 15%-20% of employees who were evaluated were let go in one of the most humiliating of ways; many would end up in the “office of shame” where they would be reassigned to a new division of Enron. This obscene kind evaluation sparked distrust and paranoia among the employees, thus gaining the support for the “win-at-all-costs” culture that spread throughout the organization. This way of thinking set the cultural stage where employees lacked the integrity and ethical courage to speak out against what they recognized as potentially ethical behavior. Even though many of these employees were apprehensive and fear stricken with the company’s culture, many of the employees still felt tremendous pride and devotion towards Enron and its …show more content…
When Enron’s future fared well and stocks were sky-high, the totalistic ideology was exceptionally distinct in the e-mails sent from employees to Ken Lay. Employees clearly proved that they either bought into the culture of greed and competition or were far too afraid to question the ethics of Enron’s oppressive culture. The e-mails sent between 1997 and August 14th, 2001 indicated very little sentiment or dialogue concerning the organization or its unethical practices. Following Jeff Skilling’s abrupt and unexpected resignation on August 14th, 2001, the contents of the e-mails to Ken Lay drastically changed; they were full of dissent and displayed an extensive gamut of emotions including rage, grief, and despondency. Employees went from saying, “I am proud to be a part of this team and look forward to many years of prosperity and success” to “ Reputations have been destroyed, which in my opinion is more important to any amount of money or financial gain.” The plethora of e-mails recovered shows a timeline of employees going from overidentification to
Enron traders were known as being extremely aggressive and would do anything and everything, …show more content…
The Performance Review Committee (PRC) would have associates evaluate their peers, in a public forum, on a 1-5 scale. Approximately 15%-20% of employees who were evaluated were let go in one of the most humiliating of ways; many would end up in the “office of shame” where they would be reassigned to a new division of Enron. This obscene kind evaluation sparked distrust and paranoia among the employees, thus gaining the support for the “win-at-all-costs” culture that spread throughout the organization. This way of thinking set the cultural stage where employees lacked the integrity and ethical courage to speak out against what they recognized as potentially ethical behavior. Even though many of these employees were apprehensive and fear stricken with the company’s culture, many of the employees still felt tremendous pride and devotion towards Enron and its …show more content…
When Enron’s future fared well and stocks were sky-high, the totalistic ideology was exceptionally distinct in the e-mails sent from employees to Ken Lay. Employees clearly proved that they either bought into the culture of greed and competition or were far too afraid to question the ethics of Enron’s oppressive culture. The e-mails sent between 1997 and August 14th, 2001 indicated very little sentiment or dialogue concerning the organization or its unethical practices. Following Jeff Skilling’s abrupt and unexpected resignation on August 14th, 2001, the contents of the e-mails to Ken Lay drastically changed; they were full of dissent and displayed an extensive gamut of emotions including rage, grief, and despondency. Employees went from saying, “I am proud to be a part of this team and look forward to many years of prosperity and success” to “ Reputations have been destroyed, which in my opinion is more important to any amount of money or financial gain.” The plethora of e-mails recovered shows a timeline of employees going from overidentification to