Shareholder Primacy And The Stakeholder Model Essay

What is ethically responsible management? How can a corporation, given its economic mission, be managed with appropriate attention to ethical concerns? These are central questions in the field of business ethics. There are two approaches to answering such questions. The first one is Milton Friedman’s shareholder theory of management and the second one is Edwards Freeman’s “Stakeholder” theory of management, two different views about the purpose and aims of a business.

Corporate governance is a set of actions used to handle the relationship between stakeholders by determining and controlling the strategic direction and performance of the organization. Corporate governance major concern is making sure that the strategic decisions are effective and that it paves the way towards strategic competitiveness. (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310). In today’s corporation, the primary objective of corporate governance is to align top-level manager’s and stakeholders interest. That is why corporate governance is involved when there is a conflict of interest between with the owners, managers, and members of the board of directors (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310-311).

The stakeholder theory made popular by Ed Freeman (1984) does seem to represent a major advance over the classical view (Freeman, 1984). It might seem inappropriate to refer to the stakeholder position as neoclassical. Bowie (1991: 56-66) has defined stakeholders as a group whose existence was necessary for the survival of the firm--stockholders, employees, customers, suppliers, the local community, and managers themselves.

In their theories of how a business should operate, R. Edward Freeman and Milton Friedman hold virtually opposite beliefs as to what businesses’ responsibilities should be. In favor of the Stakeholder theory, Freeman believes that any person or organization that has a “stake” in the business should also play a role of participation in the business’s actions and decisions. In the other corner of the ring stands Milton Friedman, who holds the belief that said business is only responsible for those that actually own stock in the business – the owners, or stockholders.

The purpose of this paper is to recognize the definition and what a stakeholder is and what it does. I will also explain the two groups of the stakeholders and put the stakeholders in the group where they belong. I will explain what the stakeholders responsibilities are, what their ethical responsibilities to the company. Will explain what would be the appropriate response to the situation in the company. And finally explain what Joe should propose to the management team and how Joe should support his proposal.

For this task I have been asked to discuss the stakeholder’s aims and objectives of my two businesses. It is important for stakeholders to have an influence as they can offer ideas and anything the company is doing is in their interest.

The stakeholders are the shareholders, managers, and employees. The current situation has caused a dilemma that affects all stakeholders equally. When the business is at risk, everyone involved should be concerned about the future of the organization. However, the responsibility falls to the senior leaders of the organization to solve the current issues. However, holding 80% of the company’s stocks is concerned not only about the organizations current issues but also with the value of his investment, as he gets closer to retirement. This creates an ethical dilemma due to his personal finances and retirement being directly affected by the company’s performance. In addition, the CEO believes that the status of the organization is not as bad as some of the senior leadership team would say. The shareholders interest is purely profit. The impact of how Huffman Trucking runs the business and implements change has a direct reflection on the company’s image.

Daft (2012) defines stakeholders as “any group within or outside the organization that has a stake in the organizations performance.” Stakeholders within the organization include the owners, managers and employees while external stakeholders includes the organizations customers, suppliers, community, workers unions, creditors as well as the government. Due the variety as well as different nature of the stakeholders, each stakeholder has a different expectation from the organization as concerns their stake. It is from this characteristic and expectation that each stakeholder will be affected differently by actions and decisions as well as policies and practices implemented by the business from those of another stakeholder (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). This also means that the different stakeholders will act or make decisions that affect the business in a way best situated for them. Carroll & Buchholtz (2014) discuss the relationship between the business and stakeholders as one that has a two-way interaction; businesses will affect stakeholders as well as stakeholders affect the business, that is an interchange of influence. The complexity of the stakeholder-business relationship calls for

The need for clarification on the board requirements for a majority of independent directors as it relates to corporate governance is of great importance and would be discussed in this write up.

This was a very interesting article, in my opinion it brings to mind the derived phrase, which came first the chicken or the egg. Meaning, is corporate governance an attempt to control the results of unethical practices of corporations or is it meant to deter them. In reading this article, it is clear that certain corporations practiced unethical business behaviors for self-interest, but the questions this author have are: 1. Should corporate governance be regulated by the legislature as well as the organization and to what degree, 2. Is corporate governance, there to protect the shareholder or the stakeholder, 3. How effective is corporate governance on a global level. The need for a governance system is based on the assumption that the separation between the owners of a company and its management provides self-interest executives the opportunity to take actions that benefit themselves, with the cost of these actions borne by the owners (Larcker & Tayan, 2008).

In general ,the stakeholder approach may be more conducive to balancing a wide variety of corporate interests and thereby discouraging impropriety.Executives and boards should take the perceptions of both shareholders and stakeholders into account when formulating strategy and enunciate their stance in all organizational communications. Only within that kind of clearly delineated context, can managers be expected to make appropriate decisions. Indeed, some of the most successful businesses are those which have embraced stakeholder values for example Bodyshop. However, we see that generally, shareholder value

This paper will have a detailed discussion on the shareholder theory of Milton Friedman and the stakeholder theory of Edward Freeman. Friedman argued that “neo-classical economic theory suggests that the purpose of the organisations is to make profits in their accountability to themselves and their shareholders and that only by doing so can business contribute to wealth for itself and society at large”. On the other hand, the theory of stakeholder suggests that the managers of an organisation do not only have the duty towards the firm’s shareholders; rather towards the individuals and constituencies who contribute to the company’s wealth, capacity and activities. These individuals or constituencies can be the shareholders, employees,

* The interest each stakeholder has in imposing its expectations on the organisation’s purposes and strategic choices

At Paramount the unitary board exists, where according to the textbook, a unitary board is when a company has a single governing body (Tricker 2009). A non- executive director is defined as a person who is not involved in the day to day management of an organisation but rather in business tasks such as strategic planning, and monitoring of executive directors. An executive director tends to be more involved in the managerial aspects of the company.

Stakeholders are the group or number of people who are directly or indirectly related to a particular business. Stakeholders can be directors, customers, employees, government, agencies, owners, suppliers, unions and the community from which the business draws its resources (Campbell, 2002). However, stakeholders are a crucial part for the success of business. If an organisation knows it’s stakeholder, then it can determine where, there is prospect for business and also by analysing stakeholders, business can set its operational activities (Graham, 2005).