There is a direct relationship between leadership and its impact on corporate culture. The purpose of this assignment is to discuss the impact of corporate culture, leadership styles, and organizational structure as they relate to the fall of Enron.
Enron was originally introduced in the Learning Activities section of Module 1. It was an energy trading company which experienced rapid growth "on paper" (but not in reality) and ending up being at the heart of one of the largest fraud and conspiracy cases in corporate history.
View the Segment 4 The Fall of Enron: Organizational Ethics and Culture (2 min 54 sec) and Segment 3 Enron and Resulting Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements for Business (2 min 16 sec). You may also wish to review the Enron videos originally presented in the Learning Activities section of Module 1.
Segment 4 The Fall of Enron: Organizational Ethics and Culture: mms://bbmedia.schoolcraft.edu/video/business/fall-of-enron.wmv
Segment 3 Enron and Resulting Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements for Business:mms://bbmedia.schoolcraft.edu/video/business/enron.wmv
Also review the following:
- The Economist: Enron - The real scandal: https://www.economist.com/node/940091
- National Public Radio: The Fall of Enron - Collapse Felt from Workers' Homes to Halls of Government: https://www.npr.org/news/specials/enron/
- Enron Buffed Image to a Shine Even as It Rotted From Within: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/business/enron-s-many-strands-company-unravels-enron-buffed-image-shine-even-it-rotted.html
- Two Enron Chiefs Are Convicted in Fraud and Conspiracy Trial: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/business/businessspecial3/26enron.html
- CNN Money: Skilling gets 24 years: https://money.cnn.com/news/specials/enron/
- New York Times: Enron Founder, Awaiting Prison, Dies in Colorado: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/business/06enron.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1424120965-slv/7EwGQ/LQJUsRLRbXyQ
- Forbes: Enron, Ethics And Today's Corporate Values: https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2013/05/14/enron-ethics-and-todays-corporate-values/&refURL=&referrer=
Respond to the following and support your response.
- Describe the culture that you believe existed at Enron. Consider how the executives cheated the employees out of their life savings and the investors out of their stock price.
- Classify Enron's culture according to one of the four corporate (organizational) cultures discussed in this module (i.e. apathetic, caring, exacting, and integrative). Next, select another type of culture which if implemented, could have possibly avoided this scandal.
- Describe upper management's approach to leadership and its resulting impact on corporate culture. Also comment on the type of power base that existed at the top levels of the company.