M4Thornton

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From the perspective of being in favor of ‘sweatshops’, I understand how they support and influence these countries by providing options for better employment. Author Nicholas Kristof, New York Times (online), states he lived in “East Asia, watching as living standards soared- “. This relates to the Benjamin Powell reading and how people hope to gain employment with these factories. Providing jobs to third world countries is better than digging through garbage (Kristof) or having to resort to prostitution (Powell). This closely relates to the “profit motive’ (Pg. 123) in the chapter reading supporting that ‘sweatshop’ workers have a self-interest for their choice in working long hours and in harsh working conditions.

Large conglomerates should continue to have sweatshops to encourage growth and development for third world countries. At the same time, the business approach needs some improvement, so not to take away jobs from these poorer countries. Sweatshops are an investment and part of that investment should be securing a safe and adequate factory for production. In doing so, it could save reputations, provide less chances of interruptions to production, and who knows it could be a tax write off.

 

 

Shaw, Willam H. Business Ethics: The Nature of Capitalism.Cengage Learning, 2017.

 

Powell, Benjamin. “In Defense of “Sweatshops”. The Library of Economics and Liberty. June 2, 2008. https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2008/Powellsweatshops.html

 

Kristof, Nicholas. “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream’. Opinion, OP-ED Columnist, The New York Times. Jan. 14, 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?searchResultPosition=8

M2-Thornton

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On page 46 it states egoism is, “The view that equates morality with self-interest…”. I found this theory relatable to the many different people that I work with. While my co-workers are polite and professional, very few of them are willing to participate unless there is a direct benefit involved for them or their department. I agree with the misconceptions noted in the reading about “…egoists cannot act honestly, …and helpful,…” (Pg. 47). My co-workers are genuinely good people and when resources are scarce it’s hard to participate in additional projects or tasks.

Recently I have been put in charge of rolling out a new software program for the Administrative Division (keep in mind I have no IT background). I was instructed by the software company to follow a training schedule and to add the relevant people that would need to attend. I invited three other upper management staff and one of those managers invited two IT staff members. Members of this training participated in the ones that applied to them (not staying for all the trainings). I am aware this doesn’t have much to do with morals, but a united front to implement this new software would have been better than being a resource of one.