Ethical Issues Within the Corporation

Ethical Issues within the Corporation (Visser pp. 47-87)

-Issues we will discuss in this chapter: working conditions, affirmative action, gender issues, and whistle-blowing. Here is an overview of each:

A. Working Conditions:

-The conditions under which people perform their jobs are important to them. Why?

-Each person has his/her own worldview, which is connected to that person’s sense of individual dignity. An employer can affirm that sense of individual dignity by making the workplace a safe and healthy environment for the employee.

-Is it ethically required that an employer affirm employees’ individual dignity whenever possible? The text says it is. In the United States, certain working conditions that affirm individual dignity are legally required (minimum wage, limited hours without paying overtime, safety conditions a.k.a. OSHA, no child labor, etc.).

-Beyond those basic legal requirements, employers should provide safe and healthy working conditions as an ethical matter. It is also good business, as happier employees are more productive, and it will be easier to attract better employees if an employer offers better working conditions.

-Safety is important in all workplaces, not only manufacturing facilities. It is also important in offices. Office work can lead to stress and heart disease.

-Good quote from the text: “Company cultures that cause undue stress or are hostile, sexist, or racist contribute to a community attitude that people are simply replaceable cogs – like machine parts.”

-Immanuel Kant (German philosopher) said, “Each rational being should treat himself and all others never merely as a means, but always at the same time as an end in himself.” Know this quote and be prepared to discuss what it means to you. According to the text, this maxim forbids exploitation of another, which would be tantamount to treating another person as a means only and would not recognize that person’s dignity.

-Employers can affirm an employee as an end, and not merely a means, by paying a fair wage and meeting or exceeding the professional practices of an industry.

B. Affirmative Action:

-Affirmative Action is the policy adopted in the late 1960s and early 1970s that generally involves the assessment of equally qualified candidates for a job, school admission, or government contract that adds a positive selection criterion based on a candidate’s membership in a particular race or other identified group or gender.

-Affirmative action is not a guarantee of a job or school admission. Rather, it provides for one positive selection criterion.
-Government contracts give preference to military veterans
-College admissions often give preference to racial minorities, women, and people from certain geographic areas

C. Gender Issues:

-Corporate goal is (or should be) to integrate women fairly into the corporate community

-What stands in the way of that goal?
        -Latent attitudes
        -Stereotypes
        -Communication issues