Corruption through Management and Board

In Chapter 2 of our reading this week, we read a case about Qual Plus HMO and the unethical practices of both the Board Committee and the CEO. In the case Jim, the man who felt unethical practices were taking place, could not find any assistance in fighting this injustice. Corruption was already set in place when the CEO began receiving improper benefits from the board of directors creating an inappropriate relationship amongst the two. After being turned down by the CEO for advice on stopping the unethical decisions he turned to the ethics committee and was turned down again. Jim, being a member of the board, was being placed in a position where he was to either choose to go against his morals and side with the other board members or leave his position. The major question for him is that if he was to just keep quite as expected what other unethical decision would he be asked to be a part of, would they become illegal?

At that point in their organization the corruption has grown so deep, that the chances of getting back to normal are slim. Once the CEO is corrupt and he has a fully corrupt board, creating a break in the cycle would be nearly impossible, especially by one single individual. To avoid this sort of behavior I believe there should be standards set in place where CEOs and board members should be unable to give or receive gifts. By stopping this, board members would be unable to “buy” their ways onto the board, and in turn the board would be more willing to keep their CEO in check.