Essay Sample on Morality and Ethics in Business

Introduction

A business is defined as a productive organization with the objective of producing goods or services for sale, most preferably at a profit. This definition has brought to light a couple of arguments on whether the sole aim of a business enterprise is to maximize profits for the benefit of the shareholders or if a business should seek to benefit all stakeholders ethically. Jay Feldman in an article in the New York Times, Sunday Dialogue: How Corporations Behave, states that unlike in the past where companies ethically conducted business by taking into consideration all the stakeholders involved, present companies are only interested in maximizing profit, often at the expense of employees, consumers, the society, and the environment. Organizations are willing to sacrifice the greater good and the vast majority of the community for profit gains, as evidenced by the growing business scandals present in the business environment. However, organizations that focus solely on profits are unsustainable in the long run. Thus although the bottom line for a business is profit maximization, it should not be limited to profits alone; instead, a company's bottom line should consider benefits on a social, economic, and environmental level.

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The social component of a company's bottom line involves the production of goods and services as well as equal employment opportunities that prove effective and beneficial to the society. However, what is beneficial for the community is not always good for profit maximization (Moriarty, 2016). Teleological ethics dictates that the outcomes of an action are what determine whether the action is right or wrong. Thus, in the context of the business environment, an organization with the aim of providing more employment for producing more affordable products may offer low wages and deny the workforce certain benefits to minimize its costs elsewhere. Thus, although the actions of the company lead to a good outcome; more employment and more beneficial products, the actions, in the long run, will affect the company as a poorly paid workforce will not have excess income to spend on the company's products thus will eventually affect the profitability of the organization.

Additionally, in spite of the fact, there are labor laws by which organizations must abide by to do the right thing; some organizations tend to find loopholes to avoid them to further minimize costs with the justification of providing better, beneficial and effective goods and services. Various companies have been reported to use child labor in foreign countries in their production as it reduces labor costs. The deontological ethical theory identifies certain moral standards that need to be upheld (Zwilling, 2014). According to deontologists, there are underlying notions of right that constrain our actions. The employment of children is such an underlying notion. Although children may produce cheap labor, reducing labor costs translating to more goods at lower prices, the actions deem the outcomes unethical as morally wrong approaches were employed to attain them (Moriarty, 2016). Therefore, organizations need to meet their social bottom line by implementing policy procedures and codes of conduct that protect the local community, the customers, the shareholders and the employees.

On an economic level, the bottom line of any business enterprise is the generation of revenue while remaining profitable in the long run. As stated in the article by Feldman (New York Times, 2012), organizations are abandoning local suppliers and labor in favor of cheap foreign sources. However, businesses always need to focus on how their profits affect and influence the communities in which they operate. Additionally, according to Kantian moral theory, individuals should always be treated not only as a means of profit maximization but also as an end (Moriarty, 2016). Also, morality in business should not be derived from the motivation to maximize profit as such a viewpoint confines morality to what is profitable at a particular time while assuming that consumers and employees will insist on moral business processes. Thus although in a competitive global market, businesses may be tempted to deceive and manipulate through dubious labor options and the production of low-quality products to maximize profits, such practices should be avoided as they lead to a violation of human dignity. Thus, as stated in the article (New York Times, 2012), organizations need to dedicate a portion of their profits to paying higher salaries, providing benefits and supporting civic engagement in their head quarter's community.

A final bottom line that a business should be concerned with is its impacts on the environment. Feldman (New York Times, 2012) points out that modern business enterprises view environmental concerns as impediments to profit maximization. However ethical practices in how business interacts with the environment run the risk of ethical relativism. According to ethical relativism, there does not exist universally valid moral principles. Rather, moral values vary between cultures and time, that is, the majority of people determines morality at a particular place and time. For example, in the nineteenth and twentieth century, deforestation for the sake of human consumption, and the use of coal and fossil fuels in factories was not seen as unethical behavior. However, with the advancement in science and technology, such practices have been proved to be detrimental to the environment, and as such are viewed as unethical business practices. Nowadays, it is the responsibility of any organization that aims to remain sustainable and profitable in the long run to employ environmentally friendly production methods (Zwilling, 2014).

In determining business morality and ethics, consideration of process philosophy and the universal categorical imperative is vital. Process philosophy is based on the idea that a being is dynamic and the dynamic nature of such a being should be the chief focus on any comprehensive account of reality and our place in it. Therefore according to Whitehead, morality is subject to the continuous evolution of the interaction of processes thus moral standards are bound to changes over time. Kant, on the other hand, argued that the absolute principle of morals is a rationality standard, which he referred to as the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative according to Kant is a rationally necessary, objective and unconditional principle that should always be followed regardless of any natural inclinations or desires to the contrary. Thus according to Kant, morality is based on the principle of categorical imperative; therefore, all immoral actions are irrational as they violate this principle.

Conclusion

Subsequently, although businesses are not moral agents, they can have ethical standards. In fact, ethical standards in an organization are vital in that, as stated in the paper, they ensure the workforce is treated ethically while producing products that are beneficial and effective to the society through the use of environmentally friendly production methods. Furthermore, ethical standards result in a positive company image which in turn results in a profitable organization, where profits are later used in corporate socials responsibilities that further enhance the positive company image. On the other hand, a company's ethical standards are subject to change over time, in line with Whitehead's process philosophy, as what is ethical at present may not remain so in the future.

References

Moriarty, J. (2016, November 17). Business Ethics. Retrieved August 5, 2018, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-business/New York Times. (2012, September 2). Sunday Dialogue: How Corporations Behave. New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast); New York, N.Y. New York, New York, United States: New York Times Company.

Zwilling, M. (2014, November 27). Focus On Profits Is Not Enough For A Great Business. Retrieved August 5, 2018, from Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-zwilling/focus-on-profits-is-not-e_b_6234222.html