Ethics and Stakeholder Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethics and Stakeholder Management - Essay Example The concept of ethics is very important during the contemporary period in the operations of any given organisation. Socially responsible businesses ought to create a balance between the protection of the interests of the consumers as well as their objectives of making profits. However, the issue of ethics is somehow controversial in that there may be conflicts whereby people may disagree over a certain issue with regards to the right course of action that can be taken. There are mixed feelings over one issue whereby others see nothing wrong about it while others view it as wrong which presents an ethical dilemma to the organisation. As such, an ethical dilemma arises when there is an unresolved interpretation of an ethical issue (Arens, 1996). This is a situation when people have different perceptions over a particular issue. In this particular case, a computer manufacturer decides not to market a new chip that would enable computers to be upgraded. This entails that there is no need for a new computer and this reduces electronic waste. However, this will lead to a reduction in the sales of the computers which means a definite reduction in revenues in the short term. On the other hand, the long-term pay-off is uncertain and this has presented an ethical dilemma to the organisation. In this case, the organisation is finding it difficult to market the new chip though it will benefit the majority of the people at the expense of their need to protect the business interests of the company such as its profitability. In view of this given scenario, it can be noted that to a certain extent, there is no universal agreement of what constitutes good things from bad. Certain incidences sometime arise where people often view the same thing from different perspectives (Hiti, 1999). However, in as far as business is concerned, it can be noted that the main objective is to attain profit goals whereby ethics are at times compromised for financial gains. Theoretically, there are different ethical theories that can be applied to this case but the most ideal is utilitarian ethical theory. According to this theory, â€Å"the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the majority of people is ethically,† (Rainbow, 2002). As such, this ethical theory posits to the effect that organisations should encourage the people to work towards the outcomes that will benefit the majority of the people that are affected by the operations of a given organisation. It has to be borne in mind that businesses are concerned with serving their own interests as well as the interests of the stakeholders which should not be compromised for financial gains alone. The right course of action will be to follow the guidelines that will yield benefits to the majority of people not only the concerns of the company alone. The utilitarian theory suggests that the organisation ought to be guided by values as well as principles that will incline it to act in a certain way which makes it different from the other organisations.