Work-2

In this lesson, we will review the constructs that have been proposed for analyzing ethical dilemmas and prepare to apply them to some of the dilemmas that characterize modern organizations. As a last step before we delve into some of those dilemmas, we will see the implications of choosing to do nothing, rather than making a decision about an ethical dilemma.

Learning Objectives

· Illustrate the result of making no choice when confronted with a dilemma.

· Explain the importance of understanding theories of ethical decision-making.

· Distinguish among the teleological, the deontological, and the rights-based models for evaluating the ethics of our actions.

Content

The Deontological and Teleological Perspectives

The deontological approach – Kant's "categorical imperatives" – assumes that we have certain duties, as human beings, to adhere to fundamental, "bottom line" commitments to what is morally right. This perspective suggests that those universal "rules" must drive our actions, regardless of the consequences, if we wish to act ethically. While we do not escape the consequences of our choice, we are justified in having made it by the need to observe some fundamental principle that lies at the heart of being human and dealing with each other on some moral basis.

On the other hand, the teleological perspective is the "utilitarian" view that the consequences of any action determine whether or not it is ethical. If following one course of action creates more good or less harm than the alternative, then those outcomes are more relevant to behaving ethically than observing "rules" would be. It assumes that there is some common understanding of what is "good" and that the actions that will increase or promote the "good" are ethically defensible.

The teleological perspective advocates acting to achieve "the greater good" "by any means necessary." On the other hand, the deontological perspective requires us to pay attention to how we do things and states that good outcomes cannot justify questionable means of achieving them. These conflicting ethical theories often lie at the heart of disagreements about what the right thing to do is.

Consider the distinction among the utilitarian perspective, an estimate of what is ethical on the basis of stakeholder rights, and the operation of the categorical imperative. None of them totally succeed in solving all our dilemmas. However, they do enable us as ethicists to explore and explain why we make the decisions we do about ethical behavior. If we understand what is considered "ethical behavior" and what is considered "unethical," we can see whether our actions really reflect the values we say we care about upholding. This, in fact, is the manager's twin challenge - to make a decision, but also to be able to support and explain the decision on the basis of a meaningful standard of human conduct and interaction.

In addition to the necessary conflict between the deontological perspective (how we do things matters more than what we achieve) and the teleological perspective (what we achieve matters more than how we get there), you should begin to notice another necessary characteristic of ethical dilemmas. That is: If we decline to choose, one of the two possibilities will come to pass anyway.

"Doing nothing" doesn't prevent one of the alternatives from happening: it simply happens by default, rather than by intention.

Review the Ethical Theories Chart in the Week 1 resources section to see a graphical representation of the popular ethical theories.

Applying Theories of Ethics to Decision-Making

We are preparing to look at specific issues that arise for organizations. These issues call into question how consistent our actions are with the values we say we have. Therefore, we will want to understand how decision-making embraces the principles involved, and translates them into action, by taking a systematic approach to understanding what will happen if we apply our values to the situation. In the simplest possible terms, does acting on principles that we say we value lead to the outcomes we want to achieve or do the outcomes we want to achieve really reflect different values than those we say are important to us?

Ethical business practice revolves around basic decisions that are made in determining the very reason the business exists and how it will conduct itself:

· What should we make and sell?

· How much should we charge for it?

· What do we need to know in order to make these choices?

· Who is making these choices—the government or "the marketplace"?

As always, the answers to these questions from an ethical perspective depend on the answer to the core question we have already identified: "Just because we can do something, does that mean we should?" The theories of ethics that we are studying focus on providing some means by which that central question can be answered, and from which other decisions should follow if there is a desire to behave ethically.

Summary

We have now looked at some of the formalized theories of philosophical ethics, as well as some of the difficulties of putting these theories into practice in real circumstances that arise within the organization as it does business. As we move into our consideration of some of the key areas of business in which ethical dilemmas arise, we will attempt to strike an appropriate balance between our intuitions of morality and a systematic approach to ethical decision-making that keeps these difficulties in mind, but nonetheless gives us a more responsible basis for making these decisions.

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