The Kantian Approach to Business - Essay Example

and Section # of a) The Kantian approach to business is one which propagates that oneshould measure the act rather than the consequences that it would incur, for example lying is an act that is always going to be wrong under this approach, hence Kantian approach to ethics places importance on doing the right thing irrespective of the consequences that it is going to bring to the person or the society. In today’s age and day it is very important that businesses, managers and owners of business act in a way that is correct and morally right because the society would only gain maximum advantage and benefit if people are acting in the right manner morally. We have many examples in the business and corporate world where organizations that have not acted morally and that had lead to their downfall, the biggest and the most recent example that comes to mind is that of Enron where financial data was manipulated to the advantage of those running the business and that lead to the downfall of the multi-billion dollar company, there are many lessons to be learned from Enron, it does not matter how big or how small a company is, it should act in a morally correct manner without worrying about the consequences and it should do so because it is the right thing to do more than anything else. There is no room for companies in today’s day and age that are morally off the compass because the amount of information that can be shared today, the mediums that it can be shared by and the speed at which it can be shared at have all tremendously increased due to advances in technology. Businesses that operates in a manner that is morally correct because it is the right thing to do would also generate a lot of business because of this code of ethics, because customers do not like to be cheated upon, they would rather buy from a company which sells at a higher price but is doing the right thing rather than from a company which prices its goods lower but that is due to morally corrupt reasons and customer loyalty is very important to businesses these days because repeat purchases is what every business aims to do achieve. Though repeat purchases would be gained from this moral attitude this should not be aim of the businesses under the Kantian approach, businesses should be morally correct in their dealings because it is the right thing to do and not because it would enable them to achieve repeat purchases, it should be only looked upon as a by-product of this approach to ethics. This approach is very right theoretically but it is human nature to find the benefits that an act is going to achieve for them or at the least the consequences that it is going to have for them, for example if lying is something that should not be done because it is not the right thing to do, then human beings will measure the consequences before deciding if they should lie or not, if the consequences are very small they would choose not to lie but if the consequences are drastic then they might choose to lie, or even if they would not it would be because the society might recognize their bravery and moral character and not so because it was the right thing to do. Hence what this shows is that although theoretically the argument that Kant lays down is very strong but in the practical world it is almost impossible to follow it because of the human nature. b) The use of child labor the world over has increased phenomenally over the past few years, one of the few reasons why it is being done is that it enables firms to get a really low labor cost; labor costs almost account for 40% of a manufacturing concerns costs, hence if these costs are pushed down, firms are able to achieve higher levels of profits. The problem though with this kind of labor is that children get robbed of their basic needs and necessities, the fact that someone is willing to hire them and make them work is a very strong motivational factor for parents in lesser developed countries to not enroll their children into schools and colleges and make them work to earn for the household, it is also against the law to hire children under the age of 18 for such kind of manufacturing work. It is also inhibits the growth of children physically as well as mentally because they have to work round the clock. From the virtue ethics point of view if we have a look at it the businesses that engage in child labor activities are doing wrong because virtue ethics deals with what a persons actions show about the character of the person and if a company is engaged in an illegal as well as an immoral activity then it shows that the company has no character what so ever. From the point of view of the Kantian ethics of doing business this act is incorrect because it is wrong to do so morally irrespective of what the consequences may be. These two approaches show that for different reasons child labor is something that a company should not indulge in because it is not the right thing to do morally and secondly it shows that the moral character of the company is very low and something that would not lead to positive consequences for the company in today’s modern era. These two approaches do lead to the same conclusion but the reason why it is so are totally different, virtue ethics does it so because it reflects badly on a person’s character who is engaged in immoral activities, this is basically stems from the human desire to be seen as a moral and a person of high character in the society because it gives a boost to a person’s self esteem, however the Kantian ethics propagates not indulging in such activities because it is simply not the right thing to do and this is how it should be but human beings tend to relate everything they do to the consequences that it is going to achieve for them hence this is theoretically very right but it has very little meaning or very little application in the practical world because of the high, almost unattainable standard that it sets for human beings. c) Utilitarianism is a theory which propagates that the maximum of any good or resource which gives people satisfaction should be achieved from every good, but there has been fierce criticism for this theory because some people may derive satisfaction from beating up some people for example a racist would derive the maximum benefit from beating up some one against whom he has negative feelings and the more he beats him up the more satisfaction he would derive out of that, but is that morally justified? It is not morally justified and it can never be so but that is what utilitarianism propagates, it does not believe in the consequences rather it believes in the maximum satisfaction or the maximum utility from a resource or a set of resources. The view that utilitarianism is only concerned with deriving the maximum good out of resources and does not believe in distributing that benefit or utility amongst different groups and people is correct to a certain extent because it does not propagate the distribution of the benefit to a larger audience, it only propagates of achieving the maximum benefit possible but then again if maximum benefit from a resource is being achieved it might be possible that more and more people can gain advantage of it automatically but that is something which is implicitly implied only and nothing that is explicit in nature to utilitarianism. This is one concept that deals with the utility achieved from a good or a resource but does not further elaborate how it might be distributed amongst the largest possible number because it is not concerned with the efficient use of resource i.e. the maximum benefit from a resource to the maximum number of people, it is only concerned with deriving the maximum possible benefit from a resource. Conclusion All the approaches show that morality is a universal concept and it must be upheld in every situation but the approaches that are taken to defend why it is important to be moral are different and varying in nature. Kantianism propagates a person and businesses to be moral because it is the right thing to do, where as virtue ethics propagates a person to be ethical and moral because it reflects on the personal character of the person and last but not the least the theory of utilitarianism propagates that the most out of each and every resource should be achieved but however it does not propagate how the resources should be distributed amongst different people and different groups. BIBLIOGRAPHY Leiter B. (2002) Philosophy Sandel M (2005) Public philosophy and essays on moral ethics Roussea Jacques (2007) Philosophy, Morality and Religion Wiggins D. (2006) Twelve Lectures on Philosophy Morality Mackenzie W. (1822) Notes on Philosophy, Morality and Education Held V (1974) Philosophy, Morality and international Affairs Kant I (2006) The Critique of Practical Reason Levine P (1998) Living without philosophy Hamilton C (2000) Living Philosophy Moody M (2002) Philosophy, Culture and Morality Read More