Humans are often motivated to ignore the ethical implications of others’ behavior because it is in their best interest to do so. These scenarios are defines as motivated blindness, which reflects the self-serving nature of human decisions. Regularly, the motive for the thoughtlessness of other’s ethical fallacies is centered on incentives such as financial reward. Further, the concept of indirect blindness argues that humans hold others less accountable for unethical behavior when that behavior results from actions of a third party. Correspondingly, humans will gradually intensify unethical behavior by becoming increasingly more acceptable to the moral wrongdoing. The gradual increase of unethical behavior, known as being on a slippery …show more content…
The book Management Ethics, by Norman E. Bowie and Patricia H. Werhane, discusses the role that the manager has in an organization and often face a dilemma between stockholder theory and stakeholder theory. Stockholder theory argues that the manager should act only in the best interest of the stockholder, commonly to produce profits. Conversely, stakeholder theory argues that the manager act in the best interests of all stakeholders including (but not limited to): employees, customers, society, the environment as well as the stockholders. Firm’s that promote stockholder theory would theoretically be forcing blind spots onto the managers decisions, much like a carriage horse that receives blinkers (e.g. blinders) so that it can only see the road directly ahead. Unfortunately, stockholder theory will not promote the most ethical behavior as many decisions which are good for stockholders will be harmful to some stakeholders. Further, government has gone so far as to protect stockholder theory with the business judgement rule. According to Management Ethics, this rule is “a legal principle that assumes the manager is acting in the interests of the corporation in the day-to-day managing of the business.” This law demonstrates how government has been negatively influenced by business rather than always serving the good of society. As humans become aware of their Blind Spots, hopefully these gaps in ethical thinking fade away and are replaced with knowledgeable and ethically sound
Realizing Ethical Issues Helps You Avoid Unethical Behaviors In this age of change, the human society is progressing rapidly on various fields. However, the ethical problems are becoming increasingly severe. According to the teaching notes of “In It To Win: The Jack Abramoff Story,” “During the Bush Administration, Abramoff was the most influential lobbyist in Washington, D.C. His excesses led to his downfall and that of Congress members with whom he was closely connected, including aides, business associates, government officials, and lawmakers.”
In the movie The Blind Side Michael Oher faced multiple challenges throughout his childhood and his adolescent life. Michaels mom was a drug addict causing her to neglect her children and spend most of her time out of the house looking for money to use on drugs. Michaels father walked out on them when he was born causing him to have a lot less parental support than he would if he had both parents supporting him.
“Most people in the U.S. want to do the right thing, and they want others to do the right thing. Thus, reputation and trust are important to pretty much everyone individuals and organizations. However, individuals do have different values, attributes, and priorities that guide their decisions and behavior. Taken to an extreme, almost any personal value, attribute, or priority can “cause” an ethical breach (e.g. risk taking, love of money or sta...
It can be argued that ‘crimes of indifference are more immoral because it can be said that when they are committing these crimes they are not concerned with whom they are harming, but when someone commits an intentional act they want to harm who they want to harm and they know why they are committing the act’. These Acts of indifference can be seen in the example of corporate crimes.
Mobility is a very challenging task for visually impaired people. It is defined as “the ability to travel safely, comfortably, gracefully, and independently” [1]. Visually impaired people must rely on other senses other than their sense of sight such as hearing and touch to guide them. Visual impairment and blindness afflict a significant portion of the world population. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the estimated number of visually impaired in the world are 285 million, 39 million are blind and about 90% of them are people who live in developing countries [2]. This tells us that majority of the blind people come from developing nations which means they cannot afford expensive devices to assist them. It is important to understand the needs and requirements of that community before attempting to create devices for them. Considering the continuing progress of medicine and science, it is surprising to note that blindness is expected to increase in the coming years. It is predicted that the number of blind people will double by 2030 [3]. This is partially because “the proportion of babies born to mothers at the extremes of the child-bearing years is increasing” and because “medical advances have made it possible for many premature infants, who in the past would have died, to
In this essay we take a look at the famous Milton Friedman's essay "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profit ". The following paper is an attempt to critically evaluate the article in consideration of Freeman Stakeholder Theory. First thing, let us start with a little overview of what Milton Friedman exposed in his article. It seems that the whole point of his essay revolves around one basic statement which clearly says that the only social responsibility of a business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long it stays within the rules of the game (Milton Friedman, the social responsibility of a business is to increase profit). We probably all agree that the primary objective of any business is to achieve revenue and attain a certain profit.
This paper will have a detailed discussion on the shareholder theory of Milton Friedman and the stakeholder theory of Edward Freeman. Friedman argued that “neo-classical economic theory suggests that the purpose of the organisations is to make profits in their accountability to themselves and their shareholders and that only by doing so can business contribute to wealth for itself and society at large”. On the other hand, the theory of stakeholder suggests that the managers of an organisation do not only have the duty towards the firm’s shareholders; rather towards the individuals and constituencies who contribute to the company’s wealth, capacity and activities. These individuals or constituencies can be the shareholders, employees, customers, local community and the suppliers (Freeman 1984 pp. 409–421).
When a company decides to execute a strategic decision, the decision will concern its stakeholders, either through the making of the decision itself or through implementation of the decision. Although strategic decisions are generally made "to attain superior performance" (Hill, Charles) improving the welfare of the internal stakeholders, the attainment of this goal may cause the entity to disregard their notion of right and wrong moral principles in order to achieve that goal.
Ethics and social responsibility are integral components in developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholder needs. As such, ethics and social responsibility should be deemed as an essential strategic concern within all organizations. Ethics and social responsibility has the capacity to make or break an organization; the success of an organization’s strategic plan is dependent upon it. This paper will explain the role of ethics and social responsibility in developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholder needs. Lastly, this paper will elaborate as to how my ethical perspective has evolved throughout the program.
Corporate governance implies governing a company/organization by a set of rules, principles, systems and processes. It guides the company about how to achieve its vision in a way that benefits the company and provides long-term benefits to its stakeholders. In the corporate business context, stake-holders comprise board of directors, management, employees and with the rising awareness about Corporate Social Responsibility; it includes shareholders and society as well. The principles which...
Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Is "The Social Responsibility of Business... to Increase Its Profits"? Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory. Honest work: a business ethics reader (pp. 217-253). New York: Oxford University Press.
Evan, W. M., & Freeman, R. E. (1988). A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian
In today’s fast paced business world many managers face tough decisions when walking the thin line between what’s legal and what’s socially unacceptable. It is becoming more and more important for organisations to consider many more factors, especially ethically, other than maximising profits in order to be more competitive or even survive in today’s business arena. The first part of this essay will discuss managerial ethics[1] and the relevant concepts and theories that affect ethical decision making, such as the Utilitarian, Individualism, Moral rights approach theories, the social responsibility of organisations to stakeholders and their responses to social demands, with specific reference to a case study presenting an ethical dilemma[2], where Mobil halts product sales to a garage, forcing the garage owner to stop selling solvents to young people. The second section of this essay will focus on advice that should be given to any manager in a similar position to the garage owner with relevance to the organisational strategic management, the corporate objective and the evaluation of corporate social performance by measuring economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibilities. It will address whom to think of as stakeholders and why the different aspect could cost more than a manager or an organisation could have imagined.
Stakeholders are those groups or individual in society that have a direct interest in the performance and activities of business. The main stakeholders are employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, financiers and the local community. Stakeholders may not hold any formal authority over the organization, but theorists such as Professor Charles Handy believe that a firm’s best long-term interests are served by paying close attention to the needs of each of these stakeholders. The modern view is that a firm has responsibilities to all its stakeholders i.e. everyone with a legitimate interest in the company. These include shareholders, competitors, government, employees, directors, distributors, customers, sub-contractors, pressure groups and local community. Although a company’s directors owes a legal duty to the shareholders, they also have moral responsibilities to other stakeholder group’s objectives in their entirely. As a firm can’t meet all stakeholders’ objectives in their entirety, they have to compromise. A company should try to serve the needs of these groups or individuals, but whilst some needs are common, other needs conflict. By the development of this second runway, the public and stakeholders are affected in one or other way and it can be positive and negative.
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.