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Source:
Diane Swanson, 785-532-4352, swanson@k-state.edu
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/dswansonbio.html
News release prepared by: Keener A. Tippin II, 785-532-6415,
media@k-state.edu
Wednesday,
October 18, 2006
K-STATE
BUSINESS ETHICS PROFESSOR SAYS HP BOARDROOM SPYING CASE COULD HEIGHTEN
PUBLIC CYNICISM TOWARD CORPORATE LEADERS
MANHATTAN
-- In the wake of the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal, a Kansas State
University business ethics expert thinks companies must be very
careful not to abuse their power and create a surveillance culture
that abuses the privacy rights of their stakeholders.
Diane
Swanson, a K-State associate professor of management and von Waaden
business administration professor, said in the case of HP, where
its now ex-chairwoman and four other people face charges in a boardroom-news
leak spying case, discovering the source of the leak should have
been handled internally without violating the privacy rights of
employees and the media.
"We
cannot lose sight of the fact that what appears to be a dysfunctional
board at the top is the root cause of the problem and that it led
to violations of privacy for other stakeholders, not to mention
a concern for stock value on the part of shareholders," Swanson
said.
According
to Swanson, given the loss of confidence society is experiencing
in the top levels of business and government, Americans cannot risk
deterring the media in its important role as a watchdog.
"If
corporations are allowed to extend their powerful control mechanisms
into the pressroom, it will have a chilling effect on media coverage
of corporate conduct and threaten the public's right to know,"
Swanson said. "In my opinion, the media is not covering corporate
abuses of power nearly enough. The antics that HP has been alleged
to use will only make matters worse if it sets the bar for future
corporate behavior.
"Unfortunately,
many organizations tend to want to shoot the messenger instead of
fixing the root problems. The board of directors has a responsibility
to exercise due diligence and loyalty, not leak information that
will hurt the stockholders. Information that will hurt HP's competitive
advantage should not be tolerated," she said.
Ultimately,
it is the heavy-handedness of HP's response that most concerns Swanson.
"It's
a corporation, not a gulag," Swanson said. "As an ethicist,
the failure of the firm to set the tone for corporate social responsibility
is unsettling. Instead of knowing how HP actually serves society
and stockholder interests, we are questioning its potentially heavy-handed
violations of fundamental privacy rights. It is up to the firm's
top officials to get the dysfunctional power dynamics under control
and return the firm to a focus on its product and serving constructive
social values.
"As
citizens, we are already tolerating enough of a surveillance culture
now. We don't need to have corporations joining the act and getting
away with it," she said.
Swanson
said she has been concerned for some time that many of the elites
in government and business are serving their own narrow interests,
having lost sight of their stewardship role in serving the needs
of others.
"The
mechanisms of government and business are ultimately justified only
if they serve the greater good," Swanson said. "In the
case of HP, it appears that many interests are not being served
as well as they should be. The shareholders could potentially lose
share value. Reporters and employees could experience a loss of
privacy. There could be a chilling effect on the media's watchdog
role.
"Ultimately, the public loses more trust in one of the most
important generative institutions in our society -- business. And
if government officials do not use this opportunity to reign in
such questionable behavior, then confidence in the government will
continue to decline."
In
Swanson's eyes, this is the most serious loss of all.
"Already,
we have too much corporate influence in government allowed due to
lobbying and other influence mechanisms," she said. "It
is time for proper business and government boundaries to be re-established
on behalf of the public good."
Swanson
is spearheading a campaign to emphasize the importance of ethics
in business education. She attributes part of the recent sweep of
corporate scandals to nationwide business school curriculum inadequacies.
Swanson's endeavor has earned the endorsement of more than 200 professors,
ethicists and business professionals, as well as two conference
boards and national and international media coverage.
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