2-1.4: Rights and Justice in Stakeholder Theory

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Global Impact: Business Ethics

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Global Impact: Business Ethics

36 notes

Cours 6 sur 7 dans Specialization Global Challenges in Business

Global business ethics is the study and analysis of how ethics and global business are connected. How we should treat each other and our organizations in global and local contexts is the topic of this course. Business ethics and corporate responsibility are inherent in global commerce. Commerce is about markets, and markets entail exchanges between people and groups of people. So commerce is about human relationships, and indeed, it could not be otherwise. One of the important challenges in global business is working out the extent of these obligations in the interrelationships between businesses and the particular local cultures in which that business operates. The ethical issues arising from these engagements, the kinds of values-based considerations out of which an organization negotiates with local concerns, and how an organization can be both an enabler of economic value-added while respecting cultural differences will be topics of this course. Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: • Become morally sensitive to ethical dilemmas in global commerce • Identify ethical issues in global business • Master stakeholder analysis • Address issues from more than one point of view • Use a well-reasoned process by which to arrive at ethically-defensible decisions • Evaluate good and weak arguments • Defend your conclusions This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

À partir de la leçon

Module 2: Stakeholder Theory: Bayer CropScience in India

Distinguish stakeholder theory from managerial shareholder theory. Be able to use stakeholder theory in the framework for moral reasoning. Apply the model to one case, e.g., Merck, BHP or the Oil Rig.

2-1.1: Stakeholder Theory Introduction6:28

2-1.2: Bayer Crop Science and the Issue of Child Labor4:28

2-1.3: Stakeholder Theory11:35

2-1.4: Rights and Justice in Stakeholder Theory4:40

2-1.5: Bayer Crop Science and a Framework for Moral Reasoning8:09

Rencontrer les enseignants

Patricia Werhane
Visiting Professor
Department of Business Administration

Two of the ethical theories we introduced in lesson one were theories of

human rights and principles of justice or fairness.

In this lesson, we will apply these to stakeholder theory and

to the Bayer Crop Science case.

[MUSIC]

Let's pursue stakeholder theory a little further again with Bayer Crop Science in

mind and look at the rights and justices that are at stake in this thing.

So let's remember rights talk.

And that is do human beings have basic rights?

And I think most of us would say they do.

Do they have rights to welfare, to a livable environment,

to drug treatment, for example, in river blindness?

So the question is, do corporations have obligations to respect human rights?

And that is very interesting.

And that has been challenged by a new, been argued by a new UN documentary

called the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

And for those of you interested, I recommend that you read that.

It's brand new since 2012,

wrote by a professor named John Ruggie at Harvard.

And in that document the document argued that corporations

have obligations to respect human rights wherever they're operating.

It doesn't matter where they're operating.

So one of those would be to respect children and

respect and not have child labor.

Now that, by the way that document is voluntary, obviously.

Companies don't have to adhere to it, but it is a very general document and

it is has been read very widely.

So with rights talk, well, how do stakeholders and

stakeholder theory link to rights talk?

The idea is that every individual and every organization,

because organizations are made up of human beings, well, that's obvious.

They all have rights because they're all made up of human beings.

And we have to respect those.

So then the argument is individuals and organizations have

obligations to respect those rights or not to further violate them.

Now that brings us Bayer Crop Science because the rights here that are at stake

are the rights of Indian farmers to make choices and

run their lives according to Indian tradition.

And that conflicts with rights of children not to be forced to work and

rights of children to go to school.

And those are obvious.

But the real difficult question here is what is Bayer Crop Science's obligation?

Do they have obligations to all of these, and

they have obligations to their shareholders, obviously.

Do they have obligations to the mission of Bayer, and how does that all work?

I mean look, these are all conflicting with each other.

This is a mess, to put a not too fine a touch on this.

Now, let's return to our ideal of justice that we discussed in the last module and

see how that applies to Bayer Crop Science.

Justice, as we just discussed and/or fairness applies

both of the processes I engage in and to the outcomes.

So a process is fair if it treats everybody impartially and as equals.

And the process and the procedure is fair if everybody gets what's due,

what's owed to them in the context.

In Bayer Crop Science case, are we treating all those children as equals?

And are we treating, respecting, the Indian farmers and

the context in which they operate, and have been operating for centuries.

And the outcomes are unfair if we're not treating,

if we're not respecting equal rights.

And if they create a balance of harms over benefits.

This case is difficult because although child labor is not treating

those children fairly, it is creating a balance of benefits for

the farmers and their families, frankly.

And if they stop child labor, can they possibly get a balance

of benefits versus harms, and be fair to all the shareholders?

[MUSIC]

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