“Are We Experiencing an Ethics Bubble?”

Synopsis

“Are we Experiencing an Ethics Bubble?”

The business research and its purpose relates to a National Business Ethics Survey that

indicated by evidence an improved ethical conducts in a workplace during the recent recession.

Interviews were conducted on employees within the United States workforce. The purpose of the

survey is an effort from a Washington-based Ethics Resource Center (ERC) a private

organization that devote their research on public and private institutions who hold high ethical

standards and practices.

The business problem under investigation was to conduct a survey because of ethical

behaviors severe downturn that occurred from 2000 to 2003 from the dot-com bubble, 9/11, and

scandals such as World-Com and Enron. Business conditions have improved, organizations have

remained alert and have kept their compliance and ethics programs in one piece from those

reported in 2007, which have kept the ethical culture at a strong level.

The data collection method was conducted based on 3,010 interviews, which was done

by a national telephone survey. It was a NBES 2009 study, titled “Ethics in the Recession”. The

respondents were over 18 years of age who were employed 20 hours a week in governmental

sectors for companies with two employees or less. The former Ohio Representative Michael Oxley, who was the cosponsor of the 2002 Sarbanes- Oxley Act and now is chair of the ERC board of directors, said, "Business ethics is one of the pillars of a strong economy, and, in today's environment, it is more important than ever that our nation's business leaders set and meet the highest standards of ethical conduct. [Ethics in the Recession] provides an important measure of the strengths and weaknesses of our culture of business ethics."

In 2009 past studies indicated strong association in rising awareness in ethics, and also a strength ethical culture in times of anxiety, worry, and dislocation. A likely reason involves supervisors...