Ethics: principles, applications, and contemporary issues

Ethics

Recently, many businesses are becoming aware of the moral obligations that they have to society. This is apparent in the diverse kinds of charity programs, youth programs, community programs, and many others, that most businesses establish as part of their operation and as a response to their social obligations. Although others may see such programs as part of the strategies and techniques that businesses implement as a form of advertising their company, it is still important that companies observe their moral obligations to society.

According to James Fieser, in his article concerning the moral obligations of businesses, there are two possible connections that make businesses observe morality. They are: the goal to make a profit, and the goal to obey the law. Both of the connections may sound compelling though, in which as mentioned earlier that social programs were being used as a form of advertisement that can add income to a business, as well as the law that in reality is really compelling. However, despite of this, the observation of moral obligations by businesses to society can still mean a lot because it can serve as an encouragement to other businesses to establish similar programs that provide help and support to the society.

Another form of moral obligations to the society that corporations must observe concerns business ethics. This was found by Fieser to be ironic to what business ethics should really mean despite of the fact that the business procedures followed by corporations abide by the law. One instance is the exaggerated information that some advertisements advertise to the audience. Although exaggerating advertisements is allowed by the law, moral obligations however are disobeyed by the dishonesty that advertisements display to viewers.

Corporations Should Have Moral Obligation to Society Beyond Making Money

It is understandable if the main objective of a corporation is to earn money and provide service to people. By nature, it is the purpose of a business. But up to which extent should such nature of businesses continue?

Dishonesty to people is a form of violating the moral obligations to society. It violates business ethics that are supposed to by observed by businesses. There are many instances and situations in operations of businesses that demonstrate clear and obvious process of not observing moral obligations to society. For instance, as mentioned earlier and to further explain, exaggerating product information in advertisements is dishonesty to people. Consumers are sometimes lead into danger when they see advertisements that do not yield correct information. Because consumers are invited by the nice and flowery description, indicated purpose, and exaggerated product result that advertisements claim upon using or after using a product, the life or safety of consumers who are susceptible to any kind of information, may it be believable or not, is put into danger. Therefore, in such case, moral obligation to society is violated despite that corporations do not violate any business law.

Deception is usually a process of hiding immoral practices of businesses as moral ones. It has always been an issue especially when no violation of business law is done. Thus, it is only from the common notions where we base the moral obligations of corporations to society. There are arguments that corporations should have moral obligations to society beyond making lots of money because of the quasi-public theory. One is that, corporations are considered semi-owned by the public because it is the public that makes the continuous operation and service of corporations possible. The public plays a great part in the success of many corporation. Therefore, it is only proper for corporations to observe and meet their moral obligations to society. The size of a corporation is an important factor in the observation of moral obligations. The larger a corporation is, the larger population of public it affects, and therefore that corporation must be cautious of the effects that they bring to the public.

Fieser, in his article Do Businesses Have Moral Obligations Beyond What the Law Requires, discussed 3 approaches where a corporation's morality is based. They are as follows.

Morality is grounded in the profit principle

Morality is grounded in the law principle

Morality is introduced as a third factor

From these three approaches, we shall further explore why corporations should have moral obligations to society.

Morality is grounded in the profit principle. There are two versions that this principle tells. The first is that good business ethics is said to result into good business (Fieser, 1996). This however is considered to be a weak principle because the effect of morality principles that a corporation implements can only be seen after some span of time. For instance, the concept of implementing moral principles that desire the best interests of the public so that the corporation can have a long trusting relationship with its public customers can only be economically advantage after some time. This is because the corporation will still need to seek and wait for the consumers' trust. And, according to researches and studies, trust are usually given by customers after some continuous time of being satisfied with the products or services that the corporation offers. Fieser further provides the following examples to this principle.

Some moral business practices may not be economically viable in the long run, such as, perhaps, retaining older workers who are inefficient, as opposed to replacing them with younger and more efficient workers

Those moral business practices which are good for business depend upon what at that time will yield a profit. In a different market, the same practices might not be economically viable. Thus, any overlap which exists between morality and profit is both limited and incidental.

On the other hand, the relation of morality to profit can also be considered a strong basis for corporations to observe moral obligations to society. One is when it is based on the demands of consumers in the market. For instance, when consumers demand for safe products, it is only sensible that corporations that maintain morality obligations to society can succeed because they simply satisfy the needs of consumers. Those corporations who do not, on the other hand, may loose and fail in the competition.

Morality is grounded in the law principle. This approach indicates that corporations should have moral obligations to society based on what the law dictates. It is a fact that the law upholds all things that will be good to the society. Hence, in businesses, obeying the law almost equates to providing the society with their rights as individuals. However, the law does not always embed moral concepts. As in our previous example in the early part, some advertisements that exaggerate information which is a form of dishonesty violates morality but do not violate the law because there is no embedded moral concept in the existing law about advertisements that exaggerates information.