Facilitation and Participation Element Resit Assessment Breif | Ethics, Sustainability and Governance

Corporate Governance Questions:

Financial Failure and Governance Theories
CLARKE, T., 2005. Accounting for Enron: shareholder value and stakeholder interests. Corporate Governance: An International Review. 13(5), pp. 598-612. (Although this article is from 2005 it explains the issue around agency theory and remoteness of shareholders and board of directors really well.)

Question 1: The article discusses that the Enron experience challenged core beliefs and practices and also that “the market has become the master” (Coffee, 2004). Discuss and explain these comments

Question 2: From the article can you identify what were the seeds of Enron’s downfall?

Question 3: Can you discuss and explain if you can apply agency theory to the Enron situation?

Question 4 How can we avoid situations like Enron in the future? Was the banking crisis just a global repeat of Enron?

The Responsibility of the Board

READ: NIELSEN, S. and HUSE, M., 2010. The Contribution of Women on Boards of Directors: Going beyond the Surface. Corporate Governance: An International Review. 18(2), pp. 136-148.
 What are the criticism of past research on this topic?
 Discuss the meaning of:

• Strategic control
• Financial control

 Can you see why they have been chosen?

Institutional Investors

Suggested Reading: Solomon Textbook Chapter 5 and 6
1. Discuss whether institutional investors are effective activists monitoring company management.
2. Find three examples of attempts at shareholder activism from the chapter or from other sources. To what extent were they successful and why?
3. There has been a significant decline in trust in institutions. What do you think has caused this and how might it be rectified?

Ethics Questions

Ethics, Morality and Values

Read: Seider et al., (2009) Morality, Ethics and Good Work: Young People’s Respectful and Ethical Minds, Chapter 16, Morality, Ethics and Gifted Minds, D. Ambrose and T. Cross (eds.), London, Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg. (Week 4 Seminar Materials)

1. Discuss Seider et.al’s, (2009) conception of Morality.

2. Greene (2001) asserts that “There is a growing consensus that moral judgements are based largely on intuition”. What do you think he means by this statement?

3. In ‘The Cheating Culture’ David Callahan (2004) described unethical behaviour as having become routine over the past two decades, whilst Seider et.al, (2009) suggest “... young professionals...as they enter the real world, many young adults believe the competition to get ahead necessitates ethical compromises”. Would you agree or disagree with these statements?

Philosophical Ethical Theories

Read Article: Rand, A. (1961). The Virtue of Selfishness in The Elements of Moral Philosophy, Chapter 6. (Week 5 Seminar Materials)
Q1. Rand, when discussing one’s duty to help starving people, suggests that we could forgo our luxuries and give the money for famine relief instead…that the fact that we don’t suggests that we regard our luxuries as more important than helping starving people. Discuss your own opinion of this statement

Q5. What is your perspective on ethical egoism? Please use the three main arguments for and against the theory to guide your answer.

Q7. Finally, should our morality include some recognition of the needs of others?

Psychology of Ethical Decision-Making

Read Article: Payne, S.L. and Giacalone, R.A., (1990), Social Psychological Approaches to the Perception of Ethical Decision Making, Human Relations, Volume 43, pgs 649-665

Q5 How do you view the actions of those participating in the study? What factors would influence you if you were playing the role of the person administering the shocks?

Q6 What do you think are the wider implications of this study?

Q7 What criticisms could you have of this research?