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Article Review Assignment: Enron
In this scandal of Enron, we see a lot of the sins that they produces amongst the officials
here a list just to start out: The best list of vices is the classic seven deadly sins: pride, anger,
sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust, and envy.
Pride: Jeffery Skilling once said, "I've never not been successful at business or
work...ever!"
Anger: When interviewed by a Fortune reporter, Skilling said, "The people who
ask questions don't understand the company." When this reporter persisted a bit,
Skilling called her unethical for even raising the question and abruptly hung up the
phone. Later, he called another reporter an "expletive deleted."
Sloth: One of the most critical board meetings at Enron in 1991-where they were
giving approval to set aside their ethics statements on behalf of these shenanigans
with partnerships-that meeting lasted one hour. That's barely enough time to get a
Coke.
Greed: Avarice: Fastow, the CFO, sold $36 million of his Enron investments
before the company tanked. Lay had a whole bunch of sweetheart deals with family
members. I'm sure tempted to call that greed….1https://www.scu.edu/ethics/1
.https://www.scu.edu/ethics/about-the-center/1
As we look at all the sins this scandal took on, it’s amazing how things go on in the workplace
today. I’m sure there is a lot more of this happening around us and in the workplace as we see it
today. At Enron the managers, thinking that they were invincible, took on this whole scandal
alone without any outsiders involved. Enron used a system that they called rank and yank
performance appraisal system. This system eliminated all who fell behind or even disagreed with
their system. At Enron the whistleblowers that we call the people who are trying to stand up for
the company were as e=Enron calls it rebuffed in other words they were humiliated and treated
very badly. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/
Evaluation and Implications of Enron’s Unethical Behaviors1
The Enron scandal involved several ethical issues that made the organization generate revenues
and grow rapidly. The first and most main ethical issue in Enron was manipulative parties. They
took advantage of the legal aspects of the company and made themselves the top ones of interest.
Enron Manipulate the accounting practices that allowed them high profits’ by concealing all the
losses. The SPE let them create a positive financial picture by switching accounts from assets to
debts only focusing on the balance sheet with a high cash flow. (Ferrell et al., 2021). The
(GAAP) gives us accounting procedures to follow but they took it upon themselves to use
malpractice procedures to ensure that publicly traded companies used accurate reporting
practices. Enron manipulated its employees to buy shares in the company but refused to sale
when they were ready. This is bad moral and ethical practice.
Integration of Biblical Worldview and Value Judgments1
In biblical teachings and doctrines of Christianity, We as Human beings can exercise ethics by
knowing the truth and moral behaviors. The Bible teaches us how to act towards others and one
of them is not to use out powers to oppress others. (Bible Gateway, n.d) Here are some biblical
points to were Enron and violated its biblical teachings. On the moral and ethical views of
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Christianity in the workplace the bible teaches us in Colossians 3/:23-24 that; ‘in whatever you
do, work with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know
that you will receive an inheritance (Bible Gateway, n.d). In Psalms 82:3 the bible says believers
to show compassion and regard for the rights of the weak and oppressed, that those in authority
should defend the widows and vulnerable in society; leaders should protect the right of the lowly
and needy. The Bible recognizes the fruits of hard labor and is against wealth obtained through
false meanings. In Proverbs 22:16, those who oppress the poor to gain wealth and those who
reward the wealthy will all become poor (Bible Gateway, n.d). Enron got rewarded by the
Anderson company but there were no ethics or morals involved in this thinking. The bible tells
us about the wage of sin is death. In the book of Romans 6:23, the wage of sin is death, but
God’s gift is eternal life (Bible Gateway, n.d).
Enron executives were indicted with different charges for their role in misconduct and unethical
practices; the executives were convicted of a felony and sentenced to additional jail terms.1
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References
Bible Gateway (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-
James-Version-KJV-Bible/#booklist1
Cahn, A., & Donald, D. C. (2018). Directors’ duties of loyalty, good faith and care.
Comparative Company Law, pp. 10, 393–443. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316888971.0161
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell. (2021). Business ethics: Ethical decision making &
cases (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.1
Pandey, A. (2017). Ethical Issues of Financial Reporting.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320187705_ETHICAL_ISSUES_OF_FINANCIAL_R
EPORTING1
Rashid, M. M. (2020). Case analysis: Enron; Ethics, social responsibility, and ethical
accounting as inferior goods? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.35506181
Fresh Essays. (November 2022). Enron Ethics Case Study. Retrieved from
https://samples.freshessays.com/enron-ethics-case-study.html1
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/
