Rights Vs. Social Responsibility Research Paper

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Rights vs. Social Responsibility

social conflict

The very nature of business implies that the individual has the right to run a business in order to generate as profit. This aspect is aligned with the democratic ideal of personal and individual freedom. The emphasis in business is therefore on individual motivation and the freedom to achieve success in that particular field of business.

However, modern business ethics also require a degree of social responsibility on the part of the individual. This means that the individual in the pursuit of his rights should not infringe or transgress the rights of the society or the community in which he or she functions and runs a business.

Individual rights refer to the liberties of each individual to pursue life and goals without interference from other individuals or the government. Examples of individual rights include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as stated in the United States Declaration of Independence.

(Nanzer)

However, the author also defines community or social responsibility as the duty of the individual to adhere to the norms, values and rights of the society (Nanzer).

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This means that in free and democratic societies there is a constant and unavoidable tension between the rights of the individual as a free agent and the responsibilities that are seen to be the duty of that individual to the society. As Machan (2001) states, "It is the responsibility of the individual to watch over a community to make sure that standards are objective and beneficial to human life" (Machan, 2001,p. 36).

One of the ways in which this conflict has been highlighted in recent years is the conflict between individual executives and the issue of corporate responsibilities. Corporations and the leaders and managers of these corporations have become increasingly powerful and influential. This has resulted in many instances of individual goals and rights transgressing what are seen by many to be the social responsibility of the corporation. One could refer to the well-known Enron scandal in this regard. There has also been debate about the social responsibilities of large corporations in terms of their impact on the environment.

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