Change Starts at the Top

Change Starts at the Top

In the current listings of global corporations, it’s not very difficult to find corporations that are experiencing the fallout of unethical behavior. Each country is unique in their societal acceptance of corporate structure and levels of regulatory activities. Despite these differences, a common thread that runs through most ethics problems can be identified as a failure of the top ranks of the corporation to provide proper guidance and behavioral modeling. This brief paper will summarize the importance of corporate ethics in the global economy, identify important individual and corporate influences on ethical behavior, and show how Olympus Corp., based in Japan, is choosing to address their recent ethical dilemmas. The question left to the reader is, “If change starts at the top; has Olympus really implemented the necessary leadership and cultural changes to avoid future problems?”

Why Ethical Concern?

Business transactions and operations are not simple black and white decision choices. In an environment that has recently placed a high priority on corporate social responsibility; businesses must adhere to the later of Kinicki & Kreitners’ definition presented in Organizational behavior: key concepts, skills & best practices which highlights, “the many shades of gray in supposedly black-and-white issues.” (2009, p. 52) Social responsibility in the business realm requires careful selection of key personnel that will not only look out for the benefit of the shareholders, but also prescribe to an ethic of care that extends to employees, communities, societies, and other numerous external stakeholders that are impacted by the corporate operations. In the end, a corporation can only be as ethically bound in its culture as the employees and “an analysis of 2.6 million background checks by ADP Screening and Selection Services, revealed that ‘44% of applicants lied about their work histories, 41% lied about their education, and 23%...