| Course | BUS 560 Business Ethics |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | Behavioral ethics analysis |
| Length | About 1,062 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 560 Module 3
Nobody Set Out to Cheat: How Sales Goals Led Ordinary Bankers to Open Accounts No One Asked For
Student Name
MBA Program, Aspen University
BUS 560: Business Ethics
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Nobody Set Out to Cheat: How Sales Goals Led Ordinary Bankers to Open Accounts No One Asked For
Desert Sun Community Bank, a composite bank with 26 branches in Arizona, introduced a growth program two years ago that set monthly goals for each branch employee: new checking accounts, savings accounts, debit cards and online banking enrollments. Results improved quickly. Last spring, an internal audit triggered by a customer complaint found 1,140 accounts opened in the previous year without clear evidence of customer consent, most of them savings accounts with small opening deposits moved from customers' checking accounts and debit cards that were never activated. None of the employees involved had a record of misconduct. This paper explains how ordinary people came to do this and what the bank should change.
A Familiar Pattern
The bank's problem resembles a far larger case. In 2020 Wells Fargo settled federal criminal and civil inquiries into its retail sales practices for $3 billion, after millions of accounts had been opened over more than a decade without customers' permission (U.S. Department of Justice, 2020), driven by sales goals that many employees considered unrealistic. The settlement documents describe pressure from managers, goals that increased each year and employees who opened unauthorized accounts to meet them. The pattern at Desert Sun was smaller but structurally similar.
Goals That Narrow the View
Ordóñez et al. (2009) contended that management writing praises goal setting while overlooking the harm it can do. Tight, demanding targets can shrink what people notice to the number itself, push them toward risk and make cutting corners more tempting, especially when people are close to a goal or when rewards depend on reaching it. At Desert Sun, goals counted accounts opened, not accounts used, and bonuses depended on hitting the monthly number. An employee two accounts short on the last day of the month faced exactly the conditions the authors describe.
How Ethics Faded
Bazerman and Tenbrunsel (2011) described blind spots that keep people from seeing their own unethical behavior. One is ethical fading: when a decision is framed as a business or performance matter, its ethical dimension recedes, and people make choices they would reject if they saw them as ethical questions. At Desert Sun, managers talked about penetration rates and product counts, not about consent. Opening a savings account with a five-dollar transfer from a customer's checking account came to be seen as hitting a number, not as acting without permission.
Ordinary Dishonesty
Gino (2015) reviewed research on why people who value morality still act dishonestly. She described how people cheat a little when they can justify it to themselves, when others around them do the same and when the harm seems small or abstract. Employees at Desert Sun told auditors that customers would benefit from a savings account, that the amounts were tiny and that everyone at their branch did it. Each justification allowed people who considered themselves honest to act against their customers' wishes.
Pressures and the Thinking They Produced
| Pressure | Rationalization employees reported |
|---|---|
| Monthly goals with bonuses for reaching them | I was only two accounts short and would have lost my bonus |
| Managers' daily calls asking for numbers | My manager expected it, so it must be acceptable |
| Goals counting accounts opened, not used | A savings account helps the customer anyway |
| Common practice at the branch | Everyone here does it; it is how the job works |
The Role of Managers
Branch managers were not neutral observers. Each received a bonus based on the branch's total, and regional managers ranked branches publicly in weekly calls. Several employees told auditors that their managers suggested opening a savings account for any customer who already had checking, and two managers had kept lists of customers who could be enrolled without asking. Research on goals suggests that the pressure felt by employees often comes less from the goal itself than from how leaders talk about it, reward it and react when it is missed. At Desert Sun, missing a goal led to a coaching plan that employees saw as the first step toward dismissal.
Why Controls Did Not Catch It
The bank's controls were designed to catch fraud against the bank, such as stolen funds, not harm to customers. No one checked whether new accounts were used, whether customers had signed or whether debit cards were activated. Customers who noticed small transfers often assumed they had agreed during a busy visit. The compliance team reviewed complaints but did not look for patterns across branches. A control system tuned to a different risk left this one invisible until a single persistent customer complained.
What the Bank Should Change
The remedies must address the system. First, goals should measure accounts that customers actually use after ninety days and customer satisfaction, not accounts opened, and individual bonuses tied to product counts should end. Second, every new account should require a customer's signature or electronic confirmation, and the bank should send customers a notice within two days of any account opening, so unauthorized accounts are detected quickly. Third, the compliance team should audit a random sample of new accounts monthly and report patterns by branch to the board. Fourth, the bank should create a reporting channel outside the branch chain of command, publicize protection against retaliation and track whether reports are investigated.
What Success Would Look Like
A year after the changes, the bank should be able to show that the share of new accounts used within ninety days has risen, that customer complaints about unrecognized accounts have fallen to near zero and that reports through the new channel are being investigated and closed. If product counts fall, that is expected; the earlier numbers were inflated.
Responsibility for Individuals
Explaining the system does not erase individual responsibility. Employees who opened accounts without consent made choices, and the bank should address them fairly, distinguishing those who acted under pressure from managers who created and enforced it. Customers should be identified, notified and reimbursed for any fees.
Conclusion
Desert Sun's employees were not unusual people; they were ordinary people working under goals that rewarded opening accounts, managers who demanded numbers and a culture in which the ethics of consent had faded from view. Behavioral ethics research and the Wells Fargo precedent explain how this happens. The remedy lies in changing what the bank measures, how it monitors and how easily employees can speak up.
References
Bazerman, M. H., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (2011). Blind spots: Why we fail to do what's right and what to do about it. Princeton University Press.
Gino, F. (2015). Understanding ordinary unethical behavior: Why people who value morality act immorally. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 3, 107-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.03.001
Ordóñez, L. D., Schweitzer, M. E., Galinsky, A. D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2009). Goals gone wild: The systematic side effects of overprescribing goal setting. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(1), 6-16. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2009.37007999
U.S. Department of Justice. (2020, February 21). Wells Fargo agrees to pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil investigations into sales practices involving the opening of millions of accounts without customer authorization [Press release]. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wells-fargo-agrees-pay-3-billion-resolve-criminal-and-civil-investigations-sales-practices
What the BUS 560 Module 3 instructions ask for
The Aspen catalog asks BUS 560 students to understand the core elements of systems that have gone awry and produced extreme behavior, and this module typically asks why ordinary people behave unethically at work and what organizations can do. Use the posted Module 3 directions for scope; here one bank's problem is analyzed. Describe what happened without assuming the people involved were simply bad. Use behavioral ethics research to explain how situations, goals and thinking patterns lead people astray. Connect the research to specific pressures in the case. Draw on a real precedent where one exists. Recommend changes to the system, such as how goals are set, monitored and discussed, rather than relying only on punishing individuals.
How the BUS 560 Module 3 example is put together
The paper opens with Desert Sun Community Bank, its new product goals and an internal audit that found 1,140 accounts opened without clear customer consent. The Justice Department's 2020 press release on Wells Fargo describes a similar pattern over many years and the resulting $3 billion settlement. Ordóñez and colleagues' Academy of Management Perspectives article explains how specific, challenging goals can narrow focus and motivate unethical behavior to reach them. Bazerman and Tenbrunsel's Blind Spots describes ethical fading, in which the ethical dimension of a decision drops from view. Gino's Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences article explains how people who value morality still act dishonestly when they can justify it. A table maps four pressures to the rationalizations they produced. Remedies include goals tied to customer use, account audits and protected reporting.
BUS 560 Module 3 rubric: what earns full marks
Behavioral ethics papers in an MBA course are marked on accurate use of research, a convincing explanation of how situations shape behavior and remedies that address the system. This paper uses the Justice Department's Wells Fargo press release to ground the case in a documented precedent and applies three research sources to distinct parts of the explanation: Ordóñez and colleagues' article to the goals, Bazerman and Tenbrunsel's book to how ethics faded from view and Gino's article to the self-justifications employees used. The table links each pressure to a specific rationalization, so the explanation is concrete rather than general. Remedies change goals, monitoring and reporting channels, which shows the student understands that fixing the system matters more than firing individuals.
Common BUS 560 Module 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Analyses of misconduct often blame a few bad individuals and stop there. Behavioral ethics research shows that ordinary people act unethically under certain pressures, so explain the system as well as the people. Another weakness is describing research without connecting it to specific facts in the case; tie each idea to a pressure or behavior. Use a documented precedent where available, and describe it accurately with a source. Avoid excusing the behavior; explaining it is not justifying it. Recommend changes that alter incentives, monitoring and the ease of speaking up, and explain how each would interrupt the pattern. Finally, be careful with numbers from real cases; cite the official source rather than news summaries.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 560 Module 3 questions, answered
What does BUS 560 Module 3 usually ask for?
Aspen's BUS 560 covers why good people make bad decisions in this module, so explaining unethical behavior at work with behavioral ethics research and recommending organizational remedies is typical. Check your classroom prompt.
What is ethical fading?
Bazerman and Tenbrunsel's term for the way the ethical side of a decision drops out of view, so people see it only as a business or performance question.
Can goals cause unethical behavior?
Research by Ordóñez and colleagues found that narrow, challenging goals can encourage people to cut corners or misreport results to reach them.
Where can I find a free BUS 560 Module 3 sample paper?
The full analysis appears above: a community bank where employees opened unrequested accounts, explained with goals research, ethical fading and ordinary dishonesty, with a table and remedies.
What happened in the Wells Fargo sales practices case?
In a 2020 federal settlement, Wells Fargo paid $3 billion over sales practices in which millions of accounts were opened without customers' permission.