Factors of Ethical Collapse

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Many successful businesses operated under a set of normative standards, expected behaviors and guidelines that are generally accepted by society (Jennings, 2009). That is, businesses operated under ethical principles that “consist of standards and norms for behaviors that are beyond laws and legal rights” (Jennings, 2009). These ethical principles are reflected in an organization application of trust, integrity, fairness and responsibility. Research groups have identified overarching ethical principles as the application of honesty, fairness, objectivity, and responsibility. A company's use of ethical principles demonstrates solid corporate governance and management (Verschoor, 2011). However, when these principles are deliberately ignored the result is an ethical collapse whereby the organization’s core values of trust, integrity, fairness and responsibility are weakened or diminished. Unfortunately, in the past few decades the reports of such ethical collapses in the business world have been widespread and have received a great deal of attention because of the number and severity of the scandals (McCraw, Moffeit & O’Malley, 2008). Healthsouth and its CEO are a prime example of a business that have been in the spotlight for unethical and criminal behaviors and experienced an ethical collapse similar to Enron and WorldCom. The company, Healthsouth, was one of the largest healthcare provider led by CEO, Richard Scrushy, one of the most mesmeric and authoritative leaders of all times. During its heyday, HealthSouth employed about 50,000 employees and had 1700 locations nationwide (McCord & Magasin, 2010). Nevertheless, both Healthsouth and Scrushy received much attention for ethical and criminal issues for overstating th... ... middle of paper ... ....edu/docview/194912771?accountid=28180 Mokhiber, R. (2003). Ill feelings at HealthSouth. Multinational Monitor, 24(11), 7-7-8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/208878914?accountid=28180 Pryor, M. G., Taneja, S., Toombs, L. A., & White, J. C. (2010). THE IMPACT OF OSTRICH MANAGERS ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 9(2), 59-59-69. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/814800957?accountid=28180 Verschoor, C. C. (2011). Measuring trust in business. Strategic Finance, 92(11), 14- 14,16,69. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/866748043?accountid=28180 Yuspeh, A. (2002). Principled Leadership. Executive Excellence, 19(1), 3. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f2f654dd-db64-48a3-98a7-21700c59a781%40sessionmgr4&vid=4&hid=15

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