areas: society: ethics

[Slides]

There are four general areas within the domain of business ethics:

• Responsibility of business in society
• Ethical leadership 
• Ethical decision making
• Corporate governance

Steps in approaching moral issues:

• Identify and describe the facts
• Define the conflict and identify the higher order principles involved
• Identify the stakeholders
• Identify the potential actions, options
• Identify the consequences of the various options

Stages of Ethical development - These are developmental stages in the sense that individuals at higher stages are less likely to engage in unethical business practices than those are lower stages. These are from Kohlberg (1969).

• Punishment and Obedience - to rules and authority
• Instrumental Purpose and Exchange - serving one’s own needs and making fair deals
• Interpersonal Accord, Conformity and Expectations - being concerned about others, loyalty and following rules
• Social System and Conscience Maintenance - doing one’s duty to society
• Prior Rights and Social Contact or Utility - upholding basic rights, values and legal contracts
• Universal Ethical Principles

There are several systems of universal ethical principles.  These tend to appeal to academics since they are nice and abstract, but learning these has been shown to not influence student behavior.

• Teological or consequential
• Egoism An act is ethical when it promotes the actor’ long term interest
• Utilitarianism (John Mill) Choose the action with the greatest value for society.  Assumes you can rank order values
• Risk Aversion Pick the action that produces the least harm, or has the least potential cost
• Deontological or nonconsequential:
• Golden Rule Treat others how you would wish to be treated
• Universalism (Kant), If an action is not right for all situations, it is not right for any situation.  Assumes certain innate moral principles
• Slippery Slope (Descartes), Even though an action solve the current problem, if it cannot be repeated indefinitely without negative consequences, it is not right
• Prima Facie Duties (Ross) Fidelity, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, noninjury
• Combined or blended systems
• Maximin Principle of Justice (Rawls) Everyone has an equal right to the greatest amount of liberty compatable with a like liberty for all, and inequalities should be arranged so that they are advantageous and open to all.
• Proportionality Principle (Garrett) Proportional balance between intention, means and ends.

Kohlberg, Lawrence (1969), "Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization," in D.A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Chicago: Rand McNally, 347-480.