Discuss how the objectives of a manufacturing business might be affected by ethical issues.

by romosqueira (student)

Rodrigo Mosqueira

Business Studies AS

An ethical issue can be defined as a problem which requires a person, business or organization to choose between two alternatives: right (ethical) or wrong (unethical). Businesses face these issues everyday. Therefore, they must create their objectives taking theses issues into consideration.

A manufacturing business is an organization that processes natural resources to form a product. They require a large number of employees to keep producing according to the demand it is required. They also need many energy resources in order to keep they factories fabricating. Ethical issues in a manufacturing company are associated mainly to those needs.

Manufacturing businesses will have objectives that they are aiming to fulfil. Ethical issues in society often lead to these objectives becoming unattainable, as the enterprise has to choose between what is morally right or what is the best for the company.

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The first ethical issue appears when talking about the relationship the business has with their workers, and what are the working conditions in which they are operating. Manufacturing businesses aim to produce goods at the lowest cost to the business. This involves finding the cheapest suppliers, resources and most importantly, the cheapest labour. There is where the first ethical issue comes into play. Should the company do things morally right by paying decent salaries to workers and give them good working conditions, or doing what’s best for the company and pay low salaries, give bad working conditions and in some cases, hiring child labour (which is legal in some countries)?

That is one of the most important and difficult decisions some manufacturing businesses must make, as both sides have it’s own advantages and disadvantages, although choosing the wrong path would result disastrous for the company. For example, taking the first path would result in good advertisement for the company but it may result in operational inefficiencies, which is paying too much for rent, labour and materials which would bring the business to bankruptcy. Taking to second path would save the business a lot of money but would frighten costumers because of the reputation the company has.

Also, manufacturing businesses must also worry about the energy resources they use. Most of this type of organizations consumes a lot of energy, but the real problem is: where do they get the energy? They could get it from fossil fuel, which is easy and cheap, but creates a lot of problems in the environment and that is why consumers don’t like it. On the other hand, they could be environmentally friendly by using natural resources of energy although these would cost them a lot more in terms of money, organization and land. This is another example of how manufacturing businesses objectives are affected by ethical issues.

In conclusion, ethical issues affect manufacturing businesses by making them choose between what’s ethically correct or what is the best for the company.