Ethical Leadership

Marriott International, Inc. and Ethical Leadership

Joe Smith

BUS 600

Dr. Matt Moore

December 2, 2013

Marriott International, Inc. and Ethical Leadership

Ethical concepts are taught to people as children. We all learn what is right from wrong at an early age and ideally we are to carry our morality into adulthood and eventually into our careers. Ethical decision making is a part of everyday choices as a business professional. The values or lack of values in the business world can result in bringing down an entire nation into an economic recession as with the 2008 mortgage crisis in America. These choices are ultimately left up to our business leaders. Ethical leadership is the foundation of successful businesses and our corporate infrastructure (Baack, 2012). We can continually see success and ethical principles with companies such as Marriott International, Inc. These principles were founded by previous CEO and current chairman John Willard Marriott (JW) and the new CEO Arne Sorenson (DeLollis, 2011).

Marriott International, Inc. has been named one of the 2013 World's Most Ethical Companies (WME) by the Ethisphere Institute.  This is the sixth time in a row that they have been recognized by Ethisphere for its commitment to maintaining superior business practices (Marriott, 2013). Ethisphere Institute, a New York City think tank, has revealed its sixth annual list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies (WME). This distinguished list recognizes companies with fair business practices and standards compared to their industry peers. Achieving this level of recognition can be a challenge for many companies because finding the right leadership to guide an organization through difficult economic times, while also meeting expectations for ethical conduct, is not always easy in the business world today. Ethisphere methodology includes measuring the nominated company’s governance structure against checklists from organizations like Governance Metrics...