Categories: Ethics

The Sole Responsibility of the Corporation is to Make Profit

&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;left&semi;margin&colon;0px 0px 0px 0&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Businesses across the word are regarded as having a central purpose&semi; to survive and grow&period; This objective of the organizations has been regarded as Friedman to represent the fundamental right of the corporations&period; The conclusion drawn from the analysis of corporate responsibility and survival was that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the sole responsibility of the corporation is to make profit” &lpar;Machan &amp&semi; Chesher&comma; 2002&comma; p&period; 13&rpar;&period; However this perspective has been challenged by other scholars who regard it to offer limited insight into the interplay between corporate social responsibility and profitability of an organization &lpar;Primeaux &amp&semi; Stieber&comma; 1994&rpar;&period; This paper analyses the notion of making profit as a business responsibility using the related ethical principles&period; Furthermore&comma; the paper addresses the <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Ethics and Organizational Responsibility<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Although the statement of Friedman reflects a somewhat self-interested approach of corporations&comma; Machan and Chesher &lpar;2002&rpar; have indicated that in order to promote business growth&comma; firms have to respond to the community needs&period; The increasing pressure on the organizations has created the need to move beyond the simplified version of corporate responsibility &lpar;i&period;e&period; profitability&rpar; and adopt a wider perspective towards socially responsible business&period; The following section presents three key arguments against the statement which asserts that businesses are only responsible for profit making&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Stakeholder Theory and Business Responsibility<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Scholars have argued that organizations need to take the needs of different stakeholders into consideration &lpar;Trevino &amp&semi; Nelson&comma; 2010&rpar;&period; The statement by Friedman serves the interests of business owners&comma; who constitute a part of the organization’s stakeholders&period; However&comma; there are other groups as well who are influenced by the decisions made by a corporation&comma; thus being a part of the stakeholders&period; The community in which the organization operates&comma; the legal institutions&comma; other businesses in the industry&comma; consumers and employees are some of the examples of stakeholders who are effected by a firm&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The focus of organization on fulfilling the needs of community&comma; legal authority&comma; employees etc&period; is based on stakeholder theory of ethics&period; The theory identifies primary and secondary stakeholders who have some direct or indirect involvement in the business &lpar;Weiss&comma; 2014&rpar;&period; The case of McDonalds and PETA is noteworthy to reflect how an organization has to shape its processes to appease the environmental forces by adopting a more ethical outlook &lpar;Carroll &amp&semi; Buchholtz&comma; 2014&rpar;&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Principle Based Ethics and Social Responsibility<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">&lbrack;large&rsqb;Another framework used to illustrate the social responsibility of the organizations is principles based ethics&period; It takes broad moral principles into consideration that can serve as a guide for the managers while making business decisions&period; McDonald &lpar;2014&rpar; has outlined the key ethical principles that guide the accountability practices in business entities&comma; including integrity&comma; objectivity&comma; honesty etc&period; These principles allow the managers to make decision that are in compliance with these generic ethical values&period; For example Sarbanes Oxley act intends to bring accountability into the organizations through promoting integrity and objectivity &lpar;Ferrell&comma; Fraedrich &amp&semi; Ferrell&comma; 2016&rpar;&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Adhering to the sole responsibility of making profits would negate these ethical principles which can result in brand damage as well as significant loss in sales and revenue&period; Sims &lpar;2003&rpar; has discussed the case of Enron Corporation where profit making was central to the company operations&comma; while ethical conduct was largely overlooked by the management&period; The bottom line of the case is that failure to adhere to ethical principles has resulted in the collapse of this large case corporation&period; It can also be argued that ethical conduct can help in consumer retention which ultimately benefits the business &lpar;Ferrell et al&period;&comma; 2016&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2>Justice Based Ethics and Business Responsibility<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Taking the statement of Friedman into consideration&comma; making profits would justify the management offering low salary to the employees and engaging in practices that depict labour exploitation&period; However&comma; such activities do not reflect an ethical approach of management-employee interaction&period; Justice based theory highlights fair treatment&comma; including the equal employment opportunity and equity in compensation &lpar;Weiss&comma; 2014&rpar;&period; Whether the management is dealing with recruitment and selection of personnel or offering them compensation&comma; fairness and justice needs to be maintained&period; Trevino and Nelson &lpar;2010&rpar; have asserted that employees attach a great deal of importance to the managerial attitude towards them&period; In addition&comma; the presence of ethical and moral values encourages the employees to remain working for the corporation&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Conclusion<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Ethical conduct of businesses is necessary to survive and maintain profitability in the contemporary era&period; The focus of management has shifted from profit making while exploiting resources towards a more humane and considerate attitude towards the internal and external stakeholders&period; Profit making is an essential part of the business processes&comma; nevertheless&comma; businesses in today’s era need to recognize how ethical conduct can help in achieving business growth and stability&period; Therefore&comma; it can be concluded that businesses have responsibility towards internal and external stakeholders&comma; which can be fulfilled by making ethical and morally sound decisions&comma; which would lead the organization towards profitability and success&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>References<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Carroll&comma; A&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Buchholtz&comma; A&period; &lpar;2014&rpar;&period; Business and society&colon; Ethics&comma; sustainability&comma; and stakeholder management&period; USA&colon; South-Western Cengage Learning&period; <br &sol;>Ferrell&comma; O&period; C&period;&comma; Fraedrich&comma; J&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Ferrell&comma; L&period; &lpar;2016&rpar;&period; Business ethics&colon; Ethical decision making &amp&semi; cases&period; USA&colon; South-Western Cengage Learning&period;<br &sol;>Machan&comma; T&period; R&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Chesher&comma; J&period; E&period; &lpar;2002&rpar;&period; A primer on business ethics&period; Oxford&comma; England&colon; Rowman &amp&semi; Littlefield Publishers&period;<br &sol;>McDonald&comma; G&period; &lpar;2014&rpar;&period; Business Ethics&colon; A Contemporary Approach&period; Australia&colon; Cambridge University Press&period;<br &sol;>Primeaux&comma; P&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Stieber&comma; J&period; &lpar;1994&rpar;&period; Profit maximization&colon; The ethical mandate of business&period; Journal of Business Ethics&comma; 13&lpar;4&rpar;&comma; 287-294&period;<br &sol;>Trevino&comma; L&period; K&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Nelson&comma; K&period; A&period; &lpar;2010&rpar;&period; Managing business ethics&period; USA&colon; John Wiley &amp&semi; Sons&period;<br &sol;>Weiss&comma; J&period; W&period; &lpar;2014&rpar;&period; Business ethics&colon; A stakeholder and issues management approach&period; USA&colon; South-Western Cengage Learning&period; &NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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