Lack of Ethical Behavior in the Cases of Bernie Madoff and Enron

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Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be appropriate. A person’s moral principals are shaped from birth, and developed overtime throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes whats is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company. (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Business ethics is when ethical behavior is applied in an business environment, or by a business. There are many situations that can arise in which a person is experiencing an ethical dilemma. They have to choose between standing by their own personal ethical standards or to comply with their companies ethical standards. In some instances some have to choose whether to serve their own personal interests, or the interest of the company. In this essay I will be examining the financial events surrounding Bernie Madoff, and the events surrounding Enron. Bernie Madoff, “a former American stock broker, investment advisor, non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of what has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world”. (Bernard Madoff, 2011, para. 1) Bernie was able to convince investors to give him large sums of money with the promise that they would received between eight percent to twelve percent return a year. Bernie ran a pyramid scheme where Bernie kept the large sums of money for himself, and then he used the new investors funds to pay off the o... ... middle of paper ... ...y analysis of ethical behavior that surrounded the financial events of Bernie Madoff, and the events that surrounded Enron. Works Cited Bernard Madoff. (2011, March 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 19, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bernard_Madoff&oldid=419553385 Clark, R. (2008, January 27). How Poor Business Ethics Led To The Collape Of Enron Ethics. Retrieved March 19, 2011, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-­Poor-­Business-­Ethics-­Led-­To-­The-­Collape-­Of-­Enron-­Ethics&id=951763 Enron. (2011, March 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 19, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enron&oldid=419486167 Mallor, J. P., Barnes, A., Bowers, T., & Langvardt, A. W. (2010). Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

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