Business Ethics - Toyota Recall
aCOMM101 - Essay
My View of Responsible Commerce
In my first week of COMM101- Responsible Commerce I thought that responsible commerce involved making decisions that are fair for all parties, decisions are to be considered socially acceptable and that all players have equal access to information. I believed socially irresponsible commerce could lead to large-scale problems such as the Global Financial Crisis, In my opinion the GFC is the largest scale manifestation of socially irresponsible commerce and demonstrates the consequences when responsible commerce procedures are not followed. I still somewhat believe in what my initial thoughts were, in that responsible commerce entails making decisions that are considered socially acceptable, what I did not think of at the time however, is how complex and difficult it is to make those decisions. I’ve since learnt that it is not as easy as it sounds to make socially acceptable decisions. When we first started I thought it was simple, you look at the options and decide which was best for the majority, a very Utilitarian view. However I have since realized a lot more thought and decision-making has to go into that process. When we looked at the Levi Straus Case Study in which they shut down one of the manufacturing plants in America forcing hundreds of employees out of work, my view on responsible commerce shifted. When I first read the overview of the case I was very anti-Levi as they left so many employees without work however after re-reading the case and analyzing it further my view shifted. I find the main point in Responsible Commerce is people do not know the full story and make judgments based on the filtered information they receive, making it extremely difficult for companies to be perceived as operating responsibly. Although laying off workers and moving operations off shore is seen as ‘wrong’ by society, what society forgets is that the business needs to earn money and will do their best to ensure that. If
My View of Responsible Commerce
In my first week of COMM101- Responsible Commerce I thought that responsible commerce involved making decisions that are fair for all parties, decisions are to be considered socially acceptable and that all players have equal access to information. I believed socially irresponsible commerce could lead to large-scale problems such as the Global Financial Crisis, In my opinion the GFC is the largest scale manifestation of socially irresponsible commerce and demonstrates the consequences when responsible commerce procedures are not followed. I still somewhat believe in what my initial thoughts were, in that responsible commerce entails making decisions that are considered socially acceptable, what I did not think of at the time however, is how complex and difficult it is to make those decisions. I’ve since learnt that it is not as easy as it sounds to make socially acceptable decisions. When we first started I thought it was simple, you look at the options and decide which was best for the majority, a very Utilitarian view. However I have since realized a lot more thought and decision-making has to go into that process. When we looked at the Levi Straus Case Study in which they shut down one of the manufacturing plants in America forcing hundreds of employees out of work, my view on responsible commerce shifted. When I first read the overview of the case I was very anti-Levi as they left so many employees without work however after re-reading the case and analyzing it further my view shifted. I find the main point in Responsible Commerce is people do not know the full story and make judgments based on the filtered information they receive, making it extremely difficult for companies to be perceived as operating responsibly. Although laying off workers and moving operations off shore is seen as ‘wrong’ by society, what society forgets is that the business needs to earn money and will do their best to ensure that. If
References: Strumph, D, 2010, ‘Toyota recalls cars to fix gas pedals’, Tulsa World, 22 January. Bensinger, K, 2010, ‘Toyota recalls vehicles for sticking gas pedals’, Chicago Tribune, 22 January Krisher, T, 2010, ‘Toyota expands recall over faulty gas pedals’, South Florida Sun – Sentinial, 29 January. Linebaugh, K, ‘Corporate News: Toyota issues second recall for gas pedal’, Wall Street Journal, 22 January. Toyota Recall Facts, 2010, accessed 26th April 2012, http://www.toyota.com.au/about/toyota-recall