Introduction
It is well known that morality and money often create dilemmas for one when both are present in the same field, such as business. Analyzing the moral and immoral actions and behaviors of past and present corporate leaders helps individuals develop ethical thinking and decision-making skills. In this work, an attempt will be made to analyze the radically different activities of corporate leaders using academic concepts of moral and ethical foundations.
Examples from the Current Corporate Field
Sometimes a morally correct action carries legal consequences of varying severity for the individual. Elon Musk communicates much with the public and positions himself as a “free speech absolutist” (Smith, 2022, para. 8). One of his initial actions as the new leader of Twitter was to fire politically biased managers, moderators, and other employees. His rationale was to make the social network more transparent and equally representative; however, his approach was too harsh and thoughtless regarding labor law.
Unfortunately, many corporate leaders and CEOs are more likely to act legally but unethically. Some reasons for this are the imperfection of business laws, human greed, and a lack of empathy. A recent example of a fully legal yet immoral act is Gopuff executives adopting Amazon’s employee and operations management practices at warehouses. According to Dotan (2022), “Gopuff hired dozens of people from Amazon who brought along the company’s obsession with companywide metrics and hard-nosed style in calling out employees who fell below those figures” (para. 4). As a result, non-management staff and lower-level managers suffered from this decision.
Moral and Immoral Behavior in Today’s Corporate Realm
When Musk became CEO of Twitter, he did not change his opinion about the organization, which he had previously considered a toxic and hate-breeding entity. He fired politically biased employees, guided by the principle of free speech. However, as an employer, he did not provide some workers with sufficient notice of employment termination, resulting in a class action lawsuit against the billionaire (Taylor, 2022). Based on the definition of immoral management, he behaved unethically and wrongly (Weiss, 2021, para).
However, his move was morally right from the viewpoint of virtue ethics. Musk acted in accordance with his personal principles, believing that his virtues would bring about the common good if applied practically. Moreover, he remained a consistent advocate for free speech in the new environment and was ready to be accountable for it.
The introduction of Amazon-like policies led to worse working conditions for the company’s lower-level staff and a toxic, highly stressful work environment. According to Weiss (2021), this action is at best amoral, as it is geared towards generating substantial profits. However, they implemented these measures when the company was already at its peak (Davalos, 2022).
Executives were paid unreasonably high salaries and criticized those who underperformed, while warehouse workers were paid $16 per hour (Dotan, 2022). Upper-level management also continued to receive unreasonably high salaries. The combination of these factors makes the behavior of the Gopuff leaders conventionally immoral.
As one can see, the critical difference between the situations described lies in the presence of moral character in Musk’s actions and behavior, as opposed to the lack thereof in Gopuff’s executives. These cases also differ in that the goal of improving public discourse drove Elon, while Gopuff’s leaders tightened working conditions for personal gain.
Conclusion
Described situations demonstrate not only different types of corporate leaders but also provide valuable lessons. One is that morally correct and consistent decisions must be implemented in accordance with labor and other laws. One should avoid letting emotions interfere with decision-making when ethics are involved. Another lesson is that a corporate leader must remember that everyone in the entity is both a human being and a contributor. It is hoped that morally correct actions will be carried out more properly and become the corporate paradigm.
References
Davalos, J. (2022). Delivery startup Gopuff cuts 10% of staff, closes warehouses to preserve cash. BNN Bloomberg.
Dotan, T. (2022). Gopuff execs started grilling managers about bathroom breaks after the $15 billion delivery startup adopted Amazon’s playbook. Insider.
Smith, A. (2022). Elon Musk claims Twitter is ‘biased against half of the country.’ Yahoo! Finance.
Taylor, J. (2022). Twitter sued by former staff as Elon Musk begins mass sackings. The Guardian.
Weiss, J. W. (2021). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach (7th ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.