Assignment

As public pressure for corporate accountability and ethical behavior increases, businesses and industries are putting more emphasis on establishing and publicly sharing their codes of ethics with stakeholders. Businesses adopt these to help guide corporate decision-making, but they can be used against them when businesses stray from their stated codes. For instance, Enron's 64-page code of ethics was Exhibit #1 at the trial of its CEO, Ken Lay, after the company imploded. Stuart Gilman, president of the Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C., said that, for Enron, "ethics was simply a piece of paper with three Ps-print, post [in the company lunchroom], and then pray that something is actually going to happen."

In order to complete this discussion assignment, you will need to:

1. Select a company that you are familiar with as a customer, employee, or investor.

2. Locate a copy of the company's code of ethics. You can generally find this on their Web site in the "About Us" section of the site. Make sure to get the link/URL for the code of ethics when you are there, because you need to include that link in your initial post.

3. Do some general research about the company you selected regarding possible activities by the company or its leadership that either violates or supports this code of ethics. You will use this information to support the position you take in your initial post.