Business Case Studies,Corporate Governance & Business Ethics Case Study, Flour Corp's Business Ethics Practices: Creating Six Sigma Standards in Staying Corruption-Free

Code : GOV0044

Year : 2010

Industry : Manufacturing

Region : US

Teaching Note: Available

Structured Assignment :Not Available

Abstract:
This case study addresses an ever-engaging issue of staying corrupt free and doing business ethically, especially in a corruption prone industry, construction industry. Every company worth its salt wishes to be known for its ethical practices. But few make it to the top of the list. Fluor Corp., a US based construction company is one such company having set out elaborate ethical standards in its business dealings. Alan Boeckmann, a young Engineer was welcomed into Fluor (global construction major) by corrupt practices by his senior colleagues in 1979. Getting exposed to the fact that corrupt practices degrade morals of the employees and profits of the company in equal measure, he developed a deep rooted loath of unfair business practices. When he took the reigns of the company as CEO in 2002, he declared to fight corruption out of company’s operations. He developed Fluor’s ‘Code of Ethics’ which went on to become one of the world’s best codes of business conduct and ethics. He was credited to have formalized fight against corruption as part of normal operations of the company by creating an exclusive department (Department of Corporate Compliance) to ingrain ethical practices in employees. As a part of the initiative, all employees pledged to adhere to the principles ‘zero tolerance’ on corruption and ethical employee behavior. Also, he has installed a 24-hour hot line in the company to record any aberrations in ethical practices. Alan Boeckmann also initiated to partner industry heads in fight against corruption by launching a wing called Partnering Against Corruption Initiation (PACI) under the World Economic Forum.