Since ethics and profit are actually not related, what reasons are Essay

Since ethics and profit are actually not related, what reasons are there to apply ethical standards to business at all - Essay Example First of all, it ensures that the company survives in the long term as it increases profitability and sustainability. However, the common consensus, most of the time, is that profit and ethics are opposed to one another, and hence, if a company is ethical, it cannot think about profits. In addition, many believe that in order for a company to be profitable, it should necessarily be unethical. In other words, this school of thought gives legitimacy for businesses to be totally unethical to make profits. There are instances in the history that make people believe that ethics and business are totally opposite entities. A perfect example is the Ford Pinto of Ford Motors. In 1978, three people died as the gas tank of the Pinto they drove exploded as it was hit in the rear. It was proved that the company knew that placing the tank in the rear end was vulnerable. However, the expenditure involved in changing the gas tank was $ 11 per car; an amount that is considerably less than the amount the company would have to pay in compensation for the few people who die as a result of explosion. So, the company decided not to change the position of the gas tank. In addition, law declared the company not responsible for the deaths. This incident clearly reveals how company can aim at profit totally neglecting what is ethical. In addition, such incidents generate the opinion that profit and ethics are alien to each other. ... Thus, the first and foremost ethical obligation for a company is to make profits for its stakeholders. In other words, its ethical duty is to meet the expectations of its stakeholders including employees and creditors. In addition, only a profitable company can fulfil its social responsibilities and welfare commitments. Though it is very evident that making profit is in no way against profitability, as Bandyopadhyay points out, there certainly are ethical questions about the methods adopted to make profit, and also about the amount of profit being made. A look into the business world proves that there are many large organizations that have successfully adopted ethical practices according to socially accepted norms. A look into World’s Most Ethical Companies Rank list helps learn how these companies turned ethical; according to this, UPS, one among them, reveals that ethics is the company’s business strategy (World’s Most Ethical Companies Ranking 2008). They clai m that being a good corporate citizen is an important element that keeps the company successful. The company that has operations in more than 200 countries does have an ethics program that meets international demands. The company has written ethics policies and a culture that reinforces the written policies. Another company that deserves attention at this stage is Google. Within 10 years of its establishment, the company is into a number of programs aimed at reducing its environmental impacts. As a part of this step, the company addresses challenging issues like climate change, poverty, disasters and disease. In addition, the company encourages its employees to participate in such initiatives. In addition, there are many companies like Xerox,

A Real Divide Between the Law and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A Real Divide Between the Law and Ethics - Essay Example Virtue ethics does not really provide clear cut criteria for the rightness or wrongness of an act but, it can tell you whether the person is good or bad depending on behavioural manifestations. Moreover, virtue ethics does not address the problem of relativism – one good trait may not be considered as good in another culture. Another theory is utilitarianism. In this theory, the rightness or wrongness of the act is dependent on the entailed consequences of the act (Velasquez, 2006). If there will be many beneficiaries from the act, then the act is good. In other words, if the act will make more people happy, then the act is good. In this sense, as the focus is turned on the consequence of the act, counting how many will be happier or how many will benefit from the act becomes the parameter for the rightness or wrongness of the act. This theory is criticised because it is vague as to what is happiness and how happy will be measured. Moreover, the question of relativism and the danger of the fallacy of the majority become an inherent concern of this theory. Duty-based ethics is the last theory that will be briefly discussed. According to this theory, rightness or wrongness of the act does not depend on its consequence, rather, rightness or wrongness is inherent in the act itself. As such, there are acts that one ought to do and acts which one ought not to do. This theory provides a straightforward directive on what ought to be done. This is because the theory rests on the assumption that all human beings are a rational human agent and as rational agents, they will do the right act and avoid the wrong one.