Flunking the Ethics Test: Aspects Fostering Unethical Behavior in Corporate Culture

While riding the terminal shuttle at the international airport in Atlanta, Ga., a fellow passenger initiated a conversation with me by asking what I did for a living. When I told him I was a professional consultant, he retorted with a sneer, “Oh yeah? And who's doing the work?”

His questioning my work ethic disturbed me and wounded my professional pride, but it also led me to ask questions of myself: What does ethics actually mean? What causes a person to become unethical? Likewise, what keeps a person on the “straight and narrow”? These questions spurred me to take a closer look at the role of ethics in the corporate environment and the attitudes that foster unethical behavior. The list of factors is partial and fluid, but should be helpful to fraud examiners and managers.

Consequences for not braiding ethics into corporate attitudes may include loss of revenue, loss of market share, and irreparable harm to a firm’s reputation. But the results of not being ethical personally and professionally could result in suspension or revocation of professional licenses, financial bankruptcy, and even incarceration.