Words: 936
In the early years of American colleges, most college seniors were required to take a course in ethics often taught by the college president (Sims, 2002). There is no doubt that business ethics were developed by a menu Of religion and theologians. By the year 1 990, business ethics as a management discipline was well established (Fernando, 2009). The development of the business ethics has been greatly influence by the religion as well, for example Catholics were the one to emphasize the need for morality in business.
There is no doubt that academia’s and the religions have been a great influence in development Of the business ethics as we know today. B. Compare and contrast absolute and relative ethics in relation to Anglo American Absolute ethics holds that there is no universal and eternal moral code which applies equally to all men Of all ages, and that changing circumstances or changing opinions make no difference whatsoever to this absolute moral code where as relative ethics holds that the moral standard varies with different circumstances (Lie, 1966).
Whereas relative ethics is the theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced (Velasquez et al. 2014). Ethics deals with individual character and the moral rules that govern and limit out conduct. It investigates questions of right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, good and bad, duty and Obligation, and justice and injustice, as well as moral responsibility and the values that should guide us.
TO understand the absolute and relative ethics, we have taken an example of Anglo American inning company and necessary comparing and contrasting will be done in order to study their ethical consideration towards the business. Absolute and Relative Ethics of Anglo American (Anglo American, 2014) Absolute Ethics Relative Ethics Anglo American has played an active part in initiatives such as extractive industries transparency initiative, the united Nations global compact and the global reporting initiative. The company supports the principles set forth in the universal declaration of human rights.
All companies need to make profit. However, Anglo American recognizes that this objective must take account of ethics s shown in its corporate statement. ‘Through providing strong returns for our shareholders remain our prime objective, we do not believe that these can or should be achieved at the expense of social, environmental and moral considerations. Indeed a long term business such as ours will only thrive if it also takes into account the needs of other stakeholders such as governments, employees, suppliers, communities and customers.
TO save the fishing stocks and wildlife. Anglo American has made clear that in Alaska it will only seek to proceed with the project if it can be done without damage to the local sherries. Also giving priority to the recruitment of local people. Anglo American has also contributed to the voluntary principles on security and human rights. This code sets out principles for ensuring that a company’s need to ensure the security of its employees and operations in volatile countries does not adversely impact upon the local population.
Anglo American is backing the South American government’s policy of transferring a share Of the ownership, management and benefits Of the country’s mining industry to people previously excluded from the economy. As a result Anglo American has sold 26% of its assets in South Africa to BEE group. In South Africa it also aims to have at least 40% of its managers drawn from the ranks Of previously dies advantaged ethnic groups. In South Africa, the company has been a major campaigner for AID education. It provides a free anti retrovirus drugs to its HIVE positive employees.
The above table presented with the ethical values presented by the Anglo American in terms of absolute morality and relative morality. One important thing to understand is that, absolute morality is a set of morals to be valid ever all time and all situations where as relative morality is a belief that morals change depending on the perspective and situation. C. Explain the ethical issues which can affect the operational activities of a company such as Anglo American. When we look at the multinational companies such as Anglo American, we should understand that they operate in several of countries with diversified workforce.
It is very important for Anglo American to operate ethically not only for the sake of their business but to be ethically aware sustainable Corcoran. As we all are clear that; organizational ethics is concerned with the issue of morality that manses in any situation where employers and employees come together for the specific purpose of producing commodities or rendering services for the purpose of making a profit. It’s very important for an organization like Anglo American to understand that there are various ethical issues which affect their day to day operation activities; which are discussed as below. ) Employment Law: No matter where Anglo American operates, there is some sort of employment law that governs them. It is very important for them to operate under that awe. For example the State Of Alaska requires employers to allow workers as much time Off to vote as required and for unpaid leave for jury duty (Lawyers, 2014). This will definitely affect the operational activities of Anglo American. However they must consider these things and plan in advance to be ethically aware. 2) Equal opportunity: Various countries have various laws regarding the equal opportunity employment.