Business ethic case - Essay Example

Accountability and Workplace Racism Who is responsible for solving the problem of racism in the workplace? Everyone involved should be accountable for solving racism in the workplace. Here, we identify who the key stakeholders are and what their relative responsibility is based upon a normative ethical paradigm.According to Bernstein (2001), multiple parties bear liability to differing ends. Security officials have a responsibility to investigate offending parties. Managers have a responsibility to administer an effective workplace where employees are free from harassment.

Professors have a responsibility to educate business leaders about the inherit unfairness of such treatment. Counselors have a responsibility to help mitigate the damage done by racism in the workplace. Companies have a responsibility to act justly toward their employees and shareholders. Government has a responsibility to protect the liberty of its citizens. Minorities have a responsibility to speak out against such oppression wherever possible. The majority has a responsibility to protect the weak.

Employees have a responsibility to their employers and co-workers to maintain an egalitarian work ethic. Ultimately, the primary stakeholders are individual families, the only stakeholders who are secondary victims of a racist corporate culture.Consider the roots of workplace racism proactively. What causes racism in the workplace? It could be a matter of resources. There may not be enough jobs to go around and people want those of their own race to benefit over others, or it could be a matter of personal intent.

People tend to express aggression toward those they see as somehow inferior either physically, mentally or socially. Usually, this tends to be a matter of self-esteem. What understanding must people have to avoid workplace racism? The basic belief everyone must adopt in order to avoid racially charged conflict at work is simple. We must understand that although we may not all look, think, and act alike, everyone has the right to live and survive peaceably within our society. That means although I may not like a person for whatever reason, I should give them the room they need to provide for themselves and their families.

If there is no other reason I feel this way, it should be because I wish for the same. If others feel hostile toward me, I want them to leave me alone enough to feel secure in my job and at home at the very least.Some thinkers have posited this notion as the basis for the social contract. Why do humans not simply overrun one another with force and malice? The answer lies in mutual vulnerability. I do not overrun you for at least two reasons. One is tactical. If I do not overrun, it is less likely I will be run over.

The other is economic. We could all spend our individual energies running each other over, or we could pool our resources to build a life that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is the elusive formula of the Utopian that allows us to edge ever so slightly over time toward a better civilization.We have identified key stakeholders and their relative responsibility with respect to racism in the workplace based upon a normative ethical paradigm. Ultimately, everyone involved should be accountable for solving racism in the workplace.

Each person is an independent actor in any conflict, culture, or system, and we each have choices about how we respond to given situations at least in part. That is the crux of an open society and normative ethics as a whole.ReferencesBernstein, A. (2001). Racism in the Workplace, Business Week, July 30. 126-130. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_31/b3743084.htm.