StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Friedman Vs Drucker - Book Report/Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
Friedman vs Drucker The 1970 article by Milton Friedman titled "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" argues that businesses were to engage in socially responsible activities it would be equivalent to practicing socialism. Peter Drucker, in his 1981 article, objects to the term "business ethics" and calls it "Casuistry" because it requires different ethical behavior for businesses than it does for individuals…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.2% of users find it useful
Friedman Vs Drucker
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Friedman Vs Drucker"

Download file to see previous pages

Friedman argues that the only responsibility of a business is to make profit for its various stakeholders. According to him, if a business diverts money from profits and uses the money for some social good, the business or the executives running the business are in essence imposing a tax on the stakeholders and deciding for themselves how spend the tax proceeds. He calls this undemocratic because there are no checks and balances as those imposed on democratically elected governments. He argues that the job of imposing tax is that of the government and if the government interferes in the way that the businesses spend their profit, it will slowly lead to socialism.

Drucker on the other hand objects to the term "business ethics" which he contends is the new "in" subject replacing "social responsibility". Drucker's argument is that different scholars have approached ethics in different ways and that there is no one definition of what is ethical. Under the circumstance, business ethics becomes a very ambiguous term that is difficult to define. Drucker goes on look at business ethics from various approaches. He explains that the western religious traditions of ethics for individuals do not work in the business environment and so concludes that the definition of what is ethical is different for an individual and different for corporations.

However, he argues, that having such different standards for individuals and corporations in not really ethics but "Casuistry". Casuistry is a 17th century concept according to which what is ethical for a ruler is different from what is ethical for the individual since the ruler is "someone whose actions have impact on other". As such, a ruler must put social responsibility ahead of individual conscience. Drucker denounces casuistry because it "considers social responsibility to be an ethical absolute" and because it makes ethics a political objective of businesses and business executives.

Drucker further gives examples to demonstrate how casuistry is not compatible with what is considered ethical. Next Drucker looks at business ethics as Ethics of Prudence. According to this approach, every person in a corporation has some degree of leadership and a leader must never act in a way that his actions need to be explained to others. Although Drucker feels that Ethics of Prudence has the potential of becoming practice in public relations, he feels that it is appropriate in a "society of organizations".

Drucker defines a "society of organization" as one in which a large number of individuals are in important positions of power. However, this power is not conferred by birth but is result of their position and so they have a responsibility to take right actions. According to him, Ethics of Prudence is not business ethics because it lays down the same ethical principle for everyone and is based on authority while business ethics rejects any authority. Finally, Drucker approaches ethics as the Confucian ethics of interdependence.

According to this approach, every individual is interdependent on another individual and his or her actions should be such that they lead to mutual benefits for both

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Friedman Vs Drucker Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/business/1442146-friedman-vs-drucker
(Friedman Vs Drucker Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/business/1442146-friedman-vs-drucker.
“Friedman Vs Drucker Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/business/1442146-friedman-vs-drucker.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Friedman Vs Drucker

Corporate Social Responsibility Ideas of M. Friedman

Milton friedman has been a major proponent of anti CSR movement, and has written articles, which are considered as seminal pieces of work against CSR and corporations that promote CSR.... This is evident in his 1970 article, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits,” published by The New York Times Magazine in 1970, where he claimed “businessmen who talk this way are unwitting puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society these past decades” (friedman, 1970: 1)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Does Everything in Business Have to Have a Business Case to Be Worth Doing

This paper explores the purpose of a business and whether business should engage only in an activity that has a business case.... Using secondary research to find answers, the opposing views of seven groups - historical figures, Nobel Prize winners, management thinkers, academics in finance and economics, business practitioners, media, and philosophers - were sampled and matched to determine whether the worth of a business activity is limited by its contribution to profit generation and the maximisation of shareholder value....
25 Pages (6250 words) Coursework

Social Responsibility of a Business

Only two of the four dimensions discussed above has been the part of friedman's statement i.... In his essay, friedman argues that the ethical and the discretionary dimensions can be the responsibility of any individual be it the businessmen or the employees of the organisation and not the business....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Do Corporations Have Any Responsibility beyond Making a Profit

The interest in CSR has been renewed in the year 2008.... This happened mainly because of the host of criticisms that the companies faced due to their selfish motives of gathering… The practice of the large corporations to maximise their wealth ignoring the societal aspects had led to the formulation of various laws and regulations in different countries of the world....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Ethical Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility at Facebook

Freidman holds that management has only one responsibility of maximizing the profits of the shareholders and the owner (friedman, 1970).... This paper provides an ethical analysis of corporate social responsibility.... Organizations have a significant role in the development of the environment and society because of the high demand for the product marketing of their services and product quality to their consumers....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

Economic Liberalism

According to friedman, a capitalist economic system promotes freedom both directly and indirectly.... friedman believes that government regulation is almost a mistake.... This essay talks about economics and politics which have an intimate connection though they are in different systems which is does not support the existing of both of them side by side....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Does everething in business have to have a ''business case''

This paper explores the purpose of a business and whether a business should engage only in an activity that has a business case.... and also why customers are demanding changes in the mode of behavior of business and why satisfying this demand of customers is in the business' best interest.... hellip;  The aim of this paper is to answer the following research question: “Does everything in business have to have a 'business case' to be worth doing?...
26 Pages (6500 words) Term Paper

Entrepreneurial Approach to Profit and Social Responsibility

This review "Entrepreneurial Approach to Profit and Social Responsibility" discusses the two leading entrepreneurs, Rich Gorman, and Adi Saravanan to determine their entrepreneurship approach in relation to profit and social responsibility and the ideas into an economic resource.... hellip; Entrepreneurship refers to the business of taking a risk in coming up with new ideas and innovations....
6 Pages (1500 words) Literature review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us