Business and Society

A well observed conclusion made by Lord Acton can be interpreted as that a person's sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. In context of modern business practices one can argue that power creates more temptations in opposition of having lack of power. The temptations vary from greed to fame. Those in charge are not perfect robots that can be programmed to choose correctly and morally all the time, they are people after all. At any given moment temptations is resisted and not. In the whole quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men” it could be read that there is a common negative flaw in society that passes over to leadership.   Philosophers like Xun Zi believe that humanity is inherently evil and so with power comes corruption. The person with power respects only those who also have power and this can be attributed to why corruption starts from the top in a business and works its way across to others.
It could also be that we tend to focus only on the bad. Power is neutral but the person is not. So power magnifies both the person’s virtues and his vices. Many business institutions use a system of checks and balances. Many very powerful people in business tend not to get involve in corruption and scandals. Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Ted Turner (media mogul) contribute to charities regularly. Oprah Winfrey (media mogul) has built a successful school for girls in Africa. Wal-Mart the largest retail chain in America actually assisted in the New Orleans disaster before FEMA could even get organized. The way power is used depends upon the one who wills it.