My post is not about a specific case, it is about general thoughts that came to me after the second class.
I was wondering if a person that is following all the rules/laws could be unethical. Is ethic something that can change depending on where and/or when you are? Can culture interfere in the people ethics? Are laws that are unethical? How to deal with different kind of ethics? For example: If a company is multinational, how to deal with different ethics from all around the world?
Taking as an example the last two cases in class, I had some opinions that came to me just after class that I couldn’t expose them and I will try to do it here. And if you guys could put your opinions/ answers here I appreciate, because then I can see if some one think like me.
In the Honduras problem with Resistol, In my opinion, we can not say that the company was unethical. They weren’t making something wrong or illegal, its product is made for something else. Why does they company have to spend its money to adapt its product if the government is not combating the illegal commerce? To me, maybe, the company should think about spend its money, but I don’t see the ethical issue if they decided not to do considering this a government problem.
In the other case, the Italian tax, my opinion is that if you are in a different culture, with different ethics, you can still be ethic, if you are following the laws and rules, even if it is different from your ethic. To me if the guy (or anyone that) had accepted the Italian rules he would not be unethical.
Of course that even being legal, that are some behaviors that to me, in my moral, are unethical. I can not agree with some behaviors, but if they are legal in somewhere, I can not label the people that follow them as unethical people. I agree that we can have different ethics in different places and times. Therefore, I don’t see ethical issues in the cases studied.
I really appreciate if you comment my opinions. Do you agree or not? And answer the questions posted above.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Andre, I think you raise good questions. I too am struggling with these questions.
Thus far, Dewey's deliberative process has more relevance to me than the consequentialists and deontologists because he addresses ethical decision making as a process. This process takes into account all stakeholders. Dewey's notion of dramatic rehearsal requires exploring corporate and legal consequences upon society. BUT this take time. Can this time-starved economy make this time?
I guess I believe that corporate social responsibility is very important, just don't have answers.
Jane, thanks for your comment.
I just want to add something. I do belive that corporate social responsability is important too. But, I think is more important to the companies wich sell direct to the consumer. Just taken the RESISTOL company as example, do you realy care if the guy who is fixing your shoes uses RESITOL or not? If you know that he does, would you change just because of this? Do the costumers who buy RESISTOL will stop to do if they don't add the substance at the product? I dont think so...
With those questions, if you were the responsable for the company, would you spend its money?
If were me, I wouldn't, and I couldn't say that this is unethical.
Post a Comment