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HEORIES IN ETHICS

Presented By:
Somya (1310
Khushbu(1310

Lets see an example.

The Reluctant Donor Case: Suppose that you are famous transplant
surgeon, and that your transplants always work. You have five patients,
each of whom needs a transplant. One needs a heart, one a brain, two
need one lung each, and one needs a liver. You have a patient named
Mr. Kumar who has come in today to find out the results from some
lab work. You know from the results of the lab work that Mr. Kumar
would be a perfect donor for each of your five other patients, and you
know that
there are no other available donors. So you ask Mr. Kumar if he would
be willing to be cut up and have his organs distributed. He declines
your kind offer. But you then realize that you could cut Mr. Kumar up
without his permission during some minor surgery he has already
consented to. Is it permissible for you do so?
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Business Ethics: What Does It

Really Mean?
Definitions
Ethics involves a discipline that examines good
or bad practices within the context of a moral
duty
Moral conduct is behavior that is right or wrong
Business ethics include practices and
behaviors that are good or bad
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Business Ethics: What Does It

Really Mean?
Two Key Branches of Ethics
Descriptive ethics involves describing,
characterizing and studying morality
What is

Normative ethics involves supplying and

justifying moral systems
What should be
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Sources of Ethical Norms

Fellow Workers

Regions of
Country

Family

Profession
The Individual
Conscience

Friends

The Law

Employer

Religious
Beliefs

Society at Large

Ethics and the Law

Law often represents an ethical minimum
Ethics often represents a standard that exceeds
the legal minimum
Frequent Overlap

Ethics

Law

Making Ethical Judgments

Behavior or act
that has been
committed

compared with

Prevailing norms
of acceptability

Value judgments
and perceptions of
the observer

3 Models of Management Ethics

Three Types Of Management Ethic

Moral

Amoral

Immoral

Three Models of Management

Morality and Emphasis on CSR

Developing Moral Judgment

External Sources of a Managers Values

Religious values
Philosophical values
Cultural values
Legal values
Professional values
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Developing Moral Judgment

Internal Sources of a Managers Values

Respect for the authority structure

Loyalty
Conformity
Performance
Results
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Can Business Ethics Be Taught

And Trained?

Ethic courses should not:

Advocate a set of rules from a single perspective

Not offer only one best solution to specific ethical
problems
Not promise superior or absolute ways of thinking and
behaving in situations

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Can Business Ethics Be Taught

And Trained?

Scholars argue that ethical training can add value to the

moral environment of a firm and to relationships in the
workplace by:

Finding a match between employers and employees

values
Handling an unethical directive
Coping with a performance system that encourages
unethical means

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Ethics-Moral Disengagement
Social Learning Theory
Moral reasoning translates to moral action through
self regulatory processes
You do things that bring you self-worth
You avoid things that avoid self censure

You have to disengage from your normal internal

self sanctions to commit unethical or deviant
acts
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Theories of Ethics
Four major theories of ethics in the Western
world
Utilitarianism: net benefits
Rights: entitlement
Justice: fairness
Egoism: self-interest

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How does this work?

What makes an act right or
wrong?

Inclination

Intended Result

Duty

Actual Result

Will

Ethical Theory 1: Utilitarianism

Famous Proponents: Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill
What makes something good or bad, right or wrong, is that it
produces the greatest amount of pleasure (or lack of pain) for the
greatest number of people
Basic Principle: Greatest Happiness Principle
Maximizing positive outcomes for the largest number of people,
negative outcomes for lowest number of people
One should chose the action which will lead to the greatest happiness
(i.e. pleasure, lack of pain) overall
Ones own pleasure and pain only count as much as any other
persons affected
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Utilitarianism (Contd)
Assessment of net benefits includes any important indirect
effects
Example: assessing the effects of pollutant discharge from
a factory on the immediate surrounding environment and
those down stream or down wind from the factory
Two forms: act and rule
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Act utilitarianism
It asks a person to assess the effects of all actions
Rejects the view that actions can be classified as
right or wrong in themselves
Example: lying is ethical if it produces more good
than bad
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Rule utilitarianism
It asks a person to assess actions according to a set of
rules designed to yield the greatest net benefit to all affected
Compares act to rules
Does not accept an action as right if it maximizes net
benefits only once
Example: lying is always wrong or thou shalt
20 not lie

Limitations of Utilitarianism
Hard to use in difficult to quantify situations
Does not include rights and justice

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Example
A few doctors decide that a number of
experiments on a few people, even if most of
them died, would be worth it if they could find a
cure for a disease that would relieve the
suffering of millions of people. Utilitarianism
would give the approval for such because it
produces the greatest good for the greatest
number of people.
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Utilitarianism
What makes an act right or
wrong?

Inclination

Intended Result

Duty

Actual Result

Will

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Ethical Theory 2: Justice

Looks at the balance of benefits and burdens distributed
among members of a group
Can result from the application of rules, policies, or laws that
apply to a society or a group
Just results of actions override utilitarian results
Rejects view that an injustice is acceptable if others benefit
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the action

Ethical Theory 3: Rights

Right: a persons just claim or entitlement
Focuses on the persons actions or the actions of
others toward the person
Legal rights: defined by a system of laws
Moral rights: based on ethical standards

Purpose: let a person freely pursue certain actions

without interference from others

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Rights (contd)
Features
Respect the rights of others
Lets people act as equals
Moral justification of a persons action

Examples
Legal right: right to a fair trial in the United States
Moral right: right to due process within an organization

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Rights (contd)
Rejects view of assessing the results of actions
Expresses moral rights from individual's view, not society's.
Does not look to the number of people who benefit from
limiting another person's rights
Example: right to free speech in the United States stands
even if a person expresses a dissenting view

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Types Of Rights
Negative rights: do not interfere with another persons rights
Positive rights: A person has a duty to help others pursue their rights

Negative: do not stop a person from whistleblowing

Positive: coworker helps another person blow
the whistle on unethical actions

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Right-based Theories
What makes an act right or
wrong?

Inclination

Intended Result

Duty

Actual Result

Will

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Ethical Theory 4: Egoism

Famous Proponents: Ayn Rand, Adam Smith
What makes something good or bad, right or wrong, is that it
satisfies ones desires, or meets ones needs
Basic Principle: Self-interest of person doing, considering, or
affected by the action
One should chose the action which most realizes or conduces to
ones own self-interest
Important Variation: should the person look simply to self-interest,
or to enlightened or rational self-interest?
Conception of Rational Self-Interest is basic component of
capitalist economy and business models
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Types of Egoism
Individual Ethical Egoism
Judges actions only by their effects on ones interests
Usually rejected by moral philosophers as a defensible basis of ethics

Universal Ethical Egoism

Can include the interests of others when assessing ones actions
Still self-centered: pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain
Enlightened self-interest. Considers the interests of others because
the person wants others to do the same toward him or her
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Objections regarding Egoism

Theory
Does not resolve conflicts in peoples interests
One party would always have the pursuit of his or her
interests blocked

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Questions From The Ethical

Theories
Utilitarianism:
benefits?

does the action yield the greatest net

Rights: does the action negatively affect someones moral

rights?
Justice: does the action give a fair distribution of costs and
benefits among those affected?
Egoism:

will the action lead to other 33people behaving

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Thank
You..!!!