Ethics and Government Lobbying

Ethics Case Study

Is it ethical for a business to lobby government?

Businesses can have a great influence on society and consumers. Companies such as BHP Billiton who have revenue of approximately 18.5 US billion dollars can also create substantial pressure on governments.

Is lobbying to the government by businesses ethical?

There are three basic approaches that will be discussed regarding this issue, code based theory, outcome based theory and the character based theory to come to a conclusion on this topic.

CODE BASED THEORY

The code based approach is broken into two limbs.

The first limb is “Ross’s general codes of behavior”, which looks at a general code of conduct that should be followed by all people within society.

If companies approach these principles and abide by them, lobbying to the government in my opinion is ethical as long as these principles are strictly followed regardless of the outcome. Some of these principles include;

Duty to be grateful

Duty to improve the condition of others

Duty to keep our promises

The second limb consists of three tests, of which two will be looked at.

Respect – If the business gives all due respect to anything or anyone that will be affected then I consider lobbying ethical.

Reversibility – In this test the business considers if it would want to be on the receiving end of its decision. I do not consider this approach an accurate test of ethics, as some businesses might be bias in their thinking, assuming the recipients will agree with their decision and understand business protocol.

OUTCOME BASED APPROACH

The outcome of an action is considered in this approach.

Egoism is when the company acts in its own interest without regarding the outcome. When the business lobbies the government using this approach it might very well be ethical to the business as an important strategy to increase profit, but there could be another party that is adversely affected.

When this approach is used there is no guarantee