Business Ethics

A detailed Summary of Business Ethics

As a corporate manager of a publicly held company, one is responsible for the interests of many different stakeholders. In the past, it has been a very common assumption and practice that corporate managers of a company should strive to act solely for the benefit of shareholders, or owners of the company. Corporate managers were trained to take any actions necessary or use any means possible to improve the bottom line; or profits, without regard to other "stakeholders". As a business student at San Diego State, I had adopted this same "bottom line" philosophy that had been preached to me since the day of my first business class. I had bought into these teachings so wholeheartedly, that before this class I really felt the terms "stakeholder" and "shareholder" could be used interchangeably. However, I was very enlightened by your lecture on February 29th, in which, you taught us the true definition of a "stakeholder". It simply boils down to two crucial yet basic points. A stakeholder is described as, "anyone or anything that can affect the ability of the corporation to achieve its mission or which is affected by the corporations activities" (Dunn, 2/29 Lecture). This simple statement encompasses so many more entities tha

I take a utilitarian stance to provide support to employee's interests. When employees feel they are valued and realize they will benefit from the company's success they will work harder and more efficiently; in turn, raising profits, shareholder return, and customer satisfaction. This again will create the greatest amount of "happiness" for the greatest amount of people.

This argument is clearly supported by the "Land Ethic" discussed in Rachel's book and class. Without a doubt, the environment fits the definition as a stakeholder. And as stated in lecture, "our responsibility to the environment is inherent, the environment has an intrinsic value within it"(Dunn, Lecture 2/22).

One good example, which goes on quite frequently today, is when corporations locate themselves in low income, poverty stricken areas to minimize production costs. Many times, the communities and its citizens are simply used as a means to another ends, which violates a deontological principle. In addition, often, some modern corporations take actions that make the least advantaged members within the community worse off. This practice violates a principle known as distributive justice, which is part of the Justice framework discussed in lecture and Rachels' book. Because of this, before any decisions become final, I would take into account the effect on the community my corporation was operating in.

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Approximate Word count = 1527
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics