The business world has been shocked and rocked by major corporate scandals involving unethical behavior. The real “poster” companies of ethics violations include: Enron, Tyco International, WorldCom, Global Crossing and Adelphia. The risks and costs associated with these examples of unethical behavior are astronomical in dollars, but also extremely high in other non-quantified costs and risks. Your strategic thinking business coach developed a list of these other significant risks and costs from unethical behavior and that list includes:

#1: increased risk of doing business and the possibility of bankruptcy and severely damaged company brand and image.

#2: decreased productivity.

#3: increased misconduct and conflict internally.

#4: decreased performance levels of employees.

#5: increased employee turnover and more challenging employee recruitment.

#6: decreased productivity.

#7: increased absenteeism and “presenteeism.”.

#8: decreased probability of reporting misconduct and unethical behavior of others.

#9: increased dysfunctional behaviors such as not paying attention to details, scapegoating, withholding information, under delivering & over promising, not giving credit to others, lowering goals, misrepresenting results, etc.