Business-Ethics Stories Prominent in World-Press Reports

Apr 8th, 2013 ? Posted in: News

Aspiring U.K. stockbrokers will face ethics test before licensure; study suggests women in business are limited by their relative unwillingness to compromise ethics; Hewlett-Packard, troubled by series of ethics scandals, shakes up board

LONDON and NEW YORK

Business stories from both sides of the Atlantic included ethics coverage last week. Among the pieces:

• New stockbrokers in the United Kingdom will have to pass an ethics test before they are allowed to be licensed, reports the London?s Financial Times. ?The move by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, the U.K.?s main industry gatekeeper, is designed to counter the damage done to London?s reputation by the Libor scandal,? reports the FT. ?It makes London the first global financial centre to require a separate, upfront ethics test, and dovetails with political calls for changing the culture of investment banking.? The online test consists of six scenarios, including fudging r?sum?s or padding expenses. While critics say the test will be simple for a dishonest person to defeat, others say that at least it will increase attention paid to ethical dilemmas.
• A forthcoming study in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science suggests that women?s upward mobility in the workplace may be hampered by the fact that they are less willing than men to compromise their ethics, the Huffington Post reports. After conducting several surveys and deeming it unlikely that women will change their views, one of the authors concludes that it is imperative that business ? if it is serious about elevating more women to the top ? clamp down on situations requiring ethical compromise.
• Hewlett-Packard, troubled by a series of ethics scandals in recent years, is nudging CEO Ray Lane out of the chairman?s spot and two other directors are leaving the board, reports BusinessWeek. The Motley Fool investment publication reports: ?HP?s board has long been seen as a liability. Corporate-ethics expert Nell Minow quipped that these people might as well carry a banner saying, ?We have no idea what we?re doing.? That was two years and two CEOs ago.? HP?s board has been criticized roundly for being at the helm of a company rocked by allegations of accounting fraud and a scandal involving an improper relationship between a former CEO and a female contractor.

Sources: Motley Fool, Apr. 5 ? BusinessWeek, Apr. 5 ? Huffington Post, Apr. 4 ? Financial Times, Apr. 1.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 1 ? Related Newsline story, Mar. 25 ? Related Newsline commentary, Mar. 18 ? Related Newsline story, Mar. 18 ? Related Newsline story, Mar. 4.

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Source: http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/2013/04/08/business-ethics-55/

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