John Thain and Ethics

John Thain, ex- Merrill Lynch executive spent $1.8 million dollars on bonuses and renovations by designer to the stars meanwhile excessive spending among American CEOs were the topic of conversation as bailouts occurred.

Johnson discusses an administrative evil to be where organizational members commit heinous crimes while carrying out their daily tasks. Balfour and Adams argue that the true nature of administrative evil is masked or hidden from participants. Officials are rarely asked to engage in evil; instead they inflict pain and suffering while fulfilling their job responsibilities.

Johnson asserts that, “We must always be on the lookout for evil whatever form it takes, continually evaluate our motivations and choices, and make a conscious effort to forgive by reshaping our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.”

John Thain took part of an administrative evil. While bailouts were being requested and obtained because without them the economy would completely crash, his excessive spending on the renovation was regretfully overlooking the amount of people that were being harmed in the process. Once uncovered, he officially stated it was a mistake. He then made a decision to make it right by reimbursing the company for all those costs, which initiates the forgiveness stages.

As the country responded to the news report there was a step in uncovering. As an injured party a decision has to be made to consider the possibility of forgiveness and commit to do so. I’m not sure that any of the CEOs have put in the work necessary by attempting to understand the victim’s background or absorbing the pain they have inflicted therefore the “deepening” stage cannot be achieved.

Based on the CEOs actions, Occupy Wall Street began with a utilitarianism approach suggesting to the public that the greatest good for the greatest number of people however many CEOs overlooked the message.