Ethics and Law in Business and Society - Assignment Example

Ethics and Law in Business and Society Introduction Ethics, laws, values and regulations form the foundation for human societies. The human mind can learn and implement ideas. This point demarcates the line between animals and humans. Ethics is ideas upon which human beings act. Every company is a comprised of a group of people and is thus a society within a bigger society. All societies have mechanisms of inculcation of values and beliefs into their members. The socialization process inculcates values and beliefs into an individual. So cities also have mechanisms for the sustenance of social order and social structures. Such mechanisms include rules, laws, regulations, ethics and values. Question one Kohlberg Moral Development Stages Kohlberg developed an interest with the subject of moral development after the works of Jean Peagent. As a result, there are significant similarities between the works of the two, Kohlberg and Jean. To device a model explaining moral development, Kohlberg chose a research sample of boys aged 10, 13 and 16 years from middle and low class families in Chicago. He later added older boys and girls to his sample from other parts of the United States of America and other countries. This move diversified his sample to represent a majority of different societies in the world. After his study, Kohlberg developed a moral development model from one stage to the other. The model has six stages categorized into three levels. Each level has two stages. Pre conventional moral level is the first level. The stages in this level are obedience and punishment stage and the individualism and exchange stage respectively. In the first stage, the person assumes that morals and values are external. Individuals in this stage do not feel as members of the society. Children in this stage assume that the rules and morals belong to adults. At this stage, failure to adhere to set rules result to punishments. Individuals thus do what is right so as to escape punishment. An example for this stage is when a student can be punished for getting to school in time the students to develop hatred against the teacher. Stage two is a bit different from stage one in that the individual realizes that all sources of authority have different stands on a subject. It may be right to do a thing in regard to one whereas, it may be wrong in regard to another. In this stage, failure to align with set rules can attract punishment and reprimands. Different from stage one, individuals here do good because they do not want to be repaid with bad. This stage thrives on the philosophy of scratch my back as I scratch yours (Sandel 17). Conventional morality is the second level. The stages in this level are good interpersonal relationships stage and maintenance of social order stage respectively. In the third stage, the individuals are majorly boys and girls entering their teens and People in this stage uphold morality as more than simple deals. They believe that they should act in line with the expectations of family members and friends. It is also in this stage that one develops good behavior, acting in good intentions and having interpersonal feelings such as care, kindness and love. A good example is buying of presents to family members and friends. Stage four entails the individual acting as per the expectation of the society and not as per family members and friends. For instance, people volunteer for social works, for example, high school students who volunteer for a city cleanup. People in this stage want to maintain the functioning of society. Post conventional morality is the third level. The stages in this level are the social contract and individual rights stage and the universal principles stage. While stage four people want to see the society function, in stage five people want to see a better functioning society. In this regard, people believe that all people work towards a better society even though different social groups have different believes. Whatever people do in this stage is for the benefit of all, propelled by the belief that social goals can only be achieved through a social contract. In this stage, people majorly believe in individual rights and democracy. A good example here would be a group of people rioting because of the injustices of a government to a region. The last stage of the model is the universal principles. This stage goes beyond democratic ways towards justice to a plane where people believe in justice as a universal principle. A good example is when one country rises to oppose the injustices to people in another country. Translating the theory of moral development model into practice To translate the moral development theory into a practical shape, one needs to first understand the theory. After this, one would consider developing a paradigm out of the theory or model. The paradigm can have stages and one would consider these; judgment, dialogue, ethical development and responsibility. Under judgment, managers would result to identifying factors that could have led to dysfunction of ethical mechanisms in an organization. Dialogue would involve leaders set up an informal meeting with their subordinates. In this stage, formal bureaucracies would be avoided. The subordinates would own an opportunity to experience reasoning from a higher plane and thus invite them to that plane. However, there are subordinates that operate at a higher thinking plane than their leaders. The parties herein involved would discuss the goals of the organization, tactics towards their accomplishment, and projects of the organization. The achievement of the organization goals would be translated from being the pride of the board of directors to all. As a result, achievement would be through social contracts and not formal strategies. In the stage of ethical development, factors for a possible interaction would be discussed, and former crisis solved. After this stage, would be the responsibilities stage. At this, parties would explain measures that would be taken towards achievement of agreed goals. Are there ethics Human minds are not empty, blank spaces that make decisions from emergent information. Human beings think, behave and act in accordance with experiences gained in the past. Relativism is hence a total truth. However, it would not be wise to assume that human beings are loners, and in that regard, any human can be a member of a society wherever he or she may be. Rules and ethics maintain society as a group of people. Ethics are ideas upon which people live while rules are the dos, and the dons both structured by people. Every thriving society exists on the basis of the existence of social mechanisms that inculcate values into members so as to maintain social order. Question two To most people philosophers are individuals who complicate the lightest situations of life to be the hardest situations in life. This belief is because philosophers study a topic to bring out every fact and truth concerning them. These efforts help one make better decisions. Adding to the fact that philosophers are academicians, they also provide reliable sources for references. The works of philosophers are majorly persuasive, convictive and argumentative to follow the line of logic to bring light to topics in question (Sandel 28). Philosopher who best explains ethics according to me A German philosopher, Immanuel Kant argued that the wrongness or the rightness of an action cannot be determined by the consequences. According to him, one should only embark to do an action if and only if, the answers to these questions are positive, can anyone do what I intend to do? Will the result of the action be beneficial to society? Every action in human life should be geared towards benefiting the society. All actions, which may seem beneficial to a doer of an action and not to others in society, do not own credit for continuation. I believe that social goals do exist at a higher plane than personal goals. Social goals can only be achieved through social contracts. Individualism is simply a monster to society It is better to do good than to feel good An individual may feel good because of engaging in deviant acts such as murder, rape and robbery. One may, therefore, feel good at the expense of others. On the other hand, for one to good benefits the whole society, the self inclusive. Actions intended to make one feel safe at the expense of others are evidences for individualism (Sandel 34). From Kohlberg development model such a person may be termed to be in the preconvention morality stage. Question three Comparing and contrasting Milton Friedman’s and Archie Carroll’s philosophies on corporations’ responsibilities Milton Friedman argue that it is appropriate for a business corporation to make a profit as long as it remains within the rules of the game. The rules of the game in this context refer to, conservation of environment, good working conditions for employees, providing revenue to the government through taxation and producing standard products for consumers. According to Carroll, it is a social role of corporations to make a profit. He, however, argues that corporations have economic, social, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Carroll’s philosophy on the responsibilities of corporations is more elaborate than that of Milton. The two, however, agree on the point that businesses have roles more than making a profit. They part ways when it comes to expounding the responsibilities. Carroll’s philosophy is more elaborate than the former, and thus I support it. Characteristics of corporations that make them be regarded as corporate citizens First is the economic base. These corporations must be able to provide a return on investments, provide employment opportunities to citizens and also produce useful products to consumers. Secondly, the corporation should be ethically responsible. It should be responsible for the management of wastes regard to discarding of wastes and recycling of the wastes. The corporations must also function on the legal basis of a country. The corporations must also be able to cater for the welfare of its workers in terms of better salaries, retirement policies and other work conditions. Question four The significant role of the board of directors The board of directors is a group of people appointed to represent the shareholders in the corporations. The board has a family of roles but the primary role is making decisions aimed towards higher returns, profits and growth of the corporation. The role of decision making is a delicate issue and thus every personality involved in the board must be sharp. Some of the significant decisions that need to be ratified by the board include, selling of the company, hiring or firing a chief executive officer or even acquiring a primary property Effective measure of an effective board of governance One of the roles of the board is to develop and protect the goals and objectives of the organization. Another role is to put into place or dissolve the arm of management of the organization. In respect to these two roles, the effectiveness of the board can be rated by shareholders based on annual progressions. The most efficient measure, therefore, is the formulation and implementation of a policy that could put into place an efficient management board and manage its working. Governance and management The setting of goals in an organization, devising of roles and responsibilities of structures within an organization is the concerns of governance. The board of directors can be associated with governance and the objectives, mission and vision of the organization is also the concern of governance. Management, on the other hand, it can be concerned with methodologies for the achievement of goals and objectives set by the governing body. In this regard, the management and executive levels of employees are also dockets of management Conclusion. Ethics and laws are significant recipients for the accomplishment of individual and societal goals. Ethical development can be achieved after a close study of the models of moral development and philosophies on ethics from different scholars. To achieve in the business world, one would resort to understanding the balance between the interplay of ethics and formal models and how to apply them effectively. Lastly, arms of governance must also work coherently with the arms of management. Work Cited Sandel, Michael J. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? London: Penguin Books, 2010. Print. . Read More