BUSINESS ETHICS

Sophia Mantiri / 17061103077

Grenshannya Pua / 17061103083
Yudhatama Indrawan / 17061103079
Gratcia Bonaldy / 17061103063
Aditia Logor / 17061103092
 CHAPTER 2
THEORIES OF DUTIES AND RIGHTS: TRADITIONAL TOOLS
FOR MAKING DECISIONS IN BUSINESS WHEN THE
MEANS JUSTIFY THE ENDS
 MEANS JUSTIFY THE ENDS VS ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS

Is it better to have a set of rules telling you what you ought to do in any
particular situation and the let the chips fall where they may ?

Or

Should you worry more about how things are going to end up and do
whatever ‘s necessary to reach that goal ?
 If the means justify the ends- if you should follow the rule no matter the
consequences- then when the agents ask Lepp point blank whether he’s
selling medicine, the ethical actions is to admit it. He should tell the truth
even though that will mean the end of his business.

 If the ends justify the means if your ethical interest focuses on the
consequences of an act instead of what you actually do- then the ethics
change. If there’s a law forcing people to suffer unnecessary, it should be
broken. And when the agents ask him whether he’s selling, he’s going to
have an ethical reasons to lie.
 PERENNIAL DUTIES

What do I owe myself ? Historically accumulated duties to the self

How we live together in a shared world, a limited number of duties have

recurred persistently, called perennial duties , these are basic obligations we
have as human beings; they’re fundamental rules telling us how we should
act. If we embrace them, we can be confident that in difficult situations we’ll
make morally respectable decisions.
Two kinds of perennial duties :
 Duties to ourselves
Duties to the self begin with our responsibilities and talents. The abilities
we find within us, the idea is, aren’t just gifts; it’s not only a strike of luck that
some of us are born with a knack for math, or an ear musician, or the ability to
shepherd conflicts between people into agreements, all these are also
responsibilities.

 Duties to others
Means we have a responsibility to maintain ourselves healthily in the
world.
What do I owe others ? Historically accumulated duties to
others

 Avoid wronging others : is the guiding duty to those around us. It’s difficult,
however, to know exactly what it means to wrong another in every particular
case.
 Honestly : Is the duty to tell the truth and not leave anything important out.
 Respect others : is the duty to treat others as equals in human terms.
 Beneficence : Is the duty to promote the welfare of others
 Gratitude : Is the duty to thank and remember those who help us
 fidelity : Is the duty to keep our promises and hold up our end of agreements.
 reparation : Is the duty to compensate others when we harm them.
 THE CONCEPT OF FAIRNESS

treating equals equally

Aristotle Fairness is
an unequals unequally
 MODERN FAIRNESS: RAWLS
Balancing the duties
Duties include those to :

• Develop abilities and talent

• Do ourselves no harm
• Avoid wronging others
• Honestly
• Respects others
• Beneficence
• Gratitude
• Fidelity
• Raparation
• fairness
 WHO THE DUTIES COME FROM ?

Duties are the rules describing how the world is in moral terms. Or another
possible source the duties is humanity in the sense that part of what t means to
be human is to have this particular sense of right and wrong

What are the advantages and drawbacks of an ethics based on duties ?

One of the principal advantages of working with an ethics of duties is
simplicity: duties are fairly easy to understand and work with. We all use them
everyday, for many of use the duties are the first thing coming to mind when we
hear the word ethics.
 IMMANUEL KANT: THE DUTIES OF
THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
• Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher (1724–1804) accepted the basic
proposition that a theory of duties—a set of rules telling us what we’re obligated to
do in any particular situation—was the right approach to ethical problems. At least
on some basic issues, Kant set out to produce ethical certainty.
• categorical imperative An ethical rule that does not depend on circumstances.
• The first version or expression of the categorical imperative: universalized an action
that could be carried out by everyone all the time. For example, telling the truth.
• The first expression of the categorical imperative—act in such a way that the rule for
your action could be universalized—is a consistency principle (the requirement that
similar people in similar situations be treated in similar ways.)
 THE DUTIES OF THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
(CONT’D)

• One of the objections to this ethical guidance is that a reality without lying can be
awfully uncomfortable.
• The second expression of the categorical imperative is: To treat people as ends, not
means is requirement that people not be used as instruments to get something else.
• the first of the categorical imperative’s expressions was a consistency principle (treat
others the way you want to be treated), this is a dignity principle : the requirement
that people be treated as holding intrinsic value.
• The principal objection to this aspect is that, like the previous, it sounds good in the
abstract, but when you think about how it would actually work, things become
difficult.
• Kant’s conception of ethical duties can provide clear guidance but at the cost of
inflexibility: it can be hard to make the categorical imperative work in everyday life.
 RIGHTS
• Right in ethics is a justified claim against others.
• Rights are universal, equal and inalienable.
• The right to life : the responsibility to respect the life of all individuals.
• The right to freedom : the guarantee that individuals may do as they please,
assuming their actions don’t encroach upon the freedom of others.
• The right to free speech : the guarantee that individuals may say what they
like, assuming their speech doesn’t encroach upon the freedom of others.
• The right to religious expression : may express religious beliefs freely,
assuming their acts don’t encroach upon the freedom of others.
• The right to pursue happiness : the guarantee that individuals may seek
happiness any way they like, assuming they don’t encroach upon the
freedom of others.
 RIGHTS (CONT’D)
• The right to possessions : the guarantee that individuals and organizations may earn
freely and keep what they have made.
• Libertarianism : the acceptance of basic rights as the providers of moral guidance,
with emphasis attached to the right to our possessions and the fruits of our work.
• Here are hypothetical scenarios where libertarian ethics comes into play: A massive
brewery is constructed upstream from farmland and soaks up most of the water to
make beer, leaving the downstream farms with almost nothing for irrigation. It’s the
brewery’s land, so can’t the owners do what they want with the water running
through it?
• Negative rights : Those rights that require others to not interfere with me and
whatever I’m doing.
• Positive rights : Obligations others have to help protect and preserve my basic,
negative rights.
• welfare rights : obligations society holds to provide minimal conditions allowing
individuals their free pursuit of happiness.
• One justification for an ethics of rights is comparable with the earlier-noted
idea about duties being part of the logic of the universe.
• Another justification for an ethics of rights is to derive them from the idea of
duties.
• Ethical rights provide for individual freedom but allow few guidelines for
individuals living and working together in a business or in society
 CHAPTER 3

THERORIES OF CONSEQUENCE ETHICS :

TRADITIONAL TOOLS FOR MAKING DECISIONS IN
BUSINESS WHEN THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS
WHAT IS CONSEQUENTIALISM?

People who believe ethics should be

about what happen afterwards are
labeled consequentialists. They don’t
care so much about your act; they
want to know about the consequences.
 UTILITARIANISM : THE GREATER GOOD

Utilitarianism is the ethical belief

that an act is recommendable if it
brings the greatest good to the
greatest number, if it increase net
happiness-or decrease net
unhappiness-when everyone is
taken into account.
 VERSIONS OF UTILITARIAN
HAPPINESS

Two further varieties of utilitarianism are hedonistic and

idealistic. Both seek to maximize human happiness, but their
definitions of happiness differ.
 VERSION OF UTILITARIAN
REGULATION
• Soft utilitarianism : frequently referred to simply as utilitarianism, it’s the
ethical belief that an act is recommendable if it
increases net happiness when everyone is taken into
account.
• Hard utilitarianism : the ethical belief that an act is recommendable if it
increases net happiness when everyone taken into
account and when the total benefit is more than any
other possible act.
ADVANTAGES OF UTILITARIANISM
ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Clarity
Accepta
and
simplicity bility

Flexibility Breadth
 DISADVANTAGES OF
UTILITARIANISM ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Apparent
Subjectivity Quantification
injustices

The utilitarian The utilitarian

monster sacrifice
 ALTRUISM : EVERYONE ELSE

Altruism is an act as morally right if the action’s consequences increase net

happiness (or decrease net unhappiness) when everything is taken into
account except the actor’s icreased or diminished happiness.
 SOME RULES OF ALTRUISM

Selflessness is an acting without regard for one’s own well-being. This does not
necessarily imply acting in favor of the well-being of others.

Personal versus impersonal altruism distinguishes two kinds of altruits :

Those who practice altruism on their own and leave everyone else alone, and
those who believe that everyone should act only to benefit others and withotu
regard to their own well-being.
THE ALTRUIST IN BUSINESS AND BUSINESS THAT IS ALTRUISTIC

Altruism connects with business in three basic ways. There are

• Altruistic who use normal, profit-driven business operations to good.
• Altruistic companies that do good by employing nonaltruisticworkers.
• Altruistic organizations composed of altruistic individuals.
THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ALTRUISM.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

 Clarity and simplicity  Uncertainty about the

 Acceptability happiness of others

 Flexibility  shortchanging yourself.

 EGOISM : JUST ME

Egoism defines ethically good as any act that raises the actors overall
happiness (or decreases unhappiness) without counting anyone else’s
increased or dimished happiness.
 EGOISM AND SELFISHNESS

The difference between egoism and selfishness is thategoism is the tendency

to think of self and self interest while selfishness is the qualityof being selfish, the
condition of puttingone’s interests before those of others.
 ENLIGHTENED EGOISM, CAUSE
EGOISM, AND THE INVISIBLE HAND.

Enlighted Egoism Cause Egoism Invisible Hand

The belief that benefitting others -
acting to increase their happiness -
can serve the egoist’s self-interest just
as much as the egoist’s acts directly
in favor of him or herself.
Giving the false appearance of being
concerned with the welfare of others
in order to advance one’s own
interests.
The force of marketplace competition
that encourages or even requires
individuals who want to make money
to make the lives of others better in
the process.
 SOME RULES OF EGOISM

“Personal Egoism Vs Impersonal Egoism” “Rational Egoism Vs Psychological Egoism”

 FOUR RELATIONS BETWEEN
EGOISM AND BUSINESS

Structurally, there are four possible relations between ethical egoism and
business life :
1. You can have egoist in egoist organizations.
2. You can have egoists in nonegoist organizations.
3. You can have nonegoists in egoist organizations.
4. You can have nonegoists in nonegoist organizations.
 ADVOCATING AND CALLENGING
ETHICAL EGOISM

The arguments for an egoistic ethics Arguments against ethical egoism

include the following :
• Clarity and Simplicity.
• Practicality.
• Sincerity.
• Unintended Consequences.
include the following :
• Egoism isn’t ethics.
• Egoism ignores blatant wrongs.
• Psychological egoism is not true.
 CHAPTER 4
Theories Responding to the Challenge of
Cultural Relativism
 WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

CULTURAL RELATIVISM is the suspicion that values and morality

are culture specific-they’re what the community believes
and not the result of universal reason
 NIETZSCHE’S ETERNAL RETURN OF THE SAME

• The eternal return is a thought experiment in which you imagine that life you
choose will repeat forever.

• The eternal return gives us a reason to do one thing and not other: it guides
us in a world without morals.
 CULTURAL ETHICS

Ethics isn’t test of your ability to think reasonably and

independently; it’s more a responsibility to follow the crowd.
 VIRTUE THEORY

Virtue ethics is the idea that we can and should instill those
qualities in people and let them go out into the complex
business world confident that they will face dilemmas well.
 DISCOURSE ETHICS
WHAT IS DISCOURSE ETHICS?

Discourse ethics solves dilemmas by asking those involved to discuss the

matter resonably until they can find a consensual and peaceful solution.

Discourse ethics allows tremendous latitude in the search for solutions to

conflicts, but it risks allowing solutions that many would consider unethical.
HOW DOES DISCOURSE ETHICS WORK?

DISSCUSION !
AN ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS TO DISCOURSE ETHICS

The search for solution

Advantages
opens the door all the way

1. The potential for ugly

Drawbacks solution
2. Have to start over to face
every ethical dilemma
 ETHICS OF CARE
What is ethics of care?
An ethics of care makes the nurturing of our immediate communities
and the protecting of those closest to us the highest moral obligation.

In business, an ethics of care asks us to review decisions not in terms of

hard rules but in terms of how they will affect the people with whom
we share our lives.

An ethics of care humanizes moral decisions, but it threatens tribalism.

THE RULES OF AN ETHICS OF CARE :

focus of moral regulation from the

individual to networks of social
relationship.
ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS OF AN ETHICS OF CARE

The advantages of a care-based ethics include the following :

1. It can cohere with what we actually do and think we ought to do.

2. It humanizes ethics by centering thought on real people instead of

cold rules.

3. It allows us to focus our energy and concern on those who are closest
to us.

The disadvantages :
Threatens to devolve into tribalism.