A thought I've been tossing around for a couple of days: As we become more and more aware of the cronyism, favoritism, nepotism, and the other -isms that impel the Bush administration and Washington in general, no one seems to have made the connection to the corporate environment: this is the way business is done in America. It's a truism at this point that it's not what you know, it's who you know. Networking, which I seem to remember becoming a catch-word arouind the time of Ronald "Greed Is Good" Reagan, is an open motivation for social interaction: you attend parties to meet people, not in the hope of finding someone you will like, but in the hope of finding someone who can be useful. The bottom line is the ruling morality, and human considerations are way down on the list. If you're among the top corporate leaders, your parachute will be big enough to allow you to buy a Congressman or two. It's not about product any more, it's about marketing; quality of product is secondary. Let's face it, we live in a world where a phrase like "business ethics" is considered an oxymoron.
I'm led to the conclusion that American business, by its very nature, is corrupt.
3 comments:
I remember reading a few months ago that in a survey on ethical behavior (taken by researchers at Columbia, I think, although I'm not sure) the college students who scored lowest -- had the least appreciation for ethics in any part of their lives -- were the MBA kids. So it should be no surprise that, having an MBA in the White House, even if he didn't exactly graduate summa, should lead to the ethical quagmire we're in, should it?
It's even worse than that. It's a whole philosophy centered on the bottom line as the only arbiter of moral value. BushCo is only the tip of the iceberg.
Actually, I just remembered this story, which I think is a good illustration.
BP's ceaseless efforts to promote itself as an environmentally responsible energy producer took a serious blow yesterday after a US congressional committee said "a mountain of evidence" showed the company's cost-cutting on maintenance had led to a large oil spill in Alaska. The US government said it was "highly likely" to fine BP over the leaks.
Tell me they weren't aware of the possibilities.
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