Essay Sample on Utilitarianism Moral Philosophy

Introduction

Companies operating in industrialized nations have increasingly contracted out of production hence leading to the globalization of production. As such, it has caused an emergence of the division of labor in the apparel and footwear industry across the international platform. The companies consist of Reebok and Nike, which rely on various contractors from China, Indonesia, and Central America for product designing, sewing shirts, and production of shoes. Critics have used the print media to campaign against sweat-shops. Due to the criticism, it is vital to identify the relevant ethical labor standards for sweatshops in international markets. The ethical standards dictate the moral philosophy used in sweatshops. These comprise of home-country standards showing that international companies have the ethical duty of paying the same wages, as well as the provision of the same labor standards regardless of their regions of operation. However, from my view, the standards should only apply in the host countries and not internationally.

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Another ethical standard is a living wage standard, which stipulates that international corporations need to pay a living wage even in cases where local firms do not pay such a wage. From my perspective, payment of a living wage allows workers to live in dignity, as well as shows respect for the human rights of those workers. As society develops, subsistence wages would be crucial for employees of corporations. In essence, companies should ensure that there is fairness of international trade to help narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. This would be easy to achieve when international sweatshops pay high wages to their workers.

The core idea of utilitarianism is that the effects of actions determine whether they are morally right or wrong. These actions may produce either good or bad results. Utilitarians always believe that morality makes the lives of people better by ensuring that there are more good things in the world than bad things. The good things lead to pleasure and happiness while the bad things cause unhappiness and pain. As such, morality has a positive contribution to both human and non-human beings.

Ideally, utilitarians find it difficult to keep any promise made to a dying person. They argue that action would be right based on the total utility and not general utility of the action. For instance, my friend is on a deathbed and asks me to promise to give his money to a local football club. I promise to do whatever he wants. However, when the friend dies, I have the opportunity to use the money to pay the hospital bill rather than giving the money out to a football club. Payment for the hospital bill will produce more utility. In essence, people will not know that a promise was made hence the effects on the integrity of keeping promises would remain intact. In such a case, it will be right to break the rule of keeping promises. This is a tricky thing for utilitarians as it seems that you owe someone a promise yet there is a better option (Hausman, McPherson & Satz, 2016). Restricted utilitarian abides by the rule as they tend to keep the promises they make. Even though abiding by the rule is a general stance, it might be difficult to follow the rule if it does not produce the most utility.

The moral philosophy of utilitarianism will approach the concept of good will and due process of employees by applying the four basic elements of the philosophy. One of the elements is consequentialism, which entails the understanding that wrongness or rightness of actions is determined by the actions. In this manner, an organization would encourage its employees to act as they wish so long as the outcomes are beneficial to the organization. Another element is welfarism that involves understanding that wrongness or rightness of actions depends on the conceptions of welfare within the society. In this aspect, an organization may decide to increase employee wages and benefits if it promotes the happiness of the employees.

In contrast, based on Kantianism philosophy, a person is considered good or bad depending on how their actions motivate and not the goodness of consequences of such actions. In this case, motivation means whatever caused a person to do a given action. Therefore, one will only have moral worth if they are motivated by morality, which would emanate from the emotions and desires of individuals. For employees at will and due process, they can be motivated to engage in the most appropriate activities that promote organizational growth. Importantly, the theory of value ethics in businesses attracts interest from many business ethicists. This theory will enable employees to pursue essential and morally inclusive excellence (Teulon, 2014). However, leaders need to explore the ways of managing the ethical behavior of other people within the organizational spectrum such as employees so that they improve their decision-making process. Employees need to ensure that they uphold the relevant ethical standards and attributes like the utmost good faith, integrity, courage, and honesty. From these philosophies, virtue ethics is the most favorable as it encourages people to practice ethical principles.

Virtue ethics is the most useful moral philosophy to apply to the problems of business ethics. When businesses are run by virtuous leaders, the organizations find it easy to thrive in the marketplace. In essence, the organizations led by men of good values, virtue, and character tend to outperform their competitors. These virtues include compassion, responsibility, honesty, and integrity. When employees uphold these virtues and recognize their importance, they will coordinate effectively with the managers of different organizations. Through the virtues, all people within an organization would be involved in the strategic objectives of the organization. The decisions will promote a range of operations that boost the success and development of enterprises (Arneson, 2016).

Additionally, businesses will know how to deal with their customers by providing them with the most efficient products and services that they require. The virtues will provide vision and build trust that motivates other people to achieve a common purpose. Leaders will bind and motivate members within groups and organizations. The two theories of utilitarianism and Kantianism only focus on the consequences of actions and what motivate individuals to undertake particular actions. As such, they do not handle ethical and moral problems that businesses may experience.

References

Arneson, R. (2016). Applied Moral Philosophy. A Companion to Applied Philosophy, 253-269.

Hausman, D., McPherson, M., & Satz, D. (2016). Economic analysis, moral philosophy, and public policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Teulon, F. (2014). Ethics, moral philosophy and Economics. Financial Economics, 28-8.