Enron Scandal Analyzed Through Virtue Ethics
This paper applies three virtue ethics concepts—fairness, justice, and truthfulness—to the Enron corporate scandal. After defining each virtue using Merriam-Webster, the paper examines how Enron executives Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Andrew Fastow violated each principle through financial fraud, market manipulation, and misleading disclosures. The analysis extends to stakeholder impact, showing how employees, shareholders, energy customers, and even innocent workers at auditing firm Arthur Andersen suffered lasting financial and reputational harm. The paper concludes that while the chief wrongdoers are well known, many peripheral victims continue to bear consequences from a corporate culture defined by avarice and ethical failure.
- Introduction: Overview of Enron's ethical failures and chosen virtues
- Defining the Three Virtues: Dictionary definitions of fairness, justice, and truthfulness
- Fairness and the Enron Affair: How Enron violated fairness toward investors and employees
- Justice and Its Limits: Legal outcomes for Lay, Skilling, and Fastow examined
- Truthfulness and Corporate Disclosure: Enron's deceptive SEC reporting and financial concealment
- Stakeholder Impact: Harm to employees, shareholders, customers, and Arthur Andersen staff
- Conclusion: Lasting damage to innocent parties near the Enron scandal
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds abstract ethical concepts in concrete dictionary definitions before applying them, giving the analysis a clear and structured foundation.
- Uses specific, named individuals (Lay, Skilling, Fastow) and their distinct legal outcomes to illustrate how each virtue was violated in a differentiated, non-repetitive way.
- Extends the analysis beyond the executives to secondary stakeholders—rank-and-file employees, Arthur Andersen staff, and energy customers—demonstrating breadth of ethical harm.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied ethical analysis: it takes a theoretical framework (virtue ethics) and maps each component systematically onto a real-world case. By defining terms first and then testing them against events, the writer shows how normative concepts can be used as evaluative lenses for corporate behavior—a standard technique in business ethics writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction naming the three chosen virtues, then defines all three before turning to application. Each virtue receives its own section examining Enron-specific evidence. A stakeholder section broadens the scope beyond the executives, and the conclusion reflects on the lasting damage to innocent parties. This define-then-apply structure is well-suited to undergraduate ethics assignments.
Introduction
This paper examines three virtues—fairness, justice, and truthfulness—and analyzes how each was, or more precisely was not, applied in the Enron scandal. Each virtue is first defined and then applied directly to the events surrounding the case. There was not a great deal of virtue on display in the Enron affair. The ethical failures started at the top with Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Andrew Fastow, and many others were actively involved in the fraud and depravity that unfolded. The malfeasance of those three men and their associates victimized a large number of people both before and after the scandal became public. While other accounting and corporate scandals have occurred throughout the history of the United States and the broader world, the Enron debacle set a troubling new standard for the absence of virtue ethics in corporate conduct.
Defining the Three Virtues
The three virtues examined in relation to the Enron scandal are fairness, justice, and truthfulness. Before applying them, each is defined in turn. The word "fairness," when looked up in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, redirects to "fair," which carries three relevant definitions: first, "agreeing with what is thought to be right or acceptable"; second, "treating people in a way that does not favor some over others"; and third, "not too harsh or critical" (Merriam-Webster, 2015).
When it comes to justice, two main definitions are offered: first, "the process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals"; and second, "a judge in a court of law" (Merriam-Webster, 2015). For truthfulness, the dictionary redirects to "truthful," defined as "telling the truth" or "containing or expressing the truth." The root word "truth" is defined as "the real facts about something," "the quality or state of being true," and "a statement or idea that is true or accepted as true" (Merriam-Webster, 2015).
References
Barrionuevo, A. (2006). Fastow leaves stand insisting Lay and Skilling knew. The New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/business/businessspecial3/14enron.html
Business Insider. (2011). 10 years later: What happened to the former employees of Enron? Business Insider. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/10-years-later-what-happened-to-the-former-employees-of-enron-2011-12
CNN. (2015). Enron fast facts. CNN. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/us/enron-fast-facts/
Erb, M. (2011). Four ways to foster fairness in the workplace. Entrepreneur. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219505
Hartley, C. (2014). The Enron scandal: An ethical analysis. The Business Scholar. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://the-business-scholar.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-enron-scandal-ethical-analysis.html
Merriam-Webster. (2015). Fair. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairness
Merriam-Webster. (2015). Justice. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice
Merriam-Webster. (2015). Truth. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truth
Merriam-Webster. (2015). Truthful. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 26 October 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truthfulness
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