The object of this essay is to establish whether there is an ethical theory that can be successfully applied to business organizations. In order to answer this question, it is necessary first to define the major ethical theories, which are utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics, before determining whether there are any other options. After that, the ethical needs, problems and limitations of work organizations will have to be examined so that the different theories can be evaluated in this context. It will also be important to draw a distinction between the terms “accurate” and “useful” as these actually result in two different questions the answer to which need not necessarily be the same. Another essential part of this discussion …show more content…
In addition to this it has the property of universalisality in that the right action will be right for everyone. However, as a pragmatic and functional system of moral analysis, Utilitarianism has a number of difficulties. One of the major problems is the fact that it is extremely difficult to quantify happiness, and if it is not possible to decide which of several available actions produces the most happiness, it follows that it is not possible to decide which action is the right one. Also a particular action generating a high degree of happiness may have unforeseen consequences that have the opposite effect. Can it be morally right to have a completely innocent and well person killed if two seriously ill people could be saved by an organ transplantation? Is an action always and incontrovertibly right because it gives greatest happiness to the greatest number of people? – Brady(1999) refutes this: “the majority vote is not an ethic; it is a social choice technique.” Deontology as promoted by Kant on the other hand denies that the right action is the one that produces the best consequences. It is based on a set of moral rules, and the right action is supposed to be the one that conforms with these rules, whereas certain other types of action are morally forbidden. Deontology seems to appeal to common sense as duties include special obligations to family and
2. Laws must be static and unyielding in order to provide stability for a society.
Utilitarianism, in the contrary, is based on the principle of utility or usefulness. Utility is what encourages an agent to act in a particular way (Tuckett, 1998). Utility can be explained as maximizing the good like pleasure and happiness and minimizing the bad like pain and evil, all leading to the greater good for all parties involved. It weights the consequences of the actions equally between the ones involved, and the ethical solution would be to follow the greater good for most if not all the parties involved.
Deontology is an ethical theory concerned with duties and rights. The founder of deontological ethics was a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant. Kant’s deontological perspective implies people are sensitive to moral duties that require or prohibit certain behaviors, irrespective of the consequences (Tanner, Medin, & Iliev, 2008). The main focus of deontology is duty: deontology is derived from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. A duty is morally mandated action, for instance, the duty never to lie and always to keep your word. Based on Kant, even when individuals do not want to act on duty they are ethically obligated to do so (Rich, 2008).
Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,
Deontology or also know as Deontology ethics is an approach that is taken that determines the goodness and rightness of a specific act or rules and duties that a specific person has to perform. Deontology is the complete opposite of consequentialism. Consequentialism is the where the outcome of an act has a major influence and not the actual act itself. In better words it is what comes after the action that is made and not the action itself. As for deontology an action can be considered right or something acceptable even if the outcome of the action is something bad. A perfect example for deontology would be “ do onto others what you would have them do onto you.” This is just something that
Deontology is an ethical position that examines the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to rule or rules. Many times is described as obligation or rule based ethics (Alexander). Therefore, the only actions that are considered moral are those that are performed solely for one’s duty to the moral law rather than one’s desire. Deontology is the school of thought that Kant comes from. Immanuel Kant was a critical figure in philosophy in the modern age. His work was the foundation of the most famous form of Deontology.
Welcome to IBM, one of the most prestigious corporations in the United States. We are genuinely excited for you to become part of our team and start working on projects. As a new employee, there will be a lot of information that will be put in front of you. Before you get more specific information on the specialized jobs you will be completing, it is extremely important that you are aware of the certain business polices we have at this corporation. There are numerous policies in our company. These may be found in the document Business Conduct Guidelines. This memo will cover only those topics that are found in the guidelines that relate to writing ethically and handling written materials properly. This focus is very important in the business world because we are faced with ethical dilemmas every day. How you react in these situations may affect your job security, salary, and most importantly, your reputation as a professional.
32: List and explain Nash’s, Drucker’s, Buffet’s, Blanchard's and Peale’s comprehensive approach for resolving ethical dilemma
The study of ethical models is a good way to gain insights into ethical thinking and understand systematic approaches to dealing with ethical issues (Johnson, 2016). This paper will examine and discuss one particular ethical perspective, deontology. German philosopher Immanual Kant (1724-1804) championed the model. This paper will outline the details of deontology ethical model. An examination of the positive and negative implications the application of this model may have in the business environment will be included. Finally a personal perspective will be discussed including how implementing the perspective could assist or hamper a management approach.
The notion of ethics deals with people’s behaviors within a company. Social responsibility involves a company’s moral obligations and the manner in which the organization makes its decisions. Although ethics and social responsibility are similar on a conceptual basis, each has its own unique characteristics that express their differences and its independence of the other. Ethics and social responsibility have to be present and coincide with one another for a business to be ethically sound.
Deontological ethics is concerned with what people do, not with the consequences of their actions. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is credited for laying the foundations of deontology. Under this form of ethics, good consequences do not necessarily justify an action. Kant´s duty-based ethics was based on what he called the ´categorical imperative´ [4].
2. Ethical Issues in Business. It seems that every day in the news we are hearing of new company that has acted at least unethically and possibly illegally in the operation and financial reporting of their company's business dealings. There are many ethical issues in business. One major issue that we see is over and under reporting net income. Companies like to show that every quarter the net income of the business has an increase or profit. In order to show this they adopt unethical or illegal means in the operation and financial reporting. One such method is the indiscriminate use of stock options for employees that enable companies to take employment costs off balance sheet and inflate earnings. With the recent ethical issues we have
To what extent does it mean to be fully ethical in business without any controversy or discrimination? What are the main issues that most employees must address and confront to make for a better business or workforce? What are the common ethical pressures that are being faced in the business industry and how might we be able to address and overcome not only in the current businesses that we work in but the entire world? We may never know because there are two sides to each story the good or the bad and the right from the wrong. We must all just be honest with ourselves and aim for justice. Each person may have their own different opinion and or viewing, causing ethics to be a moral value to what feels right. It seems that every day in the news or hearing from our friends or loved ones, that there are some new issues that start to rise no matter what position they are in. However, there are many ethical issues in business. The top 5 ethical issues in business are discrimination, accounting, employee theft, abusive behavior, and misusing company time.
“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; We know now that it is also bad economics”
For some reason, some managers and entrepreneurs seem to think that taking the ethical route in the business world is a bad way to go because a person cannot be successful in such a “cut throat” profession. Whoever came up with the idea that this is true is lying to themselves. There are many successful companies in the world that are taking the ethical way but there are still many businesses that do not do this. Ethical behavior in the marketplace is hugely important because if a company gives off the right and meaningful message, people will put their focus towards that company and their products, because they will see that the company is there for the right moral reasons.