Banking Industry Meltdown. White Collar vs Blue Collar crimes
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Assignment 4: “Banking Industry Meltdown: The Ethical and Financial Risks of Derivatives” Read Case 10: “Banking Industry Meltdown: The Ethical and Financial Risks of Derivatives.” Write a four to six (4-6) page paper that answers the following questions: 1. Determine which moral philosophy (as discussed in Chapter 6) is most applicable to an understanding of the banking industry meltdown. Explain your rationale. 2. Analyze the case study and discern if the “white collar” crimes committed differ in any substantive manner from other more “blue collar” crimes. 3. Determine and discuss the role that corporate culture played in banking industry scenario. Support your response with specific examples. 4. Postulate how leaders within the banking industry could have used their influence to avert the industry meltdown. 5. Include at least three (3) references, no more than three (3) years old, from material outside the course. The format of the paper is to be as follows: o Typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins on all sides (APA format). o Type the question followed by your answer to the question. o In addition to the four to six (4-6) pages required, a title page is to be included. The title page is to contain the title of the assignment, your name, the instructor’s name, the course title, and the date. Note: You will be graded on the quality of your answers, the logic/organization of the report, your language skills, and your writing skills.
Banking Industry Meltdown
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Moral philosophy and banking industry meltdown Moral ethics is related to philosophical ethics and can be applied in making decisions on what is right and wrong in businesses and life. The moral judgments associated with moral philosophy are more about values in comparison to business ethics which focus on group decisions and how to behave and carry out activities. According to Ferrell et al (2011), moral philosophies are guidelines through which people living together optimize mutual benefit and resolve conflicts of human interests. For businesspeople, moral philosophies are important guidelines in dealing with ethical dilemmas and formulating strategies. There are diverse moral philosophies applicable in business including: deontology, virtue ethics, teleology (egoism, utilitarianism), justice and the relativist perspective (Ferrell et al., 2011).
Teleology is the most applicable and refers to the philosophy where actions are undertaken for the final cause and desire (Ferrell et al., 2011). Egoism and utilitarianism are the two theories under teleology. Banks offered different investment platforms and loans based on the notion that the consumers would benefit. Consumers were assured that there were no negative consequences of choosing the financial instruments and options advocated by the banks. Nonetheless, the banks never prepared for the risks brought about by financial exposure to the complex financial instruments. Egotism relates to the need to advance self interest first (Ferrell et al., 2011). The major banks were interested in profits rather than improving the consumer’s net worth, and the banks were greedy to continue relying on complex financial instruments without warning consumers of the possible harmful effects to their credit worthiness in case the markets failed.
Utilitarianism is related to maximizing utility for more people, and speculative trading was touted as way to increase wealth. However, it was not handled properly as the banks engaged in irresponsible credit lending so as to improve profit growth. For instance, in Barings bank, the chief trader was involved in taking risks, and management believed that was in the best interest of the bank and that of customers (Ferrell et al., 2011). However, derivatives and other complex financial instruments are also opaque and there is a risk of abuse. Traders did not have adequate information on how leveraged the financial system was, and hence there was no clarity on whether this would maximize greatest good.
“White collar” versus “blue collar” crimes
Even though, there are victims in both white collar crime and blue collar crime, there are still differences on how they are committed. White collar crimes are related to the financial world, unlike blue collar crimes which are typically violent. The white collar crimes are mostly committed by people with knowledge on the financial services sector and may have a higher position in organizations where breach of trust and acts of dishonesty damage the reputation of organizations. Since white collar crime is done in a professional setting the victim may have trust in the perpetrator, who can rely on information technology communication to commit crime (Thio & Taylor, 2012). This contrasts with blue collar crime where people may suffer physical injuries and harm rather than economic loss.
One of the perspectives that show differences between the two is on ways to sanction punishment the utilitarian perspective seeks to deter future transgressions. The Kantian perspective views both blue collar and white collar crime as similar and punishment should be no different as perpetrators are rational. Nonetheless, Kantian perspective highlights more on the need to change perpetrators with punishment related to crime committed rather than deterrence. One of the challenges for punishing white collar criminals is that there is less clarity on who is responsible for financial losses even when criminals are identified there is an element of negligence which may worsen white collar crimes. On the other hand, the victims of blue collar crime can easily be identified, and these criminals tend to receive harsher punishment because of using violence, there is virtually no chance of being scapegoats like in white collar crime (Thio & Taylor, 2012).
Role of corporate culture the banking industry scenario
One of the concerns affecting the banking industry is that the industry focused on pursuit of profit and disregarder other considerations. The bankers entered into risk ventures while disregardin...