Unethical Behaviors

Unethical Behavior: What Motivates Participation in Career-Ending Activities?

For

MNGT 5000

Webster University

Introduction

In the past twenty or more years, it has been increasingly clear that unethical behaviors have become contagious. From the white house to the club house, every state in the union has had at least two or more trusted leaders represented in some type of scandal. Standing at attention you can find the executives at public companies such as Enron, Walmart, Nike, Tyco; and WorldCom, Ministers, independent auditors, regulators and shareholders and employees (ABC News).

In the business arena, unethical behaviors encompassed officials behaving badly by accepting payoffs, misappropriating campaign funds, public corruption, price fixing, maltreatment of employees, accepting bribes, making misleading statements to inflate stock-prices, sexual misconduct, lying, fraudulent activities, and undermining the public’s trust and integrity. The litany of misconduct and corruption scandals has not the Los Angeles and New York Police Departments.

In the political and religious arenas, the public trust have been eroded by the alleged sexual activities of then President William Jefferson Clinton, to be followed closely behind by the Rev Jesse Jackson Sr. and former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry. The former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards continued to lie even when the game was up. Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich who was once a possible future presidential candidate, imprisoned for participating in selling congressional seats. Following their lead, the saga’s of former Illinois, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on trial for accepting bribes and misusing funding; Representative Jessie Jackson Jr., who pleaded guilty to illegally using over $750,000 of campaign money, while Atlanta’s Mega Church minister, Bishop Eddie Long and Archbishop Bernard Law of Boston Roman...