Background
The concept of corporate environmental responsibility has been widely debated. There has been a contention over what should be the responsibility of corporate entities to ensure the environment is sustainably utilized.
While some actors have argued that the sole responsibility of corporate entities remains to make profit for the shareholders, others are of the view that there are scenarios where corporate entities should have their contributions in ensuring that there are sound environmental practices so that all organizational ventures are sustainable.
The relevance of having corporate taking responsibility for their environmental actions has been exacerbated by the repercussions that have been seen as far as environmental factors are concerned where it is believed that the years of irresponsible business practices and the motive for profit has led to acute degradation of the environment leading to notable problems such as drying water sources, pollution of the oceans and worse still, presence of harmful products in what is consumed.
Ethical Grid
In an attempt to demystify the role that should be played by the corporate sector in environmental conservation, Hoffman’s case identifies several ethical standpoints that have been pointed out in the ethical greed.
Going by the philosophy of Norman Bowie, who is of the view that ethical responsibility for environmental conservation is a responsibility of the government as opposed to corporate entities, one can argue that the relationship between business and environment should be viewed form the Prima-facie ethics point of view.
This means that even though it may be an individual’s obligation to take good care of the surrounding, the most fundamental obligation of business entities is to make profits and thus they can override all other obligations to ensure that the profit pursuit is achieved.
One can also address the issue form a Supererogatory point of view by arguing that although it is good to take care of the environment, corporate entities that may feel that they are not willing to pump their money towards conservation efforts will not have violated any law.
From the utilitarian point of view, the main idea being presented by Hoffman views that corporate entities should be the driving forces towards the environmental conservation. From the utilitarian point of view, it can be said that companies should ensure that they structure their production in such a way that they reduce the strain to the environment while ensuring that they do not overcharge the customers for this.
From the libertarian point of view, firms are at liberty to follow only the laws that have been set by the government as opposed to engaging in activities meant to go beyond what the government specifies in their conservation efforts.
Solutions
From the assigned case, it is evident that the principles of utilitarian ethics were grossly violated. Corporate entities should ensure that their pursuit for profit does not endanger the lives of others, either in the future generation or in the present generation.
Thus, organizations should ensure that they engage only in ethical principles that are geared towards producing the best benefit to the populace as opposed to harming the populations in some ways.
Arguments that have been advanced by Norman Bowie are thus misleading as it should be the responsibility of corporate entities to ensure that whatever they do is not in the contrary to their ability to be in the same business sustainably in the future. Companies should not be blinded by the profit motive as this may make them engage in unethical practices.
In this case, the ethical reasoning that ought to have been applied is that advanced by the utilitarian school of thought. This is because matters that concern the environment should not be left to the government only as every person is ethically responsible to ensure that he/she has a stake in protecting the environment.
Therefore, it is imperative that corporate entities should have viewed the issue of environmental ethics as their own responsibility as opposed to viewing their role as though it is only defined by the government.
Corporate entities should keep away from the argument that views the responsibility of conserving the environment as discretion of the government as they should also assist in policy formulation and also, ensure that their acts are far above the minimal accepted standards for effective conservation.
If corporate entities accept to adopt the utilitarian approach to matters that concern environmental management, then the issue of the future of the environmental condition is brilliant.
This is because a responsible corporate entity will seek to engage in environmental friendly practices beyond the basic levels as defined by the government. It is also evident that a responsible corporate sector will help come up with more sustainable policies since, as major stakeholders in the environment; the corporate sector will be in a position to offer helpful advice to the concerned policymakers.
Besides this, corporates will undertake the responsibility of educating its consumers on some aspects of the environment and why they should take part in the process of environmental conservation.