What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

•  
  joyces@...10/07/08 Report as spam
  1

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Why not offer large sums of money for the nastiest story then you could contribute directly to your own subject?
  
  By its wording and positioning your request is an invitation to boost.

•  
  R. B.10/08/08 Report as spam
  2

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Somehow I doubt those who have done something unethical are actually going to contribute here. They're too busy laughing about their victories and counting the piles of money obtained via their unethical behavior to waste their time "sharing." But those of us who have been victimized will probably check in just in case the last guy who stabbed us in the back decided to boast about their latest manipulations and underhanded dealings. Not that they would ever admit it was wrong, but if they wrote something here, at least it would be an off-handed admission of guilt. There's not much satisfaction in that, but it would be better than the knife they left in our back.

•  
  jenyj8910/08/08 Report as spam
  3

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  How's about the nastiest thing done to us by bosses or execs as they climbed on our backs on their way to the top or just used their power just to keep someone down? I think you will get far more stories with far more truth in them because most people don't want to brag about how nasty they have been to others but workers do want to share how they have been abused, stabbed in the back, held down, unrewarded and just plain mistreated by others in the workplace!!

•  
  jwood@...10/08/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Ummmm.....Hello, Michael, BNET? What were you thinking? Having your readers gloat over their unethical exploits? And then select the "best?" I think we should just say that you won with this request and leave it at that.

•  
  Michael.Mattis@...10/08/08 Report as spam
  5

  Lessons Learned

  Actually I was hoping to ferret out some of the lessons learned from unethical behavior, but do it in an entertaining way.

•  
  namfos10/08/08 Report as spam
  6

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Six years ago, I basically allowed my boss to manipulate my performance review and the HR department in order to sack me.
  
  "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke

•  
  hmmm...10/08/08 Report as spam
  7

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Some years ago, in the interest of protecting my employees, I was aggressive about reporting my boss every time he bullied my co-workers or staff. He was indeed a bully-- everyone agreed(including HR and his boss) but in trying to bring the problem to a head, my actions were not particularly admirable. The story ends with me (voluntarily) leaving. He is still there.

•  
  VT300010/08/08 Report as spam
  8

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Worked hard!

•  
  Michael.Mattis@...10/08/08 Report as spam
  9

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Here???s mine:
  
  A long, long time ago I was employed at a fashionable retail shop. I got along well with the manager, but one day found out he had been deceptive with the absentee owners -- he had a number of times closed the store a couple hours early so that he could see a movie (the one I remember was Dick Tracy, which tells you how long ago it was).
  
  The ethical response would have been to call the owner and tell him. But I didn???t want to seem like ???a rat.???
  
  A few months later, we had a bit of a falling out over a questionable firing. At that point I saw an opportunity for advancement and called the owner and told him about the manager???s movie-going antics, leaving a message. It all backfired, of course. For starters, I immediately felt awful about being a rat. Then, as it turned out, the owner had already got wind of the manager???s transgression and given him a proper dressing down but forgave him because he was an otherwise competent manager and a terrific sales person. In fact, the owner saw through my little game and almost fired me for my ???disloyalty??? to my manager.
  
  Hard feelings; damaged relations all around.
  
  Lesson learned: It always comes back to bite you.

•  
  kschroth10/08/08 Report as spam
  10

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Our department head (and my boss) was a super slacker. We conducted a cue and eventually after gathering much evidence against him, made a callt o the CEO of the company who was out of state.
  As stated above this was not received well. We were thought of as deserters. In the end, he got sacked, I moved up, managed the department for awhile before the whole company fell in.
  
  Not sure what I DID learn, but I know that wasn't the right way to handle it, even though it seemed so at the time. Bummer buit in corporate America it is essential to CYA whether a manager or a peon.. someone usually has something brewing. I have since moved to a smaller organization and LOVE IT !!

•  
  kschroth10/08/08 Report as spam
  11

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  Our department head (and my boss) was a super slacker. We conducted a cue and eventually after gathering much evidence against him, made a call to the CEO of the company who was out of state.
  As stated above this was not received well. We were thought of as desserters. In the end, he got sacked, I moved up, managed the department for awhile before the whole company fell in.
  
  Not sure what I DID learn, but I know that wasn't the right way to handle it, even though it seemed so at the time. Bummer but in corporate America it is essential to CYA whether a manager or a peon.. someone usually has something brewing. I have since moved to a smaller organization and LOVE IT !!

•  
  Canadian_A10/09/08 Report as spam
  12

  RE: What's the Most Unethical Thing You've Ever Done in Business?

  We needn't look far to ferret out some lessons.
  
  Here are two examples:
  
  $23 billion of American taxpayer money lost, stolen or improperly accounted for in Iraq. Complete and utter disregard for the most basic procurement and supply chain management guidelines and then punishment of those who seek to bring this to light.
  
  Sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Plenty of blame being levelled at the government for telling the banks to offer loans to squishy buyers. However, no one forced any bank to violate basic mortgage lending guidelines and then make millions in bonuses from selling this junk paper to equally short-sighted institutional investors.