Lab 6

Assignment #2: Persuasive Essay

BMGT 496 7380

The traditions view of a corporation was that it existed to make a profit. Corporations now have more responsibilities that go beyond generating a profit, which include considering ethics. A corporation should be thought of as a citizen in the world with moral obligations. The extent of a corporation’s obligations is often argued. Some believe that it is not enough for a corporation to be socially responsible and that corporation must be a triple bottom line company in order to meet their ethical obligations. This statement is very true. Corporations must follow the triple bottom line theory in order to fulfill their ethical obligations to society because calculating an organizations gains and losses by the triple bottom line helps the organization make decisions that benefit both the business and the community.

Corporate Social Responsibility is responsibilities that a corporation has as a member of the moral community to other members of the moral community. Corporate Social Responsibility falls into four groups. The first responsibility is the economic responsibility, which is the responsibility of the corporation to be profitable. The next responsibility is the legal responsibility, which is the responsibility of corporations to accept the law and make a strong effort to obey the law and the spirit of the law. Next is the ethical responsibility, which is the responsibility of a corporation to act as a member of the moral community and do the right thing. The final responsibility is the philanthropic responsibility, which is the responsibility of a corporation to perform acts of generosity within their community.

These four groups of responsibilities are ordered from the most important to the least important, meaning corporations must attend to their responsibilities in the order of Economic, Legal, Ethical, and Philanthropic. For instance, if a corporation is profitable, meaning they have met their...