People Versus Profit

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People Versus Profit

Introduction

After researching this topic I have come to the conclusion that people vs. profit means more than one thing in the business world. Many people think of it simply as downsizing. In my opinion it means much more. Downsizing is definitely one way that businesses act unethically. People are viewed as dispensable and replaceable. Companies also do not care much about their customers, they only care about how much money they can get from them. Companies like Ford and Microsoft are two companies that have also placed profits above people and ethics. I'm going to discuss the ethical issues as related to downsizing, Ford and Microsoft. I will inform you of what they are doing and how they justify their actions.

Downsizing

Downsizing is a major issue within corporate America today. Almost daily another company is downsizing their staff. The interesting part about this is that downsizing as a word makes it appear that the company is actually getting smaller or losing business when in reality that has nothing to do with it (Lurie, http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Exchange/4280/ch3.htm). Downsizing today has become synonymous with layoff. Generally today when a company is downsizing it is simply getting rid of the people who work for the company while expecting the remaining employees to do more work for the same pay. Yet, when stockholders or potential stock purchasers hear of a publicly traded company downsizing, it's stock prices soar. This is what America has come to. We gain on other people's loss and we call it profit. We don't think about the man or woman who can't feed his or her children. We think about what we have personally gained. If this is acceptable to the American people then it's most definitely profitable and acceptable to businesses. In this way, business ethics are failing miserably against what used to be the American standard of taking care of our own. However, today companies are moving their businesses out of our country for profits (Lurie, http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Exchange/4280/ch3.htm). It does not matter that they are making a good living while helping hundreds or thousands of others to make a good living. The businesses want to make more and all of the thousands of those in this country losing jobs end up with nothing. This is one of the many ways that businesses act unethically relative to people. Profit almost always comes ahead of people.

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