The ethical behavior of men and women
All right. Uh. Today I’d like to continue our discussion of
ethics in the workplace. First, we’re
going to look at the behavior of men and women in the workplace. One common
belief is that women are more ethical than men. Some say that women are more honest
and caring by nature, and so they are less likely to commit corporate crimes
than men.
But is this really
so? Let’s take a look at some
statistics. A Canadian study showed that corporations with three or more
women on the board of directors were much more likely to have ethics guidelines
than companies led only by men. And these companies were also more likely to
verify their company’s financial statements.
So, it seems that companies that are led by both men and women set higher
ethical standards.
Next, let’s look at
some statistics involving corporate crimes. A study done in the U.S. showed
that in 2002 women actually committed slightly more crimes that involved
stealing from their companies than men did: 5,917 for women compared to 5, 898
for men. Between 1993 and 2002, the number of these cases involving women
increased by 80.5 percent. That’s quite a bit. So, it seems that as more women
have entered the workplace, more women have also started to commit corporate
crimes.
OK, so what does all
of this mean? Are women just as
corrupt as men? Maybe not. If we look at all corporate fraud and crimes,
men actually commit more crimes than women—they commit seventy-five percent of
all crimes in the workplace. And men steal larger amounts of money. Men steal a
median amount of $185,000, compared with $48,000 for women. So women tend to
steal smaller amounts, but they tend to steal over longer periods of time.
OK, uh Now. Let’s move
on to some specific cases of corporate corruption involving women. One
famous example is Martha Stewart. But there are many other examples of female
executives responsible for corporate crimes . . . .
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