Adam Smith Capitalism Ethics and Business Essay

Tags: corporate social responsibility ethical dilemma social justice organizational culture competitive advantage human nature personal ethics organizational behavior social policy capitalism ethics economy race slavery research corruption greed management conflict fraud dehumanization

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One of the most interesting ethical dilemmas that continues to plague ethicists and policymakers is the struggle to reconcile the need for free enterprise with the need for social justice. Another ongoing ethical issue is related to organizational culture, shifting social norms, and whether individual actors in organizations define the tenor of the organization as a whole. Neither of these genuine ethical dilemmas can be resolved simply. The first bears itself out in what often appear to be glaring violations of every ethical principle and logical construct. Free enterprise has helped to bolster economic growth and development, as well as to empower individuals to innovate and contribute to society. Yet free enterprise has not been truly free, with access to power and resources constrained by factors like race (Kerr & Walsh, 2014), gender (Tufarolo, 2015), and class (Shin, 2014). Of these variables, race and gender remain salient barriers to achieving the full benefits of a genuinely free market economy. Whether a free market economy can ever reflect the ethical norms embedded in an idealized democracy remain to be seen. When governments constrain businesses on ethical grounds, as through legislation requiring equal pay, they risk short-term economic losses.

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In the long run, though, the profit-driven motives of capitalist organizations can be aligned with social justice objectives because the more people in the society are empowered to drive business and innovation forward, the more the economy will grow. The most extreme example of how this ethical dilemma has played itself out in the past was with slavery: which was first an economic institution that epitomized in the most exaggerated, gross way the injustices of exploitation and dehumanization of labor (Guterl, 2015).

Regarding the second ethical dilemma, organizations continue to grapple with issues like fraud and corruption, which are ultimately individual behaviors. However, company culture and even organizational policies may be designed to enable unethical behavior or at least to facilitate thee tendency to abnegate personal responsibility and accountability. The conflict between personal ethics and organizational behavior is borne out in the research by Cojuhuarenco, Shteynberg, Gelfland, et al. (2012). Cojuhuarenco, Shteynberg, Gelfland, et al. (2012) also show how gender and self concept impact ethical decision making as much as the normative ethical culture in the organization. An abundance of research reveals the detrimental effects of unethical behavior in organizations (Askew, Beisler & Keel, 2015). Given.....

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References

Askew, O.A., Beisler, J.M. & Keel, J. (2015). Current trends of unethical behavior within organizations. International Journal of Management and Information Systems 19(3): 107-114.

Cojuharenco, I., Shteynberg, G., Gelfland, M., et al. (2012). Self-construal and unethical behavior. Journal of Business Ethics 2013(109): 447-461.

Guterl, M.P. (2015). Slavery and capitalism. The Journal of Southern History 81(2).

Kerr, C. & Walsh, R. (2014). Racial wage disparity in U.S. cities. Race and Social Problems 2014(6): 305-327.

Shin, T. (2014). Explaining pay disparities between top executives and nonexecutive employees. Social Forces 92(4): 1339-1372.

Tufarolo, M.A. (2015). You haven’t come a long way baby. Journal of Gender, Social Policy & The Law 24(2)

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