Abstract
This paper reports on ethics, ethical issues in the society branches of ethics and the role of ethics in the society. It goes ahead and narrows down on business ethics. This is done by defining what business ethics is giving concrete examples and showing how they affect the stakeholders in a given enterprise. Finally, it commends on various ways through which these issues can be curbed in order to arrive at a healthy business environment.
According to Blackburn, S. (2001) The Term ethics refers to a branch of philosophy which studies morality -explaining what is right and wrong, justice and crime, good and evil and virtue and vice. When studying ethics, several theories can be used. These include the teleological, deontological and pragmatic theories. Therefore, in explaining what is right and wrong it may take into account the motive behind an act, the utilitarian consequences behind an act and the ultimate end of an act? Therefore, there is need to incorporate both the motivist, deontological and other aspects. At the same time, it should be noted that for one to be held accountable for one’s actions, it must be a human act. This means that it must have been done willingly without being compelled by any external force. Besides the actor must be having the knowledge of what he or she opts to do.
On the same note for an issue to be considered unethical it must have been done by a wrong person at the wrong time for a wrong purpose (Hoy, D., 2005). Its aftermath must also affect people negatively. Interpretation of what is wrong and right may also incorporate the interpretation of the relativists the contextualists and the religious spheres. This is because each of them interprets ethics differently. For instance, for contextualists what solves the problem at hand is what is ethical. To a religious believer, what is ethical is what is accepted by God. On the other hand a relativist believes that what goes against the cultural belief is wrong.
In this regard therefore, it’s important to note that ethics as a field of study has many branches. Some of the major ones are in descriptive ethics, applied ethics, normative ethics, moral psychology and meta-ethics. Descriptive ethics is concerned about what people abide by as a moral value. Applied ethics is concerned about ways of achieving morality in different situations. Normative ethics is concerned about how a moral course of action can be pragmatically determined. Moral psychology ethics is concerned about the nature or the moral agent and how he can obtain morality. However, Meta-ethics on the other hand addresses the meta-physical issues that are beyond human explanation. This includes the issues that can only be answered by God. This applies to all the major religions. After all according to Immanuel Kant to Christians God is the principal source of ethics.
Business ethics
This is a branch of ethics that is concerned about morality in the business sector. Also called corporate ethics Business ethics helps to determine the standard codes of conduct expected from business enterprises. It clearly stipulates what is expected from the business and their employees (Becker, and, Becker, 2002).
As is generally accepted the main goal of any business is to make profit. This means that the more profit made the more successful an investment is. Therefore, many business managers always strive to maximize profit. Usually this is selfishly done not to have interests of the clients first but setting up standards that in turn end up being detrimental to the surrounding community.
Today there are very many ethical issues that affect businesses. These include exorbitant pricing, selling of harmful products, misleading adverts, hoarding, environmental pollution, canvassing for tenders and corruption. These have caused a lot of problems to the civil society. Therefore, it has become very necessary for individuals, businesses, managers, human right activists, consumer unions, governments and the international community to establish mechanisms to tackle each and everyone of these issues cautiously.
This is because many people have consumed harmful products that may have improved the. Such harm can arise from the consumption of poisonous food products. At the same time, due to boarding and exorbitant pricing, many people have been denied an access to goods at a time may need at the recommended price. Therefore the governments have been directing and indirection involved in business through direct investment price control and stringent regulations. This has be relieved the oppressed.
Environmental pollution
Environment pollution refers to the introduction of harmful products into the environment. Today it has become an issue of concern in businesses. It’s classified on ethical issues because it causes a lot of harm to the people. Many industries pollute the air, soil and water. They discharge untreated sewage to the water bodies. Some discharge harmful gases like carbon (11) oxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen into the air. Worse enough other firms discharge wastes to the surrounding agricultural soil.
These have not only affected the life of man but also the life of bio-diversity in totality. As a result of the emission of these gases people have been attracted by diseases like cancer and suffered mutations in their genes. At the same time due to the pilferage of the agricultural land, a lot of land has been wasted resulting into poor yields and human hunger remains a global perennial issue.
Meanwhile the practice of water harms the aquatic life. As a result of discharge of these chemicals to the water body these aquatic plants and animals are denied access to oxygen. They then suffocate and eventually die. There death also affects human life negatively because we depend on them for food. Therefore, in my thoughtful opinion I agree that this is an ethical issue that needs to be dealt with very strongly.
Remedial measures
The war against environmental pollution should be fought jointly by incorporating the efforts of the individual person’s business enterprises the governments the international community and the civil society. This is because we all understand that it’s so harmful to each one every one of us.
According to the United Nations Human Right Charter it’s a fundamental human right to observe a healthy environment. It’s an environmental ethical requirement that people should learn to share these natural resources. Therefore we should learn not to be selfish but to share this gift of nature. We should act responsibly by putting the interest of the larger society primary.
People should be educated on the environmental ethics. The government should also put in place stringent environmental regulations to the business people. Agencies should be set to enforce these laws. They should do these by carrying out an environmental impact assessments. These will make these investors to act responsibly. Investors should also seek permission to be able to discharge wastes as per the legal requirements. This has been adopted in USA where the government through this leads to sustainable development.
In USA for instance the federal, state and the municipal government strictly regulates business activities. In fact, to some pessimists, the view the federal government’s involvement as an unnecessary red tape meant for eliminating those who can not favorably compete. As far as environmental ethics is concerned, the factories’ waste disposal is checked by the US Army Corps. It is this department that licenses those who seek to dispose of the wastes especially to the US Navigable waters (US Cart GUARD, 2001). Such a practice has also been adopted by other countries like: United Kingdom, France, Japan and African countries. Majorly, this has been achieved through the efforts of the Paris based United Nations Environmental Programme (UNDP).
Conclusion
A society that knows no ethics is a society that harbors devils, says Thomas Arnold. Ethics is necessary in human life. Where there are no standard codes of conduct, people make life deliberately difficult for others. Therefore, not only in business, but also in the medical, political, religious, government and others sectors that directly or indirectly touch human life. Particularly, business people should not only focus on optimum profit making, but also put the interest of the wider society at hand. Instead of propagating capitalism, they should benefit the entire community through getting involved in the corporate social responsibilities. This includes, but not limited to sustainable environmental conservation for sustainable development. This will even benefit the future generations to whom we owe the environment. If we do this, we will be observing this environmental adage.
Reference
Becker, L.C. (Eds.) (2002) Encyclopedia of Ethics second edition. New York: Routledge
Blackburn, S. (2001) Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Hoy, D. (2005) Critical Resistance from Post Strique. Massachusetts: Massachusetts University Press.
Singer, P. (2000) Writings on an Ethical Life. London: Herper Collince Publishers.
Vendemiati, A. (2004) An Outline of General Ethics. Rome: Urbaniana University Press.
