Course Materials Developed
Kweku Adoboli at UBS
The UBS case outlines how individual ambition and lax organizational standards and oversight can lead to consistent unethical behavior resulting in a crippling loss at a large investment bank. The case also highlights how weak corporate culture and unclear organizational structure can facilitate unethical behavior. While individuals in Adoboli’s role would be expected to lose money on occasion, personal incentives, both from financial gain and organizational advancement, drove Adoboli to conceal his losses from the bank.
Learning objective:
Highlight how individual cognitive failings and weaknesses can interact with systemic organizational failures and weaknesses, leading to dangerous and dramatically bad outcomes
Demonstrate how prevalent practices in organizational settings (i.e. goal-setting) can have unintended negative consequences
Subjects covered:
Business ethics; Rogue trading; Fraud; Control systems; Slippery Slopes
Wakeman, S. W., & Moore, C. (2014). Kweku Adoboli at UBS. London Business School, CS-14-001.
Wakeman, S. W., & Moore, C. (2014). Kweku Adoboli at UBS: Teaching Note. London Business School, TN-14-001.
Chris and Alison Weston
Chris and Alison Weston describe how they, a well-educated middle class couple, ended up committing mail fraud, for which they each served a year and a half in federal prison. The case highlights for students how otherwise upstanding individuals much like themselves can commit crimes without being truly aware that they are doing it.
Learning objective:
Prepare students to make ethically charged decisions by exploring moral disengagement, a process that enables Individuals to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing they are causing harm or doing wrong.
Subjects covered:
Accountability; Business ethics; Conflicts of interest; Values
Cases:
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (A). Harvard Business School, 9-612-019.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (B). Harvard Business School, 9-612-020.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (C). Harvard Business School, 9-612-021.
A Note on Moral Disengagement
Moral disengagement is a process that enables people to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing that they are causing harm or doing wrong. When Conrad Black, the fallen Canadian mogul convicted of multiple counts of fraud and obstruction of justice, claims that he “would never dream of committing a crime in a thousand years,” moral disengagement is what allows him to make that claim and believe it. This note provides an overview of the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement as first described by Albert Bandura, and provides examples of how they operate in our daily lives.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). A note on moral disengagement. Harvard Business School, 9-612-043.
Innocent Drinks
This case explores the process a social venture went through in raising funds to expand its business, focusing on the risks and opportunities of possible funding methods, and actions that can be taken to protect key values throughout the process. The case provides an opportunity to debate the challenges involved in growing socially responsible businesses, how social responsibility can be embedded in a company’s value chain, and whether corporate size benefits or constrains an organization’s ability to operate in a socially responsible way.
Available at www.thecasecentre.org.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. (A). London Business School. Reference no. 712-037-1.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. (B). London Business School. Reference no. 712-038-1.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. Teaching note. London Business School. Reference no. 712-037-8.
Military Contracting in a War Zone
This case takes two perspectives on the same set of case facts about a military logistics supplier gone wrong: one from the perspective of the Department of Defense contractor ('Bill') and one from the perspective of the Kuwaiti-based supplier ('Rohit'). The case develops fictional characters to help elicit class discussion and teaching opportunities on issues of (1) how difficult it is to manage complicated ethical issues across national and cultural boundaries, and in stressful environments such as regions embroiled in military conflict, (2) how these contexts elicit in-group favouritism and out-group biases, and (3) how overcoming these limitations in global environments requires expanding one’s circle of moral regard. The case involves fictional characters but the content of the case is based on publicly available information about Agility Corporation, a Kuwaiti-based supplier of food and transport for the US Department of Defense who has been indicted for fraud.
Available at www.thecasecentre.org.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. (A): Rohit. London Business School. Reference no. 712-040-1.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. (A): Bill. London Business School. Reference no. 712-040-1.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. Teaching note. London Business School. Reference no. 712-039-8.
*If you are interested in using any of these cases, please contact me directly.
The UBS case outlines how individual ambition and lax organizational standards and oversight can lead to consistent unethical behavior resulting in a crippling loss at a large investment bank. The case also highlights how weak corporate culture and unclear organizational structure can facilitate unethical behavior. While individuals in Adoboli’s role would be expected to lose money on occasion, personal incentives, both from financial gain and organizational advancement, drove Adoboli to conceal his losses from the bank.
Learning objective:
Highlight how individual cognitive failings and weaknesses can interact with systemic organizational failures and weaknesses, leading to dangerous and dramatically bad outcomes
Demonstrate how prevalent practices in organizational settings (i.e. goal-setting) can have unintended negative consequences
Subjects covered:
Business ethics; Rogue trading; Fraud; Control systems; Slippery Slopes
Wakeman, S. W., & Moore, C. (2014). Kweku Adoboli at UBS. London Business School, CS-14-001.
Wakeman, S. W., & Moore, C. (2014). Kweku Adoboli at UBS: Teaching Note. London Business School, TN-14-001.
Chris and Alison Weston
Chris and Alison Weston describe how they, a well-educated middle class couple, ended up committing mail fraud, for which they each served a year and a half in federal prison. The case highlights for students how otherwise upstanding individuals much like themselves can commit crimes without being truly aware that they are doing it.
Learning objective:
Prepare students to make ethically charged decisions by exploring moral disengagement, a process that enables Individuals to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing they are causing harm or doing wrong.
Subjects covered:
Accountability; Business ethics; Conflicts of interest; Values
Cases:
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (A). Harvard Business School, 9-612-019.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (B). Harvard Business School, 9-612-020.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). Chris and Alison Weston (C). Harvard Business School, 9-612-021.
A Note on Moral Disengagement
Moral disengagement is a process that enables people to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing that they are causing harm or doing wrong. When Conrad Black, the fallen Canadian mogul convicted of multiple counts of fraud and obstruction of justice, claims that he “would never dream of committing a crime in a thousand years,” moral disengagement is what allows him to make that claim and believe it. This note provides an overview of the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement as first described by Albert Bandura, and provides examples of how they operate in our daily lives.
Sucher, S., & Moore, C. (2011). A note on moral disengagement. Harvard Business School, 9-612-043.
Innocent Drinks
This case explores the process a social venture went through in raising funds to expand its business, focusing on the risks and opportunities of possible funding methods, and actions that can be taken to protect key values throughout the process. The case provides an opportunity to debate the challenges involved in growing socially responsible businesses, how social responsibility can be embedded in a company’s value chain, and whether corporate size benefits or constrains an organization’s ability to operate in a socially responsible way.
Available at www.thecasecentre.org.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. (A). London Business School. Reference no. 712-037-1.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. (B). London Business School. Reference no. 712-038-1.
Moore, C., Fischer, L., & McCarthy, M. (2012). Innocent drinks: Maintaining socially responsible values during growth. Teaching note. London Business School. Reference no. 712-037-8.
Military Contracting in a War Zone
This case takes two perspectives on the same set of case facts about a military logistics supplier gone wrong: one from the perspective of the Department of Defense contractor ('Bill') and one from the perspective of the Kuwaiti-based supplier ('Rohit'). The case develops fictional characters to help elicit class discussion and teaching opportunities on issues of (1) how difficult it is to manage complicated ethical issues across national and cultural boundaries, and in stressful environments such as regions embroiled in military conflict, (2) how these contexts elicit in-group favouritism and out-group biases, and (3) how overcoming these limitations in global environments requires expanding one’s circle of moral regard. The case involves fictional characters but the content of the case is based on publicly available information about Agility Corporation, a Kuwaiti-based supplier of food and transport for the US Department of Defense who has been indicted for fraud.
Available at www.thecasecentre.org.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. (A): Rohit. London Business School. Reference no. 712-040-1.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. (A): Bill. London Business School. Reference no. 712-040-1.
Moore, C., & Nguyen, Q. (2012). Military contracting in a war zone. Teaching note. London Business School. Reference no. 712-039-8.
*If you are interested in using any of these cases, please contact me directly.