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Enron. Worldcom. Tyco. Cendant. Bernie Madoff, once chairman of the NASDAQ, is now cooling his heels in jail. The ex-CEO of Comverse is arrested in Namibia, the CEO at United Healthcare is forced to step down, and Patricia Dunn of Hewlett Packard is charged in an ethics scandal. And, of course, AIG has no problem doling out millions in bonuses to the very people who drove the company and the country into a financial crisis. It seems that no matter where we look today, the erosion of ethics and basic moral principles of right and wrong have taken us to the point where trust in our institutions and the very systems that make our society work are in imminent danger of oblivion. Perhaps at no time during the last two or three decades has business ethics, or the lack thereof, been of such paramount importance to the well-being of our business entities and country.
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erosion of values
I can resonate with your article, particularly with your point on data manipulation. I once had a boss who wanted me to shave research data so that the chairman/owner would not come up with a position that was different from what she wanted. It didn’t sit too well with her when I told her upfront that I was not in favor of that move. It appears that in an environment strongly driven by profit, it is just too easy to lose one’s integrity. I have worked in banks, advertising agencies, and academic institutions; and I can say with certainty that the most principled people I have met, as well as the kindest and most courteous ones, come from the academe.
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