In this paper I will identify and analyze the Wells Fargo scandal as it pertains to the breakdown of leadership and ethics. I will first identify and analyze the event and discuss the challenges and conflicts the scandal presented. Then I will evaluate the issue by explaining why the issue has interest and concern to stakeholders followed by discussing the challenges presented to individuals and/or organizations around this case. Lastly, I will recommend action steps that should be taken to those involved as well as discuss what I have learned from exploring this topic. Identify and Analyze The Wells Fargo scandal started in 2016 when it came to light that starting back in 2011 employees created over 1.5 million fraudulent bank …show more content…
According to Milton Friedman’s view of individualism “what corporations have the obligation to do is make a profit within the framework of the legal system, nothing else” (Machman, 1994, pg. 57) is what position Wells Fargo took in this case. According to this theory Wells Fargo leadership was acting ethically because their goal was to make a profit which they did, and it was “bad employees” who were to blame and committed the fraud. The Utilitarianism theory by John Stuart Mill states that “utilitarianism is attempting to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. “(Johnson, C, 2016, p. 4). According to this theory I believe Wells Fargo would be unethical because they didn’t do the greatest good for the greatest number of people whom were affected. In fact, they did the opposite by acting unethically to the greatest number of people which were their …show more content…
This concern of integrity and organizations like Wells Fargo to do what is right stems from our personal ethical framework. We all have one which helps us decide what is right and what is wrong. It is this decision that is a concern for organizations that must be managed on a day to day basis. Company’s such as Wells Fargo are so big that bad ethical behavior may be overlooked and not dealt with until the damage has already been done. Other organizations need to learn from Wells Fargo and start addressing their own organization ethical framework. This would include the organizational culture, business strategies, employee ethics concerns and the overall ethics and decision-making
One year ago, on September 8, 2016 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB), the Los Angeles City Attorney and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fined Wells Fargo Bank $185 million, alleging that more than 2 million bank accounts or credit cards were opened or applied for without customers' knowledge or permission between May 2011 and July 2015. This essay will discuss the Wells Fargo scandal by explaining how the event happened and describing how the organization approached handling a response to the crisis. This will be seen, firstly by describing the how the scandal happened, and what were the causes, secondly by discussing the reaction of the company in front of the situation, how they dealt with the crisis and then
Key stakeholders are owners, directors, employees, and the community that the organization draws it resources businessdictionary.com,2016). Out of the 1000 Wells Fargo customers that were surveyed 3% stated that they were personally affected by the scandal and 14% of them stated that they have changed banks while 30% of them were currently looking to switch. Studies predict that Wells Fargo could lose about $99 billion in deposits and $4 billion in revenue because of customers rejecting to do business. Individual customers weren’t the only ones that were affect by the scandal but similarly 10,000 small businesses (Razin, 2016). I believe that the owners will be affected as well because of profit losses that will eventually affect Wells Fargo shares and the employees were affected after 5,300 of were fired (Razin,
From big financial and ethical scandals like Enron to WorldCom, Wells Fargo may be the next big financial and ethical scandal. Wells Fargo used to be one of the leading banks and credit lending companies in America. Now, they’re on a slippery slope downhill to one of the worst—and most unethical—banking and credit lending companies in America, maybe even in the world. Wells Fargo has been in an ethical uproar, has questionable ethical values, and questionable principles and practices in culture due to their downhill ethical standards. The company also may have been influenced by bad stakeholder judgment, and are now struggling to maintain the company’s culture. To give a description of business ethics as described by John Fraedrich, “business
Corporate crime has become increasingly common over the past couple of decades. It seems that every big corporation today has some type of dark side. With the constant trials against corporate officials it seems that many high profile companies can no longer be trusted. We can no longer look at our banks the same either; JPMorgan Chase in the recent two years can be added to corporate crime list. They have committed crimes against its costumers and the government by rigging their bids for investments for years, improper home insurance rates, and overcharging military veterns. From this they stole millions of dollars to put in their pockets. What makes this case interesting is that Chase is one of the top banks in this country. Millions of Americans trust this bank with their life savings it turns out they trusted their money with criminals.
Ethics policies are implemented in almost all businesses. Companies search for candidates that will be moral in their actions so they can ensure long-term financial success. Throughout history we have seen businesses fall due to unethical behavior. In recent years the business Enron Corporation is best known for the scandal that led to the bankruptcy of a company with more than 60 billion dollars in assets. We will examine the circumstances that led to the downfall of Enron, how the scandal was realized, as well as the outcome of one of the largest bankruptcies in American history; a case that exemplifies unethical professional behavior.
They said to the people who support Wells Fargo, “if you feel like you received an account that you didn’t want, come in and see us and we will make it right” (Peter Conti-Brown, “Why Wells Fargo Might Not Survive its Fake Accounts Scandal”). I believe that Wells should do more than just talk to their customers if they experienced one of the fake numbers. It seems like they were and still are taking about this scandal like it wasn’t a big deal, when the case is still relevant today. Like I briefly mentioned above, the most unethical behavior about this is the fact that not just a couple members were involved. There were a couple thousand employees involved who created new bank and credit card accounts for customers without their
First of all, they will not be able to buy tangible properties such as house, car and etc. because of that their credit ratings got a huge hit. Moreover, only 5,300 of the employees that were fired from the Bank, 10% were Managers. What could have motivated them to engage in this sham? This is not an attempt to imply all were of malicious but certainly most them led the way. The aggressive sales goals pushed employees to break the rules. “On average one percent 1 percent of employees have not done the right thing, and we terminated them. I don’t want them here if they don’t represent the culture of the company,” says John Stumpf, the company’s longtime chief executive, in an interview with The Washington Post. It is obvious that simple employees and managers could not break the law if someone from the top did not allow them to do so. But the executive board of Wells Fargo claimed that they only fired 1 percent of below employees and some managers for fraudulent accounts, however they also might be involved in that business crime although to build a case against a company executive, prosecutors would have to show “they knew there was a plan to create false accounts to drive up sales,” said Brandon L. Garret, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. Even if it appears that the executive purposefully attempted to avoid knowing about the fraud, prosecutors may be able to build a case. Because they don’t have to participate if there is willful
Company Culture Scandal Wells Fargo has been a trusted bank by many Americans across the country, but the recent scandal has caused many to question the company’s ethics and culture. In recent weeks, there has been an abundance of time spent questioning Wells Fargo for illegal activity within the bank. The chief executive of the company John G. Stumpf did not believe the company was to blame, but that the employees were responsible for the scandal (Cowley 1).
Many organizations have been destroyed or heavily damaged financially and took a hit in terms of reputation, for example, Enron. The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word called Ethos, meaning “The character or values particular to a specific person, people, culture or movement” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2007, p. 295). Ethics has always played and will continue to play a huge role within the corporate world. Ethics is one of the important topics that are debated at lengths without reaching a conclusion, since there isn’t a right or wrong answer. It’s basically depends on how each individual perceives a particular situation. Over the past few years we have seen very poor unethical business practices by companies like Enron, which has affected many stakeholders. Poor unethical practices affect the society in many ways; employees lose their job, investors lose their money, and the country’s economy gets affected. This leads to people start losing confidence in the economy and the organizations that are being run by the so-called “educated” top executives that had one goal in their minds, personal gain. When Enron entered the scene in the mid-1980s, it was little more than a stodgy energy distribution system. Ten years later, it was a multi-billion dollar corporation, considered the poster child of the “new economy” for its willingness to use technology and the Internet in managing energy. Fifteen years later, the company is filing for bankruptcy on the heels of a massive financial collapse, likely the largest in corporate America’s history. As this paper is being written, the scope of Enron collapse is still being researched, poked and prodded. It will take years to determine what, exactly; the impact of the demise of this energy giant will be both on the industry and the
As Wells Fargo convicted all the requirements of fraud they are involved to the business crime called fraud, they are liable to their fraud crime. There was a false statement which respectively conducted to the injury to the alleged victim as a result. Wells Fargo has been ordered to pay $185 million in fines, but that's a pittance compared with the $5.6 billion the bank earned in just the second quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the bank's victims weren't just nickel-and-dimed with overdraft and maintenance fees. Many of them took "significant hits" to their credit scores for not staying current on accounts they did not even know about. They will likely have difficulty securing home and car loans at reasonable rates for years to come, simply because their bank decided to defraud
These ethical decisions are real-life situations where they are forced to make on a daily basis. This is why it is ultimately important that all employees know the six steps to ethical decision making that the company uses. The selected issue for the paper is where an employee has not given their current or potential customers accurate information when opening accounts or requesting new services from Washington Mutual. When a person is in the workplace, proper business ethics is used on a daily basis. An employee can make ethical decisions by applying their critical thinking skills to the situation, they can ensure that the decision that they make is the right decision.
I discovered how sticking to one’s morals should be the topmost priority for everyone involved in business, whether personal or professional. Regardless of what the consequences may be, the intensity of the problem, and the complexities it may bring, sacrificing one’s integrity should never be an option, as integrity goes hand-in-hand with the morals of an individual (Duggan & Woodhouse, 2011). They further go on to say that having individuals take part in building a code of ethics that supports employee integrity, they will act ethically. Also, I believe that companies should place more emphasis on the moral behavior of their employees, and clear-cut policies should be set regarding such ethical situations. Furthermore, I realized how serving justice while making decisions really helps in the long run, and that opting to go for the ideal rather than they deserved is not always the best option, and could hurt a company in more than one
During the past year Wells Fargo, a well-recognized bank of the United States, has been trying to clean its name and the mess it got itself into, when it was brought to the public that the bank was involved in generating fraudulent checking and savings accounts for its clients without their knowledge or their authorization. “The way it worked was that employees moved funds from customers' existing accounts into newly-created ones without their knowledge or consent”
To provide an example of a breach of ethical conduct in the workplace, we may remember the case of a financial manager in a corporation that decided not to pay overtime to some employees. After a deep outside investigation, the company was summoned with thousands of dollars to remedy the payment that was supposed to be paid to all employees who worked more than forty hours per week. Again, it is needed more than just a booklet stating that the company adheres to the code of business ethics. It is needed serious managers that can run the company with the most seriousness as possible. Consequently, any written codes of business ethics, regardless of how well it has been crafted, need people that adhere to its internal content with a serious desire to do the right thing.
Ethics is the responsibility of each individual person, but starts with the CEO and the Board of Directors, setting the right tone at the top and moves down through the organization, including setting the tone in the middle. A company’s culture and ethic standards start at the top, not from the bottom. Employees will almost always behave in the manner that they think management expects them, and it is foolish for management to pretend otherwise (Scudder). One of the CEO’s most important jobs is to create, foster, and communicate the culture of the organization. Wrongdoings or improper behavior rarely occurs in a void, leaders typically know when someone is compromising the company