Does It Make Sense to Conceive of an Organization (Such as Corporation) As a Person?

I will start with Plato; my opinion is that he would say “no”. He would not consider an organization as a person because his beliefs are that people need to be educated in order to prosper in life. Plato wrote the Allegory of the Cave to let us know that without education we will be ignorant. That is what he meant with the prisoner of the cave, when they were slaves under the cave, they were lacking knowledge, and it was all in their imagination. When the prisoner was released and sees the sun he started seeing things virtuously and he got filled with knowledge. The prisoner had to have the need and determination to continue to learn to improve himself. In now days, Plato would not hire people without education, only the ones with a career because they would have the knowledge to run an organization.

I would believe Aristotle would say “yes” to the question asked. He would consider an organization as a person because he credited individuals to have better opportunities in teamwork. Aristotle greatest good is to persuade happiness, and every person should be treated equally, especially in an organization. He assumes that everything has a purpose that the world is balanced and ordered with each part having its own district functions and purpose. We are all different, some of us are educated and some not. We also have different virtues and can do many tasks in an organization. Now days we can have a job and it doesn’t matter if we are educated or not, the pay may be different but we all can do the same thing if we acquire the opportunity. I know that in many organizations or cooperation’s, there are leaders or managers that like to mistreat employees because they thing they are superior, but we are all human beings.

I believed Thomas Hobbes would say “yes” to the question asked, due to his beliefs. He starts on Ch.13 of Leviathan saying that nature hath made men so equal in faculties of body and mind. (Hobbes) He believes that all men should be treated equally. So, yes he would conceive an organization as a person. I think that any person should have the opportunity to demonstrate that they have the ability to run an organization no matter the ethnicity. Professionals should know that there are people out there that want to work and have good morals and are hardworking people.

I believe Kant would say “yes” to the question asked at the beginning, because he believed in duties and good will. He mentioned that people could do good things or do things right, but they don’t utilize the good will. And if they don’t use good will they don’t mean it. In an organization; leaders, managers, and employees, they all should be treated equally and do good things. Sometimes in my job, my leader is very nice to all of us, but when she turns her back, she talks things about us. In that case my leader is not having a good will toward her assistants. A corporation is a perfect place to implement disloyalty and arrangements for a person to obtain a considerable amount of power in any way necessary.

John Stuart Mill, in my opinion he would say “No” to the question. Mill greatest good is happiness, which is absence of pain. Mill knows that the notion of a person is on that follows a higher power, not to be a slave. Also he knows that many leaders want power and want to have control of anything, especially of an organization. When leaders seek for power it doesn’t matter who gets hurt. In this century some of us work in places, where in situations someone makes a mistake, that person will get fired without a warning. In some cases we can’t defend ourselves because the some leaders thing they are the bosses. They just want to have their CEO bosses happy, and that would cause good to them not to the people who have a regular job. These situations would make employees unhappy. That’s why John Stuart Mill would say “no” because he wants people to be absence of pain.

I think Nietzsche would respond “yes” to the question. The greatest good is to be flexible depending who has power. His mentality is on how individuals should function in life. Nietzsche believed that any individual should decide for themselves, not for others to decide for them. We as employees or leaders need to decide on how we want to be treated. We have to do things right every time. I work as a permanent substitute teacher, I do follow my teacher’s instructions but in most of the time I try to do a lot more. And that’s what she likes about me. That if take the initiative to get things ready for our students. She always tells me that she is happy with me because I always have everything ready. She always encourages me to move on with my education, because I know to do a teacher’s job. The same way Nietzsche would like have great people in his organization because he would listen and understand them. He would give advice to them before firing them. Because he knows that employees are not slaves, just common people working to have a better life.

My answer to the question asked would be “No”, due to the fact that an organization cannot be considered as a person. A person as an organization must act as a single creature working for one common goal. Many organizations do consider the possibility for the organization to act as a person, but sometimes there is trouble. In our human world, organizations have their ups and downs due to the fact that they are run by people who need their jobs. And when a problem occurs and need assistance we are better helped by people than a voice recorder who speaks for the company.