Individual Company Case Study Term Paper

DynCorp International, Inc.

Gursharandeep Singh
MBA 505 Foundation of Management
Dr. D. Frear
Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Management
June 7, 2014

Section1: Background
DynCorp International is a leading global services provider offering unique, tailored
solutions for an ever-changing world. Company has six decades of experience as a trusted
partner to commercial, military customers, sophisticated aviation, logistics, training, intelligence
and operational solutions. DynCorp International has its headquartered in McLean, VA
(Anonymous, n.d.).
In 1999, DynCorp International performed highly unethical employee activity that gained
the attention of community. At that time company was running under operational contract in
Bosnia. The U.S. State Department gave DynCorp a multimillion-dollar contract to advise the
Iraqi government on setting up effective law enforcement, judicial and correctional agencies.
DynCorp arranged up to 1,000 U.S. civilian law enforcement experts to travel to Iraq to help
locals "assess threats to public order" and mentor personnel at the municipal, provincial and
national levels. The company also provides any logistical or technical support necessary for this
peacekeeping project (Anonymous, n.d.).
As a private military security DynCorp receives more than 96% of its more than $3
billion in annual revenues from the US federal government. DynCorp employees were exposed
to be participating in sex trafficking in Bosnia. Among many unproved military contract
scandals, DynCorp was also emerged in the list of international illegal and highly unethical
behavior. Based in Virgina, they operate under federal contracts with other agencies worldwide
that deploy their employees internationally primarily to support police U.S. military operations
and provide technical and maintenance support (Baylis, 2012).
Over the subsequent years since the allegations of sex slavery came to light, DynCorp has
prolonged attempts to secure themselves from the claims and protected many employees that
should have been exposed to legal consequences. This activity gave rise to the concerns
regarding the transferal of U.S. foreign policy across geographical borderlines where the U.S.
employed individuals are situated (Baylis, 2012).
According to media information two characters have been regarded as the main
whistleblowers to this illegal activity. Kathryn Bolkovac, employed by DynCorp and under
contract working as a Police Force monitor as a UN peacekeeper prompted the disclosure of the
activity. As it became seeming that DynCorp employees were involved in easing the buying and
selling of women and children for sex trafficking, Bolkovac reported the illegal behavior and
was fired by DynCorp. She was unaware of the fact that her morality and truthfulness would
result in her termination from DynCorp. Bolkovacs resulting unfair firing motivated her to later
file a lawsuit in Great Britain against the company. The case also saw the forced resignation of
DynCorp employees who were allegedly instrumental in the illegal activity, however; still no
legal consequences fell upon those employees (Baylis, 2012).
Ms. Bolkovac won $200,000 in a 2003 court ruling against the London-based DynCorp
subsidiary that had employed her. Ms. Bolkovac said she was particularly galled at the fact that
DynCorp had hired American police officers to teach Bosnians how to instill law and order in
their war-ravaged country, but instead, trainers broke the law with apparent impunity
(Robberson, 2007).
Bolkovac had initially been working closely with abuse victims from the war, many
women and children that had been victims of sex trafficking. What ended up surfacing was the
awareness that other police workers that had been deployed for purposes of UN missions, were
in fact participating in abusive sexual activity and also aiding to falsify documents lending to the
disguise of the buying and selling of the women and children (Vulliamy, 2012).
The second publically identified whistleblower Ben Johnston of the DynCorp scandal
was employed by DynCorp and was upset from the sexual misconduct of his colleagues.
Johnston initially reported the activities of the employees to his supervisor, John Hirtz.
According to Kelly Patricia OMeara, DynCorp leadership was 100 percent in bed with the
mafia over there, (OMeara, 2002). Hirtz was in fact the part of sex slave circle and was at the
heart of the international trafficking of women and children (OMeara, 2002).
The Bosnian police were the first to begin inquiry of DynCorp employee misconduct.
DynCorp effectively detached their employees from the jurisdiction of the misconduct, therefore
ensuring employee protection from legal consequence. More thorough investigation by US Army
Criminal Investigation Division made it clear that due to the loopholes of interagency
collaborations, the U.S. military was unable to exert legal force upon employees ultimately
contracted under the United Nations. Further interagency conflicts are highlighted by the fact the
Bosnian police also had no jurisdiction to charge employees contracted by the United Nations
(Isenberg, 2009).
DynCorp still remains to have maintained its contract with the U.S. military after firing or
removing employees from Bosnia. The fact that the U.S. government were educated to the extent
of the violations and unlawful behavior and allowed for the avoidance of legal consequence
brands the U.S. image with a highly unethical shadow. After the Bosnian administration
demanded that DynCorp remove employees from their contract, the private military contractor
company transferred the accused to Germany (Isenberg, 2009).

Section 2: Ethical concepts violated
In the case of DynCorp International firstly, unethical behavior surrounding unfair
termination of employees and attempts to cover-up illegal actions i.e. sex trafficking, the buying
and selling of vulnerable women and children brought about the most significant ethical
violation. Women and young children human rights were also violated over a significant period
of its contract with the United Nations. The phenomenon of sex trafficking has reached global
extents (Agathangelou and Ling, 2003) and is increasingly associated with war or post-war
environments with high presence of military contractors (Baylis, 2012). Human rights violation
is perhaps the most offensive form of ethical violation in society. Every human has been granted
rights by law and exploitation of these rights is highly unethical. Human rights are among the
most frequently violated ethical boundaries. In the case of DynCorp, the victims were moved
internationally, violating bodily and freedom of movement rights. The Advocate for Human
Rights explains the activity of trafficking humans violates many human rights. These include
civil and political rights, the right to bodily integrity, ones freedom of movement and many
others. The ethical violations on each and every adult and child that was objected to abuse from
DynCorp employees suffered major human rights violations (Anonymous, 2005).
The company has low ethical standards reflecting on DynCorps response to Bolkvoac
and Johnston after their display of honesty in reporting such unethical behavior. The argument
that individual responsibility could not be pinpointed is inappropriate as both Bolkovac and
Johnston was able to state the names of those DynCorp employees involved in the illegal
behavior. However, it is argued by many researchers that it is the individuals that are employed
that are the ones to be held liable, as they are the moral actors. From the standpoint of labeling
the responsibility of the ethical violations, it is responsibility of both company and individual
(Agathangelou and Ling, 2003).
The lawfulness of private military security companies from an ethical perspective is
faulty because these employees are not secured under any regulatory framework to ensure ethical
and legal behavior is upheld while on duty. PMSCs are a rising phenomenon and progressively
being utilized as substitute for foreign policy. With the deep-rooted commonality of such
practice now globally, governments can no longer have enough money to protect employees
from the legal framework. The growth in human rights violation cases is growing simultaneous
to the growth of PMSCs. Therefore, government needs to exercise regulatory measures.
PMSCs are effectively non-state entities that operate in legally unclear situations (Gomez del
Prado, 2012).
Section 3: What could have been done differently?
The incidents of private military contracted employees engaging in sex trafficking and
related illegal behavior are common even though the big companies like DynCorp are unaware
of the issues and engaging in such activities that show poor ethical practice in business. Those
employed by DynCorp are effectively U.S. government employees. The ethical values to be
encouraged in a position under government are perhaps higher than those to be held in other
business environments (Anonymous, n.d.).
The main mistake, aside from the obvious illegal activity that is the focus of the DynCorp
scandal, is the poor friendly behavior of the managerial DynCorp employees. The good image of
DynCorp is established through each individual employees contribution to the moral make up of
the company (Baylis, 2012).
DynCorp claim that they as a company are committed to doing business honestly and
ethically, but they are highly encouraging of ensuring employees express any concerns about
colleagues and report any violations of law (Anonymous, n.d.). With Johnston supposedly hired
for a company that supports integrity and honesty when it comes to legal violations, it should
have been a procedural report of concern, not employment termination. The framework of
DynCorp consists of individual actors. The company does however demonstrate on the
company website that they provide a handbook for their employees to follow, the Code of Ethics
and Business Conduct. Many philosophers dispute the argument that the whole organization can
be held accountable when it is the individuals that preform the offense (Anonymous, n.d.).
Necessity for international regulation
The United States should work towards The Swiss Initiative. With the development in
the new industry of Private military and Security Companies and many countries now
outsourcing military and policing operations there is need for more solid framework when
employees are working internationally. The Swiss Initiative began as a consultation process
among stakeholders of those involved with private military contracts extended from Switzerland.
The Swiss government, the private contractors and the civil society of the host country all
collaborated (Gomez del Prado, 2011). What has resulted is legal documentation between the
Swiss government and the Swiss private military companies and domestically supported policy
frameworks with the U.S. and the U.K. A significant proportion of Swiss private military and
security company contracts are located in both countries and it was therefore important to
establish a collaborative framework, should there be any violation of human rights whilst under
contract (Gomez del Prado, 2011).
The Swiss Initiative, tied with the many other concerned states, brought about the
development of official documentation framing good practice for private military and security
contractors when operating abroad. The document is called, the Montreux Document on
Pertinent International Legal Obligations and good Practices for States Related to Operations of
Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict (Gomez del Prado, 2011).
With the growing recognition for the need for strict legal frameworks and government
initiated responsibility, the future of human rights violations by private military and security
companies should significantly lower. This initiated collaborative effort amongst many
international states to agree on a common policy to frame future human rights violation cases is
an encouraging step in the right direction. The Swiss Initiative is also executing the second
phase, which will bring about an International Code of Conduct for private military security
companies (Gomez del Prado, 2011).









References
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