Business Ethics Final

Business Ethics - Final

1. The single factor that determines the success or failure of labor units:

Is the government. Whichever side they take between the workers and owners is usually the side that gains the upper hand. It’s a tough struggle against capitalistic owners, because they have the money. They won’t pay you unless you work. They also have the facilities, which means they can lockout workers. A good example is the NBA lockout, the players weren’t on strike but they couldn’t go back to work until the owners decided to let them back in the arena. In this example, the workers and owners are equally balanced. Although, the owners have the money, the players are the ones who make things happen. They wouldn’t be able to replace all that existing talent with new players. If they are allowed to fight it out, eventually they'll reach an agreement. However, neither side can really “win” which makes it all useless in a sense. The next implication, building on the bottom line of equality, is that it could go on indefinitely, which means that eventually the government will have to get involved. There have been very few periods where the government has helped the workers, and many periods where they’ve helped owners. In the last 30 years, it’s been nothing but political hostility against unions. That is why unions only represent about 7% of the workplace today in the U.S., and mainly in public sector areas such as firefighters and law enforcement. It’s harder to go against workers in the public eye.

2. States of Civil Liberties in the workplace:

People think they have the protection of the bill of rights; they believe they have freedom of speech, the right to privacy, and the right to be free of arbitrary punishment. Many will argue that this is true - except in the workplace. Writers such as David Ewing believe that too many corporations routinely violate the civil liberties of their employees. Historically, the authoritarianism stems from 1) the rise of... [continues]

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