The Duality of a Man with Enron and the Lord of Flies: Paper Example

Introduction

The paper aims at understanding the two sides of a man, the deceptive nature of a good face. The paper seeks to answer this question from the comparison of the Enron Incorporation and the Lord of Flies character. The two narrations have particular elements of the duality of a man, that is, how a face identity of good can be dangerous.

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The following picture showed the outward face of Enron Incorporation. The company, Enron Incorporation was founded on good values, which include respect, communication, integrity as well as excellence. The company began by upholding respect and treating others in the manner people would embrace, and it did not tolerate disrespect nor abusive language, callousness, ruthlessness, and arrogance (Nie 103). The company also upheld integrity through the promise to work openly with its customers and clients, upholding sincerity as well as honesty. The company promised to do and actually did as per the agreement with customers, and sometimes stated clearly when it could not handle or perform a task. Enron had a mandate and obligation to communicate, listen and understand its employees as per the code of ethics that recognized that information moves people. Lastly, the company regarded excellence as the core value that Enron depended upon. Enron assured to challenge all its employees to raise the bar of their performance, enjoy, have fun, and discover how best they can really achieve.

However, the real face (the bad side) that showed a duality nature of the incorporation came to understanding when its top leadership terribly failed in upholding the set values, the ones they laid down themselves. In 2001, there was fraud detection in Enron. The tone of the leadership or management inculcated an uncouth corporate culture with unprincipled behaviors, as opposed to the expectations. The company failed and its goals interrupted following financial fraudulent activities that pinned it down. The former treasurer of Enron, Ben Glisan, for example, was charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and monetary fraud (Johnson 45). The other former leaders that faced implications for the collapse of the company included Andrew Fastow, Ken Lay, and Jeff Skilling (all were the top executives). These top leaders were at the core, organizing fraudulent activities that pinned down Enron.

The management at Enron promised communication and transparency. However, the corporate culture composed of business units and divisions. The two were separated and a few individuals had a clear picture of how the company operated. The people who aided the insufficient control of operations and finances at Enron were the unfocused company lawyers, auditors, and directors.

The duality of a man is also evident in the Lord of Flies authored by William Golding. The novel portrays the good and the evil contrast of character, which come out clearly in the story. The novel's characters portray the double nature of humanity; no matter the good in humanity, at some point cruelty to others pops. Golding uses the character, Jack, to establish the human's evil side, what may happen when the rules vanish. Jack is like an anarchist, who forgets quickly of the set rules they participate in developing and no longer needs anything regarding them, thereby grows progressively violent to others, causing murder. In the second chapter of the book, the character, Jack says, "we must have rules and adhere to them because we are not savages" (p.42). The statement indicates the good side of Jack, a person who promises to work as per the rules. This nature, however, fails in the later part of Jack's dealings. The character that this element indicates is hypocrisy (Foster, Sarah and Keith 35). People may sometimes imply that they need good for others, but the innate identity, may prove otherwise.

The previous sentiment of Jack fails to hold waters madness comes into him when he says, "I think I should kill" (p.51). This nature of Jack is a proof of how a person can quickly shift from one idea or mindset to another. This element quickly annuls the past promise of Jack who wanted to legislate and follow rules. He says we are not savages and then changes and begins to think of killing someone, showing clearly the shift in mind from the maintenance of harmony to the savage mindset shift. Jack goes on to portray the evil nature of man as he says he would sneak up and stab (p.64). The traitor nature of him occurs as he begins to bully and dictate other children to follow what he wants. The innate nature of people is that they progressively become power hungry, and may do anything for it if not for self-control. Jack wants the power to accomplish his bad needs. Jack shouts, "We do not need the conch henceforth, and we know who should speak..." (p.101). Jack is ready to do what it takes to cling to power; he invites those who want to hunt in the garden to join him, symbolically representing murder. He then lures every child to join him in the bloodshed. The duality nature of man is often uncontrollable (Al-Saidi 130). The initial nature of people, especially the politicians may be good, but after achieving their needs, they become completely different people. This character of duality is also evident in the case of Enron incorporation. The promises were alluring, but a serious fraud later followed in the company.

Works Cited

Al-Saidi, Afaf Ahmed Hasan. "Savagery and the Heart of Darkness in William Golding's Lord of the Flies." Studies in Literature and Language 4.1 (2012): 129-134.

Foster, Sarah Whitmer, and Keith West. Lord of the Flies: William Golding. Longman, 2010.Johnson, Craig E. Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage Publications, 2017.

Nie, Yuxuan. Re-examining the causes of corporate securities fraud: a criminological approach. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey-Newark, 2009.