1. How do moral obligations apply to business organizations?

Can companies be held accountable for what they do or are the individuals who make up the company the ones we must hold accountable? Discuss the major arguments concerning corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility has many contingences relying on the situation of the act, the individual or group who acted, and the corporations policy. Companies are obligated to their employees, suppliers, and the society. The corporation is a team, each individuals job is important for the organization to function. The cooperation between employees in an act shares the benefits of the act and the moral obligations. Businesses also share the moral obligation of their employees actions. The responsibility of the action is contingent upon if it was a group decision or an individual decision. Traditionally those who knowingly and freely did what was necessary to produce the corporate act are each morally responsible. It is argued that low-level employees are order-takers and the moral responsibility belongs to the order-giver. If any party freely and knowingly does something wrong their moral responsibility is not absolved. It is always situational who is the moral responsible party of an act. Individuals are morally responsible to know the difference between right and wrong and should not be forced to do immoral acts. Corporations are morally responsible to prevent wrong acts of doing business. 2. What are Marxs four forms of alienation? How does each form help to increase inequalities in of wealth and power? Do you think these concepts apply to the capitalism practiced in 21st century America? Discuss your answer. Marxs four forms of alienation are views not allowing the labor working classes to develop their productive potential, satisfying their real human needs, or form satisfying human relationships. The first form in capitalist societies the products that workers produce by their labor are taken away by the capitalist employer and used for purposes that are antagonistic. Second, capitalism forces people into work that they find dissatisfying and unfulfilling and that is controlled by someone else. Third, capitalism alienates people from themselves by instilling in them false views of what their real human needs and desires are. And fourth, capitalist societies alienate human beings from each other by separating them into antagonistic and unequal social classes that break down community and caring relationships. The first form of alienation increases inequalities by replacing human labor with machines, but it casts some of the workers back into a barbarous kind of work and turns others into machines. The second form of alienation increases inequalities Marx says, does not fulfill

himself in his work, but denies himself, has a feeling of misery rather than wellbeing, does not develop freely his mental and physical energies but is physically exhausted and mentally debased its alien character is clearly shown by the fact that as soon as there is no physical or other compulsion it is avoided like a plague. The third form of alienation increases inequalities Marx describes as, the renunciation of life and of human needs. The fourth form of alienation increases inequalities by splitting society into a class of owners and employers, Marx says, Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other bourgeoisie and proletariat. Mass unemployment in the United States shows there are still classes that divide and alienates society today. Technology is advancing everyday and jobs are lost due to machines and outsourcing. American companies outsource jobs to save on labor costs to make the owners more rich alienate opportunity to local employers. Business gain enough market share that they cause smaller businesses to shutdown, turning those previous owners into employers. It is the capitalist idea to get maximum production for minimum cost. Marx believed that private property systems were wrong and today in the 21st century America much of the property is private. 3. Since the end of 2008 weve seen the government pledge billions of dollars to rescue financial and business institutions. Some commentators have suggested that this is not the proper role of government, while others have argued this intervention is necessary to maintain the stability of our society (Hayek versus Keynes). With which side do you agree? What moral principles would you appeal to in support of your answer?