EthicsBite™

It’s actually only Wednesday, but we already have two major news stories related to business ethics.

In the on-going investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World’s alleged hacking of personal cell phones to obtain news stories, Rebekah Brooks, her husband and four other individuals were arrested early Tuesday morning. Brooks, a key person in Murdoch’s London operations, was an editor at News of the World and has been previously arrested in the same investigation.

This morning Greg Smith of Goldman Sachs had an op-ed published in the New York Times in which he announces the reasons behind his departure from the global investment banking firm. Mr. Smith’s piece focuses on the culture at Goldman, how that culture has changed and its implications for the firm. His hard-hitting article is well worth reading as an example of the impact organizational culture can have on ethical behavior.

Our prediction is that Mr. Smith will be written off by Goldman as ‘not a team player,’ ‘was already going out the door,’ ‘doesn’t represent what is really the character of our organization,’ and more.  In other words, we could probably write their press release for them.