Introduction
• Toyota company is one of the largest and most valued company globally.
• Founded in the year by Kiiricho Toyoda and the first car was developed
in the year 1936.
• The company is ranked 12th largest company in the world in terms of
revenue.
• It currently employs more than 330,000 employees (Al-Futtaim).
• The company sells vehicles in more than 160 countries
• It also has vehicle making factories in every continent.
• In the UAE the company has a franchise known as Al-Futtaim motors
which supply a wide range of activities
• The paper will look at the professional ethic theories and some of the
moral problems in Toyota Company.
Normative Professional Ethics
• Ethical theories help organizations to critically think and develop a comprehensive and justifiable way to deal
with moral issues in the company.
• Every theory has its own criteria for determining whether an action is morally right or wrong (Iacovino, 2002).
Types of normative professional theories.
- Consequentialist theories.
- Non-consequentialist theories.
Consequentialist theory
• The theory evaluates acts on the goodness or badness of their consequences
• It bases its judgement that an action is best or right if it makes the world a better place
• Examples of consequentialism are utilitarianism and hedonism.
Utilitarianism
• An action is right if it promotes happiness for not only by the performer of the action but also to everyone
affected (Pfordten, 2012).
• An action can be right even if the motive is wrong
Hedonism
• An action is morally right if the consequences produce pleasure to people or reduce pleasure to people.
• Normative hedonism believes that pleasure should motivate people in doing the right thing.
• Motivational hedonism believes that pleasure and pain determine peoples actions.
Normative Professional Ethics
• Criticism of consequentialist theories
• It is difficult or impossible to know whether a consequence of action will be good ahead of time.
• No one can know the future.
• Some actions might be objectionable even though their consequences might be good.
Non-Consequentialist theory
• Type of normative ethical theory that opposes the assumption that the wrongness or the rightness of
action can be determined by whether the consequences are good or bad (Nye, Plunkett, & Ku, 2015).
• Overall goodness or badness of a consequence is not the only way to determine whether an action is
right or wrong.
Types of non-consequentialist theory
• Virtue ethics: requires a person to act as a virtuous person would act in any situation
Deontological ethics
• Human beings should be treated with dignity and must be respected because they have rights
• It provides the best model for applied public relation ethics.
Criticism of Non-consequentialists theories
• Some of the results of deontology might not be acceptable by all people
• Deontological ethics promotes people to disregard the consequences of their actions.
Moral issues in Toyota Company
• Companies globally have changed the way they operate.
• Most companies are now using ethics to govern their operations.
• Professional ethics can be used to identify and solve some of the moral issues that exist in
companies.
Moral issues in Toyota Company: - Consumer privacy and product safety.
• The company was accused of putting profits first in their decision making instead of the
safety of the consumer.
• The company have made vehicles that had accelerator problems (Knoespel, 2011).
• The company has also been accused of making vehicles that are susceptible to hacking.
• When a vehicle is hacked, private data of the driver is collected by the hacker.
Solutions
• The company must ensure they test their vehicles before selling them to the consumers.
• The company should also recall faulty vehicles to makes sure customers use only safe
vehicles.
Moral issues in Toyota Company - Conflict of interest in the company.
• Toyota has been marred by conflicts between the founding Toyoda family and Toyota’s non founding family.
• The two factions have taken their feud to another level where there is a personal attacks.
• Toyoda family accuses the other faction of sacrificing quality for faster growth of the company
• The Toyota’s Non- founding family on the hand has accused the other side of being at fault in the current
company crisis
• solution
• The best way to solve the crisis is for the two factions to work together towards a common goal (Bauman,
2011). - Job Discrimination in the work arena
• Discrimination at workplace has also been a major problem in Toyota Company
• The company was accused of not taking action when one of its female employees was sexually harassed
(Hale, 2003).
• The company was also accused discriminating a woman who was disabled by not reinstating her
Solutions
• The company should come up with policies rules that prohibits discrimination
• The company can also hold training sessions for employees on what constitutes discrimination and how the
HR should handle such matters.
Finding Analysis: Reasons for the solutions
provided
• A Company should come up with innovative ways to solve some of the
challenges it’s facing.
• A company can destroy its image by violating professional ethics.
Toyota should conduct product testing because:
• Product testing gives an insight on how vehicles will function on the roads
• The company will be able to determine what the vehicles system can endure
especially when it comes to hacking.
• Testing will give assurance that the products are up to standard.
Organizations should work in harmony to deal with conflicts because
• The company will be able to identify the cause of the conflict and will also
be able to shine some deeper issues.
• Working together can lead to a healthy discussion as diversified perspectives
of a situation are considered (Bauman, 2011).
Finding Analysis: Reasons for the solutions
provided
• The company should also come up with policies and
rules that prohibit discrimination.
• Creating a discrimination-free environment can
increase productivity
• The company will also avoid losing funds that might
result from lawsuits and compensations
• The company will also be able to save its reputation of
being a company that condones discrimination.
• A good reputation increases customers which in turn
increases revenue.
Conclusion
• Toyota Company has moral issues that can negatively affect the
company’s
• Moral issues include Job discrimination, Consumer privacy and
product safety and conflicts in business.
• The company should use some of the solutions provided to solve
its moral issues.
• In the future, the company should focus on quality products and
not profits.
• The company must in the future handle its conflicts in the house.
• The company should be in the forefront in fighting against
discrimination
References
• Al-Futtaim. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 30, 2020, from toyota.ae/about-toyota:
https://www.toyota.ae/about-toyota/
• Bauman, D. C. (2011). Evaluating Ethical Approaches to Crisis Leadership:
Insights from Unintentional Harm Research. Journal of Business Ethics, 281-295.
• Hale, K. (2003). Toyota v. Williams: Further Constricting the Circle of Difference.
Journal of Lawin Society , 275.
• Iacovino, L. (2002). Ethical Principles and Information Professionals: Theory,
Practice and Education. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 57-74.
• Knoespel, R. M. (2011). “How Did Toyota Stay on Top?” Revisiting Crisis
Communication Discourse. Master’s Theses.
• Nye, H., Plunkett, D., & Ku, J. (2015). Non-Consequentialism Demystified.
philosophersimprint, 15(04).
• Pfordten, D. v. (2012). Five Elements of Normative Ethics – A General Theory of
Normative Individualism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 449-471.
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