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Social Ethics
« Previous EntriesShould CEOs be rewarded for laying off their workers?
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010MSNBC reports today that CEOs who laid off more workers than average raked in more money than their peers. According to a new report issued by the Institute on Policy Studies, the fifty CEOs who led the charge on laying off rank-and-file employees during the recent economic turndown received $12 million on average in [...]
Why did HP give Mark Hurd a $37 million severance package?
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010When former CEO Mark Hurd resigned from Hewlett-Packard Co. last week, he joined a lengthy list of top business executives who have stepped down after being accused of personal ethical lapses. Of course, this isn’t HP’s only recent scandal. HP suffered considerable public embarrassment just a few years ago when its chairwoman, Patricia [...]
Is it ethical for insurers to put a beneficiary’s money in a retained asset account?
Monday, August 2nd, 2010For the past several days, the Internet has been ablaze with stories about how big insurance companies have allegedly mistreated military families. These companies are among many that participate in the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program, or “SGLI,” which provides low-cost life insurance to active duty military service personnel. When those active [...]
The oil may have stopped flowing, but BP’s work is far from done
Monday, July 19th, 2010We’ve finally gotten some reasonably good news out of the Gulf of Mexico. It seems that the new cap that BP put on the leaking rg is (mostly) stopping the flow of oil and gas into the water. Now, as long as the seabed doesn’t start crumbling and leaking like an overbaked pie [...]
The psychology, ethics and law of apologies
Friday, July 16th, 2010Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining reknowned psychiatrist Aaron Lazare and NY Times ethicist Randy Cohen on the Diane Rehm show on NPR. Our topic was apologies, and we spent about an hour kibbitzing the best and worst recent apologies. As a long-time fan of Ms. Rehm I had a ball, and [...]
Kudos to P&G for helping Gulf wildlife
Monday, June 28th, 2010There’s been so much bad news out of the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that I thought it might be nice to focus on the positive efforts being made by Procter & Gamble to help clean up the spill. P&G is the producer of hundreds of household products, including Dawn [...]
Know the culture where you do business
Friday, June 18th, 2010Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s talk about a mistake that we’ve seen two major international corporations make in the very recent past. British Petroleum and Toyota are two enormous companies founded in the U.K. and Japan respectively. They both have done a lot of business here, [...]
When business disasters happen, how much can the government do?
Monday, June 7th, 2010With the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in its 49th day (how horrible is that?) fingers are pointing in every direction. While British Petroleum remains the primary target of public outrage, the Obama Administration is taking tremendous heat for failing to prevent this unprecedented catatrophe. That’s understandable - but is it fair?
Businesses that operate [...]
What if the oil companies worked together to fix the spill?
Friday, June 4th, 2010Sorry to keep interrupting my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, but the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is such an enormous national disaster that it has to take precedence. Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking to the Women Business Leaders Forum of the American Society of Pension Professionals [...]
You need to see Cousteau’s dive into the Gulf oil spill
Thursday, May 27th, 2010Sorry, folks, change in plans … we’ll talk about the ethics of “gotcha” journalism tomorrow. Right now, I’m urging anyone who cares about business ethics to check out Carl Franzen’s post today on PoliticsDaily.com. Franzen covers a new video of a deep sea dive by Phillipe Cousteau, Jr., grandson of the great Jacques [...]
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