Question

4. What is he most flagrant violation of business ethics you have come across in the readings? 5. What are common CSO tactics both in confronting businesses and in cooperating with businesses?

Answer 1

4. Improper or dishonest billing is a breach of ethics that may include charging customers for services they have not received. It occurs most often in sectors where the party paying the bill is not the party delivering the services. The incidence of this particular breach of ethics has prompted most insurance providers to provide a list of services to consumers who may be subject to such violations, allowing them to disclose anomalies. Financial professionals are able to commit ethical violations in several ways. A prime example is not moving the funds of a customer into an authorized escrow account. Managing escrow accounts is also often required for attorneys and real estate agencies. We are usually in breach if we neglect to do so and put client funds in personal or business accounts.

Many professionals require their licenses and certifications to be renewed or updated. This often requires taking courses and/or paying fees. Most people do not update their certificates until they expire for various reasons. Because many clients (and often supervisors) do not regularly check, these breaches of ethics often go unnoticed if they are not found by a regulatory body.

Conflict of interest usually involves a person who breaks the confidence of a customer or puts the customer at risk due to third party dealings. Such problems can occur with attorneys (a criminal lawyer who dates from the prosecutor of his client) or consultants. It is often experienced in voting boards where there is a personal relationship in the outcome of the vote between a voting party and a third party. In these cases, an obvious conflict of interest is the potential for a biased vote or the subject being able to provide information or engage in activities with opposing parties that jeopardize the outcome.

5. Companies add (or at least consider doing so) CSOs to their management teams for several reasons. Start with changes in the business landscape complex organizational structures, rapid globalization, new regulations, the challenge to innovate that make it harder for CEOs to be at the top of everything, even an environment as important as execution of strategies. Then consider the very nature of the strategy. By almost all accounts, the development of strategies has become a process that is continuous, not periodic. Therefore, successful execution is more than ever dependent on quick and effective decision-making.

Whether groomed or hired, chief executives in management need to be able to work with and influence people through organisations and beyond; that's the essence of the role. A CSO's large mix of skills and experience is unique, making those with this mixture highly valued. Top executives who recognize their worth are rarely abandoning these individuals. Therefore, many CSOs have longstanding relationships with their CEOs.