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Post by Mr. Daniel on Apr 30, 2013 7:32:18 GMT -5
The video The Corporation shows a demonstration on the lawn of Mark Moody-Stuart (former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell). One of the questions that comes up in their conversation is how much moral responsibility Moody-Stuart bears for the environmental and human rights abuses of Shell. Responsibility is one of the key issues with regard to corporations - as the video points out, one reason people incorporate their businesses is to avoid legal liability for things the business does.
What moral responsibility do you think that company executives have for the actions of their companies?
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Post by victorialord on May 1, 2013 10:42:14 GMT -5
I think that executives do have some moral responsibility of promoting good within the company, but they are not guilty of the unethical decisions or actions of the corporation. I believe that the executive must try to make the corporation as environmentally friendly and as supportive of the poor and workers as possible. Although they are striving to make the company better for our world, sometimes the corporation will still make unethical decisions, but this does not make the executive personally responsible for these actions. The sin of the corporation is a social sin, so the executive is not necessarily committing a personal sin. In the example of Mark Moody-Stuart, even though Shell had abused human rights and the environment, Mark Moody-Stuart wanted to help undo these injustices and make Shell a more morally responsible company. Therefore, he did not commit a personal sin, regarding the unethical actions of his company.
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Post by isabeller on May 1, 2013 20:04:23 GMT -5
I agree with Victoria that executives do not have all of moral responsibility because their are many people who come to decisions in a company even though one person may pass them. I think the video made an interesting point on showing how the protestors and executive agreed on many of the same points and this just showed how an executive clearly does not have all the moral responsibility. This was not his personal belief but the companies and even though he is a major part of the company i don't think it is fair to put all of the moral responsibility on one persons back.
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saram
New Member
Posts: 28
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Post by saram on May 4, 2013 17:26:02 GMT -5
I agree that the executives have moral responsibility to make ethical decisions, such as being environmentally friendly. I also agree that they will face an unethical decision many times but its the business's fault because there are many people involved in a business than just an executive or executives. Everyone in a business should be seen as equal to be called a business.
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Post by victorialord on May 5, 2013 10:35:29 GMT -5
Since we all agree that moral responsibility does not rely only the executive, I wonder who should bear this responsibility and who is really at fault. Isabelle - you noted that shouldn't put all the responsibility on one persons back, so who do you think the responsibility should be split between?
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Post by isabeller on May 6, 2013 6:49:40 GMT -5
I think the moral responsibility should be held accountable to anyone participating in making large decisions that impact consumers considerably. For example the board of a company makes a collaborated decision on many topics, and i think they can be held the most accountable in these situations.
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