In an effectively functioning organization, according to sociologist Robert Jackall (as cited in Cohan, 2002), power is concentrated at the top in the person of the chief executive officer (CEO) and is simultaneously decentralized; that is, responsibility for decisions and profits is pushed as far down the organizational line as possible. At Enron the information did not go down the ladder, or up. Information did not go to the management team or the board of directors. "The board of Enron...appears to be analogous to the seventeenth century monarch - holding absolute power in theory, but cut off from access to information and thereby manipulated by the ministers who are its nominal servants." The hierarchal structure of Enron prevented personnel from obtaining complete understanding required to make informed moral decisions and from actually knowing what part they played in the totality of the corporate strategy. At every company a certain culture exists that is followed by the majority of the people. This culture goes hand-in-hand with the group process, or how the employees work or do not work together on decision making and reaching objectives. The process also stipulates how the leader and followers work in concert. At Enron, there was a group emphasis of shared negativism toward energy regulation and other forms of government control. Those who questioned the leaders' entrepreneurship and conflicts of interest...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now