Business Ethics and Sustainability - Coursework Example

Reflection Journal Business Ethics and Sustainability Name of Student: Name of Course: Name of Instructor: Date of Submission: Reflection Journal Business Ethics and Sustainability Business ethics is a collection of values, beliefs and practices which are collectively upheld by a business organization. In the recent times, there has been an utmost need for business to be ethical owing to the fact that it enables them to attain a competitive advantage in the market in addition to fact that it is right to do so. The following paper gives reflection journals on sessions 2, 4, 5 and 8 of the course ‘Business Ethics and Sustainability, BMO5501. Session 2 Normative Ethical Theory The normative ethical theories are made up of four main sets of theories namely consequentiality, non consequentiality, justice and contemporary theories (Shaw, W., Barry & Sansbury 2009, p.57). From the lecture session and the reading on the book chapter ‘Moral issues in business’ by Shaw, W., Barry, V. & Sansbury, G., it was identified that the differences in these theories is based on their approach to ethics. The second lecture session and the lecture reading focuses on the consequentialist and non- consequentiality theories. The difference between these theories is the expected outcomes. Under consequentialist consequentialist theories ethics is evaluated with respect to the consequences of a specific action. For this reason, an action is judged with respect to its consequences. According to Shaw, Barry. & Sansbury (2009, p.58), consequentilaist consequentialist theories can be divided into egoism and utilitarianism theories. The egoism theory tends to equate morality of an individual or organization with self interest. Under the egoism theory, an act is deemed ethical is it is in the best interest of the long term interests of the entity involved. For this reason, the long term effects of an action are the main measures of the ethical conformation of an activity. The relationship between actions and their consequences makes egoism a consequentialist theory. On the other hand, the utilitarian ethical theory purports that an action is ethical if its leads to greatest possible happiness in the majority of people affected by the activity. This theory uses happiness as its measure of ethics. Under this approach, utilitarianism purports that an activity which leads to the happiness of the majority of people is ethical (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p. 62). According to the authors the utilitarianism theory is appropriate for use in ethical considerations in an organization since it provides an objective and appropriate system of n solving issues related to self interest, it is aligned to results and highly flexible and lastly it provides a clear plan of developing organizational policies (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p.66). The other set of ethics theories which were discussed in the second session were non consequential theories which are not focused on the outcomes but in the manner in which an action is done. The deontological / Kantanian ethics and the moral rights theory are the two main non consequentialist theories. According to Kant ethics, the knowledge of the consequences of an action cannot be used to judge whether an action is moral or not (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p.71). Contrary to this, Kant saw that actions should be judged with respect to a moral obligation of the specific individual doing the action. On this point, Kant introduces good will as a key measure of the ethical state of an activity. Under good will, an entity should not have any other intention in mind but that to do good. The principle of universality comes into play where the formulation of the moral law which is followed by individuals under the duty to obey acts as the guiding principle for the stakeholders involved. Lastly it can be acknowledged from the reading and lecture session; the moral rights theory stipulates that an action is ethical if it upholds the moral rights which are collectively accepted by the society. It can be acknowledged that the lecture session and the reading have been able to give a deep insight into normative ethics. Session 4 Virtue and What Money Can’t Buy From this session it was understood that virtue is an approach to ethical behavior which uphold the need for virtues in an individual. From the session, it was understood that virtues dictate who an individual is. Virtues are who an individual is over time and not just an act on an individual, occasion. For this reason, virtue ethics purports tat action, including decision are an outgrowth of an individual’s character which is normally an output of virtues. In their article titled ‘In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making’ Mary Crossan, Daina Mazutis and Gerard Seijts come up with a model which integrates virtues, values and character and their relationship to ethical decisions making (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 567). From this reading and the session’s lecture, it came out clearly that there exists a strong relationship between virtues and values with ethical decision making. In the case of a business organization, the business organization is deemed to be ethical if its leaders/ management make ethical decisions. For this reason, it is important for organizational leaders and mangers to have appropriate virtues and values so as to make ethical decisions hence making their organizations ethical. Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts start by evaluating the ethical decision model. From their article, it can be noted that ethical decision making is relative to the person analyzing it. For this reason, one decision which is deemed unethical in one instance may be perceived to be ethical from another perspective (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 568). From the authors, it can be acknowledged that ethical decision making is a factor of situational pressures and values, virtues and traits. Under this framework, situational pressures are the environmental forces which lead to the making of a decision. Under these situational pressures an individual may be perceived to having made an unethical decision in one instance but after the scrutiny of the situational pressures surrounding the decision be found to having being ethical (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 568). On the other hand, a decision is strongly influenced by the individual virtues, traits and values of the decision maker. The values, traits and virtues of an individual have a high influence on the perception and approach to an issue; hence influencing the intent to engage in ethical behavior (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 568). Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts analyze decision making models under normative deontological, virtue and consequentialist theories. The authors note that the subject of ethics in business and organizational management has been based on the consequentialist theory (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 569). On this point, it is important to note that modern business organizations do not just engage in ethical practices because of the intent to do so but because doing so has related benefits such as increasing their market share. In such an approach, it can be acknowledged that the ethics practiced is based on consequences but not values. This gives the need to approach business ethics from the virtue perspective. Under this perspective, an organization ought to generate virtues and values which govern its actions. Virtues are the inherent qualities in an individual or organization which makes it or him/her admirable (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 570). The authors identify six main virtues which have been regarded to as fundamental in any sphere of life which are; justice courage wisdom, humanity, temperance, courage and transcendence (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 570). On the other hand, values have been described as trans- situational objectives which act as guiding principles to various entities across various scenarios (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts 2012, p. 571). Lastly, character is a code of conduct which regarded to as being normal to an entity. From the above, it can be acknowledged that it is important to generate appropriate virtues either as an individual or organization. The main way of generating virtues is by practicing them hence ensuring that they become part of character or organizational culture. Session 5 Influences- Ethical Decision Making From this session, it can be acknowledged that ethical decision making is an important element in an ethical company. On this point, it is important to note that ethical decision making puts the margin between ethical and unethical organizations. Moreover, it is worth noting that decision making is an important aspect on any organization since it outlines the approaches which an organization makes on various processes in addition to influencing the direction of the company. For this reason, it can be acknowledged that ethical decision making must be part of an organizational culture. Crane & Matten introduce their book chapter by giving an insight into a past case in British Petroleum, which is the 2nd larger sol corporation the world where 250 employees had been sacked due to ethics related issue (Crane & Matten 2007, p.128). However, understanding the reason as to why people make varying decisions is an important step towards ethical decision making in organizations and other spheres of life. According to Crane & Matten, an ethical decision is one which is considered right under specific circumstances (Crane & Matten (2007, p.129). According to the authors, there are several factors which should be considered when making decisions. One of the factors identified is the evaluation of whether the decision to be made would have significant impacts on other people. On this point the authors argue that the decision made should consider the social good of the society in which the decision maker is based. Secondly, decision making is influenced by choice. Ideally, decisions should be made according to the best choice possible in specific situations. For ethical decision making, ethical consideration should come before nay other consideration is made. Lastly, the authors point out that ethical decision making is influenced by the opinion of other people on the decision. On this point, the authors stress that the opinion of other people on to what is regarded to as ethical or not has a significant influence on ethical decision making (Crane & Matten 2007, p.129). There are various models which govern ethical decision making. The models are backed by various ethical theories, each of which has varying perspectives on ethics. The authors outline the ethical decision making model which stipulates that an individual first recognizes a moral issue, then makes a moral judgment followed by the establishment of moral intent and lastly engage in moral behavior. The engagement part of the model is where an individual chooses to make moral decisions (Crane & Matten 2007, p.131). other theories which influence ethical decision making includes the normative theory, consequential theory, deontological theory and the virtue ethics theory. Individual factors which influence decision making include gender and age, national & cultural factors, education level, employment, personal values and moral imagination. Decision making is also influenced by situational factors such issue related factors which entail perception of the society, moral intensity, moral framing, authority, systems of rewards, organizational culture and norms and bureaucracy (Crane & Matten 2007, p.157). From the session, it was acknowledge that decision making is influenced by various factors as outlined above. Since the individual self comes out as a significant influence to ethical decision making, there is a need for an organization to enact measures to enhance ethical decision making. Some of the ways of doing this have been identified to be emphasize on personal integrity and having in place strict measures for people who go contrary to this as it is with the BP case discussed earlier, establishing codes of conduct and ethics, having is place an ethical culture, establishing strong and ethical organizational leadership and enhancing organizational learning. Session 8 Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social, responsibility involves all processes and activities in which an organization involves itself in the affairs which affect the society directly. Ideally, corporate social responsibility should be an act of good will since it enables an organization to make significant impacts in the problems/ issues which are affecting the society in which they are based on directly. For this reason corporate should not have hidden agendas while involving themselves in corporate social responsibility. Just as in other business processes, CSR should be governed by ethics. On this point, it s important to note that modern organizations are engaging in corporate social responsibility not for the intent of benefitting the society but to enjoy the benefits which arise from doing so. As outlined in the previous reflection journals, this is a decision based on consequentialism theory; hence depicting an organization which is lacking in virtues. Corporate social responsibility should be based on the fact that business organizations have a role to play in the society. Taking an example of their environmental sustainability, it can be acknowledged that business organizations have a fundamental role in developing and implementing measures which enable them to conserve the environment. On this point, it is important to note that environmental degradation and climate change are some of the scariest issues of the modern age. With the polluted waters, the changing climatic patters, global warming and desertification among others, it has come to the attention of the global community that there is a need for concerted efforts to tame theses scares. With the business organizations being some of the key drivers of the climate change and environmental degradation, they have a role to play in mitigating it. With other issues such as this, it can be acknowledged that corporate social responsibility is a major ethical and management issue in the modern organizations. In their article, Alexandro Kleine and Michael von Hauff note that corporate social responsibility is one of the ways in which business organizations can drive sustainability (Kleine & Hauff 2009, p.518). From the reading and the session lecture, it came to be appreciated that there is a need for the modern society to exploit world resources profitably, without hampering the chances of future generations to do so. For the basic reason of sustainability, corporate social responsibility becomes an important practice in organizational management. From the journal article and the session lectures, it can to be acknowledged that there are various theories and approaches to CSR. Some of the theories include the stakeholder approach, instrumental, ethical, interactive and political theories. From the reading and the seminar, it can be acknowledged that there are conflicting values in corporate social responsibility. Firstly, it can be noted as per the stakeholder theory that there are various stakeholders in a business organization. Additionally, it is worth noting that each of the stakeholders has varying goals and objectives on various matters affecting the organization. Riding on the basic fact that the main objective of business organizations is to make profit, it becomes a contentious issues when the wealth of an organization is to be used to implement projects in the community. For this reason, CSR is a tussle between how far an organization is ready to use its resources to undertake projects in the general society. Corporate social responsibility is this not an organizational process driven by a single factor but is an integration of many factors both in the political and corporate environment (Kleine & Hauff 2009, p.520). The ability of CSR to enable an organization to steer sustainable development has come out strongly in both the lecture session and reading. For this reason, it can be concluded that it is important for an organization to integrate it into its core business practices. Summary This reflection journal has been able to give an insight into the topics Corporate Social Responsibility, Influences- Ethical Decision Making, Virtue and What Money Can’t Buy, Normative Ethical Theory which were covered in sessions 8, 5, 4 and 2 respectively. Under the reflection of session 2, it was identified that the norative ethic theories can be broadly categorized into four main categories namely consequentiality, non consequentiality, justice and contemporary theories. Consequentialist theories are those theories which are based on the consequences of a specific action while non consequentialist theories. Under the former set of theories, it was identified that there exists egoism and utilitarianism theories. Egoism stipulates that an action is ethical is its long term effects are in line with the interests of an individual. Utilitarianism upholds that that an action is ethical if it leads to the happiness of the majority of people. Under these two consequentialist theories, the output is used a s a measure of whether an action is ethical on it. Consequently ethical decision making in organizations follows suit with the management expected to make decisions which have a direct impact on the interests of the organization. Under session 3’s reflection, it was identified that virtues have a close relationship with ethical decision making. The reflection identified that there is a need for an ethical decision making model to have in place virtues, values and traits which direct an individual into making ethical decisions. Values were described as trans- situational objectives which act as guiding principles to various entities across various scenarios, virtues as inherent qualities in an individual or organization which makes it or him/her admirable and character as the normal and expected conduct of an individual Owing to the importance of virtues, traits and values in the ethical decision making process of an individual/ entity, it is important for organizations to have in place an appropriate organizational culture and policy which outlines the general conduct of the stakeholders involved. The reflection on session 5 identified various influences to ethical decision making in both individual and organizational levels. Under this reflection, it came out strongly that the probability of making ethical decisions is influenced by many factors. Some of the factors which were discussed in the reflection include the ethical theory upheld, situational factors and individual factors. For this reason, it was identified that there is a need for an underlying internal drive in the individual self who is governed by such aspects as virtues, values and character. In a bid to ensure that there is ethical decision making with an organization, it is important for the management to develop and appropriate organizational culture, establish a strong and ethical organizational leadership and enhancing organizational learning. Under the last reflection on session 6, the journal gave an insight into corporate social responsibility. It was identified that corporate social responsibility is the engagement of an organization in issues which are directly related to the society on which it is based. It was identified that organizations should engage in corporate social responsibility in good will and not being in pursuit of their own self interest; hence being ethical. It was identified that business organizations have an ethical responsibility to help the society tackle some of the problems affecting it. The reflection outlines several corporate social responsibility theories which are used by organizations. Summing up, this paper has been able to give individual reflections into what was discussed in sessions 2, 4, 5 and 8 of the course. References Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2007). Business Ethics (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press: Oxford. Crossan,M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G., 2012. In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 113, No. 1, pp. 567 – 581 Kleine, A.,& Hauff, M.,2009. Sustainability-Driven Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility: Application of the Integrative Sustainability Triangle, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 85, No.1, pp.517–533 Shaw, W., Barry, V. & Sansbury, G. (2009). Moral issues in business: First Asia-Pacific edition. 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