Introduction Whether you consider Dennis Kozlowski a victim or villain, one thing is for sure; his ethical and human values were somewhat lacking. He has been referred to by some as a charismatic and personable guy, to the poster boy of excess, to a ‘corporate psychopath’. He managed to work his way up to CEO of Tyco International and grow the company into a multi-billion dollar organization. His downfall would ultimately arise from greed and a need to be accepted by the social elites. There were numerous ethical issues that revolved around Tyco during Kozlowski’s tenure, including conflicts of interest, embezzlement, bribery, and fraud. Kozlowski was charged with 23 counts from conspiracy to grand larceny, he was convicted of 22 of those
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A conflict of interest exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group (Ferrell 2017). The Tyco leaders held positions of trust while occupying seats on the board of directors. They made a choice to involve themselves in issues that had a conflict with the inherent responsibilities of their trustworthy positions. All of their actions showed that their own self-interest took priority over the interest of the company, shareholders, and stakeholders. A prime example of this occurred when Richard Bodman invested $5 million for Kozlowski in a private stock fund which he …show more content…
“Corporate culture that integrates strong ethical values and positive business practices has been found to increase group creativity and job satisfaction and decrease turnover” (Ferrell 2017). Kozlowski clearly did not establish an ethical corporate culture during his time at Tyco. Personal gain became the corporate culture within the organization. This culture cultivated the assumption of the directors that embezzling funds is an acceptable practice within the company. The stock price suffered from the unethical corporate culture and if the scandal did not occur in 2002, then the company could have gone out of business. However, the new board of directors and management team helped save the organization by touting the new ethical guidelines that were put into
A conflict of interest exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group (Ferrell 2017). The Tyco leaders held positions of trust while occupying seats on the board of directors. They made a choice to involve themselves in issues that had a conflict with the inherent responsibilities of their trustworthy positions. All of their actions showed that their own self-interest took priority over the interest of the company, shareholders, and stakeholders. A prime example of this occurred when Richard Bodman invested $5 million for Kozlowski in a private stock fund which he …show more content…
“Corporate culture that integrates strong ethical values and positive business practices has been found to increase group creativity and job satisfaction and decrease turnover” (Ferrell 2017). Kozlowski clearly did not establish an ethical corporate culture during his time at Tyco. Personal gain became the corporate culture within the organization. This culture cultivated the assumption of the directors that embezzling funds is an acceptable practice within the company. The stock price suffered from the unethical corporate culture and if the scandal did not occur in 2002, then the company could have gone out of business. However, the new board of directors and management team helped save the organization by touting the new ethical guidelines that were put into