White Collar Crime

5470 Words22 Pages
THE PROCESS OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME Abstract This movie examines the psychopathology of the white-collar criminal acting as a corporate leader. It looks at the impact of the leader’s behaviour on the workforce and the organizational culture developed and perpetuated during his or her reign. It also examines the role played by other employees in the crime. We propose an 11-step process to explain how an organization can move from a legally operating organization to one where unethical behaviour ignores and promotes wrong doing. Events from Enron, Barings Bank, World Com and other corporations are used to provide examples of this process. Finally, recommendations are made about how an organization should address the discovery of such illegal activities in an effort to stay viable. What evolves in an organization to draw law abiding company leaders to partake in white-collar crime? In the majority of recent high-profile cases of white-collar crime, such as Enron Corp., WorldCom, HealthSouth Corp., Adelphia Communications, Tyco International, HIH Insurance, Hollinger International Inc. and Xerox Corp., executives charged with committing white collar crime had no track record of committing crime. The outcome was a product of individual characteristics, a specific organizational environment and an opportunity. According to Williamsetal. (2007:205), psychopathic behaviours, those of a mix of “offensive personality traits and rebellious behavior,” stems from four reasons: interpersonal behavour, affectivity, lifestyle and antisocial tendencies. In some industries pressures to achieve short-term goals cause managers to become short-sighted in relation to longer-term ethical objectives (Sweeney, 2003). Pavlo, formerly of MCI, experienced intense pressure to “make the numbers,” no matter how. The culture was about pumping the stock price (Levinsohn, 2005). What appear to be
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