The corporate cultures of organizations in the United States and around the world have been cited in the past as vital components in managing businesses and organizations around the world. In this regard, the existing corporate culture determines whether a company or organization will thrive or fail in the particular industry in which it operates. That said, the leadership of Enron, a company in the United States that faced unethical problems in managing its businesses, has been an important study tool for understanding organizational leadership and operations in the recent past. This essay will therefore analyze the issues of power and control within the case study of Enron which resulted in a corporate culture which led to unethical behavior and the collapse of the company. The business question would be examined from the perspective of classical organizational theories, human relations theory, radical theory and contingency theory. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin with, Enron's leaders used the attention mechanism to maintain control and power in the company's operations. As mentioned by Sims & Brinkmann (2003, p.247), “issues that capture a leader's attention would also capture the attention of the larger organization and become the focus of employees.” In other words, Enron's management focused on issues that could move the masses, or rather the entire organization, and capture their attention. In this regard, the way the organization was managed was based on the issues that attracted more attention rather than organizational management skills and knowledge. Salzmann (2008, p.7), using contingency theory, argues that an organization's strategies, structures and practices depend on how environmental variables become relevant to it. In other words, organizational life and management are situational and as such were subject to contingencies. In this regard, the focus on certain corporate issues such as profit at all costs contributed to the emergence of unethical behavior that led to the collapse of the company. Whereas it is not unethical to focus on profits when running the company, such attention must be made within certain limits without which the company would be forced to break the rules to achieve its profit maximization goals, as in the case of Enron . Note that high-performing employees were lavished with money when they went on vacation as long as they performed well. Another issue related to power and control was role modeling. The examples set by the leadership of companies and organizations around the world play a significant role in determining whether work ethics will be respected. According to Sims & Brinkmann (2003, p.249), while Enron maintained a strong commitment to communication, respect, integrity and excellence, there is evidence to support that the company's management distorted some ethical rules to calm their behavior. situations. In other words, Enron's leadership played a critical role in shaping the unethical behavior that emerged in the company. Referring to classical management theories, most organizations use a bureaucratic management system that allows employees to depend on top management to make important decisions, plan and execute tasks (Griffin & Moorhead 2009, p.39). In this regard, the behavior of top management was intended toalso reflect on the rest of the employees. With this in mind, the unethical behaviors of Enron companies' management trickled down to the lower level of employees and became a widely accepted issue. It is critical to understand from this perception that top management serves as a role model for lower-level employees. As a result, the unethical behavior condoned by the top management would be openly accepted by the rest of the employees as well. Arguably, Enron's leadership almost certainly dictated the company's outcomes through their own actions, providing perfect conditions for unethical behavior (Sims & Brinkmann 2003, p.250). The issue of rewarding employees for their productivity also contributed to Enron's downfall. To begin with, the reward system used by companies is intended to motivate employees who are rewarded and those who are not to increase their productivity in their respective department. For starters, human management theory recognizes that employees are human beings who have needs that must be met in order for them to continue to be productive in the company. According to Rose (2009, p.44), workers cannot be considered simple parts of the organizational machine. This theory therefore focuses on the fact that humans must be motivated to remain productive. This can be done by fulfilling their various needs such as free time, rewards, etc. Having said this, it is important to remember that while Enron had a reward system intended to meet the needs of employees and consequently motivate them, this system was crooked and operated on an unethical basis. In reference to (Sims & Brinkmann 2003, p.250), the company's compensation structure also contributed to an unethical work culture, promoting self-interest above all other interests. Furthermore, research into corporate operations indicates that Enron's management promoted the "win at all costs" concept of allowing only the best team to remain at the company, caring less about whether the actions perpetrated violated the code of ethics or not. Not. For example, top management favored better-performing employees, forcing the company to adapt unhealthy competition that violated ethics into its system. Enron's selection and firing criteria also contributed to unethical behavior in this company. According to Sims & Brinkmann (2003, p.251), selecting newcomers to an organization is an effective way to strengthen a leader's culture. In this regard, most leaders of different companies around the world use recruitment or rather selection methods to improve their organizational culture. Please note that the selection methods used could lead to the success or failure of the company. Likewise, how a company fires its employees also contributes to how the company communicates organizational culture. In reference to the Enron cases, management created an unethical selection and firing culture that saw employees hired and fired unethically. According to (Sims & Brinkmann 2003, p.251), employees rated their colleagues, which caused great distrust and paranoia among employees, while Enron employee reviews added to the competition by examining job performance in a public forum and sending the last 5% to the redeployment office - nicknamed the "office of shame". In reference to Gareth (2006, p.330), managing conflicts between employees and addressing issues that could induce a discriminatory culture could cause problems in managing employees. In essence, Enron imposed.