Unethical Leaders Scandal Involving Jeff Skilling of Enron Corporation Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Current issues/culture/ environment at the time of the situation The environmental situation that led to creation of Enron was a merger between Internorth and Houston Natural Gas Co. Enron was born in a highly competitive market. The energy economy was under regulation and the market economic situation exhibited a recession. Later on, the market was deregulated through policies put in place by â€Å"Federal Energy Regulatory Commission† (FERC). The deregulation was put in place to remove regulatory limitations and to prevent another harsh economic condition from happening. The federal Government were trying to avoid a repeat of energy emergency. Enron became a chief supplier of energy products in the US and stabilized economically. Through its highly innovated activities and with the help of highly skilled leadership team, it was able to deeply penetrate the market and stand firm against stiff competition (Mekay, 2003). Being a chief player in the economy of the US, Enron used its resources to exercise influence on the US Politics. For exa mple, a board member at Enron Kenneth Lay became a close ally of George W. We will write a custom essay sample on Unethical Leaders: Scandal Involving Jeff Skilling of Enron Corporation or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Bush, during his career in politics when he was Texas Governor. Lay promised a financial support to Bush in exchange for positions that would be occupied by Enron executives in the Federal Government (Mekay, 2003). Lay had powers to make decisions of National importance like energy issues policies and other issues. Enron’s relationship with politicians involved the republican but democrats also. It funded many of Bill Clinton’s activities. These relationships gave Enron many powers to influence a number of US policies through lobbying. Enron was using its money and resources such as powerful connections to instigate distortion of Government policies. It also used its influential power to deceive consumers (Gutman, 2002). Perceived motivation of the individual Several factors motivated Skilling to partake in the Scandal including the pursuance of individual interest based on lack of integrity. According to Northouse (2004), integrity is an important trait in a leader. It involves honesty, reliability and accountability. It transpires that these qualities were lacking in most of the leaders at Enron. Eventually, this motivated Skilling to pursue individual and corporate interest. A fault in the organization culture facilitated the scandal. This was attributable to Skilling’s failures because he was fixated on profit maximization. He failed to understand and support standard practices that would boost organizational organizational culture.