Paper on Moral Principles: Impact on Society and Individuals

There is no doubt morals tend to vary from one person, society, or organization to another, whereby an action may be termed as moral in one society but immoral in the other. Morals are the existing standard of behaviors that allow individuals together and peacefully in society. Consequently, philosophers tend to distinguish between ethics as well as morals. However, people use the terms interchangeably while referring to actions, principles, and beliefs. Generally, morals are actions that communities tend to approve as right as well as acceptable. Notably, certain moral principles tend to go beyond time as well as cultural values, including fairness, generally speaking, morality is not fixed; besides, morality has been closely connected to religious traditions (Baker & Comer, 2012). For instance, corporations and institutions have codes, values, or ethics that employees abide by and are expected t follow during their tenure.

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An article by Feldman (2012) exhibits how moral values have changed over time, particularly in corporations. There was a time when corporations observed and put into practice their mission statements, codes of conduct, as well as other factors of social responsibility to serve several stakeholders, which include employees, clients, suppliers, and the society in which they operate (Feldman,2012). However, in current times, organizations are only focused on serving investors with the main aim of making or generating profits. As a result, companies are adopting measures that aid in curbing the cost of operation, thus increasing profits, downsizing, and outsourcing jobs, decreasing healthcare benefits, and restructuring pension plans despite increased productivity.

On the other hand, clients seeking services are confronted with automated answering machines. However, corporations fail to understand that their obsession with profits reduces their perceived markets both locally and internationally. Feldman (2012) recommends returning to the earlier model of the corporation as a good citizen, hence ensuring the long-term viability of the free enterprise system. Therefore, the following paper seeks to exhibit why corporations should be moral or focus on the bottom-line objective of making profits.

Developing the Essay

As exhibited, moral obligations might be personal, meaning every individual in the corporation is responsible for making the right choices or shared liabilities, which involve all employees. Notably, the corporation act is causally produced by its members; thus, it is an individual’s responsibility for their actions. According to Smith (2014), they recommend the objection of the idea of organizations' ethical responsibility since it allows people "off the hook" and guiltless groups are penalized; thus, it withdraws the support for people to never again involve themselves in gross misconduct. Consequently, corporate morals may lead to the rise of morally unacceptable outcomes whereby the corporation's staff is unaccountable for their action since the whole organization will be held responsible. Therefore, the corporation's anthropomorphism does not humanize the corporation; rather, it promotes the dehumanization of staff.

Moreover, autonomy exposes the idea of the corporate moral agency. It demands that people consciously be informed of their decisions; thus, it is essential to promote individual morals rather than corporate morals. Notably, corporate moral advocates for the punishment of corporations as collective entities. Whereby, the organization may be subjected to administrative regulation or criticism. The above punishment is not desirable since it is difficult to penalize an organization only; it unavoidably passes via customers, workers, and shareholders (Smith, 2014).

Conversely, individual actions of people in the organization become the intended actions of that particular organization regarding the structures of Corporate Internal Decision (CID). Generally, the moral responsibility of the corporations and people is dependent; instead, both the corporation and staff are morally responsible for any misfortune (Shaw& Barry, 2015). Consequently, a corporate group makes commitments via its mission and vision; thus, it is held responsible if it fails to meet the vision and mission. Generally, an organization has a voice of its own, distinct if not different from its members.

Moreover, an agent can be moral and accomplish their accountability to maintain the interests of the organization and the stakeholders, thus, making it completely capable that a firm might be ethical and money-making in the outcome listed. Many corporations and individuals get into trouble with a reduced outlook that preferences are governed by free choice or by law, with the eluding causing individual misbelieving that when it is not unlawful (DesJardins & McCall, 2014). Better decisions are to be made by the kingdom of ethics and recognize ethical standards as a powerful force for good that might make legal behaviors inside and outside the corporation.

Moreover, the management morals within the organization are necessary whereby managers of corporations have to take actions to ensure that workers have a surrounding free of avoidable hazards. An instance of this consists of offering every tool and equipment having the necessary safety protectors in position and training employees in the proper use of the items. The representatives must avoid exposure to substances that might cause disease or harm. Suppose risks are part of the surroundings, or part of the work, for instance, cleaning supplies and laboratory chemicals or other materials that include harmful components to the human skin or once inhaled, for example. In that case, employers have to take suitable measures to avoid disasters and harm.

Since the code of ethics and social responsibility are more frequently recognized, a corporation might take advantage of the code of ethics as well as the business cultures to govern actions, like getting rid of the demand for new laws and avoiding the challenges of uncontrolled preferences (Shaw& Barry, 2015). Infrequently deregulation of the corporations has undaunted rules and enhanced immoral actions where the company didn’t have cooperatively responsible customs. Several corporations have put up features in the management incentive structures, board structures, internal control systems, and study agendas.

Several corporations institutionalized understanding and concern for customers, workers, and the community so that other people without a doubt have not. Typically, some corporations focus on the social effect of their functions and strategies and reject actions and immoral policies. Whether the concern is a health issue, civil rights in the business, or the public, an organization discloses its nature as an individual does. Without a doubt, the parallel might be all the more remarkable. As the moral accountability displayed by a person develops after a while from childhood to adulthood, in that case, we might expect to discover stages of improvement in organizational nature that prove essential patterns (Shaw& Barry, 2015).

Conclusion

As evident, organizations can be ethical agents since they can be viewed as rational agents free to select moral ends regardless of shareholders' quest for profits. Although the corporation will lay down the attitude for good consumer relationships, employees have to acknowledge excellent client service like their moral accountability. Ethics goes deeper than just treating consumers well since they will continue working with the corporation, and the corporation might be more gainful. Therefore, a morally right decision best upholds the rights of the people influenced by it. Being moral denotes treating clients well since it is the right choice to make.

References

Baker, S. D., & Comer, D. R. (2012). “Business Ethics Everywhere” An Experiential Exercise to Develop Students’ Ability to Identify and Respond to Ethical Issues in Business. Journal of Management Education, 36(1), 95-125.

BrainyQuote. (2018). Alfred North Whitehead Quotes. Retrieved from BrainyQuote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alfred_north_whitehead_133258

DesJardins, J. R., & McCall, J. J. (2014). Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning.

Feldman, J. (2012, August 27). Sunday Dialogue: How Corporations Behave. Retrieved from New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-how-corporations-behave.html

Smith, C. (2014, March 21). The Moral Responsibility of Firms: For or Against? Retrieved from INSEAD: https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/the-moral-responsibility-of-firms-for-or-against-3243

Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2015). Moral issues in business. Cengage Learning