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Dexter Morgan
Professor Waddell
WRT 202.01
10/31/07
Research Proposal
Topic Question
Business ethics. What is business ethics? Many people say business ethics is a
contradiction in terms. Business ethics can destroy a successful company, and many
questions arise when discussing the subject of business ethics. How do unethical
decisions in the business world affect the people involved, and how can a business be
sure its executives are making decisions based on the company’s interests and not their
own?
Audience
The information I collect is intended to be used to understand why some
businesses seem to have trouble making good choices. It is important that executives
take time to consider the ramifications of the decisions they are making on a daily basis,
and to help others understand how their behaviors can affect more than themselves. I
anticipate the readers of this study’s results to be those interested in how choices made
in their business’ can affect others. Unethical business executives who read this study
may have a corrupt attitude of the business ethics subject, which can cause a great
dilemma within that corporation, but I believe most readers to have a neutral outlook on
the ethics subject.
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Purpose
I hope my research will assist those considering whether or not a decision they
are about to make may have ethical issues attached to it, and what the results of those
decisions may be. In informing business executives and students, I hope to enhance
their viewpoint so they do not decide their little untruth will never affect them or their
peers. I plan to bring the information about ethics in the business world directly to the
reader’s attention, and help them understand how doing right will improve their own well
being, and hopefully help them avoid getting caught up in the next Enron scandal.
Proposed Line of Inquiry
I intend to research business ethics by reading reports of unethical decisions
certain business have chosen to make. Enron, for example, being the biggest news
worthy case of how business ethics is present today, will be a main point of my
research. I have read their code of ethics and it is clear that CEO Kenneth Lay knew his
actions were wrong. Other examples are WorldCom and Tyco. Reading how business
executives are trying to improve their organization’s views and educate how business
ethics are necessary throughout their organization is another method of research I am
using to investigate my thesis. What are business ethics, and how can the decisions
business officials make affect those around them. What do people view as ethical or
unethical, and do they think their choices do not affect others, or just not care. I intend
to focus on these questions while doing my research and writing my research paper. I
plan to do primary research for my research paper and survey what people think of as
ethical or unethical, a lie that affects no one, or a lie that may damage something. The
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questionnaire I devise will be used to deduce what people’s perceptions of ethics really
are.
Qualifications
I am qualified to perform this research project because I am currently enrolled as
a business administration major at York College, and I am taking business courses,
currently Intro to Business, which I am gaining experience identifying how decisions
made in businesses can be viewed as ethical or unethical, as well as the results from
such decisions. I plan to use this research to gain knowledge about business ethics to
allow me to become without a doubt, an ethical business person.
Proposed Timetable
I plan to finish my research proposal and project over the next few weeks as laid
out in the chart below.
Date
10/22/2007
10/23/2007
10/24/2007
10/25/2007
10/26/2007
10/27/2007
10/31/2007
11/01/2007
to
11/25/2007
11/26/2007
11/27/2007
to
11/29/2007
11/30/2007
Objectives
Conference on proposal rough draft.
Finish proposal rough draft.
Peer reviews.
Edit proposal rough draft.
Roundtable sharing research proposal ideas.
Finish research proposal.
Research proposal due.
Work on research paper.
Research paper rough draft due. Peer reviews.
Finish research paper.
Research paper due. Presentations.
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Annotated Bibliography
Brewer, Lynn. "Is There a Little Bit of Enron in All of Us." The Journal for Quality &
Participation (2007): 26-28. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Schmidt
Library, York, PA. 17 Oct. 2007. Keyword: business ethics.
Former Enron executive Lynn Brewer wrote the article “Is There a Little Bit
of Enron in All of Us" about some of the unethical actions she observed
while working for the company. She goes on to say the employees at
Enron who “performed” the best, by manipulating profits, were rewarded
and encouraged to continue doing so. The more who did so, the more
acceptable the actions became at Enron. Her final point is that if nothing is
done to stop these actions from occurring, that “little bit of Enron” could
come out in all of us. This final point is very relevant to my research
because it shows how a little lie can snowball wildly out of control in large
successful corporations, ultimately ending with that company’s demise.
Connolly, Michael B. International Business Finance. 1st ed. New York, NY: Routledge,
2007. 166-173.
These eight pages of Michael Connolly’s book, International Business
Finance, deal with corporate scandals that have rocked the corporate
world in the past few years. These scandals include the Enron scandal of
2002, the WorldCom scandal in 2005, and the Tyco International Inc.,
Bermuda scandal of 2002. All of which have brought charges against their
CEO’s including insider trading, fraud, and tax evasion. The book
continues by describing the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, which is a direct
result of the earlier scandals.
This information is very useful while researching business ethics because
it discusses some of the mistakes and issues companies have made
falsely maximizing their corporation’s profits, many times lining their own
pockets.
Federwisch, Anne. "Toward an Ethical Culture: Characteristics of an Ethical
Organization." Apr. 2007. Santa Clara University. 17 Oct. 2007 <www.scu.edu>.
The article “Toward an Ethical Culture: Characteristics of an Ethical
Organization” by Anne Federwisch is her view of how business ethics has
gained a new influence in organizations today. Acts such as the Sarbanes
Oxley Act (2002) and other sentencing guidelines challenge corporations
to deal with ethics head on. The article points out that without proper
enforcement from a senior executive, who has authority in the company,
leading an ethics counsel that regularly attempts to correct ethics issues,
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all efforts to be an ethical company may be futile. This article is pertinent
to my research because it points out how although companies may have
good intentions when it comes to business ethics, without proper
enforcement those intensions could become unsuccessful.
Koehn, Daryl. ""Business Ethics" Goes Beyond Contradiction in Terms." Houston
Business Journal. 4 Dec. 1998. 17 Oct. 2007 <http://houston.bizjournals.com>.
“Business ethics goes beyond a contradiction in terms” written by Daryl
Koehn is a defensive piece about how business ethics is joked about in
the business world as a contradiction in terms. The author remarks how
ethics in medicine or law are hardly ever questioned, but business people
often remain considered unethical because of their profession. Daryl
Koehn comments how business ethics is in fact a large part of business
people’s lives, and is not an oxymoron. This article is helpful for my
research because it portrays the thoughts of a business ethics teacher
about how business ethics is somewhat falsely depicted in the
professional world.
Palmeri, Christopher. "What Went Wrong At Mattel." Business Week Online (2007): 7.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Schmidt Library, York, PA. 21 Oct.
2007.
“What Went Wrong at Mattel” written by Christopher Palmeri is about how
toy manufacturer Mattel has outsourced much of its toy manufacturing to
China. Recently a barrage of toy recalls have plagued the toy company, all
from toys made in China. This raises the question of how can Mattel
effectively monitor its plants overseas. Mattel is renowned for being an
ethical manufacturing company, even allowing outside audits of its plants,
and is in the process of testing every batch of toys coming through
production, whereas the company used to only test random batches of
toys. The article also takes into account how these recent recalls may
affect holiday sales this year. “What Went Wrong at Mattel” is relevant to
my research on business ethics because it reveals how an ethically run
company who outsources work overseas can face challenges it would
otherwise not face if the work was being done in the United States.
Pasha, Shaheen. "Enron Founder Ken Lay Dies." CNNMoney.Com. 5 July 2006. 28
Oct. 2007 <http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/05/news/newsmakers/lay_death/>.
Lay, Kenneth L. "Enron's Code of Ethics." 1 July 2000. 17 Oct. 2007
<www.thesmokinggun.com>.
Enron is the most infamous corporate finance scandal of the decade.
Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was convicted of ten counts of fraud and
conspiracy in the Enron accounting scandal of 2002. Since the scandal
Enron has filed for bankruptcy and gone completely out of business, losing
investors everything. Kenneth Lay passed away July 5, 2006 while
awaiting trial for the scandal that ruined the company he started. The
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smoking gun article is interesting because it is Enron’s Code of Ethics
from the company handbook. The code of ethics memo, which is signed
by Lay, is a precursor to the Code of Ethics and states what Lay expects
from his employees, to be responsible and ethical. I find it very interesting
that less than two years later he was involved in the scandal. These
articles are relevant to why business ethics is important because they
show what can happen when the regulations a company sets are blatantly
ignored.