Ethical Imperative
THE ETHICAL IMPERATIVE
Today's businesses are entrenched in a great conflict. The interests of the stockholders and the interests of the populace at large seem to be in constant turmoil. On one hand, stockholders desire profit for themselves, and on the other, the general population does not care to be exploited by those whose sole motive is profit. This is a conflict because those who buy a business's products tend to be in the general public, and they have the ability to make or break a company's profit margin, but many stockholders are less interested in serving any sort of public good than making money. However, in order to maintain economic stasis in the world, and to maintain market share and customers, business needs to evolve to become more socially responsible in both the environment and in labor practices.
Current business theory holds that business has operated and is operating in five different generations. This theory is that as the world becomes more aware of business practices, there is more of a need for business to operate in an ethical or responsible manner. With each progressive generation of business issues, the company becomes more socially aware and responsible. Growing from economist Milton Friedman's idea that the only obligation a company has is to its shareholders to the belief that the corporation has an obligation to help improve the world, the generation theory in business has gone the furthest in explaining the role of the public in business (Mendes 1).
First-generation businesses believe, like Friedman, that their only obligation is to themselves and their shareholders. The best examples of first-generation businesses existed in the American Gilded Age (1875 1900). In these corporations, the labor was treated as expendable and was prevented from asserting their human status by unionizing. Strikes for better conditions, wages, and hours were often ended with violence, almost always instigated by the wealthy business
Today's businesses are entrenched in a great conflict. The interests of the stockholders and the interests of the populace at large seem to be in constant turmoil. On one hand, stockholders desire profit for themselves, and on the other, the general population does not care to be exploited by those whose sole motive is profit. This is a conflict because those who buy a business's products tend to be in the general public, and they have the ability to make or break a company's profit margin, but many stockholders are less interested in serving any sort of public good than making money. However, in order to maintain economic stasis in the world, and to maintain market share and customers, business needs to evolve to become more socially responsible in both the environment and in labor practices.
Current business theory holds that business has operated and is operating in five different generations. This theory is that as the world becomes more aware of business practices, there is more of a need for business to operate in an ethical or responsible manner. With each progressive generation of business issues, the company becomes more socially aware and responsible. Growing from economist Milton Friedman's idea that the only obligation a company has is to its shareholders to the belief that the corporation has an obligation to help improve the world, the generation theory in business has gone the furthest in explaining the role of the public in business (Mendes 1).
First-generation businesses believe, like Friedman, that their only obligation is to themselves and their shareholders. The best examples of first-generation businesses existed in the American Gilded Age (1875 1900). In these corporations, the labor was treated as expendable and was prevented from asserting their human status by unionizing. Strikes for better conditions, wages, and hours were often ended with violence, almost always instigated by the wealthy business