I. Introduction
a. Moral evaluation and business ethics
The term ethics falls within the vast domain of philosophy and it bears immense significance in our daily life. With globalization neutralizing geographical barriers, the world have transformed into a global village and especially in the sphere of business in today’s world with diverse culture and business practices getting amalgamated, the implications of ethics is felt on a much more rigorous basis. Often business ethics is correlated with moral philosophy that circumscribes around the notion of unbiased evaluation with respect to behavior. Basically with respect to business, we seek for the establishment of a platform that can decide a system that will be based on proper justice, truth and aggregate consensus.
b. Focus of the paper
Time and again, eminent philosophers with their own theories and propositions have tried to infuse moral evaluation so that we can relate them with real life problems and can figure out potential solutions. The point of discussion in this essay firstly will be based on philosophers Robert Jackall and Immanuel Kant’s views on the business activities of HB Fuller in Honduras. Then we would focus on the views of John Rawls and Aristotle on the association of Kant’s and Jackall’s view with the case and at last we would focus on the most reasonable position of the theorist.
II. H.B. Fuller business activities and its association with the views of Jackall, Kant, Rawl’s and Aristotle
In the 1980s, H.B. Fuller was a renowned company known for its management and ethics. However, glue which was one of the products of the company were used by the children of Honduras as drugs that vehemently questioned the social responsibility of the company and hence its ethics. Although the company argued that they did not intentionally sold them to children or they had any motive to harm the street children but one can easily question the social responsibility of the company.
According to Robert Jackall, the power of organizations is concentrated in the hands of the top bosses or the chief executive officers and the responsibility for profits and decisions are pushed by them down the line as far as possible. Kant views that the main agenda of the organization is to benefit and earn for the top officials. According to Jackall, the business activities of Honduras were unethical as it was the profit maximizing policies of the top officials of the company ignoring the harm that society would bear. The ethical position which Immanuel Kant takes is that all the human beings should be valued equally on the yardstick of equal treatment. They must not be just valued as elements that are envisaged as means to ends. From the perspective of Kant, the company must be conscious of the consequences of the harm that would be caused by the glue to the children.
From the perspectives of John Rawls, the benefits of the societies must be disseminated on the fact that each individual’s benefits should be distributed in a fair mechanism. Universalism must be infused. On the other hand, Aristotle argued that rule by majority will establish happiness.
III. Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be stated that business ethics is very essential in today’s world and philosopher’s view points are good examples to evaluate the same with various business activities. The most reasonable justification of the philosopher can be said to be of John Rawls as a fair mechanism would prevail wherein the business organizations must run a rigorous feasibility study so that the society is not harmed in anyways through their endeavor directly or indirectly.
Section 2
Karl Marx’ theory of worker alienation
Alienation can be regarded as a feeling of deviation from one’s group or societal forces or that of powerlessness. The notion of worker alienation was coined by the great communist theorist Karl Marx. According to Karl Marx, within a capitalist society workers are invigorated by a feeling of alienation as they are not in the mode of controlling their labor. The value of goods that workers produce always surpasses the amount that workers are paid off. In a capitalist society, the workers are mere means of exploitation and they are devoid of the actual profits of the labor. According to Marx, alienation within a capitalist system is very much inherent.
Adam Smith’s invisible hands move
The Father of economics, Adam Smith introduced a significant concept of invisible hand in his famous book, ‘The Wealth of Nations’ that bears immense implications within the mechanics of any economy in the world. The notion of invisible hand is positively correlated with the realms of free market forces. Within a market, the forces of demand and supply interact with each other to enter into a platform of equilibrium that balances the forces and establishes the very meaning of market. It is not by any charity or by any noble governmental intervention that societal welfare is established rather it is the self interest of the individual economic agents in the economy that maintains the forces of the economy in a working state. The self interests of the economic agents automatically generates demand for goods and services that directs towards delivering goods and services in the most effective manner. This mechanism helps in allocating resources properly and helps in establishing a efficient goods distribution process.