What price career success?

The recent financial collapses of high profile US‐based corporations owing to legally‐questionable practices have led management theorists to search for answers as to how and why these ethical lapses were able to occur. This article examines the possibility that a company’s culture and internal control systems can have such a profound influence on middle managers and executives that they are willing to violate ethical and legal standards in the name of career success. This article reviews how career success is presently defined from an individual and an organizational standpoint and how this definition can be at odds with the realities of organizational culture and internal control systems. It also discusses how perspectives on the relationship between employers and employees can affect individual career management practices. Finally, the article presents ways for individuals to view career success and manage their careers to avoid the traps of an influential corporate culture.