Category: Thoughts

The Odebrecht Group: Ethical Insight

paschmann

Here is a paper I wrote (with 3 colleagues) on the graft and fraud within The Odebrecht Group.

December 11, 2018

Executive Summary

The Odebrecht Group, established in 1944, was once a flourishing family run business that grew into a $40 billion conglomerate. The company operates within the construction and engineering industry through the development of infrastructure and energy projects. During a money laundering investigation in 2015, The Odebrecht Group was found to be a key company at the center of one of the largest bribery and corruption scandals in the world. The company admitted to using deceitful tactics to gain business around the globe. These tactics proved not only to be contradictory to the company’s guiding principles, but also against the law in many countries. Since this unethical behavior came to light, the company has faced many financial and reputational repercussions. However, The Odebrecht Group is currently making strides to better its compliance programs and leadership. To further these efforts, the company should establish practices to improve the company’s overall ethical culture, enhance ethical leadership commitment and build upon compliance monitoring structures. read more

Personality Traits?

paschmann

Did you know that heredity is the most dominant factor in your personality? An intriguing example of this is the “Jim Twins”:

https://mctfr.psych.umn.edu/research/UM%20research.html

One example of the amazing similarity of twins reared apart is the so-called “Jim twins”. These twins were adopted at the age of four weeks. Both of the adopting couples, unknown to each other, named their son James. Upon reunion of the twins when they were 39 years old, Jim and Jim have learned that:

  • Both twins are married to women named Betty and divorced from women named Linda.
  • One has named his first son James Alan while the other named his first son James Allan.
  • Both twins have an adopted brother whose name is Larry.
  • Both named their pet dog “Toy.”
  • Both had some law-enforcement training and had been a part-time deputy sheriff in Ohio.
  • Each did poorly in spelling and well in math.
  • Each did carpentry, mechanical drawing, and block lettering.
  • Each vacation in Florida in the same three-block-long beach area.
  • Both twins began suffering from tension headaches at eighteen, gained ten pounds at the same time, and are six feet tall and 180 pounds.
    • read more

    GSVU Student Presentation

    paschmann

    Mentoring, coaching and sharing is an opportunity I am always willing to go the extra mile for. When one of my friends Sihma from Grand Valley State University (a fellow SAP mentor and part of the SAP University Alliance Program) asked me to do a personal presentation for their Computer Science students, I took a untraditional approach and shared the presentation below.

    Student-@-GSVUDownload