THE ROLE OF CORPORATIONS

The Role of Corporations

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Table of Content

Thesis Statement1

Introduction1

Discussion1

Conclusion8

References10

The Role of Corporations

Thesis Statement

Corporation ethics is a form of the art of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a corporation environment.

Introduction

Ethics can be defined as a process of evaluating actions according to moral principal of values. Throughout the centuries people were trying to choose between profit and moral. Perhaps, some of them obtain both, but every time it could have roused ethical issues. Those issues concern fairness, justice, rightness or wrongness; as a result it can only be resolved according to ethical standards. Setting the ethical standards for the way of doing business in corporation is primarily task of management. Corporations have to maintain the same standards as an individual person and, in addition, corporations, as organizational units, have their own social responsibilities toward customers, employees and society. However, any business should keep its original purpose of functioning - making profit. Balancing the traditional standards of profitability and burden of social responsibilities is not an easy task.

Discussion

Corporation ethics is a form of the art of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a corporation environment. In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century, the demand for more ethical corporation processes and actions is increasing. Simultaneously, pressure is applied on industry to improve corporation ethics through new public initiatives and laws.

Corporation ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia, descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of corporation ethical issues reflects the degree to which corporation is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in corporation ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings. In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values in the light of corporation ethical considerations. (Brenkert 2004)

Making good ethical decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact our choice of a course of action. Having a method for ethical decision making is absolutely essential. When practiced regularly, the method becomes so familiar that we work through it automatically without consulting the specific steps.

The more novel and difficult the ethical choice we face, the more we need to rely on discussion and dialogue with others about the dilemma. Only by careful exploration of the problem, aided by the insights and different perspectives of others, can we make good ethical choices in such situations. (Fischer 2000)

We have found the following framework for ethical decision making a useful method for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying ethical courses of action.

Ethics apply not only ...