Enron Scandal Overview: Filipino Values and Traits
Introduction
Enron, at its zenith, was the largest energy trading company worldwide and the seventh largest corporation in the United States of America. The company was unprecedented in terms of rapid growth and, as it was, all they had achieved was truly too good to be true. Within a year from accomplishing this impressive feat, the company was in shambles. Their CEO resigned, misleading reports were published, incriminating documents were destroyed, share value fell to $1.00, a desperate buy-out failed, and the company filed for bankruptcy. The downfall of the Enron executives was rooted in their insatiable greed. They could have grown their company slowly and organically, but instead, they chose a hasty but unethical expansion. The chief issue that led to their downfall was their questionable accounting practices that massively overstated company revenue to lure investors under the guise of profitability. Filipino values at work in the Enron scandal are corruption, poorly distributed wealth, delikadesa, exploiting connections, and primacy on the name. This is Enron, Filipino values and traits essay in which this topic will be considered.
Filipino Values and Virtues at Work
Corruption is evident in the actions of the Enron executives. Skilling and Lay were found guilty of multiple counts of fraud. They practiced corruption by taking cuts from company profits and awarding themselves excessive and large sums of bonuses.
The poor distribution of wealth was clear in the compensation system of the company. There was a large discrepancy between the salaries of the few top performing employees and the rest of the employees. The distribution of salaries was unfair and heavily favored the few who were on top much like the colossal gap of wealth between the tens of millions of poverty-stricken Filipinos and the small population of rich Filipinos.
Another Filipino value at work is delikadesa. There was a complete lack of this on the side of Enron who thrived on misrepresentation. Delikadesa was exhibited by Sherron Watkins, the whistleblower who exposed Enron for its unethical actions. Watkins was an Enron executive who had the propriety and hiya to reveal Enron’s shameful sins. She braved the backlash from her co-workers because she had the decency and bravery to be the whistleblower.
Exploiting connections is another trademark of Filipinos that is needed to be mention in positive and negative filipino values essay. Most often seen in politics, exploiting connections is a common practice powerful Filipinos use to further their own agendas. In this case, the Enron executives exploited connections by using their close ties to the White House to conceal their actions. Being closely connected to powerful officials swayed the government into turning a blind eye towards Enron’s questionable acts.
Primacy on the name was most evident on the part of Arthur Andersen, the auditing firm affiliated with Enron. Arthur Andersen himself was guilty of obstruction of justice because he erased emails, documents, and files that tied their accounting firm to Enron. Andersen’s name and honor was on the line because of their connection to the disgraced Enron and in attempt to rectify this, he obliterated any evidence of his firm’s role in Enron’s misleading reports.
Ethical Plan or Course of Action
One of the major ways Enron erred was in their impatience. The Enron CEOs, Skilling especially, were unsatisfied with the regular pace of company growth. Hence, they resorted to misleading the market and investors into believing their profits were much more than they actually were. Through exercising patience and growing their company organically, Enron could have stayed a viable business.
To rectify the issue of public mistrust, Enron should have been less deceitful. Enron misled the public and the business community into believing a number of their lies. For instance, they fooled analysts into believing the company had much more employees than there actually were. They also released many misleading financial reports which massively overstated their revenues. Lies of any sort ruin the credibility of a company, and as such must always be avoided to preserve a business’ reputation. The correct course of action of a business in any industry should be transparency. Enron was labeled the darling of Wall Street for a time but it was built on lies so it did not last. Truly, fake reputations are only temporary and the truth is bound to reveal itself at some point. Consequently, the safest choice for sustainable growth is to be transparent. After all, it is better to build a company slowly but surely than have one grow quickly but crash and burn just as fast.
Conclusion
To sum up the importance of filipino values essay, the Enron scandal is the proverbial tale of how unethical business practices such as fraud, unfair wages, exploitation, obstruction of justice, and misleading reports can lead to the complete and abrupt decimation of a company that in its prime was even once named the most innovative large company in America in Fortune magazine’s survey of Most Admired Companies. In the Enron narrative the Filipino qualities of corruption, poorly distributed wealth, delikadesa, exploiting connections, and primacy on the name shined through. From the standpoint of nearly every ethical theory, the actions of Enron were wrong. Their means was questionable, and their end was a failure. They showed no remorse, and their character was poor. In the end, they failed due to their greed and penchant for misleading the public. Enron should have been more patient and grown their company in a sustainable fashion. They should have been less deceitful with their decision-making because in the end, their lies only brought them temporary success. True success cannot be cheated; it is earned through years of tireless honest work.
