Making Ethical Decisions in Business

1
Making Ethical Decisions in Business

• Chapter 8
• An Application of Ethical Principles

2
Principles of Ethical Conduct

• The Categorical Imperative
• The Conventionalist Ethic
• The Disclosure Rule
• The Doctrine of the Mean
• The Ends-Mean Ethic
• The Golden Rule

3
Principles of Ethical Conduct (contd)

• The Intuition Ethic
• The Might-Equals-Right Ethic
• The Organization Ethic
• The Principle of Equal Freedom
• The Proportionality Ethic

4
Principles of Ethical Conduct (contd)

• The Rights Ethic
• The Theory of Justice
• The Utilitarian Ethic
• The Virtue Ethic (character development)

5
Suggestions for Making Ethical Decisions

• Framework for ethical decision making
• Ultimate ethics tests
• Ethical paradigms

6
An Application of Ethical Principles

• How would you answer the CEOs question?
• What should the sales representative do?
• Should Whitcomb undertake this transaction?
• Would you proceed with promotion, retain vice
  chairman, or fire her?

7
An Application of Ethical Principles

• Did the admiral act ethically?
• Has the company been fair in its treatment of
  these employees?
• Did TBS meet basic standards of ethics?
• Is this ethical?

8
An Application of Ethical Principles

• Were Astors actions ethical?
• Was Tom fair to Mary? Was Toms promotion fair to
  Mary? Was the company wrong to promote Tom?
• Are you ethically remiss if you do not change
  your design?

9
Why Ethical Decisions are Difficult

• Facts vs. values (is vs. what ought to be)
• Elimination of evil impossible
• Limited knowledge
• Multiple stakeholders, conflicting claims
• Incompatible ethical arguments
• Variable ethical standards
• Humans are fallible
• Traditional ethics vs. modern technology
• Ethical complexities of large organizations