Ethical Culture Analysis at Thales Group
All companies face ethical issues, whether it is a small family-owned company that faces nepotism challenges or large multinational corporations that have more complex ethical challenges. This research considers the case of Thales Group, a French defense and aerospace company with more than 60,000 employees around the world, including divisions that operate within the United States. Thales has a formal ethics program in place, yet still faces charges of corruption and bribery. The following analysis, based on published reports, the company's own statements and interviews with employees, evaluates and makes recommendations of the ethical culture and climate at Thales.
Thales Group is a major world electronics company with 2010 consolidated sales in excess of E13.1 billion from operations in more than 50 countries. Thales employs more than 68,000 people worldwide organized into two market segments-Aerospace & Transportation and Defense & Security, and five major sectors: aerospace, transportation, space, defense and security. The company is the result of organic growth as well as mergers and acquisitions that have occurred around the world over the past several decades. As a result of this merger and acquisition activity, the company has gained rapid growth in a number of different geographic and product market segments (At a Glance, 2011).
The ethical issues confronting Thales are numerous, and include the company's corporate social responsibility with regard to environmental and regulatory compliance as well as the way that it conducts business. Charges of bribery have plagued the organization, with the company ordered to pay a fine as recently as June of this year. In that case, a French court ruled that a company that Thales acquired had paid bribes to the government of Taiwan in order to win a large naval contract (Potter, 2011). Thales has also fou...