Enron Company - Fortune 500 Company

1) Enron was a Fortune 500 company that provided services to natural gas, electricity, and communication customers. They concealed debt through several schemes. Enron made it seem like there was more incoming money than there really was. They claimed a net income of $979 million when they really earned just $42 million (page 250). At the same time, Enron claimed a cash flow of $3 billion when the cash flow was negative $154 million.

2) Individual Level: They say that the bases of ethics are to study the differences between right and wrong. Enron lacked morals and lost sight of what the differences between right and wrong were. As the business grew, greed took over and it did not matter who it affected or what it took.

Organizational Level: Enron's organizational level seemed to be a company based off of centralized organization, to the extreme. They developed the "rank and yank" system. This system created such a harsh work environment that it even caused for cover ups at a lower level for fear of employees loosing their job. Enron wanted to focus on "Vision and Values" (p.250) with morals, because that is what made a great company. However, the way the set up their internal structure it made it impossible to keep morals or vision and keep your job. The focus of the organization turned into "do whatever it takes to keep your job."

Societal Level: Given Enron was a Fortune 500 company and in a sense idolized by many people. The impact it made on society was immense. It used to be that there was a sense of comfort and trust for working with a large company. Since Enron, people lost a lot of trust in larger corporations for fear of the same schemes Enron pulled. The fear of employees loosing retirement, jobs, pensions, insurance, etc. will never go away after seeing what happened to everyone at Enron.

3) The alternatives for case characters could have been to honestly report the financial situation from the very beginning. Enron wanted to have value, vision, and morals. They should have stuck to those goals as the company grew, even if it meant that there were some bad times a head. They probably could have pulled themselves out of financial trouble had they reported everything honestly from the start.

4) It seems that Enron focused the business in a teleological manner. Because of the "rank and yank" system that was followed. It became morally right and acceptable only if it produced the desired result. For example, the SPE's (special-purpose entities) they used to cover up financial loss was viewed as morally okay. If Enron focused the business in a deontological manner, I wonder if the company would still be around. As this ethic focuses on particular behaviors rather than on consequences giving equal respect to all persons. When Sharon Watkins handed the seven page letter she prepared regarding her concerns, she would not have