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Chapter1PowerPoint-TheNatureofMorality1.pptThis multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
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Business Ethics
9th Edition
by
William H. Shaw
Lecture Outlines
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Part I: Moral Philosophy
and Business
Chapter 1: The Nature of Morality
Chapter 2: Normative Theories of Ethics
Chapter 3: Justice and Economic Distribution
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This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Chapter One:
The Nature of Morality
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The Collapse of Enron’s Stock Price in Late 2001
Overview
- Chapter One examines the following topics:
- Business and organizational ethics
- Moral versus non-moral standards, etiquette and professional codes
- Religion and business morality
- Ethical relativism and the “game” of business
- Moral principles, conscience, and self-interest
- Personal values, integrity, and responsibility
- Moral Reasoning, arguments, and judgments
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Introduction to Business Ethics
- What is ethics? The study of right and wrong, duty and obligation, moral norms, individual character, and responsibility.
- What is business ethics? The study of right and wrong, duty and obligation, moral norms, individual character, and responsibility – in the context of business.
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Moral Versus Non-moral Standards
- Nonmoral standards: Standards about behavior or practices with no serious effects upon human well-being
- Moral standards: Standards about behavior or practices with serious upon human well-being
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Some Features of Moral Standards
- Moral standards take priority over non-moral standards.
- The soundness or validity of moral standards depend on the quality of the arguments or the reasoning that support them.
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Morality and Etiquette
- Rules of etiquette are ordinarily non-moral in character and are meant to serve as guidelines for socially acceptable behavior.
- Violations of etiquette can sometimes have moral implications.
- The strict observance of rules of etiquette can sometimes conceal serious moral issues.
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(1) Morality and Law
- Statutes: Laws enacted by legislative bodies such as the U.S. Congress and state legislatures
- Regulations: Laws enacted by special boards or agencies for various kinds of conduct
- Common law: The body of judge-made laws developed in English-speaking countries over the course of many centuries
- Constitutional law: Court rulings on the requirements of the U.S. Constitution and on the constitutionality of legislation
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(2) Morality and Law
- The distinction between morality and legality:
- An action can be illegal but morally right
- An action can be legal but morally wrong
- Professional codes: The rules that govern the conduct of the members of a given profession
- Individuals have the responsibility to critically assess the rules of their professions
- These rules are not always complete and reliable guides to adequate moral conduct
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“You come upon this scene—the car is smoking, and it is clear that an accident just took place. In most states, you are not legally obligated to stop and offer help to the victims.”
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(1) The Sources of Morality
- The justification of moral norms: Moral philosophers study mainly the justification, rather than the origin, of moral norms.
- The claim that morality is based on religion:
- Religion provides incentives to be moral
- Religion provides moral guidance
- Moral norms are in essence divine commands
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(2) The Sources of Morality
- Ethical relativism: The view according to which moral norms derive their ultimate justification from the customs of the society in which they occur.
- This means that moral norms are not universal, but are dependent upon a particular cultural or social context.
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(3) The Sources of Morality
- Implications of relativism:
- There is no independent standard by which to judge the rightness or wrongness of other societies.
- The idea of ethical progress loses its significance.
- It wouldn't make sense to criticize the moral code of one’s own society or culture.
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(4) The Sources of Morality
- Relativism and the “game” of business:
- The idea that business is a just game captures the thesis of Albert Carr.
- He argued that business professionals are expected to follow a code that has little or nothing to do with ethics in other contexts.
- This view entails – incorrectly – that the practices of business professionals cannot (or should not) be evaluated from an ordinary moral standpoint.
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(1) The Importance of Moral Principles
- What it means to have principles: Accepting moral principles is not just a matter of intellectual recognition, but of profound individual commitment to a set of values.
- Conscience: The internalized set of moral principles taught to us by various authority figures – parents and social institutions.
- Conscience and its limits: Conscience is not always a reliable guide because it can be (1) conflicted and (2) erroneous.
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(2) The Importance of Moral Principles
- Moral principles and self-interest: The morality of an action can run counter to our self-interest
- The moral point of view requires that we restrict our self-interest to satisfy social co-existence.
- In situations of conflict between moral principles and self-interest, it is important to appeal to shared principles of justification.
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Morality and Personal Values
- Morality in the narrow sense: The moral principles or rules that do, or should, govern the conduct of individuals in their relations with others
- Morality in the broad sense: The values, ideals, and aspirations that influence the decisions and lifestyles of individuals and entire societies
- Business ethics are mainly concerned with morality in the narrow sense.
- But values, ideals, and aspirations also affect the behavior and ethical choices of business professionals.
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(1) Individual Integrity and Moral Responsibility
- Organizational norms: Employees of business organizations (especially corporations) are:
- Expected to further profit goals
- Often pressured to compromise moral values and ignore or violate rules of ethical conduct
- Conformity: Studies show that individuals are more prone to act unethically when they are a part of an organization or a group.
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Asch Conformity Experiment
(2) Individual Integrity and Moral Responsibility
- Groupthink: The pressure on group members to conform to morally questionable policies or strategies, often resulting in unethical conduct.
- Diffusion of responsibility: The multiplicity, complexity, and distribution of tasks that can lead individuals to feel less responsibility or accountability for their actions.
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(1) Moral Reasoning
- Argument: A group of statements in which one statement (conclusion) is follows from the others (premises)
- Example:
- If Norman is bald, then Norman does not need a haircut.
- It is the case that Norman is bald.
- Therefore, Norman does not need a haircut.
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(2) Moral Reasoning
- Requirements for a sound argument: If its statements (premises and conclusion) are true and its form (or structure) is valid
- Validity: If the assumption that an argument's premises are true guarantee that the conclusion is true, then it's valid
- Invalid arguments: If the assumption that an argument's premises are true do not guarantee that the conclusion is true, then it's invalid
- Determining whether an argument is valid or invalid requires familiarity with the rules of logic.
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(3) Moral Reasoning
- Moral arguments: Those conflicting theories and beliefs whose conclusions are moral judgments, based on the premise of moral standards and statements of fact
- Example:
- If an action violates the law, it is morally wrong.
- Affirmative action on behalf of women and minorities in personnel matters violates the law.
- Therefore, affirmative action on behalf of women and minorities in personal matters is morally wrong.
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(4) Moral Reasoning
- What makes a moral judgment defensible? If it is supported by a defensible moral standard and relevant facts
- Evaluating moral arguments:
- Clarifying the terms of the premises
- Examining the factual claims
- Assessing the moral standard
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(5) Moral Reasoning
- Thus, an argument can be challenged by:
- Uncovering ambiguity in the terms
- Questioning the factual claims
- Challenging the moral standards
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(6) Moral Reasoning
- Criteria for moral judgments:
- Should be logical
- Embedded in valid arguments
- Compatible with moral and nonmoral beliefs
- Should be based on facts
- Should be based on acceptable moral principles
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Argument
An argument is a group of statements, one of which (called the conclusion) is claimed to follow from the others (called the premises).
Argument 1
If a person is a mother, the person is a female.
Fran is a mother.
Therefore, Fran is a female.
Valid vs. Invalid Argument
Valid argument
Premises logically entail its conclusion.
Example: Argument 1
Invalid argument
Premises do not entail its conclusion.
Example: Argument 2
Argument 2
If a person is a mother, the person is a female.
Fran is a female.
Therefore, Fran is a mother.
Counterexample
An example that is consistent with the premises but is inconsistent with the conclusion.
Argument 2 Counterexample
“Fran is a two-year-old” is consistent with premises but inconsistent with conclusion since could not be a mother.
Argument 3
If a person is a female, she must be a mother.
Fran is a female.
Therefore, Fran must be a mother.
Sound vs. Unsound Argument
Sound argument
Have true premises and valid reasoning
Example: Argument 1
Unsound argument
Have at least one false premise, as in Argument 3, or invalid reasoning, as in Argument 2, or both.
Moral Arguments
Arguments whose conclusions are moral judgments.
Moral Reasoning or argument typically moves from a moral standard, through one or more factual judgments about some person, action, or policy related to that standard, to a moral judgment about that person, action, or policy.
Argument 4
If an action violates the law, it is morally wrong.
Affirmative action on behalf of women and minorities in personnel matters violates the law.
Therefore, affirmative action on behalf of women and minorities in personnel matters is morally wrong.
Defensible Moral Judgments
If a moral judgment or conclusion is defensible, then it is must be supportable by a defensible moral standard, together with relevant facts.
Patterns of Defense and Challenge
1. Evaluating factual claims.
2. Challenging the moral standard.
3. Defending the moral standard.
4. Revising and modifying the argument.
Requirements for Moral Judgments
• Should be logical
• Should be based on facts
• Should be based on acceptable moral principles
- Example: consistency with our considered moral beliefs
