We are all aware that corporate ethics is more of a contradiction than an oxymoron. There is no question that corporations feel obligations to their stockholders and their own salaries, rather than to their employees and customers. To the extent that influence follows money, these are, if not fully ethical choices, at least understandable. It is not condonable, however, when either employees or customers are made to suffer for the good of the corporation. Although I joke about it, it is not moral to harm others for your own gain.
The company that operated the leaking gulf oil well leased by BP has behaved shamefully. After the explosion, the surviving rig crew were taken off in small boats. They then sat on the water for 15 hours, watching the rig burn, with the bodies of their dead co-workers. They were then brought to hotels on the mainland where, without sleep, they were questioned by company attorneys. They were then asked to sign statements that they did not witness the accident, and to initial paragraphs that they were not harmed in the accident and that they saw no wrong procedures on the rig.
I am completely disgusted if even a portion of this is partially true. I have had the experience of being brought into a room and aggressively questioned by an attorney representing my employer in a suit by a fired physician. It was highly manipulative and even frightening, and I had done nothing wrong, was involved in no accident or death.
It is a residuum of my altruism that I expect employers, whether corporations or individuals, to at least not harm their employees, coerce or manipulate them. I do not subscribe to the values of highly unionized, activist labor, that any profit of a corporation is extracted unfairly from the sweat of the working man. Organization, capital investment, marketing and design are all value added activities such that the corporation's products are indeed worth more than the sweat of the laborer. Acting in the best interests of the shareholders or the company is not unethical if others are not hurt. My best interests in my practice are not coincident with the best interests of my employees, but that is not in itself unethical if I value my interests over another person's.
But it is unethical, it is immoral, to harm, coerce, frighten and manipulate employees, and others in dependent conditions, for your own gain. The rig company was assembling their attorneys while leaving the workers on small boats in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. They questioned them without sleep, and exacted exculpatory letters from them. The CIA, whose methods have been criticized, would not do such things, which have more in common with a repressive regime than with a private company.
Not only is the behavior unethical, it is quite remarkably stupid. Several of the survivors have retained attorneys. All these efforts at 'immunization' will be thrown out in court. The effort will be seen, rightly, as an attempt to avoid potential responsibility. The mistreatment of traumatized survivors will lead to greater losses, bad publicity, and an unwillingness of free workers to work for such a company.
Despite Leo Durocher's famous lines, nice guys in fact generally finish first. At least, acting morally and ethically is not simply the right thing to do, it is, in the end, good business. The leasing company is about to find out the very hard way that treating others poorly leads to being treated poorly yourself.
The company that operated the leaking gulf oil well leased by BP has behaved shamefully. After the explosion, the surviving rig crew were taken off in small boats. They then sat on the water for 15 hours, watching the rig burn, with the bodies of their dead co-workers. They were then brought to hotels on the mainland where, without sleep, they were questioned by company attorneys. They were then asked to sign statements that they did not witness the accident, and to initial paragraphs that they were not harmed in the accident and that they saw no wrong procedures on the rig.
I am completely disgusted if even a portion of this is partially true. I have had the experience of being brought into a room and aggressively questioned by an attorney representing my employer in a suit by a fired physician. It was highly manipulative and even frightening, and I had done nothing wrong, was involved in no accident or death.
It is a residuum of my altruism that I expect employers, whether corporations or individuals, to at least not harm their employees, coerce or manipulate them. I do not subscribe to the values of highly unionized, activist labor, that any profit of a corporation is extracted unfairly from the sweat of the working man. Organization, capital investment, marketing and design are all value added activities such that the corporation's products are indeed worth more than the sweat of the laborer. Acting in the best interests of the shareholders or the company is not unethical if others are not hurt. My best interests in my practice are not coincident with the best interests of my employees, but that is not in itself unethical if I value my interests over another person's.
But it is unethical, it is immoral, to harm, coerce, frighten and manipulate employees, and others in dependent conditions, for your own gain. The rig company was assembling their attorneys while leaving the workers on small boats in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. They questioned them without sleep, and exacted exculpatory letters from them. The CIA, whose methods have been criticized, would not do such things, which have more in common with a repressive regime than with a private company.
Not only is the behavior unethical, it is quite remarkably stupid. Several of the survivors have retained attorneys. All these efforts at 'immunization' will be thrown out in court. The effort will be seen, rightly, as an attempt to avoid potential responsibility. The mistreatment of traumatized survivors will lead to greater losses, bad publicity, and an unwillingness of free workers to work for such a company.
Despite Leo Durocher's famous lines, nice guys in fact generally finish first. At least, acting morally and ethically is not simply the right thing to do, it is, in the end, good business. The leasing company is about to find out the very hard way that treating others poorly leads to being treated poorly yourself.
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