Corporations Are Moral Agents and Have Obligations Which Go Beyond Obeying the Law.Doc
Question 4.
It is overwhelming how corporations have embedded a social responsibility in their mission statements and company objectives. This leaves us with one assertion that is that corporations do have some level of obligation towards society’s morality; however, the corporation itself is not a moral agent (Klaus M. Leisinger). The discussion that follows is about corporations being moral agents or otherwise; however I will reach a conclusion that corporations do have an obligation that extends beyond obeying the law; evens so this obligation have been derived from the corporations quest for profit making. Corporation’s obligation
A corporate company has social responsibilities that affect the public and their business is society’s business even if the society does not like the corporations’ business. E.g. pension fund setups- was once a government responsibility but nowadays it is more of a corporate responsibility, because in most countries most corporations are required (by law) to setup a fund for employee pensions. An employee may love to have a pension fund set up on behalf of him, however if this employee is struggling financially, he/she may opt for less focus on the future and emphasis would be on the present . This has been due to the corporate’ pursue of financial returns. If government was successful in providing enough income to the retired for example, perhaps corporate might not have taken over the responsibility. They only took over such responsibility because no company would like its former employees to be in destitute situations, as this will have a devastating implication on the company’s image in terms of retaining and finding quality workforce. A company’s image is evidently important to the company as clearly shown by the highly valued non tangible assets recorded in the company’s accounts.
Corporations have a social contract with society. The very existence of most corporations is a result of the needs of the society not that
It is overwhelming how corporations have embedded a social responsibility in their mission statements and company objectives. This leaves us with one assertion that is that corporations do have some level of obligation towards society’s morality; however, the corporation itself is not a moral agent (Klaus M. Leisinger). The discussion that follows is about corporations being moral agents or otherwise; however I will reach a conclusion that corporations do have an obligation that extends beyond obeying the law; evens so this obligation have been derived from the corporations quest for profit making. Corporation’s obligation
A corporate company has social responsibilities that affect the public and their business is society’s business even if the society does not like the corporations’ business. E.g. pension fund setups- was once a government responsibility but nowadays it is more of a corporate responsibility, because in most countries most corporations are required (by law) to setup a fund for employee pensions. An employee may love to have a pension fund set up on behalf of him, however if this employee is struggling financially, he/she may opt for less focus on the future and emphasis would be on the present . This has been due to the corporate’ pursue of financial returns. If government was successful in providing enough income to the retired for example, perhaps corporate might not have taken over the responsibility. They only took over such responsibility because no company would like its former employees to be in destitute situations, as this will have a devastating implication on the company’s image in terms of retaining and finding quality workforce. A company’s image is evidently important to the company as clearly shown by the highly valued non tangible assets recorded in the company’s accounts.
Corporations have a social contract with society. The very existence of most corporations is a result of the needs of the society not that