Protecting one’s frame of mind as it pertains to unethical behavior and job security, now exist in the past while major organizations and firms are maximizing their efforts to restore employees and consumers confidence and trust, by implementing a fresh clean slate integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Rodrigues (2006) ethical analysis on corporate social responsibility highlights the ethical and moral issues on decision-making and behaviour (Rodrigues, 2006).

In retrospect, ERON executives, one of the largest corporate organizations fell without mercy in December 2001 leaving no financial return for their long-standing employees. Enron employees blanketed their trust in an organization expecting to live comfortably throughout with their retired savings, 401(k) investments. Yet, they were ousted unexpectedly, just as their leaders. Baucus & Baucus (1997) states “”illegality takes money from strategic investments, hurts a firm’s image with its stakeholders…”" (Elkins, 1976). According to CBC News (2007), A British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel reports Eron executives relegated a carefully planned “”massive fraud”" on British Columbia residents (see it here). These facts substantiated that Eron Mortgage Corporation, Eron Investment Corporation, Capital Productions Incorporation, and Eron Financial Service Ltd. raised $240 million from investors by lying to them.

According to Rodrigues (2006) the mainstream of corporate social responsibility is to contend with intricate issues, such as environmental protection, human resources management, health and safety at work, relations with local communities, and relations with suppliers and consumers (Rodrigues, 2006). The assumption of CSR is that organizations can be trusted to address, on their own, any problems their operations may cause, without being bound by laws and regulations (Rodrigues, 2006).

References:

AmeriPlan Health (2007). click here.

Baucus, M.S. & Baucus, D.A. (1997). Paying the piper: An empirical examination of longer-term financial consequences of illegal corporate behavior. Academy of Management Journal. Briarcliff Manor: 40(1), 129,23. Retrieved October 16, 2007, capella.edu.

Brooks, D.A., & King, C.L. (2007). Civil service reform as national security: The homeland security act of 2002. Public Administration Review, 67(3), 399-407. Retrieved October 16, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database.

Eron Mortgage Executives. (2000). Retrieved October 16, 2006, from this website.
.

Rodrigues, M.C. (2006). Corporate social responsibility and resource-based perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht: 69(2), 111. Retrieved October 16, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database.

Judith is pursuing her doctoral degree in Management of Nonprofit Organizations while attending Capella University. She has received her MA in Pastoral Counseling from Ashland Theological Seminary. Judith is a single-divorced parent of three teenagers, and is self-employed as a Consultant.

Article Source

Tags: unethical, behaviour, workplace, examples, legal

Identity theft is rampant, and these days it is a good idea to make use of a document shredding machine or mobile document shredding service to get rid of paperwork that contains non-public information. But what kind of paper work falls under this category?

Here is a list of 103 types of documents that you may want to shared.

1. Account numbers
2. Account records
3. Accounting Files/Records
4. Addresses
5. Advertising misprints
6. All Employee Information
7. All Financial Information
8. Anything storing electronic data
9. Audits
10. Audits/Surveys
11. Bank Account Information
12. Bank Statements
13. banking or financial records,
14. Bids and Proposals
15. Billing Information
16. Brokerage account information
17. Business Plans
18. Canceled Checks
19. Cancelled Checks
20. CD’s
21. Class Rosters
22. Client Files
23. Client Lists
24. Competitive information
25. Computer Generated Reports
26. Computer printouts
27. Computer Reports
28. Confidential correspondence
29. Consumer Information
30. Contracts
31. Correspondence
32. Credit Card Information
33. Credit Card Numbers
34. Credit card receipts
35. Credit Cards
36. Customer estimates & quotes
37. Customer Lists
38. Debit Card numbers
39. disks
40. Doctor/Nurse Notes
41. Drivers License Numbers
42. Education
43. Employee Information
44. Employment Information
45. Executive Correspondence
46. Fax Machine Ribbons
47. Financial Data
48. Financial records
49. Financial Statements
50. ID Cards
51. Insurance Information
52. Insurance Policy data
53. Internal Memos
54. Inventory lists
55. Invoices
56. Junk Mail
57. Legal Documents
58. Magnetic media
59. Management Reports
60. Maps and blueprints
61. Market Research
62. Marketing Strategies
63. Medical Charts/History
64. Medical Records
65. Meeting notes
66. Memos & correspondence
67. Microfilm and fiche
68. Names
69. New product drawings
70. New Product Information
71. New product proposals
72. Obsolete Brochures/Stationery/Files
73. Obsolete Documents
74. Organization Charts
75. Outdated business records
76. Passport Numbers
77. Pay roll records
78. Payroll Information
79. Payroll Records
80. Personnel Files
81. Personnel Information
82. Photographs
83. Prescription Information
84. Presentations
85. Price Lists
86. Price Quotes
87. Printed e-mails
88. Product Design
89. Product Information
90. product prototypes
91. Profit & Loss Statements
92. Proposals and Quotes
93. R&D Files/Data
94. Receipts
95. Research Data
96. Sales Receipts
97. Sales statistics
98. Sensitive Correspondence
99. Social Security Numbers
100. Tapes
101. Tax Records
102. Telephone Numbers
103. X-rays

That’s a lot of documents! Fortunately, you probably only deal with a handful of these types of documents on a regular basis. For home use, a good paper shredder will probably do the job. For businesses which deal with large amounts of data like this, a mobile document shredding service is recommended. To find a paper shredding machine or a suitable mobile shredding service near you, visit The Document Shredding Directory today.

G. Johnson works with the Document Shredding Directory . Visit today to find more information about mobile document destruction services in your area.

Article Source

Tags: identity, theft, unethical, examples, business

In businesses operating computerised payroll systems, it is not unusual for an occasional error to arise resulting in a mistaken overpayment to an employee. This might take the form of an overpayment of basic rate pay or overtime pay or commission/bonus. The payslip is often fairly complex and employees sometimes fail to thoroughly check its contents. It can sometimes be a matter of weeks or even months before the employee or the business realise that an overpayment has taken place. In this situation, the legal question is whether the company are entitled to recover the overpayment and, if so, by what means.

In order to show that an overpayment is not recoverable, then the employee must demonstrate three things. Firstly, it must be shown that the overpayment was the fault of the company and not the employee. Secondly, it must have been reasonable for the employee not to know that they were being overpaid. Thirdly, the employee must have acted to their disadvantage or the assumption that the payment of salary was correct (for example by spending the money!). The most common difficulty for employees is the second condition since it is often obvious when an overpayment has occurred. It is not acceptable for an employee to assume that they have received a substantial increase in pay unless there is some reason to believe that this is the case.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that it will not be an illegal deduction from wages to recover an overpayment from salary. This means that an employer is not prevented from deducting the overpayment from future wages or salary provided that this is done reasonably over a period of time and not done in such a way as to amount to a breach of trust and confidence in the employment relationship. The interesting point about the Employment Rights Act is that overpayments can be recovered from future wages whether or not the overpayment itself is recoverable from the employee on the basis of the three point test set out above.

Article Source

Tags: accounting, ethics, article, examples, issues

Wealth in the new regime flows directly from innovation, not optimization; that is, wealth is not gained by perfecting the known, but by imperfectly seizing the unknown.”

Kevin Kelly

One question that comes to mind is “Why should we distinguish organizational values from personal values?” Let’s take a closer look. Over the centuries, philosophers and researchers have examined the various aspects of values and ethics. Our investigation today will take us on an ethical journey that will help understand how to improve the integrity of 21st century organizations as well as leaders.

Are we in a new era of corruption by senior leaders? Have you noticed all of the leadership scandals? You have high profile CEOs. You have government officials. You have celebrities. What are the results of these bad behaviors? People become less trusting of organizations and people. How can organizations exist when the leader-follower relationship is broken? According to one poll, 45% of the people give Congress poor marks for its honesty and ethics. How can intelligent and powerful people get in so much trouble?

In recent history, political strategists have shifted their approach for dealing with political scandals before the public. The most prevalent method is for a political figure to “get in front of the story” by voluntarily disclosing as much information as possible and by projecting an image of total cooperation with legal and media inquiries. This strategy goes along with denouncing questions as politically motivated, providing little information and praying that the storm will pass over.

Ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay took a similar approach when he discovered he was tied to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff scandal. Recently, evidence suggest that politicians are better off just hunkering down until it is over. This strategy is based on the belief that the public has a short attention span or memory. If a politician carries on with his duties, he can overcome any negative baggage. Examples of this approach can be found with prominent Democrats and Republicans as well the White House.

For example, President George Bush and the White House came under investigation in the Plame case in 2003. Senior White House officials faced legal and political scrutiny for leaking the identity of the covert CIA operative. The White House took no personnel actions and said nothing publicly. It appeared to have worked.

During the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal, President Clinton used the hunkered down approach. Polls taken during the time suggested that most Americans concluded that Clinton probably lied; they considered the matter a private one for family.

Clinton knew if he had acknowledged the affair in 1998, the political uproar would have driven him from office. Clinton explained in 2004, “I think the overwhelming likelihood is that I would have been forced from office…” Hunkering down does work. Unfortunately, this unethical behavior will continue unless citizens demand more. Lead, character does count.

References:

Ciulla, J.B. (1998). Ethics: The Heart of Leadership. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Draft (1995). Organization Theory and Design. New York: West Publishing Company.

Harris, J. (April 12, 2005). In recent scandals, a rethinking of capital’s conventional wisdom. Washington Post.

Ethics Quality.com (n.d.). Cultural Management Essentials. Received on October 30, 2006, from http://www.ethicsquality.com/culturemgt.htm.

Kern, C. (2003). Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture, Pepperdine University.

King, S. (2006). The Moral Manager. Public Integrity. 8(2), pp.113-133.

Koch, W. (December 11, 2006). Washington scandal eating up public trust. USA Today.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2003). Credibility. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Kowert, P. (2001). Leadership and Learning in Political Groups. Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration. 14(2). pp.201-232.

Kurtz, R. (2003). Organizational culture, decision-making, and integrity, Public Integrity. 5(4). Pp.305-317.

Miller, W. (2001). Responsible Leadership: Base Your Leadership on Spiritual Roots. Executive Excellence. 18(5).

Nelson, M. (1994). Why Americans hate Politics and Politicians. Virginia Quarterly Review. 70(4), p.636, 18p.

Psychology Today. (1993). Decision making: How presidents think. Pg 8.

Reave, L. (2005). Spiritual values and practices related to leadership effectiveness. The Leadership Quarterly. 16(5), pp. 655-687.

Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in Organizations. Delhi, India: Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2006 by Daryl D. Green

Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of four books, including More than a Conqueror: Achieving Personal Fulfillment in Government Service. Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to make better decisions? If you answer “”yes,”" then go to the ‘master decision-making’ website

Article Source

Tags: unethical, examples, article, workplace, behaviour

Oprah made a mistake. She came forth and took responsibility for it in her admission of error. She apologized. She, and her adoring audience, moved on. There is a huge lesson for all of us here.

Everyone, from the most powerful leaders and opinion makers, companies large and small, to three-year old children, make mistakes. It is probably human nature that, when an error is discovered, many of us immediately attempt to cover it up. We deny it, blame someone else or something outside our control (the dog ate my homework), we launch a smokescreen to avoid admitting our humanity and the fear of our inability to be perfect. The cover-up gets bigger and bigger, often becoming much larger than the original mistake. While many get away with the deception, some get caught and are destroyed by it.

Oprah triumphed because of her honesty and her integrity. For days after her admission of error the news media ran lead stories about the incident and the manner in which she faced this potentially career destroying event. This big flap will be over and done with in short order; probably by the time this column is published. Her audience will forgive and forget but her brand will glow, not because she is immune to error, but because she admits her human fallibility and didn’t attempt to hide it. With most people she has risen in stature because of her integrity and respect for her audience. Contrast the long term effect of this incident to that of political, religious, business, scientific, and athletic icons who made errors, denied them, attempted to cover them up, and got discovered in the deception. Not a pretty comparison.

This Oprah incident is a lesson for all of us. We all should remember it whenever we err. We can use this lesson to review our stand on personal and business ethics, to consider how we will react when we make a mistake. Once we know how we want to react, instill the Oprah ethos to the staff so we all can learn a lesson from Oprah.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler” Sign up for his free newsletter here

Article Source

An ethical dilemma is when an incident arises that causes you to question how you should react based on your beliefs and deciding how to choose between right and wrong.

Sometimes, an ethical dilemma might be easily solved once you have had a bit of time to think about it but in other cases, it might not be as easy.

Perhaps you have been put into a bad position where you need to make a decision that will most likely have consequences regardless of what you decide.

An example of an ethical dilemma is when a salesperson is guaranteed to make a big sale if they offer a kickback (ie. an illegal payment) to someone.

If they agree to the kickback, they get the sale but risk getting caught and getting into big trouble.

If they don’t agree to the kickback, they don’t get the sale and might end up looking bad in the eyes of their employer.

Also, should they even tell their employer about the situation or should they simply make a decision and live with the consequences?

Clearly, this is an ethical dilemma and although it’s easy to say you would do the right thing, when you are actually in such a position and are feeling pressure to act, you might not always be able to think as clearly as you would otherwise like to think you would.

Depending on the situation, how you react to an ethical dilemma might differ but at the end of the day, here are some things to keep in mind:

* Use common sense. If it’s clearly wrong or illegal, you know the consequences of doing something that could cost you dearly.
* Don’t let your self-interest get in the way and allow it to cloud your judgment. A short-term gain could be a long-term pain if you make the wrong decision and get caught.
* Don’t assume that your employer will back you up if you do something wrong and get caught. Referring to the above example of the kickback, don’t assume that if you decide to pay the kickback that this is what your employer would approve of. If you acted alone and get caught, don’t expect your employer to defend you because they may distance themselves from you to avoid further embarrassment or legal trouble.
* Don’t risk your credibility. It can take many good deeds to build credibility but only one seemingly simple indiscretion for it to vanish.

Depending on the specific situation, when an ethical dilemma arises, use common sense and think things through clearly before making a decision you may later regret. Not every decision is cut and dry and sometimes the grey area – the area that is somewhere between right and wrong – may not be as clear as you’d like.

Where possible, try to speak with your manager or someone else you trust when in doubt especially if the decision you have to make affects the company. Don’t assume your employer will tolerate you doing something wrong even if it benefits them.

Remember to treat others as you’d expect to be treated and don’t do anything wrong in anticipation of a short-term gain that could end up costing you in the long-term.

Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional recruiter who wants to help you find your dream career.

Article Source

I’ve been wondering this for a while and have been dying to ask my business colleagues and friends. But whenever I’m get ready to pop the question, I manage to convince myself that it’s silly, reveals my cynical nature (or advance years!) and is probably just a figment of my jaded imagination… certainly not worthy of intelligent discussion.

The question, however, continued to reside nervously on the tip of my tongue, eager to fly out (particularly just after leaving my apparently mute colleague a fourth voice mail message). But it wasn’t until I read Keith Ferrazzi’s masterful book, “Never Eat Alone” that I summoned the courage to thunderously and openly inquire, “Are people, particularly those in business, much ruder than they use to be?”

And… “Have we become so numb to it that we actually expect – and worst yet, accept it as normal and okay?”

I think yes. I hope I’m wrong.

Let me, however, step back a bit… Why did Ferrazzi’s book serve as my catalyst?

The short answer is that it’s just plain good. It is a brilliantly written book – simple without being simplistic – in the same league as Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
And in an age when everyone seems to be a marketing, internet or personal motivation coach it’s refreshing to read something so balanced and genuinely inspired. Most importantly, however, Ferrazzi reminds us that we’re not in this alone – people make business happen!

He reiterates what some of us already know. We’re all better off – emotionally, financially, and physically – when we take the time to build thoughtful, intimate (not in the “biblical” sense :>) and sincere relationships with others. Ferrazzi says that while our personal styles and levels of openness should be adjusted as appropriate, making strong human connections is essential to our well being. I couldn’t agree more! This is, after all, what it’s all about – and long overdue advice. Thanks, Keith!

But then it occurred to me. How can you develop relationships with people when they don’t call, email, or show up – even when they’ve promised to do so?!

And I’m not referring about those little, unintentional slip-ups that happen to all of us occasionally – like when you’ve forgotten your Aunt Hilda’s birthday; or waited until the last minute to send in your wedding RSVP; or failed to send a thank-you note.

No, what I’m talking about is far more baffling and egregious. I’m referring to the friends who call you one day before your big dinner party and reiterate how much they’re looking forward to seeing you – and then don’t show up – no explanation, no call, no nothing.

Or how about that real estate agent who promises to get back to you with a price no later than 2 pm, and you never hear from them again?

And what about that old friend or colleague who can’t wait to have lunch with you next Thursday and then doesn’t return your confirmation calls or emails?

Then there’s my favorite… you’ve killed yourself to help someone get something “urgent” done (usually a boss or co-worker) and even managed to save the day… You email “the document” before the deadline, sure that the recipient will be relieved and grateful. But you never find out. No “thank you”. No “way to go”. No nothing.

Or is it just me? Maybe so…

I was raised in a home where we were taught to treat everyone with the same amount of respect and kindness. Period. Behavior that didn’t measure up to this standard was not tolerated. We learned that the true measure of someone’s character rested in their commitment to do the right thing – even when they didn’t have to.

For example, whenever I leave a hotel room, I wipe off the counters; gather my towels together in one convenient spot; turn off the television, lights and air conditioning; return the iron to the closet; and make sure that all my scraps of paper are where they belong – in the trash can.

Why? Because it’s just the right thing to do (and my mother would probably rise up out of her grave and kick my butt if I didn’t :>). Yes, hotels employ a cleaning staff who “are paid” to clean up after me, but why should they? It’s my mess. I was responsible for making it, so I am responsible for cleaning it up – even if I don’t have to.

I have adopted my parents’ code and although I sometimes fail, I continually strive to measure up to those standards.

But what does this look like in the “real world”? It means you…

1. Return calls… even if it’s only to say “no”

2. Honor your commitments… if you tell someone you’re going to do something, you do it. If you absolutely cannot, you let them know beforehand.

3. When you’re asked to RSVP, you do so

4. Say “thank you” and “please”… to strangers, friends, family members, waiters and waitresses, taxi drivers, colleagues, children, teenagers… everyone.

5. Call when you’re going to be late

6. Return emails (unless it’s spam)

7. Welcome people into your home… do your best to make them feel comfortable and important

8. Clean up after yourself

9. Value other people’s privacy

10. Honor your parents

11. Respect elders

12. Chew gum quietly

13. Say “excuse me” when you burp

14. Open doors for others

15. Allow someone with only two items to move ahead of you in the grocery line

16. Respect other cultures, religions, ethnicities and the like.

17. Don’t push in front of someone… even if you’re in a car

18. Share your things

19. Don’t act like a pig… even if it’s at an All-You-Can-Eat buffet

20. Don’t brag

21. Never litter

Are these rules a thing of the past? Passé in today’s fast-paced culture? Old fashioned? Silly? Or am I just imagining things?

But if I’m not… why? Are we overloaded, overbooked and over committed? Has it become too easy to make excuses? Have we been forced into a “every-man-for-himself” mindset? Did our parents and teachers fail us?

Or is it that we just don’t care because they’re not important. What do you think?

Mary Eule specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses get and keep profitable customers. Formerly a Fortune 500 marketing executive; founder of two successful small businesses and award-winning speaker, Ms. Eule is President of Strategic Marketing Advisors, LLC. and co-author of a new book, “Mandatory Marketing: Small Business Edition”.

She has a BA in Journalism/English from the University of Maryland and earned her a master’s degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Log onto her website for free articles, newsletter and helpful marketing tools, tips and templates… and/or to purchase the book.

Article Source

Globalization and technology developed at a rattling rate make our lives more comfortable but we are stranded in a tighter area in our daily lives, on the contrary. Future might be ahead that is worse than Georger Orwell’s “Big Brother”. This time private companies trace us more than the government does, ranging from GSM operators to web search engines, credit card data and survey forms.

In the era of marketing, advertising and consumpiton, it does not matter so much to get data collected about us. The heart of the mattter for the companies is what they could do with those data, how they could increase their sales and forecast future.

Data mining is a method became very popular in 1990s, which aims to reach optimum efficiency in planning and organization thru collecting data from gigantic databases and determining specific trends, allowing to forecast future. Having used artificial intelligence, this method is based on analysing “significant” data and trends by computers, which takes many years for an ordinary man to collect those data. In the beginning such significant data seem “irrelevant”, but following computer analysis, it could appear as “relevant” by comparing two parameters. For example, according a survey run in a supermarket chain, families buying nappies tend to buy beer as well. So, a promotion campaign is held with the concept of “Party Time for the Families with Kids”.

Why is it so important to connect medicine and insurance, public and private sector, automobile demand graphics with avocado and banana curves? Before answering this question, it would be better to check how such a thing could be possible.

The key concept of data mining is to purge specific data series by sorting and comparing among gigantic databases. Despite “Merge and Purge” and “Database Enrichment” methods remained out of fashion as compared to “data mining”, data could be really transformed into valuable information and automized easily.

It is not easy to set up such huge databases. Many legal and illegal companies and people appeared to collect databases, especially e-mails currently. Metromail is one of the largest companies collecting mail addresses, currently collecting and selling e-mails, established in 1948, hiring 3000 people with a sales turnover of over USD 281 million. It “hunts” data researching from different resources ranging from state records to surveys, which also include income, householding, marital status, age groups and even the team supported. So Metromail is the no 1 company as required specific name-address info. On the other hand, it has a gigantic database continously developing with data about almost every house in the USA . In addition to such legal companies, there are also pirate ones producing data for pirate CDs.

Cookies innocently embedded in our computers, security cameras tracing us on the streets, retina scanners at airports, mobile phone call centers recording what we said for us, machines recording what we wrote and tools registering our actions…It is a world that do not care about us, but our data.

There is a new possible future ahead in case there is not a social consciousness formed to pass the overseas laws protecting invidual privacy. That future is “profitable” for companies, “secure” for states but “nightmarish” for us, ordinary people.

Emre Kizilkaya is a journalist. He writes articles for a communication technologies magazine, Tele.com.tr.

Article Source

Tags: ethical, examples, issue, theories, dilemmas

[Note: This story is not a criticism of Buddhism. It is a story of neighborly love.]

Introduction

He was the least likely of neighbors to do this thing, a Buddhist turned Roman Catholic, patriarch of a California wine-growing clan.

I was a Southern Baptist youth, only recently learned how to shave, and served in the new “Korean War” as a sailor.

You know the rashness of youth. I wondered aloud, “How is it that you, a Japanese Buddhist, came to be sending your son to Mary Knoll Seminary to become a Catholic priest?”

The lesson he taught me about the important business of being a good neighbor has not been lost for more than fifty years. Here’s his story in his own words.

The Patriarch’s Story

At the beginning of World War II, I was struggling whether to enlist in military service. My struggle was not because I was Nisei. It was because I had a wife. I had three small children. How might I best serve my country, care for my young family, and manage my new vineyards? Even at home, I was struggling to maintain them. What would happen if I left to join the service?

I might well not have worried.

At 10:00 a.m. one morning three Military Police arrived at my home in a covered truck. They pounded on my door. They entered my house without permission.

“Pack one overnight bag for your family,” the leader told me. “Be quick about it!”

By 10:15 a.m. my family and I were in the back of the truck. We were on our way to what was called a “relocation center.” It was far from my own neighborhood. I never had time to call a neighbor, Nor was I allowed to contact anyone to tell them what was happening.

By evening we were in a fenced enclosure. It was to be our home until the end of the war.

He sipped his wine. I was a teetotaler, but because I was a guest in his house, and didn’t want to make a fuss, I had accepted a glass. I tentatively sipped a swallow and set the glass down.

“The wine is not good?” he had asked.

“Too good,” I had answered. “If I get started, I might not be able to stop.”

He smiled and nodded knowingly. He continued his story.

When we returned after the war–all Nisei returned to the area–we found our homes gone. Our businesses gone. Sold for taxes to our neighbors. The first year we were gone.

I couldn’t believe it. All the vines I had labored so arduously to plant, to nurture. All the contracts I had so carefully negotiated with the distillery. The home my wife and I had so lovingly remodeled. Evenings when it was too dark to work the vineyards. Gone!

We could lay claim to no part of our former possessions–property, furniture, jewelry. Nothing.

I walked the city streets in disbelief. I wondered how I could ever start over again. We were still despised as “Japs.” By both the local population and former neighbors. Finding even the most menial work was unlikely,

I was in tears. What would I tell my wife?

But she knew. Surely she already knew. Something of this magnitude could not be hidden.

Perhaps in another part of the country I could get a job as a gardener.

“You know, lots of rich folks love to have a Japanese gardener,” he said bitterly.

I looked around. Invaluable appointments. Lovely brocaded furniture. Priceless wall hangings. Luxurious carpets. What did he mean by “rich folks.”

He sighed at the memory of his misery. He took another sip of wine. He continued.

As I stood there, tears in my eyes, someone called my name. I turned to face the voice. It was my old neighbor. He was a vineyard owner on the land next to mine–next to the land that used to be mine.

I had helped him irrigate his vines by hand one year when the drought threatened our crops. He had helped me choose the best stock to plant when I had first started. I thought we had been good neighbors.

When I returned to the area, I found that it was he who had bought my property. For taxes. My own neighbor! I tried to hide my bitterness.

“I didn’t know you were back,” my former neighbor told me. “Where’s your family?”

I told him. I explained there had been an addition since I left. He grinned and led me to his sedan.

“Hop in,” he said.

I couldn’t believe that this backstabbing neighbor could have the gall to act so friendly. I don’t know why, but I climbed in. He babbled happily, as if to a long-lost friend, as he drove to where my family was.

“Go get ‘em. Get ‘em all. I want to see the young’ns. And I have something I want to show you.”

We picked up my family and left. I recognized the route.

Two of my boys were in the front seat with me. The oldest, the seminarian from Mary Knoll, suddenly cried out.

“Father! This is the road to our house!”

I thought the grin on my old neighbor’s face was especially wicked. Why are you doing this? I wondered. Why are you torturing us this way?

We drove up to our old home. It looked well kept. Even lovingly cared for. Who lives here now? I wondered.

He jumped out and opened the car doors. He led us into the house and into this room where we are now sitting.

Everything was as we had left it. My wife lovingly ran her hand over the back of that teakwood table. The dust of years had not settled in. The carpets had been faithfully vacuumed. The windows regularly washed. The furniture carefully polished. Whoever lived here now must love the house as much as we did.

Seeing how carefully everything had been maintained, I couldn’t be too angry with my neighbor. After all, purchase of my property had been a business deal for him. I’m sure it wasn’t anything personal.

The old man took another sip of wine. He pointed at an elaborately carved, small desk with a drop down front that stood against a wall. He went on with his story.

My neighbor took me to that desk and opened a drawer. He took out a handful of papers and handed them to me. They were the deeds and ownership documents for my house and business.

I glanced at them, wondering how any one human being could be so heartless as to gloat before a family that had fallen to the depths I had reached.

“Look at them, read them,” he said when he noticed I simply stood there, stupidly holding them in my hand.

When I did, my heart stopped. My name was on the first paper I looked at. With trembling hand I looked at another. My name. And another. And another. On every document. My name. Just my name. Not his, not even as co-owner.

He unlocked the drop down front and opened a drawer inside. He took out a bankbook and handed it to me. I scanned it. I could not believe my eyes. The balance had increased significantly each year while I was gone.

“Business was good during the war,” he told me. “My only problem was finding labor to do the work. But I managed.”

“But- – -but these are your profits,” I told him. I shoved the bank book toward him. “Here. Take it. It’s your money.”

He laughed. “Naw. Your farm helped me. When we added our properties together, I got more ration coupons for gas. Negotiated better contracts with the distillery. Generally did better business. You won’t believe this. When I broke down the tax bill, even that was less. Naw. I got my pay. This is all yours.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I wept openly. My wife and I hugged each other and cried. Finally, I looked at my old friend.

The old patriarch looked at me and said, “You want to know why I’m sending my son to seminary to become a Christian priest? Well, here’s why. I asked my neighbor, ‘Why did you do all this for me? After all, we were only neighbors’.

That’s where you’re wrong,” he told me. “You see, in my faith we are all God’s children. We are brothers, you and me.

Dr. Larry Winebrenner is a well-known, well-received public speaker. He has extensive background in business practices seminars, genealogical research, producing training materials, marketing consulting, nutrition studies, and religious studies. This article is located at this site.

Article Source

Tags: ethics, issues, standing, moral, examples

There is absolutely no room for unethical behavior in the professional world. This statement is exceptionally important for publicly traded companies and their accounting practices. From financial officers to accountants to auditors, and so on, there is no greater impact on stakeholders when these persons perform unethically.

Unfortunately, there are multiple reasons for which one might consider acting unethically when preparing financial information. The most obvious reason may be quite simply, for self-interest-greed.

An accountant may embezzle funds from his or her employer for financial gain. Or perhaps the CFO of a publicly traded corporation may prepare financial statements to appear as though the company is performing much better than it actually is, because he or she wants their stock portfolio to increase.

Another example for why unethical behavior might exist is from corporate pressure. An accountant may feel pressured from his or her client to report false information. Or maybe a CFO is experiencing demand for improvements from the board of directors, the company’s president, owners, or stockholders; or he or she may be in fear of losing their job.

An accountant may decide to work for a company even though a conflict of interest may exist. If the accountant is owed money or has a significant stake in a firm, he or she may not be the ideal individual to prepare certain companies’ financial statements.

Finally, and perhaps the most common form of unethical behavior, is the failure for an accountant to conduct an in-depth analysis when preparing and revising financial information. There are many individuals who prefer to take short-cuts in life; and frankly, this simply is not acceptable when expected to perform in a professional manor.

There have been many laws enacted, on both state and national levels, intended on preventing one from conducting unethical accounting practices. In addition to these laws, have been many recommendations to implement changes geared towards the improvement of professional ethics.

Two such individuals, who have spent much time working on this topic, are: Jane B. Romal and Arlene M. Hibschweiler. According to the June 2004 CPA Journal, Romal and Hibschweiler recommended that “states should be encouraged to mandate ethics training as part of CPE requirements”.

This notion forced the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy (TSBPA) to begin a more intense training regimen for accounting educators, CPAs, and accounting students. This included having every licensee taking four-hour ethics courses on the board’s Rules of Professional Conduct every two years. The Arizona State Board of Accountancy requires every Arizona CPA to take an ethics class for licensing renewal.

In addition to state level mandates, is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that publicly traded companies disclose their code of ethics for senior financial officers. The Act was designed to promote honest and ethical conduct; full and accurate disclosure in periodic reports; and compliance with applicable government rules and regulations.

Even with the actions of Romal and Hibschweiler, the TSBPA, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; no one can regulate another’s integrity. Some individuals, regardless of their profession, will always look for some form of personal gain, even if it means conducting themselves in an unethical manner. This article is designed to help educate people on unethical accounting practices, why they occur, and how we as a nation can promote ethical behavior.

Roderick A. Jacobsen, CPA
Karpinski & Jacobsen

For quality Accounting Services in Arizona, visit Phoenix CPA where you can find Accounting Resources.

References:

Gaumnitz, B. (2004). Codes of ethics with impact. CPA Journal, vol. 74, issue 5, 64-66.

Kieso, D., Kimmel, P., Weygandt, J. (2005) Financial Accounting (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

VanZante, N. (2005) Improving professional ethics. CPA Journal, vol. 75, issue 5, 9-11.

Article Source

Tags: article, behaviour, examples, unethical, workplace

It’s not just for business anymore. Our next Enron or WorldCom could come from within government. The fact government sets many of the ethical standards for business means they must have a high standard themselves. It appears those standards are slipping.

The Ethics Resource Center’s National Government Ethics Survey (NGES) shows that nearly two thirds (63%) of local government employees said they observed at least one type of misconduct during the reported year. Local government also had the highest rate of workers who witnessed misconduct but did not report it. The combined rate of state and federal workers who stated they had witnessed ethics violations was 57%. The 2007 study did not show improvement over the previous study. This should sound alarms for both government and business. Visit the web site of the Ethics Resource Center to download the the entire survey.

The greatest issues were at the local level, so here’s some grassroots, common sense knowledge for you that today’s society seems to be overlooking at great expense. Our society is losing its grasp on good old-fashioned values. And like society, business follows suit. Gone are the days where a man’s handshake was his promise, his word his commitment. But not gone forever. If you want to learn some methods to pump values back into your organization, and gain confidence back from your customers, you’ll want to stress these conditions during all training. Reinforce and remind them on a regular basis:

* The flow of information from top management
* Top management’s ability to keep promises and commitments
* The flow of information from supervisors to employees
* A supervisor’s ability to keep promises and commitments
* Increase confidence that coworkers will keep promises and commitments
* Use transparent means to reward employees, nothing unquestionable

There is an upward trend of pressure to compromise standards, where situations invite wrongdoing and/or employees’ personal values conflict with the values espoused at work. This increasing pressure builds like the wave of a tsunami until it reaches critical mass. Self interest, lying, abusive behavior and internet abuse top the list for misconduct in the workplace within government.

Businesses run the risk of loosing customer and employee trust that is essential for businesses to maintain. Government agencies strongly risk loosing the confidence and trust of the public. In both sectors, eroded trust hinders organizational effectiveness.

Download your free eBook copy of The Soldier’s Method: Leadership Tactics for Business by visiting this site – Wesley Ford is known as That Value Guy. He is a leadership, retention and technology expert, professional speaker and consultant who helps develop your leadership skills while getting employees to retain you.

Article Source

Tags: dilemma, dilemmas, ethical, examples, work

As I was reading the Bible sometime this week my eyes fell on a verse that set my heart pumping hard. My lips went dry as I tried to ruminate over

what I had just read.
The words in Proverbs 18:9 were very clear in my mind:

“”He who is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”"

(Slack means not willing to work/lazy/not work well/slothful)
These are the very words in the verse that I read. (My aim is not to preach here but to give you insights of how we should conduct ourselves at the workplace to maximize what we have worked for so hard).

The words hit me like a thunderbolt. Why? Well, I have been guilty of being slack in my work sometimes. I know you have too. The writing on the wall is clear: if you are lazy or slothful then there is no difference between you and a person who destroys or wastes.

The more we ‘encourage’ ourselves to be slack and lazy by camouflaging this stark reality in well-meaning words and clichés such as ‘relaxing’, ‘all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy’, and ‘entertainment’ then we’re distancing ourselves from the brass tacks of the game. Therefore, the first high wind that comes will destroy our ship. A ship that has, maybe, taken years of toil and moil to build.

People who are slack will generally find that they have so much time on their hands to do other things but the work they ought to plan for and do. They are time wasters. We must never forget that time is one of the most priceless things that all people possess in equal measure. What sets people apart is how they utilize the time they have.

How do you use your time? How do you use your working time? Do you steal time from your employer? (This gives laziness a ‘legal’ hold on us). Do you always give flimsy reasons for not achieving what is expected of you? If so, outline the reasons and try to find out why you give those reasons. You’ll be surprised at how some of these reasons are puerile.
Our vision is clear in our minds. We want to achieve a higher high and sharpen our unique ‘stocks-in-trade’. But we’ve got to set things in clear perspective before we think of anything else.

We should learn how to manage the time at our disposal and make sure that we measure work output against the backdrop of the time we’ve used to do it. This way we’ll curb time wastage and be on our way to better workplace performance.

As a bottomline, when work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is duty, life is slavery.

c. by Richard Mbuthia

Article source

Tags: personal, work, ethic, examples, team

“I hope that is a rhetorical question,” Cheryl replied. “You know the answer. ” Cheryl had just invested in three cups of coffee while her mentoring partner described an agonizing issue at the office. As Michelle’s mentor for almost two years, she had witnessed her protégé’s impressive climb up the career ladder. Michelle began as a manager in a national fast food chain and worked her way to supervisor while still in college. Just after graduating, she was offered a corporate position in the franchising department. At age twenty-six, Michelle had reached a position of considerable influence, including an especially prestigious role on the franchise-approval committee.

Here’s how that committee operates: In order to secure the right to own and operate one of the company’s restaurants, prospective franchisees must win the approval of representatives from finance, real estate, and operations. Each member has veto power over the applicant’s fate. As the operational link, Michele held significant responsibility and this assignment was a real jewel in her career crown. But it now held the potential for stopping her career in its tracks. Thus, Michelle had called her mentor for this midnight, Waffle House rendezvous.

“So let me make sure I’ve got this straight. Your boss sent word to you—he didn’t talk to you directly, he just had his assistant tell you? Is that right?” Cheryl was as incredulous over the boss’s cowardice as she was his blatant bigotry.

Michelle nodded. “Of course he wasn’t going to tell me directly. He is a corporate officer. He needs to maintain deniability.”

Cheryl could understand why he wanted to keep some distance from the message. He had ordered Michelle to veto the application of a franchise candidate named Sadid Patel. “Yep, that’s exactly right. Mr. Senior Vice President had his assistant order me to veto him, because he feels we have too many foreigners in the system as it is,”"Michelle summarized.

“Any chance that finance or real estate will do the dirty work before you have to meet with him?” Cheryl was fishing here, hoping to find a way Michelle could sidestep the conflict.

“Not a chance. His finances are impeccable and he has picked a prime site to build on. Besides, they’ve both already signed off on him.” Michelle continued to stare at the wall just behind Cheryl’s seat, as if the answer might be written somewhere within the wallpaper. “There’s no way around it. Tomorrow at 10:30, I can either perform a reprehensible act or I can see my career come to slithering stagnation at the age of twenty-six.”

Michelle picked up her napkin and wiped at a small water spot on the table. Maybe just this once I can compromise a principle, she thought. Just this one time. Finally making direct eye contact, she quietly added, “You’ve always told me that I have to pick my battles.”

Cheryl returned the eye contact and firmly replied, “And you know this is one you’ve got to pick, Michelle.”

****** ****** ****** ******

It was eight o’clock the next evening. Cheryl and Michelle were occupying the same seats in the same coffee shop. “”Well, let it out,” Cheryl said. “You have that distant look on your face. What did you decide to do?”

“The only thing I could do,”" Cheryl replied. “I couldn’t be a part of any racist act.” Michelle took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “So, I approved Mr. Patel. He has his franchise.” Michelle leaned back in her seat, continued stirring the coffee but never drinking from the cup.

“Good for you. I know it was tough, but you did the right thing.” Cheryl was relieved to know that Michelle had valued integrity and character over developing a plastic career. But, Michelle was looking even more distraught than she did last night. Cheryl figured the VP must have come down hard. She decided to reassure Michelle that her career was not over. “Hey kid,”" she said with a kind smile. “There are other companies.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it. I’m not worried about my job anymore.” Michelle allowed a slight smile to interrupt her malaise. “Before meeting with Patel, I had a short meeting with my boss. I let him know that if I ever even sensed him blocking my career, I would make a beeline to the president and maybe even the Justice Department. He got my message loud and clear. He won’t be an issue.”

“Well, now. I’ll bet that knocked him on his keister.” Cheryl was impressed with Michelle’s preemptive strike. “”But why are you upset? You should be ecstatic. It was an incredible day!”

“I’m not so sure about that, Cheryl.” Michelle paused to press a napkin to her glistening eyes. “I really don’t think I did the right thing.”

Cheryl was stunned. “How can you possibly say that? How could you possibly doubt your actions?”

Michelle spoke slowly and with an intensity Cheryl had never before heard from her. “Because Mr. Patel is, without question, the most unqualified person I have ever interviewed for a franchise approval. He has no understanding of customer service, looks down his nose at foodservice workers, and had no concept of quality standards.” Michelle leaned forward, “Cheryl, I approved a compete incompetent as a franchisee of the very company that entrusted me to select its business partners. I violated that trust.”

Michelle paused and then quietly added: “Now, where is the integrity in that?

Ken Tanner operates an Atlanta-based consulting firm specializing in employee retention and teambuilding. Ken is the author of three books: Recruiting Excellence, Retaining Employees, and the newly-published major release from Thomas Nelson Publishers, Never Order Barbecue in Maine, a lifetime career guide. Ken’s next book, to be published by Preager in 2007, will be The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Teambuilding. Ken invites you to visit his website

Article Source

Public Relations (or ‘media relations’) can be a central part of the marketing mix, but it is a different aspect to marketing itself, which usually focuses on market share and consumer relations. PR can include building consumer awareness and guiding consumer opinion, but primarily it involves building good relations with the press and sourcing free positive editorials to disseminate the brand message.

There are two main types of PR; product and corporate. Product focuses on raising awareness of a particular product or service, whereas corporate tries to positively portray a whole company or brand. With the growing need for social responsibility, corporate PR is more important than ever. For maximum effect, both types of PR should be integrated with other advertising and marketing schemes; this way ideas are disseminated and opportunities can be shared to enhance the impact of all three.

A basic rule of PR is that you should develop credibility before raising the visibility of a product or company. Although visibility is all-important in winning custom, if people don’t think your brand is particularly good or you have a bad reputation, you won’t get any custom either way. Credibility is fundamental in winning trust, referrals and repeat sales. Advertising, although it may build awareness of your brand, does not do much for credibility. Consumers know that advertising is paid-for (and therefore untrustworthy). PR on the other hand is free, winning column inches because of its worth, and a positive editorial is far more believable than the same amount of advertising.

Editorial coverage in the press is one of PR’s strongest weapons. The main benefit, as already mentioned, is the credibility that comes from having a story covered by an industry expert. Someone perceived as ‘in the know’ or with a loyal readership can sway public opinion with what they say. Another benefit is the cost involved; whereas advertisements have to be paid for, editorials are completely free. The only cost involved is that of researching, writing and distributing the press releases themselves.

The downside of editorials is that the PR company has absolutely no control over what’s said or the opinion given. No matter how well-written or well-targeted your press release, you might find that it gets negative attention from some places. Planning for both positive and negative outcomes is essential to a well-managed PR campaign.

Once a PR campaign has been set in motion, it’s incredibly important to maintain good relations with the press. Follow-up reports, handling enquiries and prompt responses can all ensure that reporters have a good opinion of a company. Most PR experts, like those at this Leeds PR company, started their careers in journalism, so they know the sort of deadlines journalists have to work to. Providing all the help a reporter needs means that they’re more likely to run stories about you in future; companies that give poor or late responses get bad reputations in media circles.

When PR works it can give a positive image of a product or company, increasing awareness of the brand in the relevant market sectors. When it goes wrong it can ruin reputations and put people out of business. PR companies have the intangible job of swaying opinion, and whilst it may seem an art rather than a science, the results can unmistakably make or break a business.

Sylvia Kittens lives in Harrogate, England

Article Source

Tags: good, relations, pr, examples, move

One of the most important aspects of a business is its PR strategy. A good PR strategy always helps you to get more publicity for your business and makes your business become more recognized. The ultimate goal of all PR strategies is to create a buzz for your organization, business or company, so that it will help your business to become more popular. A good PR strategy usually revolves around one single tactic that is to publish the name of your business in any kind of media, such as the newspaper, radio, magazines or the news. So, if you don’t have a proper PR strategy for your business then you may be in big trouble. To get a proper PR strategy it is always advisable to higher a Good PR firm that would help you in your PR needs. However, if you are a small business owner and cannot afford a PR firm then this article will help you to organize and develop you own personal PR strategy.

Time for planning

The perfect time for you to sit down and plan your PR strategy would be at the start of a new year or a financial new year. The start of the New Year is the perfect time for you to set objectives and to formulate a good PR plan for the whole year that will help your business to achieve optimum results in the media.

Flexibility and length of consideration

Flexibility and uncertainty reins the world of PR strategies. You may never know when something might happen that will require changing your PR strategy. This is why it is always advisable to consider the whole year while you are planning out your PR activities. You can start by planning for the first 6 months and then according to the situations you can revise you plan for the next three months. Often there a lot of factors when taken in to consideration at an earlier time will help your business immensely and by following this method you can easily reap success in your business.

Planning

Before planning out your PR strategy for the current year, your first and foremost task should be to review and revise your PR activities of the past year. You should take into consideration and review any situation where your business had received media attention. While doing this you should also review the resulting media coverage and what advantages you had gotten out of it. Try to determine all the angles and pits through which you had received the media coverage. Do not forget to take the journalist in to consideration too. You should take note of which journalist wrote in your favor and which wrote against you.

After reviewing your past year’s PR activities, you should take in to consideration the overall business objectives. By taking these objectives into consideration you will be able to develop and plan out your key media messages. Do not forget to state clearly in these messages what you are trying to achieve fro your company. These messages will help to form the backbone of your PR communication activities.

Now all is left to do is develop a good plan of attack for your PR strategy. Try to look at your business through the eyes of a journalist, also try to figure out what would interest your customers the most in your business. Try to create more buzz fro your company by creating potential media opportunities like product launches, or by organizing major news conferences.

Subscribe to a Media Measurement Service

By subscribing to a media measurement service you can easily go through the results of your company and see what type of coverage you received. You can also use this result to compare your progress with other companies.

Now that you have a proper strategy on hand, all you have to do is plan out some activities that will help you to achieve you goals.

Activities

” Make a News Release Calendar: you can make a news release calendar where you can easily plan out all the news releases that will take place throughout the year. This will help you to focus on your objectives and goals.

” Create a Media Database: one of the main essences of PR strategy is to get journalist and newspapers to publish articles about your company in their newspapers. However, before you organize any news conferences or launches, you should carefully research and create your own database of key journalists. In this database you should keep the contact numbers of leading publications and leading journalists that deal with your industry. You should also try to organize the database according to how valuable each contact is to you. Now that you have created your database you can safely hold news conferences where you can invite journalists and talk to them about your company.

” Publications and Self or By lined Articles: one of the important things that you can do to promote the PR for company is to contribute and article or even suggest a feature on your company to a leading publication. You can also suggest ideas and topics related to your business objectives or which is in sync with your line of work to leading journalists and newspapers.

” Use of Communication Tools: communication tools such as Blogs and social media have become immensely popular today as they provide a platform where you can discuss about a wide range of topics. So, by simply researching the different blogs that are related to your industry, you can get to know about the styles of the authors and you can also pick up a few pointers from these blogs.

” Crisis Planning: one of the most important aspects of a business and PR strategy is Crisis planning. You should always include crisis planning in your PR strategies. While planning you should make it a point to see that the entire negative and the positive aspects are taken in to consideration. You should also inform all your employees and clients about your crisis management plans. Do not forget to take time and test run your procedures to iron out any inconsistencies in the plan.

Swati Banerjee is the owner of Writing Ink, a web content management firm based out of India, that services clients from across the globe. Please take a minute to visit this site to experience how the bright young minds here make magic with words!

Article Source

Tags: good, public, relations, pr, examples