An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

It is easy to say that people never learn. The results of the 2007 National Business Ethics Survey seem to agree with that statement, with a few notable exceptions. In general, the Survey found that we have gone back to the frequency of ethical lapses that preceded the Enron debacle, after a few better years. The leader of the company that produced the study says "Very few organizations have established strong ethical cultures. Companies are more likely to focus on compliance-related elements in building their programs and less so on the proactive things that help to build a strong culture." These were the words of Patricia Harned, President of the Ethics Resource Center.

In other words, there is more ethical misconduct in the workplace again. Ms. Harned says that this amounts to an “ethics crisis” and her company has the statistics to prove it. In order to stem the tide, we need more companies with strong ethical cultures. These cultures are difficult to build primarily because they require members of an organization to sometimes say “No” to lucrative opportunities, something which many companies frown upon, regardless of the ethics involved. The rule of thumb seems to be, “Take the money and worry about it afterward.”

This is obviously not a positive way to run a business. Worse, much of the unethical behavior is based upon simple personal greed, something which should have been discouraged at home and in school, rather than something that should have to be dealt with after people are gainfully employed. We can try to police greed in the ranks of business, but it would be better if the greater society would instill better ethical values in the citizenry. When the values of society are lacking, Bad Business is inevitable.