Ethics_in_Multinational_Organisations.

One of the most important aspect of an organisation is to emphasise on ethical behaviour. An organisations ethical behaviour is reflected by the actions they take upon different ethical perspectives (Cronk, Krikwood, Ryan & Standley, 1996). This essay will discuss how different perspectives of ethics impact the operation of Multi-national organisations. Ethics is the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right and wrong (Samson & Daft, 2005). Different ethical perspectives are the approaches that multi-national organisations need to consider when making a decision about what is right and wrong. The ethical perspectives that will be examined throughout this essay are the utilitarian perspective, the moral rights perspective, justice (fairness) perspective and the common good perspective. This essay will also help to focus on what multi-national organisations can do to respond to the complexity of these ethical perspectives. Different ethical perspectives become complex because they are subjective and are based on ones values and benefits (ref). Also, an organisation does not operate in isolation from its environment. The decisions and actions of management in business organisations have considerable impact on individuals, other organisations and the community. Knowing that they have a considerable impact on the community, business managers have social responsibilities for the actions they take (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2000). This includes the ethical expectations placed on organizations by society at a given point in time. Given these complexities different ethical perspectives are often difficult to enforce and easy to neglect (McEwan, 2001). However there are some ways in which multi-national organisations can respond to these complexities such as acknowledging the importance of business ethics, encourage their members to take ethical issues seriously, take the views of their stakeholders into consideration when making ethical decisions and also organisations should recognise the pluralistic nature of the social system of which they are a part (Barry & Shaw, 2001). The Utilitarian perspective is one perspectives of ethics that impacts the operation of Multi-National organisations. Utilitarianism, as first propounded by Jermy Bentham, James Mill and John Stuart Mills, has become one of the foundations of modern ethics (Isbister, 2001). This perspective focus on the consequences that actions or policies have on the well-being ("utility") of all persons directly or indirectly affected by the action or policy (Lukoskie, 2008). The principle states: "Of any two actions, the most ethical one will produce the greatest balance of benefits over harms" (Lukoskie, 2008). Utilitarianism holds that the best actions are those that create the greatest total amount of happiness even if this means that we have to sacrifice our own interest. However it is a mistake to think of utilitarianism as a majority rule perspective. For instances, from a utilitarian perspective, what the majority has an interest in may not be in the interest of the greatest happiness in humanity (Cooper, 2004). This perspective can be applied to Multi-National organisations such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola. These organisations are household favourites especially amongst the younger generations. We all enjoy* eating McDonalds and throwing down a cold glass of Coke. This is what makes us happy i.e. it maximise our utility. However we need to consider the consequences that we may face later in the future due to excess or continues consumption of these types of foods*. In this case, the utilitarian perspective impacts the operation of multi-national corporations as organisations would need to consider how their actions are affecting their stakeholders. They would need to compare and contrast their actions based on the benefits and costs that they have on the stakeholders (Galvin, Haider, Hill & Jones, 2007). Like we mentioned before, McDonalds and Coca-Cola are household favourites, both are multi-national organisations that have had to face some ethical issues regarding obesity and the impacts that they have on the health of many of its consumers. Being big branded organisations that are known in pretty much every household, especially amongst children. This is all due amount of advertising that takes place amongst these organisations. This has therefore made McDonalds and Coca Cola to consider the impact that their organisations have had on their consumers. This has impacted by them by having to change of their products to fight the title of the main causes of obesity amongst households.