Ethics in Business for Texas Based Company- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theEthics in Businessfor Texas Based Company. Answer: Ethical Issues of Enron Scandal Enron Corporation is a Texas based company, which is in the business of supplying natural gas, energy trading and providing electrical utilities. It has been subject to a major corporate scandal United States has ever seen since the 1980s. The scandal involved many ethical issues by the authorities of the same (Sims and Brinkmann 2003). The major ethical issues are as follows. Enron has a brutal competitive environment that has led the employees to adopt unethical measures in order to protect their employment in the company. The competitive company culture is a serious ethical issue that has led to the downfall of Enron. The company had incorporated a rating system that identifies twenty percent of the total number of employees working at Enron per annum, who is unable to meet the least requirement criteria of the company (Arbogast 2013). The company then pressurises the identified employees to resign. The purpose of Enron for implementation of this system was actually to encourage the employees to work harder to protect their job, however, it turned against the interest of the company as a boomerang and did harm more than good to the same. The employees started to adopt unethical methods like cheating in their work being unable to provide enough productivity to the company in ethical ways. Gradually every employee of the company started to compete among e ach other to show better performance to the company in fear of losing job and started to cheat to achieve this goal. This created an unethical deceptive environment within the company (Bishop 2013). Another major ethical issue that was conceived due to the competitive environment of Enron was the communication barrier among the employees working at different or same level of the company hierarchy. The competitive environment of Enron encouraged the employees in not sharing company resources with colleagues and barring communication with each other. Some employees fail to understand job requirements properly due to lack of conversation. They then adopt unethical measures to hide their errors (Carroll 2013). Aristotles Virtue Ethics Aristotle, one of the famous philosophers of all times has postulated his theory of virtue ethics where he states that the ultimate goal in a human life is happiness, which can be attained by improving the inherent virtues that a human being possesses from birth. Other philosophers claim that the secret behind the improvement of happiness is to follow certain rules of mortal pleasure (Aristotles Virtue Ethics 2017). Aristotle states that the virtuous traits are incorporated within the human system but needs sufficient practise to control and improve them. Among all the virtuous traits, he advises to give less focus on morality to build a virtuous character. Aristotle provides a simple method to build a strong virtuous character. His advice is to maintain a balanced approach to every action and emotion in a human life. He cites an example in support of his theory where he says that it is not necessary to be honest at all times, however, it is necessary to be honest at the right time. The basic principle behind Aristotles Virtue Theory is not to have any virtue in excess or less but with the right amount that is required during a situation (Yu 2013). The table below compares Aristotles virtue ethics with consequentialism and non-consequentialism theories. Aristotles Virtue Ethics Consequentialist Theory Non-Consequentialist Theory States that to achieve happiness in life cultivating the inherent virtues is necessary and that too much or too less of any virtue is unnecessary but the right amount of virtue at the right time is necessary. This theory states that the morality of an individual is judged on the final consequences of any action performed by the same. This theory states that the morality of a person depends on the intention behind any action that is performed by the same irrespective of the outcomes the action may have. Advices to give less focus on morality while cultivating a strong virtuous character. The theory depends on the morality of a person. The theory measures the level of moral character of an individual. Example: It is unnecessary to be angry at all times but is needed to be angry at the right time. Example: A person saves a dog from an accident. If the dog makes a child happy, then saving the dog shows morality. If the dog harms anyone then saving it is immoral. Example: A person saving a dog from an accident shows morality irrespective of the consequences of saving it. Table 1: Comparison between Aristotles Virtue Ethics, Consequentialism and Non-Consequentialism (Source: Thuniambral 2017) Relevance of Kelloggs CSR Statement with Kantian Theory The CSR statement made by Kelloggs claims to provide products to its customers that will preserve the health of the society. Kelloggs claims that it sells nutritious products that provide a healthy lifestyle to its customers rather than damaging them. However, the results of Food Commission in 2001 on the tests conducted on 18 breakfast nutrition bars of Kelloggs prove otherwise. The commission reports that all the tested bars exceed the sugar content that is recommended by nutritionists and 10 of these bars have excessive amount of fat, which is harmful for the health of any individual (Kelloggcompany.com 2017). Kantian theory states that a right action or a wrong action can be judged depending on the fulfilment of the objective rather than the result it causes (Follesdal and Maliks 2013). Kellogg claims in its CSR statement that its objective is to provide healthy and nutritious product to its clients. However, the test results mentioned above shows that it has failed in its goal. Therefore, quoting Kantian theory it can be said that Kellogg was not sincere in its CSR statement, which was made to convince the stakeholders regarding its social responsibility as a company (choices 2017). Perspectives of Fair Trade Fair Trade often brings to focus some of the crucial aspects of World Trade Rules that has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. That is why fair trades are often grounded in assumption that it is motivating the general mass against slave labour and providing justice to poor farmers. There are other perspectives as well that fair trade can bring to the focus of the general people (Fair Trade 2017). Most of the branded products are manufactured by people from the lowest economical status who cannot afford the goods they create themselves. Provisions should be made so that these people can afford their own creations (Fair Trade 2017). The rich countries export surplus harvest to the poor countries rendering the harvest of the farmers in the poor countries worthless. Fair Trade focuses on this matter and ensures that the poor farmers of the underdeveloped and developing countries get fare share for their harvest (Fair Trade 2017). Many people die due to infectious diseases per year worldwide, as they cannot afford the right medicine in time. This perspective can be considered on fair trade to provide the life saving drugs at reasonable price so that the poor people can afford to save their lives (Fair Trade 2017). Corporate houses should have responsibility towards the global community, as the business of any organisation is solely dependent on it. An organisation should be responsible for all its employees who serve under its domain. It is necessary for all corporations to look after the welfare of even the lowest category employee to maintain a steady performance in every level of the organisation (Fair Trade 2017). References Arbogast, S.V., 2013. Resisting corporate corruption: Cases in practical ethics from Enron through the financial crisis. John Wiley Sons. Bishop, W.H., 2013. The role of ethics in 21st century organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(3), pp.635-637. Carroll, A.B., 2013. Business ethics: Brief readings on vital topics. Routledge. choices, M. 2017. Making healthy choices for children information and buying guides. [online] CHOICE. Available at: https://www.choice.com.au/media-and-news/consumer-news/news/childrens%20snack%20bars%20unhealthy.aspx [Accessed 26 Aug. 2017]. Follesdal, A. and Maliks, R., 2013. Kantian theory and human rights (Vol. 56). Routledge. Kelloggcompany.com. 2017. Kellogg Company | Corporate Responsibility Report. [online] Available at: https://www.kelloggcompany.com/en_US/corporate-responsibility.html [Accessed 26 Aug. 2017]. Sims, R.R. and Brinkmann, J., 2003. Enron ethics (or: culture matters more than codes). Journal of Business ethics, 45(3), pp.243-256. Thuniambral, S., 2017. Unit-4 Ethics in Modern Philosophy. IGNOU. YouTube. 2017. Aristotle's Virtue Ethics. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruPdUxkqqoAfeature=youtu.be [Accessed 26 Aug. 2017]. YouTube. 2017. Oxfam Fair Trade Clips. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mgPEP8HAssfeature=youtu.be [Accessed 26 Aug. 2017]. Yu, J., 2013. The ethics of Confucius and Aristotle: Mirrors of virtue (Vol. 7). Routledge.