Hewlett-Packard Case Analysis

Hewlett-Packard Case Analysis

1. What were the two ethics issues raised in the Hewlett-Packard article?

2. What was the fallout of the pretexting activity?

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)