Utilitarianism, Universal Ethics, Golden Rule, Virtue Ethics

Analysis and Recommendations

Facts:

ABC plans to build a retail store for adult entertainment on the recently purchased property. The store will be situated in the neighborhood of Luke's brother Owen. Luke worries that the neighborhood's property values will significantly decline if the store's plans are made known. In a month, ABC wants to release the project to the public. Luke is worried about the confidentiality obligations placed on his business, but he is also close to Owen (Hoffman et al., 2018). The real estate market being what it is, Owen recently told Luke that he had an offer to sell his house for an acceptable price. Owen is considering selling, but he hasn't decided yet. When the housing market has improved in a few years, he speculates that he might receive a better offer. Luke, who is close to Owen, wants to support him in making the right choice for his future.

Issues:

The protagonist, Luke, must decide whether or not to tell his brother, Owen, about the upcoming adult entertainment retail store that will be built on the corner of Owen's neighborhood. If Luke tells Owen, then Owen may sell his house before the store is built and values drop, but if he doesn't tell Owen, he risks breaching his confidentiality agreement with ABC. Luke should weigh each option's pros and cons before deciding. On the one hand, if he tells Owen about the store, Owen may be able to sell his house at a higher price and avoid the negative impacts of living near an adult entertainment store. However, Luke would be breaching his confidentiality agreement with ABC, which could lead to serious consequences for him.

On the other hand, if he doesn't tell Owen about the store, he risks Owen's anger and betrayal if Owen finds out later. In the end, Luke must decide what is more important to him: his relationship with his brother or his obligations to his company. If he values his relationship with his brother more, he should tell Owen about the store. However, if he values his obligations to his company more, he should keep the information to himself.

Lens and analysis:

Utilitarian Theory

The utilitarianism theory is based on the principle of maximizing utility or happiness. In other words, the right thing to do is the thing that will produce the most happiness for the most people (Hayward, 2022). When applied to the facts of this case, the utilitarianism theory would suggest that Luke should not tell Owen about the upcoming adult entertainment store. This is because doing so would likely decrease Owen's happiness (by decreasing the value of his property) and would not produce any happiness for anyone else. The utilitarianism theory would therefore conclude that Luke should keep the information to himself.

The pros of the utilitarianism theory are that it considers the happiness of all people involved in a situation. The cons of the utilitarianism theory are that it does not always produce the most ethical results. For example, in this case, the utilitarianism theory would allow ABC to build the store and decrease the happiness of the surrounding neighborhood as long as the overall enjoyment of the people involved is increased.

Kant's categorical imperative

Kant's categorical imperative is an ethical theory that states that an action is only morally good if it is done for the sake of duty. In other words, an effort is only morally reasonable if it is done out of a sense of obligation (Hayward, 2022). This means action cannot be morally good if it is done for self-interest. For example, if someone donates money to a charity out of a sense of duty, that action is morally good. However, if someone donates money to a charity out of self-interest, that action is not ethically sound.

Applying Kant's categorical imperative to the facts of the case, it is clear that Luke has a duty to ABC to keep the plans for the store confidential. However, Luke also has a responsibility to his brother Owen to tell him about the plans for the store. Given that Luke cannot fulfill both duties, he must choose which duty to perform. Kant would say that the only morally good option is for Luke to tell Owen about the plans for the store, even though it means breaking his confidentiality agreement with ABC. This is because Luke's duty to his brother is more important than his duty to ABC. This is because ABC is a company, and companies are not as important as family. Therefore, the only morally good option for Luke is to tell Owen about the plans for the store.

Conclusion:

As an advisory of the ethics department of ABC Company, the utilitarian theory would be the best ethical theory to base the recommendation/conclusion on in the given case. The Utilitarian theory is based on the principle of maximizing utility, which means that the morally right action is the one that produces the most outstanding amount of good for the most significant number of people. In the given case, the ethically right move would be for Luke to tell Owen about the upcoming store so that Owen can make an informed decision about whether or not to sell his house. This would produce the most outstanding amount of good for the most significant number of people because it would allow Owen to make a decision that is in his best interest and prevent Luke from violating his confidentiality obligations to ABC.

Work Cited

Hoffman, W. M., Frederick, R., & Schwartz, M. S. (2018).  Business ethics : readings and cases in corporate morality. Wiley Blackwell. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Business+Ethics:+Readings+and+Cases+in+Corporate+Morality-p-9781118336687

‌Hayward (2022) Utilitarianism, Universal Ethics, Golden Rule, and Virtue Ethics. (2020). Paper per Hour. https://paperperhour.com/utilitarianism-universal-ethics-golden-rule-and-virtue-ethics/

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