According to book Final Accounting.In many ways, it seems that people in Arthur

Question

According to book Final Accounting.In many ways, it seems that people in Arthur Andersen were “feeding the bad wolf.” Describe the culture of Arthur Andersen as explained in the case. What were the values? Patterns of interaction? How did they “feed the bad wolf?” According to book Final Accounting.In many ways, it seems that people in Arthur Andersen were “feeding the bad wolf.” Describe the culture of Arthur Andersen as explained in the case. What were the values? Patterns of interaction? How did they “feed the bad wolf?”

Explanation / Answer

The culture of Arthur Andersen was based on the principles of ethics and integrity. This, however, deteriorated with time due to internal conflicts that occurred between the audit groups and the consulting groups. The culture at Andersen was rules bases and employees were encouraged to strictly adhere to the rules and follow the leaders. Thus there was a culture of conformity. This culture helped Andersen gain a unique identity for itself. The problem arose when the leaders changed direction. The result was that the culture of conformity led to the collapse of Arthur Andersen.

The values were based on the principles of ethics and integrity. Employees had to stick to the organizational norms all the time and the interaction was formal. The bad wolf was fed within Andersen by giving undue importance to consultants and its consultancy practice. Consultants were encouraged to unnecessarily prolong a project and delay its conclusion. This was fanned by the greed of leader’s at the company’s consultancy unit. This practice negatively infected the entire organization and led to its eventual downfall.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.