In fall 1998, the U.S. Justice Department sued Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, accusing it of illegally using its Windows operating system near monopoly to overwhelm rivals and hurt consumers. Specifically, the government accused Microsoft of merging its Web browser into its Windows operating system in order to crush Netscape Communication Corporation, its chief competitor in the browser business. By bundling the browser with Windows and using exclusionary contracts to prevent personal computer makers form hiding or removing the Microsoft browser, Microsoft prevented consumers from using rival browsers (particularly Netscape’s) and also discouraged systems other than Windows. Furthermore, the government accused Microsoft of conducting a campaign to curtail other potential threats form Intel, Sun Micro Systems, Apple Computer, and IBM that enabled Microsoft to extend its power to other areas, such as computer servers and Internet protocols, thus causing substantial and far-reaching harm to consumers by stifling competition and Continue reading
Business Ethics
Evolution of Workplace Spirituality Concept
Spirituality at work is the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community. Thus spirituality at work has three components: the inner life, meaningful work, and community. Conditions for community include items that assess the extent to which necessary elements or enabling conditions for community are present. Thus, a community is a place in which people can experience personal growth, be valued for themselves as individuals, and have a sense of working together. Meaning at work includes items that capture a sense of what is important, energizing, and joyful about work. That is, it taps into work-related dimensions of human experience that are neither physical nor intellectual, but spiritual. Inner life is composed of items that capture an individual’s hopefulness, awareness of personal values, and concern for spirituality. Five societal trends have formed the basis Continue reading
Case Study on Business Ethics: Al Dunlap at Sunbeam
Early Days of Sunbeam Sunbeam was formed in 1897 as the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company. The company originally manufactured and sold agricultural tools. By 1910 the company introduced the iron as its first electrical home appliance. Later other appliances such as mixers, toasters and coffeemakers were introduced. Sunbeam came to be known as a recognized designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative consumer products aimed at improving lifestyle. In 1946, the company changed its name to Sunbeam Corporation. In 1960, Sunbeam acquired Oster which allowed Sunbeam to expand into other home products such as hair dryers and health and beauty appliances. The company later added electric blankets, mattresses, humidifiers, vaporizers and thermostats, among other innovations. Sunbeam soon became the leading manufacturer of electric appliances. The company survived the 1980’s as the US economy suffered, and many companies underwent acquisitions, restructuring, and closings. In 1981, Allegheny International acquired Sunbeam, and the company Continue reading
The Lessons from Enron: The Importance of Proper Internal Controls
The events were finally resulting the filing for bankruptcy in December 2001, started way much before fraud at Enron could be even suspected. Andersen played a major role in the collapse of Enron. Andersen failed two times regarding audit issues just a few years short time before the collapse of Enron, at Waste Management in 1996 and at Sunbeam in 1997. The two audit failures mentioned above should have been huge warning signs for Andersen to protect itself against another client failure but what they had to face regarding Enron was worse than they ever had. Some internal memos at Andersen made it clear that several conflicts existed between the auditors and the audit committee of Enron. These memos contained several e-mails as well which expressed concerns about accounting practices used by Enron. David B. Duncan as the leading partner on the audit tipped over these concern. There is Continue reading
Case Study on Business Ethics: The Napster Case
Napster is an online service that allows computer users to share high-quality digital copies (MP3s) of music recordings through the Internet. The San Mateo-based company does not actually store the songs but instead provides an access to every user’s hard drive if he is currently logged on to the service. Napster therefore functions as a sort of clearinghouse, which collects stores and disseminates music recordings. Members can log onto this service, search for the song of their choice, by artist or song title, identify where MP3s of interest are and then download them from another user’s computer hard drive. Napster claiming to have around 15 million users in just a years’ time, has become one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Indeed, students were using Napster so much that many universities had to block the website in order to regain bandwidth. Right from its launch, the Napster case Continue reading
Business Ethics in Human Resource Management
Business ethics are the moral doctrines that direct the way to business behave. Business ethics determines the actions of every individual that distinguish the right or wrong. Every business organization must develop the codes of conduct and ethics that should be followed by all the members. Ethics can be taken as the crucial way to self-presentation and public perception of the organization. Business ethics in human resource management is related to the employee’s issues. Human resource management plays an important role in setting up and implementing ethics in the workplace. Implementation of ethics in the workplace has been one of the challenging tasks for the organization. Various human resources issues can be handled properly by the application of ethics and code of practices by the managers in the workplace. Ethics generally determine what is right and what is wrong. With the help of business ethics, proper allocation and maintenance of Continue reading