ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 2 Ethical Principles

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethical Principles How can we assess whether a decision is right or wrong? Is a moral decision one that tends to lead to favorable outcomes, or is it one that was made for good reasons in the first place? Do we have a duty to “do good” and to respect the rights of others? Slide 2 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. CHAPTER 2 Objectives Evaluate the role of consequences in ethical decision making. Explain the concepts of human rights, moral duties, and moral virtues. Slide 3 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. CHAPTER 2 Key Terms and Concepts value system consequences egoism principle utility principle right principle of rights duty principle of duties universality respect for persons virtue principle of virtues golden mean Slide 4 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Basing Morality on Consequences Not all people look at ethical issues and questions the same way. People living in the United States come from many different backgrounds, and each can have its own unique value system, meaning its own way of viewing ethical right and wrong. A person’s ethical beliefs are affected by life experiences, peer groups, and other factors, some of which are not yet understood. Slide 5 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Basing Morality on Consequences There are some ethical answers, however, on which most people agree because humans share many common ethical principles. Slide 6 CHAPTER 2 Continued from previous slide

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Consequences Consequences are the effects or results of what people do. A typical way of considering morality is to think of actions as having good or bad consequences. A moral action is one that brings about good consequences. An immoral action is one that causes bad consequences. Slide 7 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. FIGURE 2-1 Consequences CHAPTER 2 Slide 8

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Egoism Principle The egoism principle is the idea that the right thing for a person to do in any situation is the action that best serves that person’s own long-term interests. Slide 9 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. FIGURE 2-2 Egoism CHAPTER 2 Slide 10 The egoism principle maintains your only moral obligations are to yourself.

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Utility Principle The utility principle is the idea that the morally right action is the action that produces the best consequences for everyone involved, not just for one individual. Slide 11 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. FIGURE 2-3 Utility CHAPTER 2 Slide 12 The utility principle maintains you have moral obligations to others.

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Strengths of Consequential Ethics They are fairly easy to use, and they seem very natural to people. It is wise to consider the consequences of an action before deciding whether or not to take it. CHAPTER 2 Slide 13

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Weaknesses of Consequential Ethics Require you to accurately predict the consequences of your actions. Do not consider any action to be always right or always wrong. Allow people to exploit or harm individuals for their own benefit or for the benefit of the larger group. CHAPTER 2 Slide 14

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Basing Morality on Rights, Duties, and Virtues Another way of thinking about ethics is in terms of rights, duties, and virtues. These three principles very often lead to the same conclusion, or “right answer” to an ethical dilemma. Slide 15 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Rights A right refers to a way in which an individual is entitled to be treated by others. Slide 16 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Principle of Rights According to the principle of rights, an action is considered moral when it respects the rights of others and immoral when it violates another’s rights. Slide 17 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. FIGURE 2-4 Individual Rights CHAPTER 2 Slide 18 The principle of rights maintains good or bad consequences are not what make an action right or wrong.

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Strengths of the Principle of Rights Gives people a great deal of moral freedom. People can do whatever they want as long as they don’t violate the rights of others. Slide 19 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Drawback of the Principle of Rights People do not always agree on what their rights are. Slide 20 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Duties A moral duty is an ethical obligation that one individual has to others. Notice that this definition is the opposite of the one given for a right. Slide 21 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Principle of Duties The principle of duties maintains that you should do what is ethically right purely because you have a moral obligation to do so. Slide 22 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. FIGURE 2-5 Moral Duties CHAPTER 2 Slide 23 The principle of duties maintains that you should do what is ethically right purely because you have a moral obligation to do so.

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Immanuel Kant A classic explanation of ethical duties came from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Kant believed sound reasoning will lead all people to accept two main ethical principles: universality and respect for persons. Slide 24 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Universality The concept of universality is the idea that you should act as you would want others to act in the same situation. Slide 25 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Respect for Persons According to the concept of respect for persons, it is always wrong to use other people in ways that harm them for your own benefit. In other words, it is wrong to take unfair advantage of others for personal gain. Slide 26 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Strength of the Principle of Duties This principle motivates people to the highest levels of ethical behavior. Slide 27 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Weaknesses of the Principle of Duties Concepts like universality and respect for persons are extremely challenging to live up to. People do not seem to agree with one another about what their moral duties are. Slide 28 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Virtues A virtue is an ideal character trait that people should try to incorporate into their lives. These traits are considered good in themselves, not good because of their consequences. An action that is consistent with virtues is considered to be good, or moral. An action that conflicts with virtues is considered bad, or immoral. Slide 29 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Examples of Ethical Virtues Honesty Loyalty Respect Responsibility Self-discipline Compassion Courage CHAPTER 2 Slide 30

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Principle of Virtues The principle of virtues states that ethics is based on being a good person, that is, on incorporating ideal character traits into your life. One’s moral duties and the rights of others are not especially relevant. The principle of virtues would judge stealing to be inherently bad because it is inconsistent with the kind of person you should want to be. Slide 31 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Aristotle More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that the key is simply to make the virtues habits. Slide 32 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Making a Virtue a Habit If you don’t think of yourself as an especially kind person, make up your mind to do one act of kindness today. Then do another kind act tomorrow, and so on. Eventually kindness will become a habit to you; at that point, kindness will have become ingrained into your character. You will be a kind person. CHAPTER 2 Slide 33

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Golden Mean Precisely what does it mean to be courageous or generous? How do you know when you have achieved kindness or truthfulness? Aristotle addressed such questions with a unique concept called the golden mean, defining virtues as perfect balances between opposite and undesirable extremes. Slide 34 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Strength of the Principle of Virtues Virtues encourage people to achieve high levels of moral behavior. Slide 35 CHAPTER 2

ETHICS in the WORKPLACE © 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Weakness of the Principle of Virtues Some actions might promote one virtue while violating another. When such a conflict exists, people do not always agree on which virtues are most important. Slide 36 CHAPTER 2