By David Gebler on August 3, 2012
By David Gebler and Donna Boehme In the wake of the Penn State child abuse scandal, many in the media were outraged by the NCAA’s decision to instantly vacate the university’s win record from 1998 through 2011. As two ethicists with a combined 40+ years working in the trenches with organizations and their cultures, we’d […]
By David Gebler on March 21, 2012
SAIC, a major government technology contractor, just agreed to pay the City of New York $500 million to settle charges of fraud in the development of an employee timekeeping system. Yes, a couple of employees were the real bad apples, engaging in fraud, kickbacks, and money-laundering. But SAIC’s real crime, the actions that cost it […]
By David Gebler on March 6, 2012
Political scientist James Q. Wilson recently passed away at the age of 80. Wilson and co-author George L. Kelling argued in a landmark 1982 article in The Atlantic that communities must address minor crimes and their effects, such as broken windows, to prevent larger problems from developing. They argued the crime of vandalism wasn’t […]
By David Gebler on January 6, 2012
The Ethics Resource Center, a Washington DC based ethics research organization, released its 2011 National Business Ethics Survey. The NBES is regarded as the premier survey of ethics issues in the American workplace. This year’s survey identified some interesting trends: On the one hand, misconduct has reached an historic low and observers of wrongdoing are […]
By David Gebler on July 18, 2011
At some point in a scandal companies can longer gloss over the trouble with settlements and promises of reform. Curious as to whether News Corp has crossed that line. From today’s New York Times: As Mark Lewis, the lawyer for the family of the murdered girl, Milly Dowler, said after Ms. Brooks resigned, “This is […]
By David Gebler on March 18, 2011
A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine offers insights into what distinguishes high-performing and low performing with regard to deaths of heart attack patients under their care. It’s not the training of the doctors or the investment in high-tech equipment. It’s the organizational culture that makes the greatest difference. As Dr. Pauline […]
By David Gebler on February 27, 2011
It’s ironic that Charlie Sheen played the character with the ethical conscience in the 1987 film “Wall Street.” Now he’s at the center of a titillating Hollywood scandal that has lessons to teach us about business ethics and the business of Hollywood. As has been widely reported in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere, CBS […]
By David Gebler on February 1, 2011
Today’s Wall Street Journal reported the story of the progress BP is making in re-characterizing its culture in the aftermath of the April 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. According to the Journal, new CEO Bob Dudley has created a new global safety division at BP, a company that also suffered a 15-fatality refinery explosion in Texas […]
By David Gebler on January 25, 2011
I’m not intentionally picking on Johnson and Johnson. But their current ethical challenges couldn’t be a better case study for the financial impact of not living one’s values. As reported this morning, Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health products company, said fourth-quarter profit fell 12 percent, hurt by product recalls and declining sales. The […]
By David Gebler on January 16, 2011
The window is closing for Johnson & Johnson to retain realistic hopes of regaining its trusted position with customers. Customers are moving away from the brand and are increasingly finding suitable substitutes. Today’s New York Times offers an update on what is happening with J&J. But what is most striking to me is how this […]
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organizational development, consultant training and Action Learning services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]