Individual Behaviour, Personality, and Values of SNC-Lavalin

Introduction

SNC-Lavalin is one of the most important engineering and construction companies in Canada
since the early 1990s. SNC-Lavalin fired 48 million in February 2015 to gain contracts in
Libye, Nigeria, other nations of Africa and Asia for money laundering, fraud, forgery and
bribery. The hundreds of former leaders charged by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have
held various posts, from low-level to senior positions including as Vice Chairman and former
Chief Executive Officer. Looking at the roles played under the roof of SNCL in the illegal
activity, one can understand how individual behaviour, personality and ideals led to many of
the unethical crimes and a corrupt organisation.

Former SNCL Executives' Comportements and Performance

If we look at the behaviours and the performances of the previous SNCL leaders, we can
break their activities via the MARS lens. The MARS is an acronym for the motivation,
ability, perception of roles and situation factors that give us the results of the behaviour of an
individual. (CITE) The strategies of SNCL were largely driven by money and employees.
Due to the highly competitive sector, high management felt under pressure to exploit
corrosion to obtain and maintain contracts for making money for the business. Government
officials and leaders. But it was also an autonomous choice. Managers were driven by
monetary incentives and advancement if contracts were successfully purchased or unlawful.
This conduct is to be classified under 5 major forms of individual behaviour as
counterproductive work.

Organizational citizenship behaviour was another sort of behaviour revealed in the criminal
conduct of executives of SNCL. Managers worked hard to achieve the same goals, regardless
of the unpleasant techniques involved, and worked hard to keep the company's positive face.
(CITE) This was also a major reason why certain staff, especially low-level managers, would
not act ethically to prevent job losses. The choice looked to have no consequences and was
promoted by the company's culture, since the SNCL personnel were conditioned and taught
in the skills, capabilities and resources to deploy bribbery methods. The former vice president
said that SNC-Lavalin "a company culture where all necessary was normal practise, including
the payment of 'committees' and other contract benefits." (McShane, Steven L.), This
unexplained incentive and deception led many people to do evil.

The personalities of SNCL workers who formed part of the controversy demonstrated traits of
awareness, extraversion and consent, based on the five model features of transparency,
awareness, extraversion, agreement and neuroticism. (CITE) If responsibly employed in the
job, any of these characteristics can be positive. SNCL personnel nonetheless opted to use
their innate qualities to influence others for their own profit, in a spirit of focus and
commitment. Senior workers, particularly, had a strong sense of acceptance, and the top-
ranking facilitated laundering money without their hands becoming soiled for employees in
third world countries. For instance, an SNCL engineer in Nigeria used his personal money to
make a bribe wrapped up as a "silent investigation" to Nigerian officials. What would you do
if you were put in my shoes if you were in Nigeria remotely?," he said in his Confession
when the employer asked, "in that part of the world, what would you do?" (McShane, Steven
L.) His seclusion, combined with blind confidence, enabled his superior to profit from the
circumstance. If we examine the conduct of fraud and the characteristic features you must
take away. KPMG, an accounting firm based in Big Four, carried out a study that disrupted
fraudsters as gregarious, affable and respected. These characteristics blend with
characteristics such as avarice, and the desire for personal gain makes people more
susceptible to fraudulent activities. (Singh, Robin) It was the perfect recipe for illicit
planning, just as the features of managers and staff in SNC-Lavalin.

Looking at the values of the organisation, they were far apart from honest or moral ideals.
The employees of SNCL were moral sensitive towards their crime, nevertheless they still
preferred money to any ethical code of conduct at the workplace. They relinquished each
other by stating that the only way they could not engage was by declaring it was a part of the
company's culture or principles. The SNCL workers left their own ideals at the door and daily
adhered since it was the usual to violate ethical and legal norms. Here, they lacked moral
intensity, as the ethical weight of their conduct was not questioned. We can observe how
corporate culture has affected workplace, as numerous managers have tried to make
themselves known, have been misled or have lost promotions or been simply ignored. The
SNC-Lavalin board, in one example, got an anonymous internal letter of the bribery, but just
"noted" that. This strengthened the fact that the internal effort could not bring about
significant change. The Chairman of the Executive Board, even when she eventually became
public, stated that 'our Executive Board clearly cannot govern something they don't know
about, or avoid something they don't know' (Steven L.McShane), totally reduced their
participation and their knowledge of their company misdeeds.

Conclusion

SNC-Lavalin had no plan or action to change unethically and criminally for over a decade.
We can determine that they would continue to carry out illegally and add them to the
extensive record of criminal conduct if they were not investigated or charged. Now that their
misconduct is known, SNCL will have much to prove, alter and reimburse if it ever wants to
become a credible firm. If the culture of a firm can change if we promote honesty and build
solid corporate principles and ethics. However, new leaders and new senior managers will
have to change it. Replacement and recruitment of equal staff is helpful to guarantee that staff
are accountable and wish to work ethically. What has already happened cannot be changed,
but from here we may learn how terrible individual actions, personalities and values can form
a company for the worst. The only opportunity SNCL had for over 10 years for their
company to get rid of their corruption was to be caught.