Answer the 3 questions at the end of the case study, page 69, Chapter 2, of Behavior In Organizations 10E. Provide thorough answers.
Answer the 3 questions at the end of the case study, page 69, Chapter 2, of Behavior In Organizations 10E. Provide thorough answers.
The individual written assignment is based on: thoroughness–does it cover the concepts thoroughly, supporting details–is there relevant evidence included in the case study essay, demonstrates a clear understanding of the assignment, and grammar, mechanics, spelling and sentence structure. The length of the essay should be between 500 and 1,500 words.
In the event the links in that Internet exercise from the text website don’t work… here is a new alternate assignment.
The case from the text is about the HP Pretext scandal and how Patricia Dunn handled it. So if you don’t have the text read the article about it at this link https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/10/hepa-o02.html
and then for the assignment—summarize the situation and the ethical missteps. Should Dunn have resigned? What are your takeaways from what you learned from reading about this? You are welcome and encouraged to do some additional research on the situation.
The chairman and a half dozen other top officials have resigned or been fired at Hewlett-Packard, the biggest US personal computer and printer manufacturer, amid a scandal over illegal corporate spying that has unfolded over the past month.
The spying campaign, launched by H-P board Chairwoman Patricia Dunn in response to leaks to the press of internal corporate discussions, included surreptitiously obtaining the phone records of H-P board members and employees, surveillance of board members and journalists, and the emailing of spyware to journalists in an effort to learn the identity of their sources within the company.
Private telephone records on hundreds of cell and home telephones were obtained by a method called “pretexting,” in which investigators made repeated calls to telephone companies, pretending to be the individuals targeted, until they were able to convince a phone company employee to release the information.
California state authorities have begun an investigation into the spying program to determine whether criminal charges may be warranted. On Thursday, more than a dozen current and former H-P officials and employees appeared before a congressional subcommittee. Ten of them invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. H-P General Counsel Ann Baskins resigned her position only hours before the session and refused to testify.
Dunn, who resigned September 22, was the principal witness at the hearing and defended her conduct in the anti-leak campaign. She claimed to be unaware of the methods used by private investigators who obtained records on hundreds of phone numbers belonging to company directors, employees, their families and journalists.
Striking a posture of clueless naiveté that would seem to belie her position as a top executive at Barclay Global Services, a leading financial services firm, Dunn claimed that she thought anyone could obtain private telephone records on anyone else by simply calling the telephone service provider and asking for them.
The private investigators were hired through a series of “cutouts” intended to allow the top corporate officials to plead ignorance of what was being done at their instigation. Dunn routed her instructions through Kevin Hunsaker, a senior attorney at H-P, who headed the secret spying campaign in his capacity as the company’s chief ethics officer.
Hunsaker relayed Dunn’s orders to Anthony Gentilucci, head of H-P’s global investigations unit, located in Boston, who assigned the job to Ronald DeLia of Security Outsourcing Solutions, a Boston firm specializing in such investigations for big companies.
DeLia further outsourced the dirty work to Action Research Group of Melbourne, Florida, which specializes in data brokering, which in turn hired subcontractors in Florida, Georgia, Colorado and Nebraska, who conducted the actual surveillance and obtained telephone records from Verizon and other telecommunications firms.
The spying campaign was touched off by a series of leaks from within the Hewlett-Packard board of directors, providing details of internal disputes over corporate strategy. H-P, the biggest company in Silicon Valley, has been in considerable difficulty since its controversial acquisition of a leading manufacturer of personal computers, Compaq. CEO Carly Fiorina was forced out in 2005. She was succeeded as CEO by Mark Hurd, former CEO of NCR, and as chairwoman of the board by Dunn.
The first stage of the internal leak investigation ended inconclusively in 2005, but the probe was revived in January 2006 after articles appeared on the Internet publication CNET and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal providing details of corporate strategy and possible acquisitions that Dunn was convinced could only have come from board sources.
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