*For some reason I was unable to find a more recent article to fit what I wanted to blog about, but I still found this to be a pretty insightful article.
This article talked about post-Enron and WorldCom scandals, how companies have put more emphasis on increasing ethical policies and awareness, but how it can be potentially detrimental to employees as well. In Chapter 15 of our textbook, we discussed Deontological Theories, which focus on the actions of the leader and his/her moral obligation and responsibilities to do the right thing. In the article I read, a recent Wal-Mart case shows that it can be difficult to push "ethics" in the corporate world. A few months after going through a new employee training session with a heavy emphasis on ethics, an employee by the name of Chalace Epley Lowry, acted on the instruction to report any activity that seemed suspicious. Lowry told the company's ethics office that she believed her supervisor, Mona Williams, (VP of corporate communications) might have partaken in some insider trading. Wal-Mart determined that Williams had not done anything wrong, but Lowry's identity was revealed to her in the process, leading Lowry to feel that she could no longer work in that department. Lowry was quoted saying, "I acted in good faith, just pointing out that there might have been some wrongdoing, but it was really disheartening to see how it was handled."
The case in point depicts a situation of what could potentially happen if someone reports any behavior they feel to be unethical, but end up being wrong. This could obviously deter people from wanting to partake in any "whistle-blowing activity". It makes you wonder if all of these ethical policies are really that beneficial after all. Lowry was only trying to follow her recent training and it ended up costing her her job.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2007/db20070622_221291.htm
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