Ethical+Perspectives

Assignment: In some sections of the business community, there is undoubtedly sympathy with the opinions of Friedman and Drucker and the belief that the focus of business should be on business activities and consequently courses in ethics are not necessary. Despite the views of Friedman and Drucker, it is now generally felt in all global cultures that the development of ethical awareness of both students and practicing managers is a valid pursuit and one that requires further attention.

Four articles, representing different points of view, are provided in course resources. Each case is by a noted management authority - Alahmad, Friedman, Drucker, and Murphy. Compare and contrast these articles, and provide your opinion on the topic of social responsibility and business ethics.

Length: 8-10 pages


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=**An Exploration of Ethical Perspectives**= This paper will summarize the arguments of four noted authorities on management pertaining to their views on business ethics and social responsibility, followed by a discussion of the major principles that each discussed: ethics, business ethics, responsibility, and social responsibility.

**Ala Alahmad**
In his theoretical article, Alahmad presented his opinion of the leader characteristics that “ may apply beyond international and cultural boundaries in most instances ” ( 2010, p. 31 ). He described ethics as inherently individual, and provided “ two general views of ethics: relativist and universalist ” ( p. 31 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). Alahmad relegated solutions to the dearth of ethical leadership to the United Nations, especially their Ethics Office, having identified lack of ethical leadership as “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">one of the main problems that we face in the world today <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 31 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). He then propounded a possible international code of ethics for leaders that included the qualities of “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">honesty, tell the truth no matter what, respect, punctuality, not judgmental, just, humble, and dignit <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">y” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 31, 33, 34 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) with a short opinion of each as explication.

**//Peter F. Drucker//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In Drucker’s (1981) exploration of business ethics he introduced two forms of ethics. One based on Western tradition, and Confucian. He stated that ethics deals with behavior, and that all authorities on ethics agree that there is “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">one set of rules for morality, one code, that of individual behavior in which the same rules apply to everyone alike <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 19, italics in original <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). He argues that business ethics is not really ethics at all, since it does not represent the behavior of individuals, but of groups of individuals, and gives four specific examples of why it doesn’t work to hold organizations to standards not expected of individuals. ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 21-22 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Drucker labels the demand by some to apply non-normative ethics to business “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">casuistry <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 22 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), stating that the forces behind casuistry are always political in nature, giving three examples of how following the effect of casuistry to its logical conclusion results in decisions of exigency, or as he states, ethics becomes a “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">cost-benefit calculation <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">”( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 23-26 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) Casuistry, he declares asserts “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">that rulers, because of their responsibility, have to strike a balance between the ordinary demands of ethics which apply to them as individuals and their ‘social responsibility’ to the subjects, the kingdom – or their company <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 22 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Drucker concludes his article with two proposals for how personal or individual ethics could be made to work in organizations. In one scenario he proposes the ethics of prudence, in which the individual avoids “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">any act which would make one the kind of person one does not want to be <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 27 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), but shows that the logical conclusion of this kind of “ethics” could result in ones actions getting weighed in the balance of “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">public relations <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 28 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). He then identifies four key concepts for implementing a non-western ethic of interdependency, based on behavior rather than intention, individual in nature, and more fully fitting what is often meant by proponents of ethics systems for business.

**//Milton Friedman//**
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">For Friedman, "there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">1970, para. 33 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">To him talk of social responsibility is simply socialism, because “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">only people can have responsibilities <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 2 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). If people are the only ones who can shoulder responsibilities, then when talking about the social responsibilities of business, we must be speaking in terms of business owners. This can represent sole proprietors, which from Friedman’s view can do as they like with their resources, since they are indeed theirs ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 23 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), or corporate executives. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Friedman argues that executives are not free to engage in social responsibility in their own right as they are employees of the stockholders, and are answerable to them for what they do with the resources of the organization. If the executive chooses to support causes outside of the products and services of the company, they are doing so at the expense of at least one of three stakeholders; the stockholders (in lower profits), the customers (in higher prices), or the employees (in lower wages) ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 16 & 17 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), while becoming a de facto civil servant. He acknowledges that there may be times when due to self-interest an organization may go along with political machinations to generate good will, but that in doing so they are voluntarily submitting to extortion. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Friedman identifies that there is already an organization that exists that has a process for determining the greater good, collecting the appropriate means to finance that greater good, as well as having an arm to implement said good – the government ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 11, 12 & 21 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). To his way of thinking, anything that dictates anything other than private competitive enterprise, which “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">forces people to be responsible for their own actions and makes it difficult for them to ‘exploit’ other people for either selfish or unselfish purposes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 19 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), is a form of socialism, in which “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">political mechanisms, not market mechanisms,. . . determine the allocation of scarce resources to alternative uses <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 15 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).

**//Patrick E. Murphy//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Murphy “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">reviews the concept of moral responsibility in business ethics <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">2009, p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) in his review of seven previous journal articles. In his review he determined that all of the articles on business ethics examined the principle of responsibility, which he defined as “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">an entity’s ability to respond to a person, situation, or issue in a certain way <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). He concludes his introduction of moral responsibility with the concession that no “’ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">theory’ of responsibility in business has yet [been] developed <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 246 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), but expects that it should address that a business should have a “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">moral obligation to act (i.e., respond) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), and the “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">extent of freedom an actor has <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 246 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Murphy’s purpose in writing his article was to examine the seven articles through the lens of six types of responsibility which he hopes will provide an “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">overriding construct to gain a fuller understanding of the ethical impact <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) of their studies. He proposed that the following aspects of responsibility should be considered in any debate on business responsibility: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Murphy went on to discuss seven scenarios of possible business ethics and how these six types of responsibility could be applied to those situations. He concluded with a call for more research so that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">a clearer and more useful understanding of responsibility in business will emerge <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 251 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Legal responsibilities should be viewed as the baseline <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 246 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Corporate responsibility should focus on “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">who in the organization bears ultimate responsibility <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 246 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), that actions of the company “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">impacts multiple stakeholders <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 246 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), and what the firm should be held accountable for?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Managerial responsibility implies that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">upper management is most responsible for ethical or unethical company behavior <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 247 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Social responsibility, or what Murphy calls “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">corporate social responsibility (CSR) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 247 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), indicate that firms may choose responsibilities most relevant to them.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Stakeholder responsibility implies that other parties, including consumers, have responsibilities toward the organization as well.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Societal responsibility is the “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">notion of shared responsibility for the common good <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 247 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).

**Discussion**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A part of the requirement for this assignment is to provide an opinion of business ethics and social responsibility, so I have determine to do so, while also using the four articles mentioned to support or disagree with said opinion.

**//What is Ethics?//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I believe that an ethos consists of behaviors that can be universally applied, meaning that to be judged either //right// or //correct// a behavior would have to pass muster with this question; If everyone in the world were to participate in this behavior would it work to the greater good and tend toward building the species, or would it tend to destroy the species? Would the behavior nurture and persuade individuals toward growth and development of themselves and their relationships, or would it tend to hold them back, and foster degeneration? Would the behavior be beneficial to the building blocks of a family, relationships, and society as a whole, or does it tend to break apart and destroy families, relationships, and society? If a behavior cannot be universally and equally applied to every individual in the world, then it may be a cultural good, or more, but it cannot be truly ethical. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The articles of Alahmad and Drucker are supportive that ethics is related to the individual and involves determining what right behavior is. Drucker further identified that while all authorities on ethics disagree on “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">the grounds of morality <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">”, or the “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">rules of ethical behavior <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">”, but stated that all Western authorities agree that ethics deals with “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">individual behavior in which the same rules apply to everyone alike <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 19 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). I do not opine on the grounds, but do put forth a way to determine the rules, and am firm in my belief that ethics are about individual behavior.

**//Can there be a “Business Ethics?”//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">What of business ethics? In our society, what is //right// is subjective and differs from person to person, from state to state, from country to country, and from culture to culture. In my reading it appears that business ethics is applied to different companies differently. This means that one business may be favored while another is disfavored – this cannot be ethical. In my view, if the rules change depending on who you are, or where you work, it cannot be a truly ethical system. Business ethics must be, to be consistent, a group of individuals who subscribe to the same standard of what is right and what is wrong. This would mean that there would have to be a strong relationship between each member, as well as, a deep level //buy-in// of the standards that all are going to universally uphold. In this way it could be possible that one corporations //ethics// could be different from another, but this level of unity could never be dictated – it would have to be the decision of every member of the organization. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Murphy identified that one means of determining ethical business behavior was by using the intent-means-ends typology of Laczniak and Murphy (2006) that determines a behavior suspect if any of the three inputs is questionable. Using this typology, however, Friedman and Drucker might posit that this would invalidate all business efforts. (Since the purpose of business is to generate a profit, which is held by many Progressives as ethically suspect, then business itself cannot be anything but suspect in intent, means, and ends.) Murphy spouts conventional wisdom that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">upper management is most responsible for ethical or unethical company behavior <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 247 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) where Drucker replied that this is “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">not ethics at all <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 20 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) but “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">is a political rather than an ethical imperative <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 23 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).

**//What is Responsibility?//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I believe that a responsibility is the voluntary acceptance of the duties incumbent from making a personal choice. The maintenance of these duties and continued acceptance of responsibility brings benefits, while the neglect of these duties and responsibility generally causes the loss of these benefits. There is a symbiotic relationship between accepting responsibility and the rewards that come from performing the duties subscribed to. Some responsibilities are legally encouraged, while most are wholly the result of choices made, but in either case, an accepted responsibility must always be chosen. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Murphy conceded that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">one of the foundational principles of business ethics is responsibility <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">), and Alahmad showed that organizations can claim responsibility for the mishandling of events, while Freidman argued that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">only people can have responsibilities <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 2 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). Murphy’s article identified several forms of responsibility within an organization, and shares the author’s opinion by quoting Schulz saying that “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">responsibility is a category of relations <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 245 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).

**//Can there be “Social Responsibility?”//**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">From my perspective, since responsibility is always a personal choice to perform the duties inherent in that responsibility, and thereby reap the rewards, how can one be socially responsible? The duties of some responsibilities are beneficial to others rather than the one performing the duty, and such responsibilities might approach the standard of being included in an ethos, as a universal good in their own right, a social responsibility. For example, if one made the statement that parents should nurture their children – one could argue that this behavior should be included in the universal ethic as follows. If every parent in the world was to nurture their child or children would the world be a better or worse place? The answer is clear, the world would truly benefit from the nurturing of each child by their parents, and thus nurturing of children is a truly ethical behavior. But then one arrives at the point of decision and choice. As a parent does one choose to nurture their child or not? As a truly ethical behavior, the nurturing of children could be said to be a social responsibility – it fosters the greater good in all cases. But each parent has the choice of whether they are going to accept that responsibility, and will reap the rewards or consequences of how well they perform the duties of that responsibility. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Social responsibility, however, is not used in this context in the business literature, but as a political weapon of the masses to extort certain behaviors from large corporations to affect some benefit to themselves or others. To be truly beneficial, a social responsibility must be voluntarily, and often enthusiastically, accepted in order to propel an individual, or a company, to doing everything in their power to bring about this universal good. It is not the job of business to determine what is the greater good for society or the species; this is the role and function of good government. The role of business is to produce a product or service for the consumption of the public, and in fulfilling the responsibilities of doing this, and any legal requirements foisted on the business by government, does a business meet its social responsibility. This author has yet to meet the small businessman who went into business to meet his social responsibilities, but has met many who went into business to provide a product, or service at a fair price for a decent profit – and in performing the duties of this responsibility both the consumer and the businessman benefit. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In this way, the author’s opinion follows the preaching of Friedman, only individuals can voluntarily assume social responsibilities, not businesses ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">para. 7 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). Only through free and competitive markets are people forced “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">to be responsible for their own actions <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” which is the epitome of social responsibility. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Drucker also identified that any machinations to cause businesses to do anything but what they’re in business to do smacks of “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">particularist ethics <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” where “ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">this or that group is different in its ethical responsibilities from everyone else <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">p. 29 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) and he claims is doomed to failure.

**Conclusion**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">There is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done called maintaining ethics and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody couldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Only individuals can truly bear the consequences of their own choices, and only individuals can be held accountable for what they do or do not do. By attempting to make a group, or organization //responsible// we indicate that we don’t really want anyone specifically to be responsible – but isn’t that truly what we do want when something goes wrong?

Steve
 * = References ||
 * * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Alahmad, A. (2010). To be ethical or not to be: An international code of ethics for leadership. //Journal of Diversity Management, 5//(1), 31-35. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/pqdweb?did=2009231431&sid=1&Fmt=6&clientId=52110&RQT=309&VName=PQD
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Drucker, P. F. (1981). What is “Business Ethics”? //Public Interest, 63//, 18-36. Retrieved from http://www.nationalaffairs.com/doclib/20080708_1981632whatisbusinessethicspeterfdrucker.pdf
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business to increase its profits. //The New York Times.// Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/ libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-respbusiness.html
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Laczniak, G. R., & Murphy, P. E. (2006). Normative perspectives for ethical and socially responsible marketing, //Journal of Macromarketing, 26//, 154-177.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Murphy, P. E. (2009). The relevance of responsibility to ethical business decisions. //Journal of Business Ethics, 90//, 245-252. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0378-4
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Schulz, W. (1972). Philosophie in der veranderten welt. Neske, Pfullingen, Germany.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The story of four people (n.d.). Retrieved from http://corsinet.com/braincandy/hlife.html ||
 * Notes from seven months later:** This was a good paper, but after ten complete doctoral level classes I can say that this has many, many more quotations that I would use anymore. I marked quotations in this and later assignments in order to show the relationship of what I said, to what someone else says - obviously I do not color code them in my actual papers. In the dissertation the reliance on quotations is about one per 10 pages, and only if I can't paraphrase it better than the author said it. Secondly, this paper was originally written in third person, which does not follow APA 6th edition. I would not use many, if any, references to myself in most papers any more since the audience is more interested in what I have to say - my argument - rather than me. This is a reflective paper that specifically asks for my opinion, so in that case I do have to reference myself. In the papers that follow I have also represented citations in smaller font to both draw attention to them, and to focus attention on the actual arguments - depending on what you are looking for. Finally, I have figured out that my references in some cases were incorrect. For example, the reference to Alahmad includes the proquest database - which is a no no. Instead the retrieved from should reference the home page of the journal.