Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example I have to admit that my knowledge about ethics prior to the course was limited. I only knew it was important and my understanding was limited to generalize idea such as â€Å"we should always strive for the right thing to do† and being ethical is always desirable. I came to the realization that ethics was important because I was aware that the recent financial crisis that rocked the world that made lives difficult for everybody was rooted in greed and lack of ethical practice in business. This explains why I chose to write about this topic because the exercise affords me the opportunity to examine the ethical aspect of business which is often neglected. I believed that this is important to learn especially when we are still in the academe and still in the process of equipping ourselves the necessary skills and knowledge so that it will be ingrained within us to become better professionals in the future. The lessons that we will learn would guide us when we make our choices in any ethical dilemma that we would confront, and would run business organisations in a corporate responsible manner. I believe that given the recent scandals that rocked the business and financial world, it now becomes an imperative that each individual entering into the corporate and financial industry must have a strong sense of corporate social responsibility or accounting to avoid similar occurrences in the future. It should begin right in the academe where future professionals, employees or entrepreneurs are being trained and prepared. It is now important because the neglect and disregard for ethical practice in business has contributed to the recent financial and mortgage breakdown that stemmed from greed and lack of ethical practice that made life difficult for everybody. The high incidence of unethical practices in modern business has prompted a stream of organizational research about morality in business1. In fact, industry experts such as Ernst & Young has pointed out that unethical business practice is the main culprit that precipitated the recent economic crisis which caused a lot of jobs and homes to be lost that made life difficult for everybody which is why it is now an imperative not only to integrate but also to stress corporate responsibility and audit beginning in the academe when future business professionals are being trained and prepared. The obvious disregard about proper corporate conduct is not surprising as Crane and Matten hypothesized that business in itself has been argued to be amoral that to put ethics in business is an oxymoron because they contradict each other2. Business in pursuit of its profit motive will invariably set aside ethics as it endeavour to make profit. Actions which may be considered unethical such as lying and deception may even become permissible in the business’ pursuit for profit3. This is consistent with the consequential normative ethic theory that â€Å"holds that the moral rightness of acts, which holds that whether an act is morally right, depends only on the consequences of that act or of something related to that act, such as the motive behind the act or a general rule requiring acts of the same kind4†. In plain language, a business person may be prompted to choose a certain course of action or inaction based on the benefit or the avoidance of harm that may be derived from such action or inaction. In the case of business, it can chose to shun any propriety in conducting business with the idea that it is more expedient to make profit by disregarding scruples in conducting its operation. Having corporate responsibility does not mean that a business organisation is already shunning the importance of profit. Profit is equally important for without it, business