Ethics

Ethics

Introduction

Ethics is a word of Greek origin, with two possible origins. The first is the Greek word ethos, and with short, which can be translated as usual, the second also writes ethos, but with long and that means property of the character. The first is that formed the basis for the Latin translation Morale, while the second is that somehow guides the current use we give the word Ethics. Ethics is the general inquiry about what is good (Kaptein & Schwartz, 2008).

Ethics exists in all human societies, and perhaps even among our relatives nonhuman closer. We abandon the assumption that ethics is uniquely human.

Ethics can be a set of rules, principles or ways of thinking that guide, or call them the authority to guide the actions of a particular group (morality), or is the systematic study of argument about how we should act (moral philosophy) (Goodpaster, 2010).

It is known that Enron went bankrupt around ten years ago and disappeared from corporate world, but ethical standards affected by Enron case are not forgettable. The fame Enron earned in the world during 16 years of struggle and established its asset value from USD 10 billion to USD 65 billion, took less than a month to go bankrupt (Mclean & Elkind, 2004).

The company who was once ranked 7th largest company in fortune 500 and also ranked 6th among largest energy businesses in the world. In December 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection in the biggest bankruptcy case in United States at that time (Jennings, 2009). In November 2001, Enron's stock was at its lowest price of USD 1, which has been traded for USD 90 in good days of the company. This condition of Enron brought disaster to investors and employees of the company (Skilling V. United States, 2010). As a result to bankruptcy of Enron, thousands of its employees lost their pensions and jobs, the Enron bankruptcy also affected investors as they lost billions of dollars invested in Enron.

The scandal of Enron also left an ugly deep scar on the face of modern business. This paper investigates the major factors in Enron scandal and also the ethical issues involved with Enron scandal will also be discussed. There are various components of the paper, first part of the paper analyses the facts and happening to Enron and in the later part the paper the role of Arthur Andersen. In the last the Enron's culture will also be discussed, major people that are involved in the scandal of Enron and the ethical issues that are present in the scandal will also be analyzed.

Discussion

Enron's history

Enron was founded in 1985 as interstate pipeline company, they also been a power supplier to state utilities. The business started with merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth based in Omaha. Business operations of Enron grew rapidly and in short span of 20 years Enron became world's largest trader of energy. Enron awarded with various praiseworthy titles at the end of twentieth century such as “the world's most admired ...