As formal organizations, business corporations are distinguished by their particular goals, which include maximization of profits, growth, and survival. Providing goods and services is a means to this end. If, for example, a number of individuals (outsiders or even insiders) believe that a company‘s aggressive marketing of infant formula in third world countries is morally wrong, the company is unlikely to be moved by arguments based on ethos alone as long as what it is doing remains profitable. But if those opposed to the company‘s practice organize a highly effective boycott of the company‘s products, their moral views will soon enter into the company‘s deliberations indirectly as limiting operating conditions. They can, at this point, no more be ignored than a prohibitive increase in the costs of certain raw materials.
Although the concepts and categories of ethics may be applied to the conduct of corporations, there are important differences between the values and principles underlying corporate behaviour and those underlying the actions of most individuals. If corporations are by their nature end- or goal-directed how can they acknowledge acts as wrong in and of themselves? Is it possible to hold one criminally responsible for acts that if performed by a human person would result in criminal liability?
The first case of this type to achieve widespread public attention was the attempt to prosecute the Ford Motor Company for manslaughter as the result of alleged negligent or reckless decision making concerning the safety engineering of the Pinto vehicle. Although the defendant corporation and its officers were found innocent after trial, the case can serve as an exemplar for our purposes.
In essence, the prosecution in this case attempted to show that the corporation had produced and distributed a vehicle that was known to be defective at the time of production and sale, and that even after a great deal of additional information accumulated regarding the nature of the problems, the corporation took no action to correct them. The obvious non-corporate analogy would be the prosecution of a person who was driving a car with brakes known to be faulty, who does not have them repaired because it would cost too much, and who kills someone when the brakes eventually fail and the car does not stop in time. Such cases involving individuals are prosecuted and won regularly.
If corporations have no concept of right or wrong because they are exclusively goal-directed, can they be convicted in cases of this type, and what purpose would be served by such a conviction? Perhaps we can make a utilitarian argument for convicting corporations of such crimes. The argument would be that of deterrence; conviction and punishment would deter other corporations from taking similar actions under similar circumstances. However, there appears to be considerable evidence that deterrence does not work on corporations, even if, arguably, it works on individuals. The possibility of being discovered and the potential magnitude of the fine merely become more data to be included in the analysis of limiting conditions.
Directions: Read the above paragraph and answer the following:
Q. If a company that produced shampoo products opted to stop the routine testing of its products on animals because it decided that it is wrong to cause the animals pain, what effect would this have on the argument made in the passage?
As formal organizations, business corporations are distinguished by their particular goals, which include maximization of profits, growth, and survival. Providing goods and services is a means to this end. If, for example, a number of individuals (outsiders or even insiders) believe that a company‘s aggressive marketing of infant formula in third world countries is morally wrong, the company is unlikely to be moved by arguments based on ethos alone as long as what it is doing remains profitable. But if those opposed to the company‘s practice organize a highly effective boycott of the company‘s products, their moral views will soon enter into the company‘s deliberations indirectly as limiting operating conditions. They can, at this point, no more be ignored than a prohibitive increase in the costs of certain raw materials.
Although the concepts and categories of ethics may be applied to the conduct of corporations, there are important differences between the values and principles underlying corporate behaviour and those underlying the actions of most individuals. If corporations are by their nature end- or goal-directed how can they acknowledge acts as wrong in and of themselves? Is it possible to hold one criminally responsible for acts that if performed by a human person would result in criminal liability?
The first case of this type to achieve widespread public attention was the attempt to prosecute the Ford Motor Company for manslaughter as the result of alleged negligent or reckless decision making concerning the safety engineering of the Pinto vehicle. Although the defendant corporation and its officers were found innocent after trial, the case can serve as an exemplar for our purposes.
In essence, the prosecution in this case attempted to show that the corporation had produced and distributed a vehicle that was known to be defective at the time of production and sale, and that even after a great deal of additional information accumulated regarding the nature of the problems, the corporation took no action to correct them. The obvious non-corporate analogy would be the prosecution of a person who was driving a car with brakes known to be faulty, who does not have them repaired because it would cost too much, and who kills someone when the brakes eventually fail and the car does not stop in time. Such cases involving individuals are prosecuted and won regularly.
If corporations have no concept of right or wrong because they are exclusively goal-directed, can they be convicted in cases of this type, and what purpose would be served by such a conviction? Perhaps we can make a utilitarian argument for convicting corporations of such crimes. The argument would be that of deterrence; conviction and punishment would deter other corporations from taking similar actions under similar circumstances. However, there appears to be considerable evidence that deterrence does not work on corporations, even if, arguably, it works on individuals. The possibility of being discovered and the potential magnitude of the fine merely become more data to be included in the analysis of limiting conditions.
Directions: Read the above paragraph and answer the following:
Q. Which of the following assertions would most strengthen the author‘s claim that deterrence will not work on corporations?
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As a rule of thumb, manned mission costs from fifty to a hundred times more than a comparable unmanned mission. Thus, for scientific exploration alone, ...(1)... missions, employing machine intelligence, are ...(2)... However, there may well be ...(3)... other than scientific for exploring ...(4)... social, economic, political, cultural or ...(5)...
What will come in Option Two.?
As a rule of thumb, manned mission costs from fifty to a hundred times more than a comparable unmanned mission. Thus, for scientific exploration alone, ...(1)... missions, employing machine intelligence, are ...(2)... However, there may well be ...(3)... other than scientific for exploring ...(4)... social, economic, political, cultural or ...(5)...
What will come in Option Five?
Directions: In the following question a sentence is given with two blanks. You have to choose the correct pair of words that fill the blanks correctly in terms of grammar and context.
While India’s post-independence rural policy was about ________ agricultural labour to cities, we need a dual approach to incentivising job creation at rural India’s _______.
Read the each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any will be in one part of the sentence. The letter of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is 'D'. (Ignore the errors of punctuation, if any).
Directions: In the following question a sentence is given with two blanks. You have to choose the correct pair of words that fill the blanks correctly in terms of grammar and context.
As the ______ of jobs is changing worldwide, the private sector is unable to _______ absorb the entrant workforce.
Directions: The following question has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank that best fits in the context of the sentence
SEBI believes that any move to transfer its __________ funds to the Consolidated Fund of India would mean the fees levied by SEBI on investors and traders would become a type of additional tax, resulting in a perverse __________ to increase the generation of such revenue for the government.
He couldn't but help / shedding tears at the plight of the villagers / rendered homeless by a devastating cyclone / No error.
Directions: A sentence is given here with a blank and you need to fill the blank choosing the word/words given below. If all the words given can fill the blank appropriately, choose ‘All are correct’ as your answer.
The southwest monsoon is a determinant of India’s overall _________ .
I. security
II. prosperity
III. riches
Will you please buy / some jaggery for me / if you go to the market? / No error.
Directions: A sentence is given here with a blank and you need to fill the blank choosing the word/words given below. If all the words given can fill the blank appropriately, choose ‘All are correct’ as your answer.
Owing to the flight ban on its airspace by India, Pakistan has _________ its operation for Bangkok which is causing a loss of millions of rupees per day.
I. suspended
II. rejected
III. halted
When the ATMs are set up on the premises of the bank so that both the physical branch and ATM can be used. Then such type of ATM is called ____________.
Which bank is the first bank to introduce a savings account in India?
The first Mutual funds in India was created in which year?
Which of the following Company is the first to install a White Label ATM in India?
APBS is used for crediting DBT transactions for Government/ Government agency disbursements. What is the full form of APBS?
The appointment of a Banking Ombudsman is made for a period of ________.
What percent of the ownership was allowed for foreign companies when applications for registrations were invited in August 2000 by IRDA?
The amount of deposits placed by a non-scheduled Urban Cooperative Bank with any scheduled Urban Cooperative Bank should not exceed _____ of the depositing bank's total deposit liabilities.
The origin of Indian cooperative banking started is with the passing of the Cooperative Credit Societies Act in _____.
____________ is India's apex regulatory organization for licensing and regulating micro, small and medium-sized enterprise financial companies.
What is the need of Foreign Institutional Investors (FII)?
India signed MoU for linking of India’s UPI with Instant Payment Platform of which country?
When cutting and pasting, the item cut is temporarily stored in the
The instruction code used in machine or assembly language which specifies the basic operations of the CPU is ______________.