Business Ethics – Liberalism
Introduction
Liberals and conservatives always argue in political and economic matters. This split has its root in many aspects of society including the conduct of modern businesses and business ethics. Business ethics refer to the proper business practice and policy regarding a potentially controversial issue. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of business ethics in detail and review how liberal (utilitarianism) and conservative (deontological) ideologies come together to shape business ethic problems.
Every business provides a solution to the society. Thus, organizations take inputs from the society, process it and offers it to the public for revenue or income. Every organization has stakeholders. A stakeholder is defined as an entity that affects or is affected by the activities of an organization. These stakeholders have a desire or an expectation of how the organization will treat them. This usually requires a high level of moral sensitivity to the needs of various stakeholder classes. In situations where stakeholders are not treated to the moral standard they expect, they could either resort to legal action or vent out their demands to cause a reputational issue for the company.
Thus, ethics exist to set a set of minimum standards on what is right and wrong in an organization. Ethics are often viewed as a policy or an expectation that is placed upon the directors and representatives of a company. This is usually a set of rules that must be invoked in a controversial issue or in a moral dilemma. Thus, they guide the way things are done and define the best practices that must be accepted or not accepted.
Liberalism and Conservativism in Business Ethics
Liberalism in the corporate context is presented in the form of utilitarianism. Liberalism is a worldview that supports the idea of freedom, liberty and equality. This is based on the idea that nations are built by the citizens granting power and recognition to the sovereign. On the other hand, conservativism is based on deontology. Deontology is a view that what is right is based on something natural and this becomes a set of duties that must not be compromised in any way or form.
Utilitarianism is based on the idea that people are free and their collective will leads to the formation of modern states and modern countries. This is a liberal view that what the majority think at a particular time is what is right. Thus, utilitarian ethics are based on what brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is contrasted with deontology which are duty based ethics which are absolute. Deontology includes a set of ethics that are non-negotiable. They are viewed as absolute ethics that must be honored in all situations and all contexts
A business that is operating will have to choose different approaches in handling its ethics. A liberal organization will choose ethics on the basis of what brings the highest good to the highest numbers of people. In this case, the outcomes of decisions and choices are viewed to be more important than sticking to rigid rules and regulations.
Conservative organizations on the other hand, will set up rigid and strict rules. These rules will be presented to the workers and will be non-negotiable. This will be based on a set of principles that must be obeyed in all situations, irrespective of the consequences. Therefore, such views are considered to be rigid and strictly implemented without compromise. Where a person fails to meet the standard, it is a failure. Even if the result is good and achieves the highest level of happiness, it will be considered to be bad because the act that led to it was seen as unethical.
Ethical Controversy Review - Lying
Lying is generally viewed as amoral. We are all brought up to believe that it is wrong to lie. However, in the corporate context, it might be necessary to present some kind of lies – be it disguised as “white lies”, untruths, incomplete information, misleading information or whatever. This poses an ethical controversy, and liberalism and conservativism present different approaches for dealing with them.
Liberalism argues that it is unethical to lie if there is nothing at stake. However, if lying will cause more good to the firm and lead to better results, then it is allowed. In this case, the concept of lying and its ethical worth is relativist. Not absolute. Hence, it will be alright to lie if telling the raw truth will cause hurt and division. One has to vary his tongue and ensure that there is a diplomatic solution. The measure of the ethical worth is the result or end that will be sought when a lie is told.
On the other hand, conservative ideologies or deontology identifies and insists that lying in all situations is wrong. Therefore, any situation where there is a lie or misstatement, a person in an organization must act ethically and tell the truth. This means that lying is absolutely wrong because it is a duty to tell the truth.
Conclusion
Liberalism is an ethical view that people are free and equal. This translates to corporate ethics into utilitarianism. The opposite of liberalism is conservativism which is based on a set of absolute duty-based ethics that must be applied in order to produce a set of non-negotiable principles and ideas. Liberalism and utilitarianism are based on the end of a given choice for an ethical dilemma. This means that what is right is based on what the results of a decision or choice is. This is opposed to defining what is right or wrong on a basis of natural laws that are non-negotiable and must be followed in all situations and contexts. These absolute ethics set standards that must be followed irrespective of their outcome and the possible results that may come out of it. They are basic standards and must be obeyed at all times.
References
Claude, R. P., & Weston, B. (2014). Human Rights in the World Community: Issues and Action. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Frederick, R. (2014). A Companion to Business Ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Henry, A. (2013). Understanding Strategic Management. New York: Oxford University Press.
Searle, J. (2014). Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
