LOBBYING IN ORGANIZATIONS

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LOBBYING IN ORGANIZATIONS

Introduction

The act of attempting to influence decisions made by government officials’ mostly regulatory agencies members, or legislators is what can be termed as lobbying. Many different types of organized groups and people that include individuals in corporations, private sector, advocacy groups, legislators or government officials participate in lobbying. The morality and ethics of lobbying can be considered dual edged in that when the implication is that the law is being corrupted by people with inordinate socioeconomic power to serve their own agendas lobbying is often spoken of with contempt. But if lobbying is simply making sure that minority interests are fairly defended against majority tyranny or other corruptions it is fully embraced, which makes it different depending on which side its being viewed from.

As a lobbyist in the American based Procter & Gamble Company that deals with cleaning agents, pet foods and personal care products. I would mainly rally against the company strategy of using animals to test their products, this strategy is wrong in both the ethical and regulatory sense as already identified through the PETA investigations on P&G subsidiary products, on the Iams pet food. By pointing out that the use of animals in the tests does not prove conclusively that when the product or substance is used on or by a human, will either be dangerous or safe. It has also been proved by experts that an estimate ninety nine percent of the tests that proved safe on animals, when applied to humans ended up being dangerous (Festing & Wilkinson, 2007).

With this mindset I would like the federal government to enforce policies that would regulate and monitor the organizations acquiring the test animals and encourage them to find alternative means of testing their safety of products for consumption and human use without using the inhumane use of animals. It’s clear that the organization is avoiding the alternatives since it prevents them from maintain a higher margin of profit , but to justify animal testing for anyone possessing empathy simply as a means of maintaining corporate profits would be difficult leaving them with no choice but to embrace the change.

I regard the lobbying practice as providing a resolution platform to provide information, solve conflicts among competing and diverse points of view, opinions and analysis to government leaders and legislators to allow for balanced and informed decision making and keeping any one group from attaining a permanent position of power through creation of a check and balance of competition among different interest groups. The legislative work also benefit from the lobbyists since they are provided with accurate assessment and reliable data of a bills effect that helps their work be more efficient. With their evident contribution and influence on the policy makers point of views it would unwise to ban lobbying, however regulations need to be put in place and enforced to avoid the lobbyists from overstepping their boundaries or grounds (Berg, 2009).For the lobbying industry to create an appropriate regulatory framework some of the changes that can be enforced include first taking serious the industries scope and size, to ensure that the economic power safe guards do not translate simply into political power, in addition it would be important to accept lobbying as an independent and fundamental part of decision making in the democracy.

Conclusion

It is common for many people’s thoughts to immediately go to political ethics presence or lack in the government whenever the word lobbying comes up. When lobbyists serve their clients ethically their main purpose is revealed. If currently enforced laws revolved around lobbyists misusing their position then perhaps, it would help to reestablish a more positive atmosphere and credibility to the lobbying industry. As with any issue or situation, when balance, integrity and ethics are applied and are present accordingly, the end results are fair generally.

Reference

Festing, S., & Wilkinson, R. (2007). The ethics of animal research. EMBO reports, 8(6), 526- 530.Berg, K. T. (2009). Finding connections between lobbying, public relations and advocacy. Public Relations Journal, 3(3), 1-19.