One real life example of personal ethics is United Airlines.
Rebecca Cline
One real life example of personal ethics is United Airlines. In 2017, United Airlines overbooked a flight, which is legal for them to do, and “forcefully dragged a passenger off an overbooked flight” (Ethical Dilemmas: How Scandals Damage Companies, 2019). United Airlines reserves the right to ask any customer to get off the plane, but the manner of the incident led many customers to state that they were disappointed in the company for how they handled the situation. Although United Airlines was well within its rights to remove the customer from the plane, the situation could have been handled differently and many not have received as much bad press leading to the company issuing an apology, that many customers also thought was subpar (Ethical Dilemmas: How Scandals Damage Companies, 2019). One thing that stands out with this example is that even though a company is within its rights, the manner in which they act is important in order to not end up with a bad reputation.
One company that exemplifies corporate responsibility is Bank of America. Bank of America’s corporate social responsibility is focused on environmental sustainability. One way that Bank of America is becoming more environmentally sustainable is through their “goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050” (Corporate Environmental Sustainability Strategy & Initiatives, 2021). Bank of America had already taken the first step in environmental sustainability by “achieving carbon neutrality and procuring 100% renewable electricity in 2019” this was a year before the company had scheduled to have the project complete (Corporate Environmental Sustainability Strategy & Initiatives, 2021). One thing that I learned from this example is that Bank of America does not only have plan in place, but they also have policies and a task force that is designated and has to provide disclosure reports. When a company has all the right pieces in place and is held accountable, the company will do what is needed.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was created “to help protect investors from fraudulent financial reporting by corporations” (Kenton, 2021). The passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act led to many companies being more aware of not only the legal benefits, but also the business benefits of creating a corporate ethics compliance program. Although the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was mainly intended to govern publicly traded companies, the practical and legal effects are much greater. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act promotes strong ethical behavior due to the fact that there are now consequences to unethical behavior for every organization. These consequences can be in the form of fines and criminal sanction. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act also requires publicly traded companies to have code of ethics that meets certain standards (Cino, 2015).
Resources:
Cino, R. J. (2015, June 1). All Employers Should Consider the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Corporate Compliance and Ethics Programs. Jackson Lewis. https://www.jacksonlewis.com/resources-publication/all-employers-should-consider-impact-sarbanes-oxley-act-corporate-compliance-and-ethics-programs.
Corporate Environmental Sustainability Strategy & Initiatives. Bank of America. (2021). https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/environmental-sustainability.
Ethical Dilemmas: How Scandals Damage Companies. Western Governors University. (2019, September 23). https://www.wgu.edu/blog/ethical-dilemmas-how-scandals-damage-companies1909.html#close.
Kenton, W. (2021, May 19). Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002 Definition. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sarbanesoxleyact.asp.
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