Organisational Crime Flashcards
Marshall B. Clinard and Richard Quinney
First made distinction between occupational crime and organizational crime
Marshall B. Clinard and Peter Yeager
Study of corporate law-breaking
Diane Vaughan
When given a chance to make decisions lower-level managers will tend to act not in the interest of the firm, but in the interests of their departments
John E. Conklin
The delegation of responsibility and unwritten orders keep those at the top of the corporate structure remote from the consequences of their decisions and orders, much as the heads of organized crime families remain untouchable by law
Opportunities for unlawful organizational behavior
- specialization promotes internal competition between departments and kept tasks separate and unrelated
- organization can diversify beyond the capability of those at the top to master it
- censorship of information
- the tiered structure of most organizations obscures personal responsibility and tends to spread it throughout the company
Edward Gross
Asserted that all organizations are inherently criminogenic (prone to committing crime), though not necessarily criminal
Oliver Williamson
Noted that because of a department ‘s concern with reaching its goals, managers might well tend to maximize their department’s own interests to the detriment of the organization
Organization can be criminogenic because they encourage loyalty (Vaughan)
The reasons are that:
• the organization tends to recruit and attract similar individuals
• rewards are given out to those who display characteristics of the company man
• long-term loyalty is encouraged through company retirement and benefits
• loyalty is encouraged through social interaction, such as company parties and social functions
• frequent transfers and long working hours encourage isolation from other groups
• specialized job skills can discourage personnel from seeking employment elsewhere
Factors that prevent unity of the firm agents in fraud activity
- the pressure to commit fraud might not affects departments in a company equally
- even in high-pressure departmens, some employees will not have knowledge of the difficulty of obtaining needed resources
- outside societal behavior can produce values that conflict with those learned in organizational environment
Brenner and Molander
Found that superiors are the primary influence in unethical decision making
Stone
Found that the success of law enforcement “ultimately depends upon its consistency with and reinforcement of the organization’s rules for advancement and reward, it’s customs, conventions and morals”
Enforcement strategies. Compliance
Compliance systems provide economic incentives for voluntary compliance to the laws and use administrative efforts to control violations before they occur
Enforcement strategies. Deterrence
Designed to detect law violations, determine who is responsible, and penalise offenders in order to deter future violations
Silk and Vogel found several other actions used by business to rationalise conduct (against regulation):
• Government regulations are unjustified because the additional costs of regulations and bureaucratic procedures cut heavily into profits.
• Regulation is unnecessary because the matters being regulated are unimportant.
• Although some corporate violations involve millions of dollars, the damage is so
diffused among a large number of consumers that individually there is little loss.
• Violations are caused by economic necessity; they aim to protect the value of stock, to ensure an adequate return for stockholders and to protect the job security of employees by ensuring the financial stability of the corporation.
John Braithwaite views white-collar crime as
a product of the corporate subculture. In Braithwaite’s view, corporations will turn to crime as a result of “blocked opportunities.”
