In my opinion, personal views and values of the owner should not influence which social causes the organization supports. However, it has to be mentioned that a corporation has to pay sharp attention while choosing the areas of donations. As the choice might negatively affect a reputation of a company in future.
A similar situation happened to Chick-fil-A. Since the restaurant chain actively supported Cristian marriage traditions and gave donations to family support programs, these acts were misunderstood and considered as discrimination of gay people (Harvey, 2015). It was the primary reason for the boycotts against their restaurants, as the accusations of violation of human rights quickly spread on the Internet. Disapproval, hate, and enmity were the key drivers of the violent actions against the company, which were rapidly generated in the society. It could be said that the cause of the adverse chain of events was an unthoughtful enterprise’s choice of the area for a donation.
It could be said that personal values of a leader could have a reflection on the company’s corporate culture. Internal principles have an effect only on the employees. However, paying close and careful attention to the choice of the organization for support is crucial. As the example of Chick-fil-A shows that the positive intentions might be misunderstood and taken as deliberate actions. This fact might cause false accusations and inability to disprove them.
As the Internet develops fast, it could be said that social media has a dramatic impact on the reputation of a company. The news and posts are essential in everyday life. The volume of transferred information is higher, as it was in the past. Moreover, a frequency of replies is also greater. In this case, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter were the distributors of information. Criticism of this matter on Facebook was rapidly evolving, as it touched a sensitive social topic. It could be said that the waves of aggression were generated on Facebook and quickly transferred to the real life.
However, as the news spread fast on the Internet, a positive prominence could be achieved with the help of just one sentence. In case of Chick-fil-A, a post from Mike Huckabee helped a company rebuild its reputation (Harvey, 2015). The governor organized an event, which allowed the company to increase its revenues.
In this case, the Internet was a primary tool to both destroy and regain the company’s image. Social media played a role of a connector between the business and society. In the end, Chick-fil-A came to a conclusion that it was more reasonable to stay out of the discussion and give politicians a right to decide (Harvey, 2015).
In order to evaluate the ethical values at Chick-fil-A deontological, teleological, and caring theories are utilized. It could be said that deontological theory considers outside rules as the key moral principles (McNett, 2015). Religion and faith are one of them. In this case, the philanthropic donations of Chick-fil-A could be considered as highly ethical, as the corporate culture of the company actively supports Christian values. Moreover, their support of family organizations could not be possibly considered as a violation of human rights and discrimination of minorities, since they support primary marriage principles of Christianity. However, typical values of the society also have an impact on the organization, and its values have to be taken into account in order to avoid misunderstandings. In this case, the company’s values could not be considered as ethical as the government protects the minorities.
As for teleological ethics, the solutions and choices could be considered as relevant if they have a positive outcome (McNett, 2015).Some of Chick-fil-A’s philanthropic donations could be regarded as positive since they help the company build a positive reputation and generate higher revenues. However, a support of family enrichment programs had a negative impact on the company’s financial condition and social status. Moreover, the third philanthropic area did not apply the principle of distributive justice theory, as society considered it as a discrimination of minorities.
Caring ethical theories imply that it is “non-rational emotional claim” (McNett, 2015, p.267). It could be said the owner of Chick-fil-A was guided by emotions while making a decision to support the family organizations, he wanted to encourage young people to pursue happy family lives according to the Christian standards. His primary intention was not to discriminate the sexual minorities but to encourage building traditional families. Consequently, it could be said that all philanthropic donations were relevant.
If I were the owner of Chick-fil-A, I would use a combination of teleological and deontological theories. Both approaches discovered the issue from an objective perspective. Applying them while making a choice allows the owner to avoid misunderstandings and losses, as all the aspects of decision-making are evaluated in advance. Moreover, deontological ethical theories help the leader see a future choice from diverse cultural dogmas, corporate cultures, and social principles. In turn, teleological ethics show a result of donations and determine whether it will have a positive impact on the organization.
References
Harvey, C. (2015). Chick-fil-A and the media. In C. Harvey & J. Allard (Eds.), Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and exercises (pp. 319-323). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
McNett, J. (2015). The ethics of workplace diversity. In C. Harvey & J. Allard (Eds.), Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and exercises (pp. 261-272). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.