Introduction
The ideologies of philosophers have influenced the world and changed the perception and attitudes of people toward various issues. Aristotle is one of the greatest philosophers who lived. Although various philosophers have contributed to knowledge and promoted philosophical thinking, Aristotle’s ideologies can be connected to practically every aspect of life.
He became a great scholar after making significant contributions to various subjects of human existence. The peculiarity and popularity of Aristotle’s philosophy of life makes it easy for it to be included in various aspects of life. For example, Aristotle’s philosophies can be used to define and inspire the ethical operations of business organizations. This essay examines Aristotle’s ideas about civic relationships, happiness, justice, deliberation, friendship and the virtues and compares them with real-life business practices and the experiences shared through “Great Place to Work”, a website that analyzes the great workplaces.
Aristotle’s Civic Ideas
Aristotle’s philosophy comprises a collection of civic ideologies that apply to real-life activities. These civic responsibilities guide all aspects of livelihood. This section of the essay highlights some of Aristotle’s civic ideologies that can be attributed to ethical practices in business. Happiness, justice, friendship, and virtues are some ideologies highlighted by Aristotle that influence business ethics.
Happiness
Aristotle’s ideology posits that happiness is achieved when an individual is living a healthy and affordable life (Aristotle 3). People must not have everything to be happy. Instead happiness is achieved when they get what they need to satisfy their present and future needs. Modern philosophers still hold this view and believe most people are not happy because they do not know what they need.
They claim that people focus on getting everything they want, and this deprives them of happiness. Aristotle argued that happiness is inborn, and an individual has the responsibility of generating it (Aristotle 9). Happiness is derived from activities that intrigue people. Aristotle defined happiness as the central purpose and an end for all human activities. Therefore, happiness is a state of mind that cannot be achieved through money or fame, but the psychological satisfaction that an individual is contented with what is available to sustain life (Aristotle 17).
Justice
Justice is another civic ideology developed by Aristotle. From Aristotle’s perspective, justice should be based on the character of an individual and not society (Aristotle 78). Therefore, justice concerns the behavior and motives that drive individuals do things they perceive to satisfy society. Aristotle argued that most people pretend to seek justice, yet their mission is to gain political power and become leaders. Such people take advantage of the public’s ignorance for selfish interests. Therefore, not all individual who engage in activism satisfy the required standards for upright and ethical citizens.
Aristotle explains that, non-prolific people are a serious setback for justice in the society because they rely on the effort and ignorance of others for personal gains (Aristotle 83). He believed people should get what they work for and deserve because relying on others for financial, social or political benefits is injustice. Consequently, he suggested that people should get what is proportional to their input and those who work hard should earn more than lazy ones.
Furthermore, Aristotle advises that laws should set standards and ensure equality exists among peers and not all people. Finally, he recommends that the state should protect all people from the injustice that results from corruption, greed, discrimination, poverty and other social perils (Aristotle 91).
Friendship
Another significant philosophy of Aristotle was the importance of friendship. Aristotle perceived humans as social animals who could not exist without interacting with other people. He argued that it was unnatural for people to live in isolation and experience happiness (Aristotle 34). This ideology was derived from the observation that people were always working hard to increase their network of friendship.
This aspect highlights the importance of social relationships in ensuring that people live happily. Consequently, he explored the role of the bond between two people in instilling virtues that support relationships by resisting the challenges of discrimination and injustice (Aristotle 33). Aristotle explained that friendship could be based on utility, pleasure, or virtue.
According to Aristotle’s elucidation, utility friendship occurs when people form bonds that enable them to help each other (Aristotle 34) while pleasure relationships occur when they derive joy in doing something together. Pleasure friendships are a source of short-term relationships because people become exhausted and bored. Aristotle believes true friendship should be based on love, virtue, and mutual respect and not pleasure or material gain.
This relationship is common among adults because they understand their needs and respect each other. However, most young people are selfish and their relationships are driven by pleasure or utility. Aristotle argued that relationships should be between two adults that understand their needs and know what is right or wrong for them thus, people should not form bonds that do not benefit them (Aristotle 36).
Virtues
Aristotle argued that virtue and ethics were different and inexplicable by scientific theories. Consequently, he suggested that the study of virtue was aimed at improving human life and ensuring the coexistence of humans (Aristotle 23). Virtues are behaviors that influence people’s morality and help them make independent decisions. Ethics, on the other hand, are standards that assess the appropriateness of human actions. Aristotle believed virtues and values were complex social, rational and emotional skills that facilitated the coexistence of individuals notwithstanding their sociocultural variations.
Therefore, virtuous individuals were respectable in the society because they did not condone bad behavior (Aristotle 28). Aristotle argued that people gained ethical behavior and virtues from other members of the society. Consequently, he suggested that people should not analyze subjects as right or wrong based on the understanding of their needs (Aristotle 33) but based on the factors including wealth, justice, friendship, virtues and ethics.
Aristotle’s Civic Ideas in the Real Work Environment
Aristotle’s views on civic relationships are evident in the policies and practices of most organizations. The relationship between Aristotle’s principles and the proposed ethical practices for business organizations can be seen by reviewing the activities of successful business organizations.
The “Great Place to Work” institute has a website that offers numerous articles and reviews of business practices characteristic to real-life successful business organizations. The website argues that the best places to work have important aspects that motivate employees and managers to do their best and improve productivity. Their practices go beyond the routine guidelines stated by the policies and traditions of an organization. For instance, the institute claims that there is a difference between what companies do and how their leaders adopt various approaches to doing things.
Organizations that have the best practices, generous salaries, and less work-related stress do not guarantee employees satisfaction. The institute agrees that policies and programs are essential for all organizations because they guide employees to achieve their objectives. In addition, they guide managers to align various resources with the organization’s mission.
According to this institute, it is the implementation of these policies and practices that make organizations succeed or fail in achieving their missions. Most organizations have good and effective systems that may propel them to success but their managers are ineffective because they do not know how to align company policies with the available resources.
This section of the paper provides a summary of some articles posted on the “Great Place to Work” website that focus on the productivity of different companies organizations and the factors that influence their success. The dynamics of productivity in these companies are compared to Aristotle’s civic ideologies. The presence of Aristotle’s ideologies in these companies’ organizational culture will indicate significance his philosophies in business practice.
Aristotle’s Happiness in the Real Business Environment
Happiness is one of Aristotle’s most important ideologies and refers to the psychological satisfaction that an individual is contented with what is available to sustain life (Aristotle 17). In business practices, an employee must be satisfied and contented to sustain work activities. The importance of happiness for ethical business practices is acknowledged by Zappos (Hsieh par. 1). Zappos understands the importance of happiness and directs all organizational practices toward promoting happiness for employees and customers (Hsieh par. 2).
The CEO of the company explains the aim of Zappos is to deliver happiness for workers and consumers (Hsieh par. 2). Zappos imbibes the culture of happiness from its recruitment process by giving entree employees the opportunity to quit during the training process and receive payment for the spent time and an extra $2,000 (Hsieh par. 3). Through this, new employees are offered an exclusive opportunity of making informed choices concerning their happiness and ability to be fully committed to the company.
Aristotle’s Justice in the Real Business Environment
Aristotle’s suggests that justice should be based on the character and actions of an individual and not the society (Aristotle 78). Consequently, from Aristotle’s perspective, the laws guiding people should differ and depend on the individuals’ personalities. The application of this ideology is obvious in successful business organizations, which create reward systems based on the performance and actions of the employees. For example, Infusionsoft, a fast-growing marketing and distribution software company in Arizona uses various forms of incentives for employees that outperform others and conform to company standards.
For example, the employee of the month is entitled to a dinner and allowed to drive the company’s car for one month. Infusionsoft also gives awards for top innovators, outstanding customer support, and rewards for promptness.
The company’s approach indicates the utilization of Aristotle’s ideology of justice in business ethics. Although all employees are paid regular wages during payment periods, those who outperform others derive extra benefits. The business practice of rewarding employees for their individual achievements reflects Aristotle’s ideology that justice is achieved when laws are based on individuals’ personalities (“Honorable Mention for Employee Recognition” par. 1).
Aristotle’s Friendship in the Real Business Environment
Aristotle’s friendship ideology also plays an important role in business ethics. He explains that people are social animals and cannot exist alone. Aristotle believes it will impossible for people to exhibit the ideology of happiness if they are isolated (Aristotle 33). Consequently, people must make friends and interact with others to live well (that is, to be happy). Various real-life business systems support this ideology. The impact of social media on job satisfaction and employee productivity has been highlighted.
Employees reported that they enjoyed collaborative working environments that include communication through e-mails, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (Groman par. 2). The inclusion of Aristotle’s ideology of friendship is further indicated as employee diversity for improved organizational productivity. Business organizations are advised to ethically promote workforce diversity to enjoy the benefits of business globalization. The workforce of a global organization performs better when the workforce comprises individuals from different sociocultural backgrounds (Gorman par. 1) and this shows that people yearn for broader friendship.
Aristotle’s Virtues in the Real Business Environment
Aristotle’s describes virtues as behaviors that make people moral and able to make independent decisions while ethics are standards that measure the appropriateness of human action. Virtues are explained to influence the abilities of employees and leaders to conform to business ethics. Courage, humor, humility, and honesty and virtues identified by Aristotle and they play various roles in promoting business ethics.
Business leaders need to be courageous to pursue ethical business practices against their interests (Erb par. 1). Companies, such as Atlassian, understand the importance of ethical integrating humor with their culture. Atlassian uses humorous swearwords to create an open working environment for employees (“Atlassian: #7 Best Medium Workplaces” par. 3). Employees enjoy this friendly approach of business, which enables them to work rigorously in a flexible environment (“Atlassian: #7 Best Medium Workplaces” par. 2).
Conclusion
This paper reviewed Aristotle’s ideologies and compared their relationship with ethical business practices. Aristotle’s views on civic relationships are evident in the policies and practices of most organizations. The analyzed ideologies show that happiness is not influenced by tangible resources but by the inherent perceptual dynamics of individuals.
This ideology is apparent in business practice where organizations that create lasting and trustworthy relationship with their employees and consumers are perceived to be ethical. Furthermore, justice is achieved in organizations when they offer healthy working environments for employees by enforcing strict human resources policies. The role of justice in the business environment is seen in how much employee motivation can be influenced by equality and fairness.
Aristotle’s suggestion that people work hard to achieve happiness is accurate. It may also be argued that managers and employees can deliberate on contentious issues and find solutions that will improve their relationships. Thus, workers should be treated equally and respected to improve their work rate and enhance organizational productivity.
Aristotle’s ideologies are closely related to the dynamics of modern day business practices. The comparative review of Aristotle’s ideologies and real-life business experiences show that ethical business practices are related to philosophical ideologies. Aristotle’s ideologies considered in the paper indicate strong connection with current business practices.
Successful companies across different industries employ Aristotle’s philosophies to improve team work, consumer satisfaction, employee reception, and organizational efficiency. Thus, his philosophical ideas form the core of common organizational cultures. Managers and executives that are proactive should create a culture that is hinged on Aristotle’s ideologies.
Works Cited
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999. Print.
Atlassian: #7 Best Medium Workplaces 2014. Web.
Erb, Meg 2011, Courage to be Great, Web.
Gorman, Charlene 2015, Use of Technology at Work: Counter-intuitive Findings. Web.
Gorman, Charlene 2015, Why Diverse Organizations Perform Better: Do We Still Need Evidence? Web.
Honorable Mention for Employee Recognition 2012. Web.
Hsieh, Tim 2011, How Zappos Creates Happy Customers and Employees. Web.