1. Presentation Case study 2: Ethics at hewlett-packard
Financial Management
Presentation
Case study 2:
Ethics at hewlett-packard
Juliana UNG MA2N GMBA

2. Summary A few words about HP
Brief summarize of the case study’s content
Issues raised in the case study
Basic ethics « lessons » to learn from this study

3. A few words about HP Founded in 1939 by Bill HEWLETT and Dave Packard
An American multinational information technology corporation
Headquarters in Palo Alto, California, United States.
It provides hardware, software and services
Targets: consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.

5. Brief summarize of the case study’s content (1)
1 – Merger with Compaq
What happened?
HP management team filed
suit alleging …:
Walter Hewitt (board member) for misstatement of financial facts
Deutsche Bank (shareholder) for improper pressure

6. Brief summarize of the case study’s content (2)
2 – 2006, HP spying scandal
What happened?
Start of an internal investigation to find the source of news leaks within HP
Call for a subcontrator: A team of independent security experts + several journalists
Issue: Questionable means have been used in obtaining information process –
pretexting = people posing as someone else to
gain access to personal records

7. Issues raised in the case study
Through both cases of HP, we may noticed that the action taken had not fulfilled the ethical viability defined by Robert A. Cooke:
Method conducted during the investigation (pretexting) had deceived people and manipulated them. Thus, common and basic respect towards another individual and his/her privacy has been violated – the action has affected moral standards as well as legal rights.
The disclosure of the investigation report could have been less harmful if it had been thought through properly, may have alternative courses of action.

8. Basic ethics « lessons » to learn from this study (1)
When recruiting an independent team for investigation, HP should have:
conducted a more thorough research over each investigator’s background (license, reference, qualification, experience ..)
stated more accurate terms on the investigating process (setting limits over the range of the method employed to legally acceptable, a better grip over the confidentiality of the whole investigation, monitoring performance and progress…)

9. Basic ethics « lessons » to learn from this study (2)
Whatever action HP decided to conducted, it should ensure to lessen or avoid as much as possible the harm towards the company’s reputation and image (concerned all the hierarchy of HP, importance of executive oversight)
 Impact too strongly over corporate’s reputation, employee moral, ability to attract and retain leadership (dicredit over the leader’s ability to take correct decisions)
The company should review and/or rethink its policies over Employee Ethics and Code of conduct, terms related to Expectations of Privacy in Workplace, border of Public domain (individual privacy and social responsability)

10. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION !