WeiJia Qin's Blog

In an article I recently read called Wall Street’s Economic Crimes Against Humanity, a very good issue was brought up regarding the root cause of unethical and often dehumanising practices that corporations commit in order to maximize their profits. Are these practices brought on by ineffective organization or individual moral breakdowns? The arcticle addressed the immoral conducts of financiers of AIG, who irresponsibly completed transactions for the sole purpose of increasing shareholder value. These executives received millions of dollars in bonuses because they were awarded based on the exchanges they achieved, not on the destructive consequences of the after effects.

The circumstances that brought about their actions were two-fold: first, as according to Friedman’s model, the executives who made these decisions were so far detached from their ‘social responsibilities’ that they had no concern for the people whose lives were devasted by their actions; second, the structure of the business itself rewarded them solely for their short-sighted achievements, thus making their actions temporarily ‘morally correct’. As according to the UN Commission on Human Rights, “transnational corporations and other business enterprises, as organs of society, are also
responsible for promoting and securing the human rights set forth in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” I believe that in order to achieve this, executives should be held accountable to make correct personal choices, not only to satisfy short-term business goals, but also to complete their first and foremost social responsibility to humanity.

Photo Credit: http://www.usfst.com/news/aig-sells-asian-unit/
Credit: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2009/ca20090319_591214.htm

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