1. Trust is of critical importance in business. Josephson defines trustworthiness as one of the six pillars of character. Rights theory would “consider rights of stakeholders and related duties to them.” (Mintz, p. 23) Corporate stakeholders include shareholders, the board of directors, employees, banks, and the general public. Trust is a key component of the ability to transact business. If shareholders cannot trust a company they would not be willing to invest in it. Employees that could not trust their employer or managers would have low morale and might not be productive.
If a manager was working from a place of trustworthiness, it should automatically follow that they will exhibit ethical leadership. Honesty, integrity, reliability, …show more content…
The ethical climate at HealthSouth seems to be the ends justify the means. There was a culture of making the numbers at all costs. This focus on the numbers permeated the accounting decisions made at HealthSouth, “Decisions are not made in a vacuum, but in the context of organizational relationships and expectations for behavior.” (Mintz, p. 95) This tone at the top filtered down throughout the accounting organization and made individuals more likely to participate in the fraud that was …show more content…
He was working from a place of enlightened egoism, where even though he had concerns about the fraud, he was still primarily interested in protecting himself. He participated in fraudulent entries, but only after getting his manager to initial off on the entries in order to cover himself. In other cases, low on the totem pole workers who booked entries were held responsible even when they did so under management directive. While it is admirable that he blew the whistle on practices at HealthSouth, he still participated in their fraud.
3. Rest’s four component model of ethical decision making rests on the foundation of moral sensitivity. Moral sensitivity requires us to be able to recognize an ethical situation and “enables us to focus on how alternative courses of action might affect ourselves and others.” (Mintz, p. 60) The slippery slope of bad choices at HealthSouth started with very small concessions, which the parties at hand did not possess the moral sensitivity to recognize as ethical decisions.
This lack of moral sensitivity and smaller concessions, led to a culture at HealthSouth where ethical lapses in the support of making the numbers were acceptable. Consequently, this environment led to more serious ethical
If a manager was working from a place of trustworthiness, it should automatically follow that they will exhibit ethical leadership. Honesty, integrity, reliability, …show more content…
The ethical climate at HealthSouth seems to be the ends justify the means. There was a culture of making the numbers at all costs. This focus on the numbers permeated the accounting decisions made at HealthSouth, “Decisions are not made in a vacuum, but in the context of organizational relationships and expectations for behavior.” (Mintz, p. 95) This tone at the top filtered down throughout the accounting organization and made individuals more likely to participate in the fraud that was …show more content…
He was working from a place of enlightened egoism, where even though he had concerns about the fraud, he was still primarily interested in protecting himself. He participated in fraudulent entries, but only after getting his manager to initial off on the entries in order to cover himself. In other cases, low on the totem pole workers who booked entries were held responsible even when they did so under management directive. While it is admirable that he blew the whistle on practices at HealthSouth, he still participated in their fraud.
3. Rest’s four component model of ethical decision making rests on the foundation of moral sensitivity. Moral sensitivity requires us to be able to recognize an ethical situation and “enables us to focus on how alternative courses of action might affect ourselves and others.” (Mintz, p. 60) The slippery slope of bad choices at HealthSouth started with very small concessions, which the parties at hand did not possess the moral sensitivity to recognize as ethical decisions.
This lack of moral sensitivity and smaller concessions, led to a culture at HealthSouth where ethical lapses in the support of making the numbers were acceptable. Consequently, this environment led to more serious ethical