Final answer:
Ethical leaders should view employees as central to a company's values, ensuring they are provided with meaningful work that respects their autonomy and dignity. Corporations have a moral responsibility to balance profitability with the fair and ethical treatment of employees.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ethical leaders should consider their employees to be central in contributing to the firm's values. According to Norman Bowie's application of Kantian ethics, providing meaningful work is a moral obligation of firms. This requires seeing employees as ends in themselves, who must be respected as rational agents with autonomy.
Meaningful work is characterized by conditions where employees (1) freely choose their work, (2) earn a living wage to meet basic needs, (3) have opportunities to exercise autonomy and independence, (4) foster rational development, (5) support moral development, and (6) do not have their pursuit of happiness impeded.
Fair treatment and equity of workers, whether locally or globally, is a reflection of the ethical stance organizations take towards the value and respect they hold for human dignity and moral considerations in the workplace. In this light, corporations are faced with a moral responsibility that extends beyond the legal framework, necessitating a balance between profitability and just treatment of employees — principles that should be integrated into the very fabric of a company's culture and operations.