Ethics and Decision Making in Corporate Set-up

Ethics and Decision Making in Corporate Set-up

The Hewlett Packard Board of Directors and general counsel became the center of discussion and news in September of two thousand and six, after a local news station revealed that the then chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, had contracted investigators to identify the source of an information leak. The information that had been leaked was published in a local daily in January of two thousand and six. According to the then chairwoman of Hewlett Packard, Patricia Dunn, the information published was leaked from a boardroom meeting that took place with the company’s Board of Directors behind closed doors (Sims). The team that was contacted by Patricia Dunn to conduct the investigation comprised of independent security experts and several journalists. The investigation team, however went ahead and recruited private investigators who used a technique known as pretexting to illegally obtain personal information, such as phone records, from the Board of Directors. Decisions made by the Board of Directors and Patricia Dunn after the case was brought to light, was a reflection of ethical decisions that the company stood for or the involved individuals.

Decisions made by Patricia Dunn lacked the ethical aspect of autonomy. The ethical theory that calls for the respect of autonomy states that every decision making should focus on giving people the freedom to make decisions that apply to their lives (Chonko). After the information leak, Patricia Dunn made the decision to investigate who caused the leak without involving the Board of Directors. Despite the investigation being conducted on them, Patricia, being the chairwoman at the time had the capability of informing the general counsel of what she was planning on doing even before she started. Choosing to intentionally keep that kind of information from them shows that Patricia took the power of decision making from the Board of Directors. Having been the one who consulted the investigation team, Patricia Dunn should have consulted with the entire Board of Directors and shared her intentions with them.

Despite having the best intentions while conducting the investigation, Patricia Dunn was careless in not taking time to understand the techniques that the investigators would use. Patricia would have considered the utilitarian ethical theory while making the decision concerning the investigators. The theory of utilitarianism is based on a person’s ability to predict the consequences of their actions to others (Chonko). If Patricia had considered the act of utilitarianism, she would have known that the decision to investigate on the Board members without their knowledge would not have been a good one. Conducting an investigation that would require one’s personal information such as phone records, are sensitive information that one would appreciate having the information beforehand. Patricia Dunn was also oblivious of the methods the investigators would use to collect information. When questioned about the pretexting technique, she made it clear she did not know by stating, “that she had no idea the pretexting technique also included the impersonation of the Board of Directors and journalists (Sims). If she had taken time to understand what her actions really entailed, Patricia would have been in a position to get the in depth understanding of what the pretexting technique was. She would also know that the impersonation would not have been received with open hands and hence stopped the investigation even before it started. Unfortunately, this was the case since Patricia did not take into consideration the effects of her actions.

While making the decision to contact the investigators and allowing them to investigate on the Board of Directors without their knowledge was in violation of the rights of those being investigated. The ethical theory of rights is based on the fact that every member of the society is guided and protected under the rights established in the land which act as a guide on what is right and wrong and if necessary, the required punishment for the violation of one’s rights (Chonko). Allowing the investigators to carry on with their investigation despite the fact that they impersonated Board members and journalists, was a violation of the Board of Director’s rights. The chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, would have taken into consideration the rights of the members she wanted investigated. She would have done this by first getting to know what rights governed an investigation process and which were the right methods to go about a successful investigation without the violation of any rights. Dunn would also have been keen on understanding the techniques that the investigators intended to use before she gave them the greenlight to carry on with their investigation. By doing so, Patricia would be in a position to well analyze the techniques and well comprehend how the methods responded to the rights of the people. Ignoring the rights of the Board of Directors led to Patricia violating the rights of the members.

The immediate action that was taken by the Hewlett Packard chairman and the legal team was that Patricia Dunn was to step down from her position and share the information given by the contacted investigators (Sims). This decision made by the team was a wise one since it sought to protect the board members and the information that had been falsely collected from them. By choosing to let Patricia step down from her position, the chairman and the legal team took into consideration the aspect that the board of directors and the entire company had lost faith in Patricia’s leadership. The legal team and the chairman used the ethical principle of justice. The ethical principle of justice states that decision makers should focus on actions that are fair to those involved (Chonko). The actions of Patricia were not fair to those who were being investigated and that is why the legal team had to seek justice for them. The legal team sought justice for the Board of Directors by requesting to have custody over all the information that had been wrongly collected from the ones being investigated. They also sought justice by removing Patricia Dunn from the group and allowing the other members to work without the fear of being illegally investigated.

Mark Hurd, took over the position of Chief Executive Officer in September of two thousand and six. Since Patricia had already lost the trust of the members from her actions, the main agenda for Mark would have been to regain the trust of the members in the position of CEO. Mark would have achieved this by contacting a lawyer who will revise the ethical laws of the company and ensure that there is a clause covering the aspect of investigation or collection of information from the board members as well as the employees of Hewlett Packard. Mark would also have the lawyer draft an addendum to the existing contract that stated the grounds under which employees and board members would be subjected to questioning or investigations and the specific circumstances listed down. The addendum that the consult lawyer will draft, will be largely based on the decisions of the employees and the board members and their willingness to take part in an investigation as opposed to representing the interest of the company. Creating an environment of openness and allowing transparency in all activities the company would wish to take part in especially involving their employees or board members is one way that Mark Hurd would regain the trust of the people in the position of the CEO.

Contacting an external party to do an addendum to the contracts and protecting the rights of the employees can be an expensive task although one that is necessary. Mark would raise the cost to pay the lawyers by liquidating some of the assets that the company owned which were not very profitable in that year. That way the company does not loose a revenue stream and manages to pay the lawyer fees. Assets such as treasury bonds or stocks that the company owned which were not really profitable would be liquidated in order for the money gained from it used as maintenance costs, salaries and petty cash for the contracted lawyers. The ethical perspective of Mark Hurd would be to regain the confidence of the employees and the board members in that the organization is focused on their ethics towards their employees.

Works Cited

Sims, Randi L. “A Study of Deviance as a Retaliatory Response to Organizational Power.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 92, no. 4, 2010, pp. 553–563. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40605316. Accessed 21 Mar. 2020.

Chonko, Larry. ETHICAL THEORIES. 2012, https://www.dsef.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/EthicalTheories.pdf. Accessed 21 Mar 2020.