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“Edible Carpets, Anyone?”
A typical capitalist corporation would fall into stage two of Kohlberg’s Taxonomy of Moral Development, but Interface Corporation was a not a typical capitalist corporation. By changing the way they did business they moved in to stage three and their Chairman of the Board, Ray Anderson, can be described as being in stage five. Interface Corporation also focused on the natural law of ethics to work towards the good for all people and the environment.
Stage two of Kohlberg’s Taxonomy focuses on “individualism and exchange”. “The philosophy is one of returning favors—if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” (Crain). A business functions to earn a profit. They create a product for the consumer and the consumer in return pays for that product. Egoism also plays a role in this stage as the corporation focuses its concerns on earning money. The business’ interest is concentrated on how to earn a profit, which in turn keeps the business successful. Interface Corporation completely went against these ideals. Ray Anderson put his thought of money aside in order to create a sustainable business that focused on becoming environmentally friendly. Leaving the concern for the consumer’s payment behind, which would be the exchange in Kohlberg’s Taxonomy, is why Interface Corporation is not in stage two.
The next stage of Kohlberg’s Taxonomy is concerned with “good interpersonal relationships” (Crain). There is a belief that “people should live up to the expectations of the family and community and behave in ‘good’ ways. Good behavior means having good motives and interpersonal feelings such as love, empathy, trust, and concern for others” (Crain). In this stage the focus is not just on the individual but also on others in society. Interface Corporation’s choice to change the way they do business only benefited everyone in the world and for this reason they fall in to stage three. They became a company that leased floor-covering services instead of just selling carpet. They changed their plants to be more efficient and therefore less damaging to the environment. They made great attempts to eliminate wastes by recycling (DesJardins & Aaron).
Ray Anderson spearheaded the changes to Interface Corporation. He “challenged Interface’s employees to turn the company into a model of sustainable business” (DesJardins & Aaron). He knew that by changing the way that the company operated was risky and expensive. Ray Anderson felt it was more important to create a sustainable business. A business that was “judged by its performance on three bottoms lines: financial, ecological, and ethical” (DesJardins & Aaron).
Anderson’s efforts would be considered post conventional by Kohlberg’s standards. This can be categorized by stage five. Stage five focuses on “Social Contract and Individual Rights” (Crain). Ray Anderson had a genuine interest in the well being of the environment. By changing the way the company worked they were being a more ecologically responsible company. Anderson realized that his company was ruining the environment and aiding in destroying the world for future generations. He took responsibility for the way his company did business and made a change. Stage five talks about what is good for society and that is what Ray Anderson was concerned with.
Thomas Aquinas believed that “the fundamental principle of the natural law is that good is to be done and evil avoided” (Stanford). Everything natural is good and anything unnatural is evil. In this case the environment is good and therefore it is natural. Interface Corporation’s decision to be environmentally friendly created a moral order. This falls into natural law theory. Interface Corporation chose to be an ethical corporation by realizing they were contributing to the collapse of our environment. Ray Anderson knew that he had the power and responsibility to change the way his company functioned. He could have ignored these ideas and went on making a profit from his product. He chose to do what was right and therefore what was good. He was following natural law by doing what was the right thing to do.
Interface Corporation was an exceptional company. Instead of being classified in stage two of Kohlberg’s Taxonomy of Moral Ethics they made changes to their company that was better for society as a whole and not necessarily better for themselves. By thinking out of the box and focusing on society instead of individuality they moved into stage three. The Chairman of the Board, Ray Anderson, was the leader of these changes and worked hard to create a sustainable company. His actions were completely focused on what was good for society as a whole. Thinking and acting this way can categorize him as being in stage five. He went above and beyond what a Chairman of the Board would do. He truly cared about stopping the damage that his company was inflicting on the environment. The environment is naturally good and in order to apply Natural Law theory, Interface Corporation had to change the way they did business.
Works Cited
Joe DesJardins and Janalle Aaron. Case Study: Edible Carpets, Anyone!? Interface Corporation, a Sustainable Business.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-law-ethics/
W. C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall. Pp. 118-136. http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm