1. © Prentice Hall, 2001 Ethical Theory and Business Practice

2. © Prentice Hall, 2001 2 Morality Principles or rules of moral conduct that people use to decide what is right or wrong.

3. © Prentice Hall, 2001 3 Morality v. Ethical Theory ٠Morality is concerned with the social practices defining right and wrong. ٠Ethical theory and moral philosophies provide guidelines for justification of right or wrong actions when settling human conflict. ٠No one moral philosophy is accepted by everyone!

4. © Prentice Hall, 2001 4 Morality v. Prudence ٠Rules of prudence promote self-interest, doing what is prudent for oneself. ٠Rules of morality promote the interest of other people. ٠Morality and prudence should generally work hand-in-hand if a business is to succeed.

5. © Prentice Hall, 2001 5 Law Public's agency for translating morality into explicit social guidelines and practices and for stipulating punishments for offenses.

6. © Prentice Hall, 2001 6 Morality v. Law ٠Statutory law v. case law –Statutory laws are federal / state statutes and their accompanying administrative regulations. –Case laws are judge-made laws that establish influential precedents that provide material for reflection on both legal and moral questions. ٠Morality and ethics begin where the law is unclear or not defined!

7. © Prentice Hall, 2001 7 Rule of Conscience ٠ Consciences: –Vary from person to person and time to time. –Are altered by circumstance, religious belief, life experiences, and training. –Are not consistent from day to day. ٠Moral justification must then be based on a source external to conscience itself.

8. © Prentice Hall, 2001 8 Approaches to the Study of Morality ٠Descriptive approach - provides a factual description and explanation of moral behavior and beliefs, as performed by anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. –Referred to as the scientific study of ethics. ٠Conceptual approach - analyzes meanings of central terms in ethics such as right, obligation, justice, good, virtue, and responsibility.

9. © Prentice Hall, 2001 9 Approaches to the Study of Morality ٠Prescriptive approach - attempts to formulate and defend basic moral norms or standards by determining what ought to be done versus what is being done. –Referred to as normative ethics.

10. © Prentice Hall, 2001 10 Relativism An ethical theory that claims right and wrong is subjectively determined by each culture.

11. © Prentice Hall, 2001 11 Relativism ٠What is good is socially accepted and what is bad is socially unacceptable in a given culture. ٠There is no such thing as universal truth in ethics, there are only the various cultural codes and nothing more. ٠An argument against relativism: –There are some basic moral principles that all societies will have in common, because those rules are necessary for society to exist.

12. © Prentice Hall, 2001 12 Methods to Easing Moral Disagreements ٠Obtaining objective information ٠Definitional clarity ٠Example-counterexample ٠Analysis of arguments and positions

13. © Prentice Hall, 2001 13 Egoism A moral theory that contends all choices either involve or should involve self-promotion as their sole objective.

14. © Prentice Hall, 2001 14 Psychological Egoism ٠Everyone is always motivated to act in his or her own perceived self-interest. ٠A main argument against psychological egoism is that there may be no purely altruistic moral motivation to help other people unless there is personal gain.

15. © Prentice Hall, 2001 15 Ethical Egoism ٠The only valid standard of conduct is the obligation to promote one's own well being above everyone else's. ٠Ethical egoists believe that people should not be their brother’s keeper, because people do not completely understand the true needs of others. ٠It’s every man for himself in this world!

16. © Prentice Hall, 2001 16 Utilitarian Theories Moral theories that assert an action’s rightness is determined by the actual or probable consequences that the action will have for the greatest number of people affected by that action.

17. © Prentice Hall, 2001 17 Utilitarian Theories ٠Utilitarian theories hold that the moral worth of actions or practices are determined solely by their consequences. ٠An action or practice is right if it leads to the best possible balance of good consequences over bad consequences for all the parties affected.

18. © Prentice Hall, 2001 18 Utilitarian Theories ٠Act utilitarianism –Argues that in all situations the utility of an action is based on an act that leads to the greatest good for the greatest number. –Treats rules as useful guidelines to help determine ethical behavior. –Will break a moral rule if breaking the rule leads to the greatest good for the greatest number.

19. © Prentice Hall, 2001 19 Utilitarian Theories ٠Rule utilitarianism –The morality of an action should be evaluated on the basis of principles or rules designed to promote the greatest utility for the greatest number. –Rule utilitarians hold that rules have a central position in morality that cannot be compromised by the demands of particular situations.

20. © Prentice Hall, 2001 20 Utilitarian Theories ٠Utilitarian decision-making relies on tools such as cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment to determine the greatest utility. ٠Main argument against utilitarianism is questioning whether units of happiness or some other utilitarian value can be measured and compared in order to determine the best action among alternatives.

21. © Prentice Hall, 2001 21 Kantian Ethics A moral theory that holds you should follow only those rules which you would will to be universal laws for everyone, including yourself.

22. © Prentice Hall, 2001 22 Kantian Ethics ٠Categorical imperative principle states "I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become universal law." –The principle is categorical because it admits of no exceptions and is absolutely binding, and is imperative because it gives instruction on how one must act. ٠Respect-for-persons principle states persons should never be used as a means to an end.

23. © Prentice Hall, 2001 23 Kantian Ethics ٠Kant believed that morality should follow absolute rules that admit no exceptions, which has been a major argument against this theory. ٠Another argument against Kantian theories is that they are narrow and inadequate to handle various problems in the moral life.

24. © Prentice Hall, 2001 24 Common Morality Theories A moral theory based on the concept there is a common morality that all people share by virtue of communal life.

25. © Prentice Hall, 2001 25 Common Morality Theories ٠The greatest obligation in any given circumstance must be found based on the greatest balance of right over wrong in that particular context. ٠Obligations and rights are not inflexible standards, but rather strong prima facie moral demands that may be overridden in circumstances of competition with equal or stronger moral claims.

26. © Prentice Hall, 2001 26 Rights Theories A moral theory based on the concept that all people have human rights that form the justifying basis of obligations because they best express the purpose of morality, which is the securing of liberties or other benefits for a right- holder.

27. © Prentice Hall, 2001 27 Rights Theories ٠Human rights are held independent of membership in a state or other social organization. ٠Human rights evolved from the notion of natural rights. –Natural rights are rights that belong to all persons purely by virtue of their being human. ٠Negative rights pertain to the obligations on the part of other people to refrain from interfering with our freedom of action.

28. © Prentice Hall, 2001 28 Rights Theories ٠Positive rights impose obligations on people to provide other people with goods or services. ٠A primary problem with this theory is that there is no hierarchy for right’s claims: –“How does someone determine which right takes precedence or has more value over other rights?”

29. © Prentice Hall, 2001 29 Virtue Ethics This moral theory suggests that morality is comprised of virtue, which has to do with a person's character and the types of actions that emanate from that character.

30. © Prentice Hall, 2001 30 Virtue Ethics ٠Some typical virtuous traits in the business arena would be integrity, honesty, truthfulness, courage, loyalty, courteousness, and conscientiousness. ٠Virtuous traits are acquired and developed throughout our life experiences. ٠A primary problem with this theory is that people have varying definitions of what traits are considered virtuous.

31. © Prentice Hall, 2001 31 Feminist Theories and the Ethics of Care This moral theory focuses on a set of character traits that are deeply valued in close personal relationships.

32. © Prentice Hall, 2001 32 Feminist Theories and the Ethics of Care ٠Typical traits would include sympathy, compassion, fidelity, love, friendship, and the like. ٠This theory grew out of two feminist presuppositions: –The subordination of women is as wrong as it is common. –The experiences of women are worthy of respect and should be taken seriously.

33. © Prentice Hall, 2001 33 Feminist Theories and the Ethics of Care ٠An argument against this theory is that the focus is on how power is used to oppress women only, whereas traditional ethics is based on the assumption that its values and rules apply to all rational persons equally.

34. © Prentice Hall, 2001 34 Analysis of Cases ٠The case method in law is used to show examples of established precedents of evidence and justification. ٠The case method in business is used to present managerial situations so managers will know how to think when confronted with a dilemma.

35. © Prentice Hall, 2001 35 Analysis of Cases ٠The casuistical method for case analysis in ethics is used to show conclusions on ethical matters, then to compare and contrast the central features of the morally clear and settled cases with the features of unsettled cases.